VPNArea Review
[Presented by BestCloudBest.com]
Many Internet users want to browse while protecting their privacy and security, moreover, many want to unblock streaming and torrenting services. “Virtual Private Networks” (VPNs) enable these, therefore, VPN services are increasingly popular among Internet users.
Several VPN service providers are competing in a growing market, therefore, it can often be hard to choose a VPN service provider. VPNArea is one such popular VPN service provider, and it offers robust privacy and security features.
This service provider also unblocks streaming services, furthermore, it allows users to access torrenting services. The company has reasonable pricing plans. Should you use VPNArea? We have reviewed all key aspects of this provider so that you can make an informed judgment.
Your privacy at VPNArea
Privacy is one of the main reasons for Internet users to look for VPN, and VPNArea does really well in this area. The company maintains a strict “no-logs” policy, and it doesn’t track any activity of its users.
VPNArea clearly states in its privacy policy that the company doesn’t store or monitor VPN activities of any of its users. The company removes apprehensions by stating that it doesn’t track login dates, connection timestamps, incoming/outgoing IP addresses, bandwidth statistics, or any other identifiable information.
Offshore Security Ltd., a company registered in Bulgaria owns VPNArea, and its jurisdiction is in Bulgaria. Bulgaria has no data retention laws, which is good news for the users of VPNArea.
Offshore Security Ltd. hosts its emails and servers in Switzerland, which is well-known for its secrecy laws. We don’t see any reasons for VPNArea to come under any pressure to change its “no-logs” policy, which is an advantage for its users.
As an added privacy feature, some of the VPNArea plans include a dedicated and shared IP address that they use for all its users. The result is that one can’t distinguish the Internet activity by one user from the others.
With VPNArea, you can prevent your ISP from knowing which websites you visit. The company has its own DNS servers, which further boosts its strong privacy credentials.
VPNArea doesn’t require you to provide any personal information even when buying its product. You can use a temporary email address, furthermore, you can even use a non-existent email address. The company doesn’t need you to click any confirmation link to activate your account. You will need to access your email if you need to reset your account password.
Is your data secure at VPNArea?
If you are shopping for a VPN, then security is likely high on your priority. We are happy to see that VPNArea does very well concerning this, and the company takes comprehensive measures to ensure security.
VPNArea uses OpenVPN, which is the benchmark in the industry as far as VPN protocols are concerned. This protocol relies on robust SSL encryption, and OpenVPN has no known security vulnerabilities.
VPNArea also gives you the option to use PPTP, however, it’s a less secure VPN protocol. You don’t need to use PPTP, neither VPNArea does not recommend it.
With VPNArea, you are in safe hands as far as encryption is concerned. The company uses AES-256 encryption algorithms by default, which is used by most security-focused governments and militaries.
AES-256 algorithms provide excellent protection against brute-force attacks, moreover, they protect you against the risks of using public WiFi hotspots. VPNArea uses 4096-bit RSA keys and SHA-256 algorithms, which are well-known for their security.
VPNArea offers a “kill switch” feature, which disconnects your device from the Internet as soon as the VPN connection drops due to any reason. This VPN service provider protects you against DNS leaks, moreover, you can run DNS leak tests on servers before connecting to them. You don’t need to worry about IPv6 leaks or WebRTC leaks either.
VPNArea has an “Auto IP Changer” feature. You can set an interval using this feature, and VPNArea will change your IP address randomly every time that interval comes. You can block ads, moreover, VPNArea prevents malware.
Server locations of VPNArea
NORTH AMERICA
Canada; Canada - Montreal; Canada - Toronto; Canada - Vancouver; Mexico; United States; US - Atlanta, GA; US - Dallas, TX; US - Los Angeles, CA; US - Miami, FL; US - New York, NY; US - Phoenix, AZ; US - Phoenix, AZ; US - San Jose, CA; US - Seattle, WA
CENTRAL AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
Honduras; Panama
SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina; Brazil; Chile; Columbia
EUROPE
Albania; Austria; Belarus; Belgium; Bulgaria; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Iceland; Ireland; UK - Isle of Man; Italy; Latvia; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Moldova; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russia; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine; United Kingdom
ASIA
China; China - Beijing; China - Guanzhou; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Japan; Kyrgyzstan; Malaysia; Philippines; Russia; Singapore; South Korea; Taiwan; Vietnam
AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST
Cyprus; Egypt; Iran; Israel; Kuwait; South Africa; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates
OCEANIA
Australia; Australia - Adelaide; Australia - Brisbane; Australia - Melbourne; Australia - Perth; Australia - Sydney; New Zealand.
VPNArea claims on its website that the company has VPN servers in over 100 locations in 65 countries. The company has a presence in all the common geographies, e.g., North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia, APAC, etc.
