Smart DNS Proxy Setup

The first step in being able to watch sport online in South Africa is getting set up with Smart DNS Proxy. The sites we want to stream sports from are all blocked in South Africa so we need to make a few changes to our router first.

This is super simple to do. Here are the easy steps you’ll need to follow:

Sign Up For Your Free Trial

Sign up for a free trial on the Smart DNS website. All you need to start the free trial is your email address. You won’t be asked for any payment details.

The free trial lasts 14 days. If you’re happy with the service (we know you will be) then you can opt to pay monthly ($4.95) or save a few bucks by paying a few months or a year in advance.

Change Your DNS Settings

It’s best to make the changes to your DNS settings on your router. The instructions on the Smart DNS site are really good so don’t worry if you’ve never done this before.

Once you’ve signed up for your free trial, log in onto the Smart DNS website and click on the “How To Setup” link in the top menu.

Scroll down to the “Set up for whole network” section and select your router model from the drop down list and click “Setup”.

Follow the instructions to get to your router’s DNS settings. Copy and paste the 2 South African server IP addresses from the list they provide into your DNS settings on your router.

Did You Do It Right?

Let’s check if you set it up properly. Restart your router as well as your browser. If you now go to the Smart DNS website, log in and then click on “My Account” you should see the following screen.

If you see 4 green tics then you’ve got it setup correctly. If the third row has a red circle with a line through it then click “Activate” next to it and you should then have 4 green tics.

Region Settings

Depending on the website you’re trying to access you may need to change some region settings. On the “My Account” page you’ll see a “Regions” link. Click the link and you’ll see all the region settings.

The first couple have to do with Netflix and some other channels. Scroll down to the sections where you see groups of channels under headings like “Channel Group A”.

Each channel group will have associated countries listed with their respective channels. If you want to watch cricket online you’ll need access to Hotstar. So to do that you need to make sure that Channel Group B is set to “India”. For SonyLiv you’ll need to have both Channel Group B and D set to India.

The channel region settings are set to United States or UK by default. So if you want to watch rugby online you need to be able to access ITV for the World Cup Rugby or ESPN+ for other rugby games. Those are UK and US based sites so there’s no need to make any changes to any of the channel groups.

If you have any trouble setting you Smart DNS up, reach out to their tech support via their website. They’re very quick to respond and very helpful.