I wrote yesterday about how I could not listen to our Michigan basketball game because for international restrictions that bar the NCAA from transmitting the games of its national basketball tournament overseas. I usually can listen to both our football games and basketball games over the Internet wherever we are using the University's website. However, the NCAA, for commercial reasons, has pre-empted the University from using its website to broadcast the games its team is playing in the tournament. Grrrrr.

I decided to do some more research on how to listen to the games while here in Sint Maarten. Well, I hit upon a treasure when I discovered the use of VPNs. VPNs are virtual private networks. They are not new but their use is rapidly increasing for several reasons. A top reason is that they offer increased security when you use the internet to send emails or buy and pay for items off the Internet. This increase in security is because each VPN uses a more secure encryption technology. While I am sure it is not hacked proof if someone is really motivated to get into your stuff, at least it would take a bit more effort and skill than not having your data more completely encrypted.

Another reason people use VPNs is to hide the source of one's location. With a VPN, you can set your host location to whatever country the VNP supports. In our case, I have set our host location to be the US so that when I try to get access to our University's sports, I am not banned because I am out of the country.

There are several VPNs available. I chose to purchase access to one based on its reviews and it price. For about $4 a month, I am now using TunnelBear. PC Magazine rated it a good buy for the cost. Since I am just looking for a low-cost solution to a simple problem, it seemed to be a good choice.

It was simple to install and is easy to use. To our benefit, not only do I get to listen to the NCAA games, but I can actually watch them in live streaming mode. Whoo Hoo! Plus, Mary Margaret and I can watch a variety of TV shows while we have good Internet. It is not that we are big TV fans but since we are now bidding our time here in Sint Maarten, waiting for my back to heal more before we strike of for St. Croix, we now have something else to keep us entertained.