Notably, VPNArea has a presence in some uncommon geographies too, e.g., Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa, and Russia. This VPN provider has over 200 servers, which might seem less in comparison with a few other VPN providers.
However, VPNArea explicitly states that all its servers are real. There are reports that some VPN providers use fake IP addresses to give the impression that they have the infrastructure in many countries, however, VPNArea steers clear from such questionable practices.
Unblocking streaming services with VPNArea
VPNArea unblocks popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer. You can see specific recommendations on its dashboard concerning which servers to connect for accessing Netflix USA and other streaming services.
Does VPNArea allow for torrenting?
VPNArea allows P2P/torrenting on all of its servers, moreover, the company doesn’t impose any bandwidth limitations. Users can find various tabs after logging in, one of which is the “P2P – Torrents” tab. It lists the servers that are best for torrenting.
Can you bypass internet censorship using VPNArea?
Some countries implement censorship, e.g., China uses firewalls for this purpose. VPNArea has Stunnel to overcome this. Stunnel is an open-source multi-platform application that provides universal TLS/SSL tunneling services.
With the Stunnel feature from VPNArea, you can hide the fact that you are using a VPN service. You can then bypass firewalls of the kind that China has and overcome censorship.
How much does VPNArea cost?
You will surely review the pricing plans of a VPN provider before you decide to buy its services, and we are happy to note that VPNArea has very reasonable pricing plans. The company has 3 pricing plans, and the difference between them lies in the billing options and associated discounts.
The pricing plans are as follows:
· Monthly billing: This plan costs you $9.90 per month, and you have a 14-day money-back guarantee. Note that this plan doesn’t include the dedicated shared IP feature.
· Yearly billing: With this plan, you are billed $59 every year. This translates to $4.92 per month, which is a considerable discount. VPNArea offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with this plan.
· Billing once in 3 years: VPNArea offers steep discounts with this plan. You are billed $107.64 once in 3 years, which means that your monthly cost is $2.99. The 30-day money-back guarantee is available with this plan too.
You need to specifically request a money-back if you aren’t satisfied with the service. For this, you need to contact the customer support team of VPNArea, and the company claims that it completes the money-back process within 48 hours from the time the request was raised.
VPNArea doesn’t offer any trial period. You can pay using all major debit and credit cards, PayPal, WebMoney, and Alipay. VPNArea also accepts anonymous payment using Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
The pros and cons of VPNArea
Having gained a clear understanding of the features and pricing of VPNArea, you will likely consider the pros and cons of this provider. This will help you to make an informed judgment.
VPNArea offers the following advantages:
· With its “no-log” policy and strict implementation of it, VPNArea has robust privacy credentials. The company has a jurisdiction that favors privacy, it doesn’t record any of your activities on the Internet, and it doesn’t collect any personally identifiable information. With its own DNS servers and dedicated shared IP addresses that prevent anyone to distinguish one users’ Internet activity from others, privacy is certainly a strong point of VPNArea.
· VPNArea uses the highly secure OpenVPN protocol, moreover, it uses AES-256 encryption. There are no DNS, IPv6, or WebRTC leaks, moreover, the company offers “kill switches”. Its “Auto IP Changer” feature adds to its security credentials, moreover, VPNArea blocks ads and malware. VPNArea certainly scores high so far as security is concerned.
· VPNArea has servers in all key geographies, moreover, its servers are all physical ones.
· With support and custom apps for all key platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, VPNArea has you well covered.
· With its setup guides, you can use your VPNArea account with routers, Kodi, and Amazon Fire TV. There are setup guides for other clients like OpenVPN and Viscosity.
· You can connect up to 6 devices simultaneously, which certainly helps.
· VPNArea has its FlashRouters partner setup from VPNArea, which provides pre-configured routers. Using these, you can set up DD-WRT firmware. You can connect unlimited devices in this manner.
· The website, as well as the custom apps, are easy-to-use.
· VPNArea unblocks popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer, and the company even recommends servers for this.
· Not only does VPNArea allows P2P/torrenting without any bandwidth limitations, but it also recommends servers that are suitable for P2P.
· With its Stunnel feature, VPNArea can help you to bypass censorship imposed by countries like China.
· The pricing is reasonable, moreover, VPNArea offers steep discounts in its 3-years plan. VPNArea accepts all traditional payment methods, moreover, you can pay anonymously using Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
· VPNArea has a professional and helpful customer support team.
There are a few disadvantages of using VPNArea, which are as follows:
· The speed is less at times, and this can impact your experience when using streaming and torrenting services.
· You can’t get a free trial.
· The monthly plan doesn’t include the dedicated shared IP address feature.
