VPN is becoming more and more popular. Not only do you prevent someone from seeing exactly what you do online, they also do an excellent job of bypassing blocks from, for example, Netflix or Hulu. We've made a selection of 9 popular VPN services and tested how good they actually are.
Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) has several advantages. Originally, VPN connections were mainly used to secure the exchange of data. All packets are encrypted on one side and decrypted on the other, so the data is worthless if anyone can eavesdrop on the connection. That remains ideal for business-critical applications. Also read: What is VPN?
Nowadays it is also becoming indispensable for private individuals to escape the prying eye of various agencies and services. And then you don't even have to do anything very secretive or dangerous to the state. Running a VPN service almost permanently is a great way to avoid unnecessary peeping.
How does it work?
An application, for example a web browser, wants to send or receive data over the network. These are not sent via your standard network adapter, but delivered to a virtual network adapter, which first sends the data to, for example, the OpenVPN software. There the data is encrypted, provided with a new delivery address and then forwarded via the virtual adapter to the real network adapter. The encrypted traffic is sent via your internet router to your internet provider, which delivers the packets of data over the internet to the final destination - in this case the VPN provider. This decrypts the data and sends it to the final destination.
Geo-blocks
There are also services that use geo-blocks. For example, streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu. These services tailor their offer to the region where users are located. On the one hand, this has to do with copyrights on the films and series that are offered, but it is also a proven means of tailoring the promotion of the content to the user group. A VPN can help to circumvent such blocks, because your computer receives the IP address from the so-called VPN endpoint. This is also known as the exit node.
If it is located in the United States, for example, then you are visible via an IP address in America. All VPN services offer users the opportunity to determine themselves through which server they are visible on the internet. In this way, local television channels such as BBC can be viewed via the iPlayer. In addition, the VPN providers offer alternative DNS servers. These DNS servers translate computer names into IP addresses and their operation depends on the area they are located in.
Technic
From a technical perspective, almost all VPN services work with the same VPN techniques. This concerns the protocol with which the data is encrypted and the system with which the data is sent over the internet. In practice, the standard is OpenVPN, an open source protocol for which various software exists. Other popular protocols are PPTP and IPSEC. The first is a somewhat outdated protocol that does not offer much protection against eavesdropping, but is very efficient and widely supported. The second is mainly used for corporate networks and can use different encryption systems so that the data is encrypted reliably. It is less suitable for home use.
We found the possibility to double encrypt the traffic with a number of providers. Now that doesn't seem very practical, but it is an efficient way to prevent firewalls from detecting that a VPN connection has been established. This is useful if an internet connection is restricted by a firewall or if there is reason to believe that traffic is being filtered, something that is used in some countries to prevent the entire internet from being reachable.
The test
In our test, we made a selection of the most popular VPN providers. Because there can be many reasons to use a VPN, we paid attention to VPN providers that support different protocols during the selection. In addition, they must at least have servers in the Netherlands and the United States, because those are the areas that most users search for. During the test we paid attention to the technical implementation, the software used, the simplicity of installation and of course the security. Because most providers work with the same technology, we see only minor differences there. Finally, we tested the performance by testing a connection via a normal internet connection and we dived into the data center to measure the total capacity using super-fast internet connections.
You can find all the individual opinions of the different providers in the table.
Who is listening?
One of the main arguments for using a VPN is the fear that someone is watching your transactions on the internet. All the revelations from WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden have made people aware of the possibilities of investigative services and of course they are trying to protect themselves against it. That is why all VPN providers screen with their 'no logging' policy, so that the government can never see what data you have requested. That sounds nice, but of course nobody sees what is actually stored and you cannot control it. Therefore, check the conditions for using the VPN connection carefully. This usually describes the policy when government services request your data.
Be careful with payment
You can easily pay for almost all services with credit card or PayPal. Note that you often enter into an automatic payment relationship. If you do not cancel, the contract will be extended every month and the monthly amount will be debited. Fortunately, you can cancel this monthly with every service, but you have to do that yourself.
