VPN.AC
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VPN.AC is a VPN service based in Romania that provides its customers with secure encryption, super-safe apps, and many other interesting features. This VPN was founded in 2009, and since then, it has been a true revelation in this industry. VPN.AC has millions of users, 32 servers in 21 countries across Europe and North America. They say that they are "faster, safer, and better” than the majority of VPN services. Also, VPN.AC has reasonable pricing plans, P2P, and up to a maximum of six connections on a single device, simultaneously.
In this review, you will be able to find out why this VPN is considered one of the finest in the business.
What are the features of VPN.AC?
VPN.AC offers both regular and top-notch features. Here are some of the best features that this VPN can offer to its users:
· DNS Leak protection
· Kill Switch
· Unlimited Data
· Good For Torrenting
· Access to Netflix
· Access to Amazon Prime
· Unlimited Bandwidth
How much does VPN.AC value your privacy?
The main objective of a VPN service is to protect your identity and not let cybercriminals near your data and personal information.
Because this is a VPN from Romania, that means that the EU Data Retention Directive won't be applied to this VPN because the government of Romania has declared that directive unconstitutional. When you're connected to this VPN, they will not log your activity. But, they will keep connection logs, such as your IP and traffic amount, for security reasons. Users of this VPN don't have to be worried about their privacy being harmed because they delete these logs every day. The Terms and Conditions and the VPN'S Privacy Policy, are written and explained in plain English, so you don't have to raise any concerns about the text being confusing or unclear. Users won't have any trouble finding all the necessary information like the address of the company, fees, the registration of the company, and so on.
VPN’s must have steady and reliable encryption and VPN.AC can offer that to their users. This VPN offers the state-of-the-art OpenVPN protocol accompanied by a 256-bit AES encryption. This encryption is used and recommended by security professionals who are more than satisfied with how their private information is being protected with this encryption protocol.
If you're using an older connection or a device, this VPN service is also going to offer you PPTP. But that's not all. VPN.AC also has a superb security feature- the kill switch. For instance, you're in a coffee shop, and you're connected to a public Wi-fi with your smartphone. But, all of a sudden, the web connection drops, and you have to use your phone data to browse the Internet. It's good because you are online. On the other hand, it is t so good because your internet session could be exposed. This is where the kill switch helps as sort of a backup plan in this kind of emergency.
If you want to get internet access after the kill switch was activated, you have to go to the "Network Troubleshooter," or perhaps reconnect with the VPN server. Some complain that the kill switch "broke" their Internet connection. But, here's where the Restore Gateway feature comes to assist. You only have to click the button "Restore Gateway", and your Internet connection will be reset. This VPN is among the first to offer this option.
What encryption protocols does VPN.AC use?
This list will contain the protocols you can choose while you use this VPN, and we will give you a short summary of each of those protocols.
1.) PPTP- this is one of the oldest encryption protocols, and you should only use it if you want to have great speeds for Netflix and streaming. On the other hand, it isn't so great for your security.
2.) L2TP- this protocol is excellent because it will provide you high speeds. As far as security goes, it is average. Also, this encryption protocol is great if you have an older mobile device that is supported by iOS or Android.
3.) OpenVPN plus 128-bit AES- It would be best if you use this protocol because you will be highly-secured and have high downloading speeds. 128-bit AES is excellent for preventing cyber-attacks, so there is one more reason why you should use this encryption protocol.
4.) OpenVPN 256-bit- the most powerful and safest encryption protocol is this one. If you're very concerned about the security of your personal data, choosing this encryption protocol will remove any doubts you might have about the security of your information. The only downside is that it is somewhat slower than the 128-bit AES.
5.) Blowfish Encryption-picking this encryption protocol would be one of the best choices you could make. As far as strength goes, it is far superior to the 128-bit AES, and it is slightly faster as well.
How much does VPN.AC cost?