A few quick facts about VPNArea
Let’s summarize a few quick facts about VPNArea since this can help you to quickly compare it with other VPN providers. These facts are as follows:
· VPNArea has been in business since 2012, and the company is registered in Bulgaria. Offshore Security Ltd., i.e., the company that owns VPNArea has its email and servers located in Switzerland. Bulgaria has no data retention laws, moreover, Switzerland is well-known for its secrecy laws. Coupled with its strict “no-logs” policy, its jurisdiction helps VPNArea to ensure privacy.
· VPNArea has a shared dedicated IP address and own DNS servers, which add to its strong privacy credentials. The company collects no personally identifiable information.
· Security is another strong point of VPNArea, thanks to its OpenVPN protocol, AES-256 encryption, mechanisms against DNS/IPv6/WebRTC leaks. VPNArea blocks ads and malware, which further strengthens its security track record.
· VPNArea doesn’t quite offer the best speed among VPN providers, however, it offers reasonable speed.
· You can use streaming services, moreover, the company allows P2P/torrenting.
· VPNArea imposes no bandwidth restrictions.
· You can use VPNArea with Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, and the company has easy-to-use custom apps for each of these platforms.
· VPNArea allows 6 simultaneous connections.
· VPNArea has a professional and responsive customer support team.
· Its pricing plans are reasonable with considerable discounts in its 3-years plan. You can pay using all traditional payment methods, moreover, you can pay using Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
· VPNArea has a money-back guarantee, however, there’s no free trial.
Leak tests of the service
You would want your VPN provider to prevent IP or DNS leaks, and it’s a key consideration when you are shopping for a VPN service. VPNArea claims that it prevents any DNS, IPv6, or WebRTC leak, and we could confirm that.
Is VPNArea easy to use?
You will certainly look at the ease-of-use before buying a VPN service, and VPNArea scores well here. Its website is easy to navigate, and you can easily find the list of servers, its VPN apps, FAQ, and contact information. You will also easily find the option to buy its services and the members’ area.
· The process to buy is a simple one, where you need to choose a pricing plan first.
· As the next step, you create an account with an email address.
· Choose your payment method and complete the payment.
Customer service at VPNArea
VPNArea has 24/7 live chat support, moreover, users can open tickets from their members’ area. You can also send emails requesting support. The company claims that they will respond to tickets/emails within 4 hours, and live chat support is instantaneous most of the time. The support personnel are knowledgeable and professional, moreover, they are prompt in responding to queries.
VPNArea automatically sets up your account once you buy its services, and you can access its guides. This reduces your need to contact the customer support team. To summarize, VPNArea offers excellent customer support.
What's the jurisdiction of VPNArea?
VPNArea belongs to Offshore Security Ltd., which is a company registered in Bulgaria. Bulgaria doesn’t have data-retention laws, and the country isn’t one of the “14 Eyes” countries that allow mass surveillance.
The government in Bulgaria can’t force VPNArea to store data about its users, neither is VPNArea compelled to provide such information even under subpoena. Since VPNArea isn’t an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the company isn’t subject to the EU data retention laws.
Effectively, VPNArea can only be forced to provide data about its users under a court order. The company claims that it will contest such legal requests since it complies with all the applicable laws. VPNArea has received no such court order in its history of operation.
Now, let’s consider the fact the Offshore Security Ltd. has its emails and servers located in Switzerland. Although Switzerland is known for its secrecy laws, theoretically, the company can be subjected to the Swiss data retention laws.
However, VPN providers in Switzerland fall in a grey area as far as data retention laws are concerned. There isn’t a legal conclusion in the country about how data retention laws can impact VPN providers.
In summary, VPNArea has a jurisdiction that’s conducive to its “no-logs” policy. While future legal developments in Switzerland could impact VPN providers there, presently the company isn’t under any obligation to store users’ data and provide it to the government.
Does VPNArea keep any logs?
VPNArea has a comprehensive “no-logs” policy, and the company states this policy clearly on its website. The company doesn’t store or monitor VPN activities of any of its users. VPNArea states that it doesn’t track login dates, connection timestamps, incoming/outgoing IP addresses, bandwidth statistics, or any other identifiable information.
Not only does VPNArea maintain a “no-logs” policy, but it also doesn’t collect personally identifiable information about its users. You can buy its service anonymously, using Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Given that you don’t need to confirm anything by clicking a link in an email, you don’t even have to provide your real email address. You can buy its services using a temporary or non-existent email address, however, you need a real email address to reset passwords.
Encryption and security
VPNArea supports the OpenVPN protocol, which is well-known for security. While VPNArea also supports PPTP, which is a less secure protocol, you don’t need to use that.
The company uses AES-256 encryption, which is the industry standard. It also uses 4096-bit RSA keys and SHA-256 algorithms, which are very secure.
VPNArea prevents DNS, IPv6, and WebRTC leaks, which further cements its security credentials. Its “kill switches” and “Auto IP Changer” features add to its reputation vis-à-vis security.
