No matter what you use to surf the net, and no matter where you use the internet, there are sites that you just can't access. Why the site are blocked varies. How you unblock them depends on you. For an iPhone and iPad it's pretty much the same, though it'll vary a bit from Mac when it comes to VPNs. Here are some tips on how to surf blocked sites on iPhone and iPad.

• Why are sites blocked?

Not all sites are blocked for the same reasons!

Internet Censorship

Even in countries that are known for internet freedom, we experience internet censorship to a certain degree. It's usually stuff that normal people wouldn't want to browse anyway, so I won't list all the perverted stuff that North American and European countries block. As you move east however, many nations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia block social networking and media sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Gmail, and censor search results. Though they label it national security, it's just plain old censorship.

Network Restrictions

If you use the internet at school or work you know what this is. Your workplace or school wifi will probably block time wasting sites like games, chat sites, and they'll probably have a list of sites that are specifically banned on the network. Using wifi in your local cafe and other shared networks may also have banned sites.

Geo-Restriction

Sometimes the sites block foreign IP addresses. This is known as geo-restriction. Some famous sites that engage in geo-restriction are Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, and BBC iPlayer. Lots of other streaming sites do the same thing, but I don't know their specific names because I don't watch Japanese or German TV. Believe me, they exist, and believe me, without an approved IP, you can't access the site's content.

• How to Unblock Them

Proxies

Proxies are good for bypassing network restrictions and bypassing internet censorship in some cases. This will depend on the anonymity level of the proxy, and level of restriction placed on you by your ISP or the network. For example, proxies are great for accessing blocked forums and other news related sites at work and school. They don't work so well in China, or for accessing websites with Flash, including Facebook and YouTube. Some proxies can. Most proxies won't be able to bypass geo-restrictions.

Though I didn't make proxies sound too appealing, I only mean to make the point that MOST aren't great, and have limited capabilities as far as unblocking websites on your iPhone and iPad. There are some proxies for iPhone and iPad that unblock Facebook, YouTube, and even encrypt your data to keep your information private. Some are from reputable sources, and work almost as good as VPNs. The main advantage? They're cheaper. The second main advantage? You don't need to install anything - they work directly from your web browser.

VPNs

In case you didn't catch that, I prefer VPNs to proxies. They unblock more sites, and I feel like it's in a more convenient way. You simply connect to a private VPN server provided by a VPN service, and leave the VPN running in the background of your iPhone or iPad. People in business, education, and even the military use them for privacy and security. It's like using a private internet inside of the public internet. You can still access your favorite sites, but privately and securely.

The thing that you're concerned with most is surfing blocked sites though, right? VPNs give you the advantage of being able to unblock more sites. For one, they unblock geo-restricted sites in most cases (unlike proxies, which rarely do). They allow you to use other apps and software outside your browser with the VPN IP address. That means you can unblock gaming sites, and play non browser based games with your approved IP.

Popular VPN sites available on the internet will typically offer L2TP and PPTP VPN. L2TP is a more private and secure VPN, but uses more bandwidth, so may not be the best choice for streaming, downloading, or gaming. PPTP VPN for iPhone will still change your IP, bypass firewalls, and unblock sites, but it requires less work on your part, and less bandwidth to run. Try both and see what works best for you.