For a premium VPN service like VPN.AC that has super-safe encryption and secure apps, the pricing deals are very affordable, and one of the best deals in this niche. It would be best that you sign-up for a longer period of time because the pricing plans would be quite cheaper. The pricing of this VPN is quite inexpensive, but that doesn't mean that the quality of the service is poor. On the contrary, it is of the highest quality. If a customer finds the services of this VPN unsatisfactory, VPN.AC will offer the user an option of a 7-day money-back guarantee. This means that you can use this VPN for seven days, and if you’re not pleased with what it has to offer, you can get your money back. As simple as that. The fact is that this VPN has millions of users, and it is clear that not many customers have used that particular option.
In the following list, you will see the current price deals that VPN.AC as to offer to its customers:
· One month plan would cost you $9.
· If you opt-in for a three-month plan you would have to pay $24, $8 per month
· If you decide to use the VPN services for a year, you would have to pay $58, $4.8 per month
· If you want to use VPN.AC for two years you will have to pay an affordable amount of $90, $3.75 per month
This VPN supports a number of payment methods. You have the freedom to make payments with credit cards. You can also choose payment methods such as PayPal, Alipay, and UnionPay. Regarding these payment methods, VPN.AC makes sure to follow the trends of many VPN services, and that is the option to use Bitcoin as a type of payment.
Is VPN.AC easy to use?
On the main page of this VPN’s website, you will see a map of server locations, and as we've mentioned before most of them are in Europe and North America. But, there are a couple of servers in eastern Asia. This is a user-friendly website, and everything you need is right in front of you. You will immediately see the menu bar with sections such as features, tutorials, support, FAQ, etc.
The process of signing up at VPN.AC is quite simple. So, now, we will provide you with the necessary steps on how to make an account on the website of this VPN.
1.) First, you're going to see the four different pricing plans that this VPN has to offer. You have to choose one that seems the most affordable and click the "Get It Now" button.
2.) Then, you have to provide your e-mail address as well as the password. Also, you have to choose the country at which you reside at the moment.
3.) When the sign-up process is over, and your payment is fully processed, you're going to get a confirmation e-mail. That e-mail will contain the login details.
4.) You will get your password as well as username. It is highly recommendable that you change your password that you chose once you were signing-up. Click on the “client area” to successfully change your initial password. When you did that, you’re all set, and you’ve made an account.
Once you've logged into your own account, you will see a small number of settings, such as past invoices, news, etc. Also, you can choose to turn the VPN on and off whenever you like. Besides this, you can choose a darker and a lighter user interface.
Is VPN.AC good for torrenting?
This VPN is great for torrenting as it offers access to many streaming services such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Video. Also, this VPN has servers that are optimized for P2P traffic. Mostly, these servers are from Europe, and users can enjoy some high-speed connections.
Besides this, VPN.AC offers SecureProxy service. This VPN has many proxy servers in a lot of countries. This SecureProxy service uses the so-called HTTP protocols that make sure that your connection is fully encrypted, and this protocol also diverts connections with the help of a third-party server. This protocol unblocks the regional restrictions on a number of streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Your traffic will be relocated to a proxy server that will allow you access to the before-mentioned streaming services. Thanks to SecureProxy, you will be able to get past the regional restrictions and watch your favorite video content on your preferred streaming service. Now, we will provide you with the correct steps you would need to follow in order to watch video content on a streaming service. We will use Netflix as an example:
1.) First, you have to sign-up at the VPN.AC website.
2.) Then, you would have to connect to a certain server in the country where you would like to watch Netflix series and movies.
3.) Log into your own Netflix account.
4.) Sit back, relax, and pick a Netflix series or a movie .
What devices can you use VPN.AC on?
This VPN supports a wide range of platforms and devices. This VPN offers a fantastic lineup of applications such as Windows, Mac, iOS as well as Android. You have the chance to download the software from the website of VPN.AC.
Also, you can use this VPN on any device of your choosing, whether it is a smartphone, tablet, or PC. As we mentioned earlier, with one account, you can use the services of this VPN with a maximum of six different devices.
Thanks to this VPN, you can protect all the devices that you have in your house. You only have to install VPN.AC on your router and you're good and worry-free. Besides the applications, you can also find extensions for three browsers. Those browsers are Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. But, you should remember that if you use an application, your devices will be more protected then if you were to use a browser.
Is the customer support of VPN.AC reliable?
