Private Internet Access VPN – Today I’ll, be demonstrating private Internet access, so I’ll, be downloading the app to my desktop and show you around and see how it works. I’ll. Also be testing the speed of the service to see how fast they are and can the unblocked Geo restricted content like Netflix, we’ll, find out later on and towards the end I’ll, be showing you how reliable and supportive their Customer services, so let’s, go ahead and try out private Internet access, private Internet access markets itself as being the ideal VPN to shield your internet traffic from third parties, whether it’s, hackers or advertisers seeking to Hoover up your data.
Private Internet Access VPN
Apps are provided for all popular devices that include Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, and these contain all the features that will block advertisements trackers and malware. Also, these apps support all major protocols and they’re very easy to use, and I’ll, be showing you this in just a moment.
Over 3000 servers are available in 25 countries. However, if you really want to dive into the specifics of this VPN, then do take a look at the detailed expert review over a VPN mentor com. But for now I’m going to move on and show you their pricing plans.
Table of Contents
What You Have To Get From Private Internet Access VPN
Once that was completed, installation actually took about three minutes, and then I was up and running. So when you’ve lodged Private Internet Access VPN, simply input your username and password, and you also have access to your settings panel. So this app is much more basic than some of the other apps I’ve tried. There is no world map where you could zoom in and select your server location and also most of the settings are very basic on the main panel.
You can choose to start the application on startup or automatically connect to a server when you launch the app to access the rest of the settings. Click the advanced option on the bottom left. Here you can choose which connection type you prefer, whether it’s, UDP or TCP.
The remote port option gives you the chance to select which port you prefer. If you’re, not certain what to do just keep it on auto and similarly, you can manually enter a port number here and the request port forwarding is a feature that can be used to optimize, torrenting and peer-to-peer activities. Although it’s generally not needed for normal browsing, so you can just leave this unchecked if you prefer, as stated in the introduction, try the internet access offers to help block ads, trackers and malware.
When you connect to the VPN, all you have to do is tick. The box here and you’ll, be ready to sophomore securely. The VPN Killswitch is an extra feature that will safeguard your data, and this ensures that no internet traffic can leak back to your ISP if the Private Internet Access VPN connection cuts out for any reason, and you don’t want that if you’re Downloading or streaming content, which will be almost like using the internet without a VPN, so take this box just to ensure that all your traffic comes to a halt if the VPN cuts out so the DNS leak protection is another valuable feature that will strengthen your privacy.
This means that all DNS queries will use private in Access’s own DNS service, rather than your original ISPs to enhance your security and privacy. Again, you can switch on the ipv6 leak protection and this will block any internet traffic from using the ipv6 protocol.
While you’re connecting to the VPN. Without this feature, some websites and services that do use the ipv6 protocol will end up routing all that data back through to your ISP and not the VPN, and so you probably don’t, want that so make sure to take this box and by Ticking use smaller packets.
This will slightly improve the performance of the VPN on some routers and mobile networks, and selecting the debug mode will create and store a log with certain details about the apps performance. So, in the event that you need technical assistance, then Private Internet Access VPN can use this data and provide you with a solution much more quickly and smoothly, and so the final panel of settings gives you the choice to select which encryption methods you want.
However, as some of this looks confusing – and you can always just select the default settings, okay with that demonstration out of the way what I’m going to do now – is quickly connect to one of their servers just to see how well this app Works for me, you’ll notice, a drop-down box named region.
This is the way you can choose which server location you prefer and another way to select a server is to hover over the app icon found within the icon tree as displayed here. So right-click and then all the servers will be displayed. So I’ve chosen Island and I’m timing. This connection to show you how fast it takes to connect – and so Islands is a neighboring country to where I’m based in the UK, so this should connect pretty quickly excellent.
