Here is a brief summary of our review:
Before proceeding, as per tradition, we describe on what parameters our test will be based and what will be our yardstick.
What do we expect from a VPN service?
By definition, a VPN service must maintain the anonymity of its customers by hiding their true IP address , during all network sessions . Each VPN service is made up of three components, client, tunnel and server. All three must always do their best to remain anonymous. So from good service we expect:- complete, reliable and practical to use clients that know how to route all user traffic through the tunnel without leaks;
- the use of the best security protocols and the highest levels of encryption, to protect the transport of data through the tunnel;
- the servers must be really nologs , and they should not keep information of any kind that allows to trace the sessions of individual users;
- many servers in many countries to best circumvent geographic blocks, and access services in each country;
- an assistance service always present and ready to respond.
PureVPN has a complicated history but is now a certified nologs
This VPN had a really complicated 2018 year, in March it was inserted by an independent search among those that with a simple attack even exposed the real IP address of their users .In September, a new problem appeared as the client saved passwords in plain text to a file on the victims' computers.
Thanks to PureVPN's commitment, the situation now seems to have improved, these bugs have been fixed and their service has been certified by an independent company Altius IT . The company has found no trace of leaks and logs. In fact, starting this year PureVPN has adopted a more stringent serious and convincing no logs policy . The service also opened up to a community to track bugs and reward users for finding new ones: https://bugcrowd.com/purevpn .
These security problems are strange for this VPN, since they have their registered office in Hong Kong, a country that does not have legislation that requires keeping logs. Instead, it appears that at least in one case this VPN provided information about a client during a judicial investigation.
In short, a company that in the past has not behaved properly convincing, now tries to redeem itself in the eyes of consumers, also through independent certification.
PureVPN offers 5 interesting ways of use
The startup client offers you to choose between 5 different modes:
- " Stream ", mode dedicated to streaming services and circumvention of territorial blocks, this is the mode with the lowest degree of security;
- " Internet freedom ", dedicated to those who want to evade firewalls or censorships;
- " Security / Privacy ", mode dedicated to those who want to browse or download with maximum security, even if they make some compromises on the speed front;
- " File Sharing ", dedicated to those who want to download or share via P2P channels (torrent, eMule);
- " Dedicated IP " an additional paid method for those who want to have a stable IP address from another country.
The service has good clients on many platforms
The clients of the service are discreetly appreciated, they are available for Windows, Linux and Mac, Android, iOS, Android TV and FireTV. In addition, there are convenient extensions for Chrome and Firefox browsers, and it is possible to install on the most advanced routers (those with support for Open VPN, there are special guides on the page).
The client is not translated into Italian, but it is easy to use, once installation is complete, just start it and choose one of the 5 modes described in the previous paragraph and finally a server to connect.
The client and therefore the VPN would also have some advanced options such as Port Forwarding (which is very useful for eMule) and fixed IP, but they are options available only by paying an additional cost.
the desktop version of the client, which is the one we used the most during our tests, seemed quite complete, but also a little chaotic, it is likely to be in a moment of transition, some options such as the " VPN Hotspot " have the inscription that the function will soon be removed. With the next updates, the client will probably become more orderly.
PureVPN has servers that are good for P2P but not very useful for streaming
PureVPN offers a really large number of servers around the world (2000 servers in 140 countries) that can be used to unlock the Netflix USA catalog and that of Germany, France, Japan, Australia, England and Canada. It is not possible to use the VPN for Netflix Italia (which in any case does not require a VPN if you are connected with an Italian provider).However, many of the servers are not very useful for streaming from major legal services ( Netflix , Prime Video, Hulu, NowTV, Infinity TV).
The servers in the various countries are used to circumvent the geographical blocks and to see all the contents of the various services without limitations. The problem is that our tests showed that the major services block the addresses of PureVPN servers, so it takes many attempts to find a functioning one. Probably, Pure, in order to offer a suitable service, should do like some of its competitors: change the addresses of its most used servers very often.
The servers, on the other hand, had no problems whatsoever with IPTV , nor with pirated streaming sites.
The situation improves a little if you look at the servers dedicated to P2P downloads and VOIP, these are useful quite quickly, those of European countries allow you to approach 50 Mb / s.
It should also be noted that the connection to all the servers is very fast, one of the fastest I have ever seen among the various services tested.
Support for the best security protocols and 256-bit encryption
As we said, the encryption of the data exchanged between the client and the server along the VPN tunnel is fundamental. In this aspect PureVPN does not lack, it supports: PPTP, L2TP, SSTP, IKEv2, OpenVPN and the proprietary Stealth protocol.
IKEv2 and OpenVPN are two truly reliable protocols; we only advise against the use of PPTP which is now dangerously deprecated and full of known holes. We wonder why PureVPN still supports it.
The noteworthy presence of military-level data encryption with a 256-bit key should be noted.
Good customer service
The chat support service is always available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It responds quickly, competently and politely, we have tested them a few times and they have not been caught unprepared. Obviously, to communicate with them you have to write in English. On the Pure VPN website there are also a good number of illustrated step-by-step guides, which manage to be useful and clear.How much does PureVPN cost?
The cost of PureVPN is quite advantageous when compared to that of the main competitors: one month costs $ 10.95, one year $ 69.72 (which is 5.81 $ per month) and even 5 years at 1.65 $ per month ($ 99 in total) - currently in promotion!To take advantage of the offers and apply the coupons you can go to this page .
You can save further by using the coupon : "NOLOGVPN" (without quotation marks), which entitles you to an additional 30% discount that drops the two-year subscription to $ 55, for example. Applying the coupon is simple: before making the payment, just click on the word " Enter Coupon code " enter the code above and press the Enter key . We have no idea how long the coupon will remain active.
All plans offer the right to full refund within 31 days of subscription in the event of a withdrawal.
In addition, 5 different devices can be connected simultaneously with a single subscription .
Payment can be made through Paypal , Credit Cards, AliPay, and even Bitcoin .
Conclusions
PureVPN is a service that has convinced us in part . We have to admit that it has improved a lot in the past year, and that it is perhaps leaving some serious flaws behind. To date, however, we can only note some important shortcomings: it is a VPN suitable for Netflix USA and other supported countries. The desktop client is quite confusing and some advanced options like Port Forwarding are paid. Instead, they surprised us positively: the speed of connection to the servers, the performance of the P2P servers and the support .Strengths of PureVPN VPN
- Excellent speed and low latencies;
- Very fast connection to servers;
- Excellent support via chat;
- There are no limits for download, P2P or streaming.
Points of weakness
- Paid port forwarding;
- Chaotic desktop client;
- Not suitable for seeing Netflix Italia far from our borders.
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