In the support section, you’re going to see the ticketing system as well as tutorials. The customer support team of this fantastic VPN is highly professional and kind. There are many ways you could get in touch with them. First, you have the opportunity to send them an e-mail. But, first, you have to fill the support form. Users can also reach the customer support staff with Skype as well as a messaging app. The average time of response to an e-mail is a couple of hours. Meanwhile, if you contact the customer support of VPN.AC with the messaging app, you will get a response in a matter of minutes. This VPN also has an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section where you will get answers to the most common questions that were asked by many users
This VPN also has a knowledge base where you can learn more about VPN.AC, and how to resolve the most common troubleshooting problems.
VPN.AC on Windows
VPN.AC provides a simple .exe installer for their Windows client. On their website, the download page was pretty hard to find. It’s hidden in the client area under the “Quick links” part.
The application opens with the main menu open and the full application can be accessed and checked out without logging in. Just like the website it has a very professional and simple design that might be appealing for companies.
Before you can start using the application first you must log-in to the service under the Preferences tab. VPN.AC provides a unique VPN username and an automatically generated password for their users, the password can be changed but the username can’t be modified. Right under the log-in fields, are some application options like starting the application with the OS, automatically connecting when the app launches, or switching between the Dark, and Light theme.
After entering the log-in credentials you can start using the service by selecting a location from the dropdown menu and clicking the large connect button. The app also shows the users their current IP address and location. VPN.AC provides an IP leak test tool, and a window to check the connection logs. To our understanding, the connection logs are only stored locally and they are lost when the application is restarted, this feature can be useful for the professional users.
The server list is categorized by continent, China optimized servers, and Double hop servers. Next to the server names is a latency indicator to help the users choose the right server. Double VPN will relay all network traffic through two VPN servers instead of just one improving protecting the client’s data even if the exit VPN server is compromised.
There are a fair amount of settings that the users can fiddle around with. In the Advanced settings menu, you can find the protocol settings and all of the connection options. VPN.AC provides a handful of protocols to choose from like OpenVPNECC, OpenVPN 256-bit, OpenVPN 128-bit, OpenVPN XOR, IKEv2/IPsec, L2TP/IPSec, PPTP(not secure) all protocols that support port selection come with the option to change their port.
The service also features an internet kill switch which blocks all internet traffic if the VPN is off.
Considering everything, VPN.AC provides a well made and professional Windows client. We would like to see an ad blocking feature added in the future. During the testing we didn’t run into any problems there were no IP-leaks and the Killswitch worked in every scenario.
VPN.AC on IOS and Android
VPN.AC provides applications for both Android and IOS, these can be downloaded from the Play Store and the App Store. The two clients can’t even be compared to each other, while on android the users get a good amount of settings and features, the IOS app is basically just a server list with a connect button.
The IOS version is really simple and has no settings at all. It uses IKEv2/IPsec with AES-GCM encryption and there is no way to change that. It has a server list and a connect button, it has no additional options whatsoever. This is probably the reason for the 3.8-star rating on the App store, which is surprisingly good compared to other more advanced VPN clients.
In the rest of this section, we’ll be talking about the Android client. After installing the app the whole application can be accessed, but we can’t connect until the VPN username and password are entered in the Prefs tab.
Under the Username and Password, fields are some of the application settings like, Connect on boot or Auto-connect and a switch to choose between Light and Dark theme.
After entering your log-in credentials the service is ready for use, start by selecting a location from the Location menu and clicking the large connect button. The app also shows your current IP address and location. VPN.AC provides an IP leak test tool, and a window to check the connection logs. To our understanding, the connection logs are only stored locally and they are deleted when the application or the phone is restarted, this feature can be useful for professional users.
The servers are the same on all platforms, some of them support P2P, others are optimized for use from china or they make use of multi-hop connections. All servers run on “bare-metal” non of them are virtualized.
In the Advanced settings menu, users can switch between 4 types of OpenVPN protocols, like OpenVPN ECC, OpenVPN 128-bit, OpenVPN 256-bit, and OpenVPN XOR, all protocols can use several different ports. The app has an option called Small packets which aims to improve stability on slow networks and networks running old equipment.
