VPN Reviews

VPNBook Review – Does The Company Provide A Reliable VPN Service?

By Paul Liu
Friday, December 20th, 2013

VPNBook is a new VPN provider that offers free as well as paid VPN services to its subscribers. Launched in 2012, the service is brought to you by a Romania based company. In this exhaustive VPNBook Review, we will list down the features offered by the service and help you to decide whether you should use the service.

Server Locations and Site Access

VPNBook’s free servers are located at United States, United Kingdom and Romania whereas its dedicated server (available only to paid subscribers) is in Canada. The free VPN service allows users to unblock premium American and European sites like NHL, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Xfinity, CWTV, CBS, Demand 5, Lovefilm, USA Network, 4OD, Eurosport, MLB, Netflix, iTV, Voyo, BBC iPlayer, NBC, ABC, Vudu, Prima TV, Fox, Pandora and Pro TV from anywhere whereas the premium service delivers unrestricted access to Canadian sites like CBC, CTV, City TV, E! and Bravo. For those who want to bypass local censorship and institutional firewalls, the service even provides an anti-censorship solution and allows you to access your favorite sites like Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype from your school, office or from a country like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil and Thailand.

VPN Speed and Bandwidth

VPNBook does not impose any kind speed or bandwidth limit upon its subscribers. Subscribers of the free service must share resources with other users whereas the premium users get 500GB+ monthly bandwidth through their own dedicated servers. The company does not throttle speed or bandwidth in any way and even free subscribers get good speeds for activities like streaming, uploading, downloading, VOIP and multiplayer gaming. In addition, the service supports torrenting through Romanian and Canadian servers.

Privacy Settings

VPNBook protects your privacy with 128 bit or 256-bit AES encryption (PPTP and OpenVPN protocols). The service secures all applications that connect to the internet (VOIP software, email client, browser, ICQ, Messenger, FTP client etc.) and even offers protection against hackers and sniffing programs at public Wi-Fi hotspots.

The company does not sell customer data to third parties nor does it spy on the online activities of its users. While the company records IP address and connection time to prevent abuse, the logs are purged every week. However, it must be remembered that the company will cooperate with the law enforcement agencies if the service is used for an unlawful purpose.

Supported Operating Systems

VPNBook’s VPN service is compatible with Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8), Mac OS X, Linux, iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, iPods) as well as Android based Smartphones and tablets. The premium subscribers can use the service from 5 different devices at the same time plus they can customize OpenVPN ports as per their needs. The company does not offer VPN software even for its premium subscribers so the service needs to be configured manually. However, the company does provide excellent setup instructions for all operating systems through its website.

Customer Support

The company offers customer support through an email based ticket system. The premium subscribers of the service can expect a faster turnaround time for their support queries while the free subscribers may need to wait for some time. It must also be remembered that the company changes the password of its free VPN service on a regular basis so you need to verify and update the password every time you want to connect to the service.

Pricing Options

VPNBook’s premium service is available from $7.95 per month and comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. The company’s free service does not require registration and is made possible through donations and advertisements.

Final Verdict

Overall, VPNBook delivers a decent VPN service. While the service is not without its drawbacks, it provides an efficient way to access blocked websites and secure your online presence. So if your need access to a VPN service sporadically or if your budget does not permit subscribing to an expensive privacy solution, check out the free service provided by VPNBook. For more information, please visit: www.vpnbook.com.