VPNFire Review – Is The Service Any Good?

By Paul Liu
Monday, July 6th, 2015

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VPNFire is a Hong Kong based service provider which has been offering privacy services for the last 6+ years. Established in 2008, the provider offers super flexible subscription plans to suit everyone’s budget and needs. In this extensive VPNFire review, we will check out what the service is all about and also reveal whether or not it makes sense to subscribe to the service.

Server Locations & Site Access – VPNFire has 200+ servers in United States, United Kingdom and Hong Kong including more than 50 servers in US alone. Due to vast numbers of servers available, the service is well suited for business travelers and expats who cannot access their favorite streaming services from foreign locations due to the geographical restrictions put in place by the content providers. Once you have a VPNFire account, it becomes incredibly easy to watch On-Demand shows, movies and live events on Netflix, USA Network, NHL, HBO Now, BBC iPlayer, Pandora, Xfinity, TVB, Demand 5, ABC Player, NBC, FOX, Lovefilm, 4OD, MLB, MyTV, UK TV, Amazon Prime, STV, iTV Player, CBS, Eurosport, Hulu, Vevo, HBO Go, Sky Go, Vudu, MTV and CWTV regardless of your current location. The service even works as a censorship and firewall busting solution and allows you to access popular services like Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, Viber and Skype even if they are blocked by the government (as in China, Middle East and Latin America) or network administrator (as in schools, universities and workplaces). With VPNFire, it is even possible to access local content from both the US and UK since the provider has not set any restriction on server switching.

VPN Speed & Bandwidth – All VPNFire servers are connected to Tier-1, Gigabit ports which means you would never have to face buffering, slow loading of pages or unbearable delays. The service even comes with a built-in video accelerator that speeds up video streaming even when you are watching HD content. What’s more, the service not only speeds up streaming and browsing, it also provides good speeds for video conferencing, VOIP and gaming sessions. On the downside, the provider doesn’t offer unlimited bandwidth plans to its subscribers.

Privacy Settings – VPNFire provides security and privacy through PPTP and L2TP protocols. The service creates a 128 bit encrypted tunnel and routes all your internet traffic through it which ensures that your private data remains safe from hacking, sniffing and eavesdropping while your online sessions remain protected from snooping and wiretapping. The service even secures your passwords and financial transactions when you are connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi network at a public place. As you might be aware, criminals and hackers thrive near wireless hotspots installed at hotels, airports, malls and parks so it is a good idea to preserve your privacy with a VPN.

VPNFire is a zero logging service which means no records of your online sessions are kept by the provider. While the company does not sell, rent or trade your personal information to third parties, it would abide by all legal proceedings and court requests.

Supported Operating Systems – VPNFire works on Windows (XP, 7, 8), Mac OS (10.5+), iOS (4.0+) and Android. iPad and iPhone users can setup the service through an auto-setup system that is available on iTunes store but users of other devices and operating systems would need to configure the service manually. VPNFire is one of the very few VPN service providers that permits unlimited number of simultaneous logins from multiple computers and mobile devices.

Customer Support – VPNFire offers support via email. There is not much information available on the company’s site regarding how to resolve common VPN errors so you would need to mail the support staff even for minor issues.

Pricing Options – VPNFire uses a radical “Pay For Use” subscription model. Depending on your needs, you can either subscribe to a time bound or data bound subscription plan. The time bound subscription plans are available from $0.99 for 1 week (1 GB data limit), $3.99 for 1 month (5 GB data limit), $7.99 for 2 months (15 GB data limit), $23.99 for 6 months (50 GB data limit) or $47.99 for 12 months (125 GB data limit). On the other hand, never-expiring data based plans are available from $0.99 for 500 MB, $1.99 for 1 GB, $7.99 for 5 GB, $11.99 for 10 GB and $69.99 for 100 GB. The company offers 10-100 MB free bandwidth to new users (200 MB for iOS users) so you get the opportunity to test the service before paying anything.

Final Verdict – VPNFire delivers a satisfactory privacy service. The lack of OpenVPN protection and unmetered bandwidth plans is definitely a problem but the video accelerator feature and innovative data plans definitely deserve a praise. Since the service offers free bandwidth to new subscribers, I urge you to test the service for yourself and see whether it matches your security and privacy needs. For more information, please visit: www.vpnfire.com.

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July 6, 2015

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