It only takes 8 seconds so that’s, all good. So let’s, disconnect for now, and I’m gonna move on to test Private Internet Access VPN a little bit more thoroughly. So I’ll, be testing the speed of their service and whether they have the power to unblock the popular streaming service Netflix. But first this IP link test will show you that I’m no longer connected to the VPN and all my traffic is being handled by my original ISP based in the UK and before testing the speed of private Internet access.
It’s worth testing with the speed of my original Internet service provider, so we can then compare the results and give you a clearer idea of how fast this VPN really is. So the results give me a ping of 40 ml Ekans. I tell the speed of 19 megabytes per second and an upload speed of 21. As I stated already, I’m going to CFP ia can unblock Netflix so being a UK resident. Very often, certain films and TV shows aren’t accessible in my location and can only be viewed if I was located elsewhere, such as the US and so to demonstrate this.
I’m gonna search for a TV show called the West Wing. This isn’t normally available in the UK and is only part of Netflix’s, u.s. catalog. So as I search for this, it’s. No surprise that I ‘ Ve got no results at all, so the only way I can watch this show is to hide my normal IP address and tunnel.
My internet traffic, through one of Private Internet Access VPN, US servers, and so before doing this, don’t forget to sign up from Netflix clear, your cookies and restart your browser, and this is to ensure that you stand the best chance Of unblocking their content, so there’s, no interference from your previous browsing session.
So let’s head back to private Internet access and I’ll select one of their us servers. So I’m. Just gonna choose Florida again let’s time this connection to see if their app is efficient as last time again, quick and simple, and this time it takes seven seconds so once again, here is an IP leak test which conforms that my data Is being routed through the u.s. IP address in Florida? Of course, as promised.
Speed Test
Let’s do the speed test of this server, so Private Internet Access VPN is giving me a ping of 149 milliseconds download speed of twelve point nine one and a lot will speed of seven megabytes per second. So, with these speeds, I will still be able to browse with little enter option, and also these are reasonable speeds that can provide a smooth streaming experience. Don’t forget that servers that are farther away from you will impact on your connection.
Speed, so save as closer to you will generally be a lot faster for this demonstration. I’ve chosen Florida because I need to unplug Netflix, and so there’s only one way to find out how this server impacts the streaming quality. So let’s head back to Netflix, I’ve now entered the u.s. catalog of Netflix. So let’s, search for the west swing again, and it now appears as the first result. So let’s. Click play and see what happens excellent, so Private Internet Access VPN has successfully unblocked Netflix and if I quickly skip to another part of the video buffering, time is pretty many more, as you can see, so well done.
Private Internet access. Okay! So now I want to show you is how to cancel your account and also show you how responsive their customer support is when I ask for a refund so to cancel simply log into your story by clicking login at the top of the main home page.
Once you’ve logged in scroll to the base of the page, including then click cancel subscription. You’ll, then be brought to a page where you’ll, be asked for a reason for canceling, so tick. Whatever box applies for you and then click complete cancellation, you will receive a notification on-screen and you’ll also receive an email to confirm that you’ve cancelled your account and that your automatic payments have been suspended. However, unlike some other VPN providers, private Internet access, doesn’t automatically supply you with a refund.
When you cancel your account and as stated here in the FAQ S, you will have to send support a message to request your refund, either by email or contact form. As shown here, I submitted my request via the contact form. However, unfortunately I didn’t receive apply from support after sending this message. So even though canceling my account was easy enough, chasing them for a refund, on the other hand, has proven to be slightly more difficult.
So, in summary, Private Internet Access VPN did provide a straightforward and smooth app. I had a smooth browsing and streaming experience thanks to the fast speeds and of course, as you saw, they did unblock Netflix successfully, so that’s, a plus.
The only drawbacks were. I couldn’t find a connect button within the app itself. Instead, I had to navigate to a task bar to right click on the mouse and then connect that’s, just a minor drawback and as you witnessed, you do need to chase them up for a refund. If you choose to cancel in your account, whereas some VPN providers actually just do this automatically and of course you witnessed that I didn’t actually receive my money back and I didn’t even receive a reply from support either.