There are some advanced features provided in the app, that is the option for split tunneling which allows other applications to bypass the VPN network, and there is also a feature that draws out usage graphs.
Overall the Android application is a fully-featured and very professional platform, that has a wide range of options and features. The only thing that we would like to see is an ad blocking service. On the other hand, the IOS app is very basic and we would only recommend using it if there is no other choice. While testing we didn’t run into any bugs and the VPN passed our leak test.
VPN.AC on Linux
VPN.AC provides a graphical client for Linux which is really nice to see, it’s not often that providers take the extra inconvenience of developing and maintaining a visual Linux client.
Installing the program is really simple. All you have to do is download the .deb installer from the website of VPN.AC and run it. The download site says that the client is still in the beta phase and this means that it’s for 64bit builds only and it’s only available on Debian based distros.
Once the installation is completed the application can be accessed by launching the VPN.AC shortcut. Just like on all other platforms the program opens with its main menu screen and every part of it can be accessed except for the connect button without logging in.
The client has a light and a dark theme, it has the option to Auto-connect on Software launch, and other smaller app-related settings.
After entering the log-in credentials you can begin using the service by selecting a server from the dropdown menu and clicking the large connect button. The app also displays your current IP address and location. VPN.AC provides connection logs that are stored locally and they are deleted on reboots.
There are a fair amount of settings that the users can fiddle around with. In the Advanced settings menu, you can find the protocol settings and all of the connection options. VPN.AC on Linux only supports OpenVPN but it does support several different types of OpenVPN these include OpenVPNECC, OpenVPN 256-bit, OpenVPN 128-bit, and OpenVPN XOR all protocols come with the option to change their port.
VPN.AC does provide a Kill Switch which blocks all internet traffic if the VPN disconnects, it has the option to use Lower MTUs (Maximum Transmission Units) it aims to improve connection reliability by lowering the size of the packets sent on the network.
Thanks to the graphical interface VPN.AC’s Linux client is really simple to use, and it was refreshing to see a provider take the extra step and make a good graphical client for Linux. Something that we would like to see added in the future is an ad/malware blocking feature. During our testing, the software showed no bugs and it didn’t crash once, and also passed the leak tests.
Using VPN.AC on a router
We tested VPN.AC on a router running AsusWRT firmware but the service supports any router compatible with OpenVPN.
Setting up a VPN connection on any router running AsusWRT is really simple, VPN.AC’s website has a tutorial for setting up the VPN on different firmwares but it has no screenshots and it can be misunderstood easily. If someone is new to VPNs on routers we recommend checking out a 3’rd party guide.
First, navigate to the VPN panel on your router’s configuration page here select the button to add a new profile, give the connection a name enter your username, and password provided by VPN.AC on their website (please note that these aren’t your VPN.AC login credentials, these are automatically generated and can be found in the client area of the website).
VPN’AC provides easy to use configuration files that have all the necessary configurations for the server of your choice, these config files can be found on VPN.AC’s website and they can be downloaded either as a .zip library or as individual files.
Using a VPN on a router can make devices that don’t support VPNs by default use a VPN network. The only drawback of using a virtual private network on your router is that it’s very hard to switch between servers.
Setting up VPN.AC was easy but it would be nice to see some more in-depth guides in the future. While testing the service we didn’t run into any technical problems and the VPN passed all leak and security checks.
Server locations for VPN.AC VPN
NORTH AMERICA
Canada; Canada - Montreal; Canada - Vancouver; Canada - Toronto; United States; US - Ashburn, VA; US - Atlanta, GA; US - Chicago, IL; US - Dallas, TX; US - Denver, CO; US - Kansas City, MO; US - Las Vegas, NV; US - Los Angeles, CA; US - Miami, FL; US - New York, NY; US - San Francisco, CA; US - San Jose, CA; US - Seattle, WA; US - St. Louis, MO; Mexico
CENTRAL AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
N/A
SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil
EUROPE
Belgium; Finland; France; Germany; Italy; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom
ASIA
Hong Kong; Japan; Taiwan; Singapore
AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST
N/A
OCEANIA
Australia