How we tested
Testing VPN connections is a chore. We therefore looked at a number of different factors in our weighting. First of all, the user experience is very important. We have therefore installed and tested all clients. They all work the same under the hood, but some are more intuitive than others. We also looked at performance. Through available tooling, we performed bandwidth tests between a server on the Internet and a client PC. We performed this test on a normal cable connection and in the Redbee data center in Amsterdam. There we have access to a 1Gbit connection, so we can also see how the service performs when quite a bit of bandwidth is required. Finally, we looked at the techniques used and the underlying business information. We have not discussed all tested services in more detail, below you will find the most interesting or different VPN services.
1. AirVPN
AirVPN occupies a dominant position in the secure connection landscape. The internet is bursting with rave reviews, mainly due to the completeness of the service. AirVPN has its own software for Linux, Mac and Windows, but other platforms are also supported because OpenVPN software is available for them. There are clients for Android, iOS and it is even possible to install the VPN software on a number of internet routers. You have to adjust the firmware in your router for this, but from that moment on all connected computers are protected.
AirVPN not only supports the usual OpenVPN connection, it is also possible to use OpenVPN via a different encryption protocol, SSH or SSL. The theory behind this is that the double layer of encryption provides protection against DPI (Deep Packet Inspection, a technique that some governments use to eavesdrop even the encrypted traffic).
One of the possibilities of AirVPN is to set up 'remote port forwarding'. This allows other users to reach your computer. It is a setting that is useful for some protocols, for example bittorrent. If you are looking for a provider with an extensive selection of clients or if you are looking for a solution that you can program in your internet router, AirVPN is the best choice.
2. BlackVPN
The people behind BlackVPN decided in 2012 to move their business from the United States to Hong Kong. Inspired by the work of the founders of The Pirate Bay and the revelations of Edward Snowden, they feared that the US government would impose rules on eavesdropping on traffic. By relocating their company to Hong Kong, they hope to avoid this kind of regulation, as Hong Kong is known as a champion of privacy protection.
To set up a VPN via BlackVPN, a user can choose from OpenVPN, IPSEC over L2TP and PPTP. The second option is built into Windows and OS X and is therefore easy to configure. The support for PPTP is remarkable, because that protocol has a number of security risks, which you want to avoid via a VPN connection. BlackVPN does not have its own client, but provides a free license to the excellent Viscosity. The website also suggests a good number of clients and also has decent documentation on how to set them up. A nice extra that BlackVPN offers is the VPN router, an internet router that is fully equipped to send all your internet traffic through a VPN connection. This prevents software from having to be installed on your computer. The VPN router is a Cisco E1550 with custom firmware, you can order it through the website.
BlackVPN offers packages at different prices. There are special packages for users who only want to watch TV, for users who are mainly looking for privacy, but of course there is also a 'Global' package that includes all functionality. If you are interested in the ready-to-use router or if you only want to pay for streaming content, BlackVPN is worth it. However, it is not the cheapest in the test and the lack of its own client can be an objection.
3. CactusVPN
CactusVPN is a company that mainly focuses on circumventing geo-blocks. In addition to offering VPN services based on OpenVPN, CactusVPN offers the so-called SmartDNS service. SmartDNS overrides the DNS settings on your computer so that for some sites, your computer may appear to be in a different country. SmartDNS can be used in combination with a VPN, but in terms of functionality it also works without a VPN. The advantage of this is that there is slightly more bandwidth left for video, for example, but the connection is then of course not encrypted.
CactusVPN can be used with a standard OpenVPN client, but the company has also released its own software for Mac, Windows, Android and iOS. In addition to OpenVPN, the most common VPN protocols are supported. CactusVPN also has support for SoftEther, an alternative to OpenVPN that makes it easy to set up a VPN behind a connection where only web traffic is allowed.
The company behind CactusVPN is registered in Moldova. Not exactly an eye-catching advocate of privacy and also not a member of the EU, but the servers are set up in four different countries, including the Netherlands. CactusVPN is one of the cheapest providers in the test, but also has a limited number of areas where servers are located. If you are looking for the lowest price, the CactusVPN service is the best choice.