Platforms supported by VPNArea
VPNArea has you well-covered as far as supporting various platforms is concerned. This provider supports Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. VPNArea has custom apps for each of these platforms, which ensures a great user experience.
The company imposes no restrictions on your data consumption. You can connect 6 devices simultaneously with VPNArea, moreover, you can share your account with your near and dear ones.
If you don’t want to use custom apps, VPNArea has you covered there too. The company supports IKEv2 VPN, which allows for native set-up on Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS.
VPNArea has manual setup guides for all of the above-mentioned platforms. The company also provides such guides for routers, Kodi, and Amazon Fire TV, moreover, VPNArea provides instructions to set up other clients like OpenVPN and Viscosity.
VPNArea has its FlashRouters partner setup, which offers pre-configured routers. You can use this to set up a DD-WRT firmware and connect unlimited devices.
VPNArea Windows application
Getting and installing VPNArea’s Windows application is easy. After downloading and installing the latest version of VPNArea from the official website we get access to the whole application, only when we tried to connect did the application ask for our username and password. If we wanted to create a new account or get a subscription we would have to do so from the website.
The application is very well made and adapts responsively to any resizing or dragging. The button menu placement takes a bit of getting used to but after a while, it gets easier to use. At the bottom of the window, there are two large buttons that switch between the server list and the settings menu.
Connecting to a server is easy. Just select a location from the long list of servers and click the large connect button. The server list is grouped into six different pages, the first one is the list of All Servers, there is a list of recommended locations another for our saved Favorites, one for the servers supporting P2P - Torrent applications, and some special servers. If you decide to buy a static IP address from VPNArea you can connect to your own private VPN under the Dedicated IP section.
VPNArea also features multihop servers which route your network traffic through two VPN servers instead of just one, the idea is that this extra layer of security protects the user’s identity even if the exit server is compromised. But using this option comes with its drawbacks, compared to just using one server the latency is increased and the download/upload speeds are reduced. It’s up for everyone’s own decision if that little extra security is worth the performance decrease.
Moving on to the settings we get the usual application related settings like starting with Windows, and automatically connecting to a server. There are also two types of built-in kill switches that aim to block all traffic if the VPN turns off or the connection gets dropped: the first one uses Windows firewall to block all internet connection, while the second one named “Nuclear option”, which disables all Ethernet/Wifi adapters on the computer. Both of the options worked fine during our testing.
The application also has a feature that claims to block ads, trackers, and malware. This function seems like it does not work at all and it fails to block any ads. Even on mainstream websites like Youtube, Facebook, or any news sites.
Under the connection settings, we can select between UDP and TCP with an option to manually select a connection port for our VPN but, there is no way to change the VPN protocol that the app uses by default.
VPNArea gives its users an option to set a custom DNS server, which is especially useful if you plan on using the VPN service with a custom content filtering DNS server.
Overall VPNArea’s Windows client is easy to use, but it is missing some features that we would like to see in the future like whitelisting and options for other VPN protocols. During our testing, we detected no IP leaks or security holes, and we didn’t run into any bugs or glitches.
The Android application of VPNArea
Most of the time mobile applications are far more basic than their desktop counterparts and it's no different story in VPNArea’s case either. The interface design is more or less the same as on Windows. It has the same list of locations and it does have the option to use “Multihop” connection with P2P servers but that’s about it.
Most of the time VPN providers give smartphone users a short trial, but sadly that’s not the case with VPNArea. If a new user wants to use the service they first have to go over to VPNArea’s website, register an account and purchase a subscription. The application has very few settings: we can choose between UDP, and TCP and select connection ports.
In the left sliding menu, we have options to contact support and to Renew/Buy a subscription but both of these options open up the system default browser. It would be nice to see a built-in surface where users can submit their questions, or register an account. In the same left menu, we also get access to some advanced information we can check out the app’s connection log. This feature is only useful if we have to do some troubleshooting, but it’s also cool to see what exactly is going on behind the scenes.
Picking a server is not exactly convenient as we have to scroll through all the servers to find the one that we are looking for. This could have been much easier if they just added a search bar. Users who paid the extra for their Private IP address also get to use it on android, if they manage to find it the extremely long list of private servers.
Considering the whole picture the Android application of VPNArea provides everything that an everyday user would look for in a mobile VPN client. This application is nowhere as good as what other competitors can provide in terms of service for the price they are asking. There are no widgets, no killswitch, no ad blocking service, we only get to use one VPN protocol, and the list goes on.
At least the service is secure, and we can happily say that during our testing we detected no IP/DNS leaks, the torrent servers were also secure, and we didn’t run into any bugs or glitches.
How to use VPNArea on Linux?
VPNArea currently has no graphical application for Linux but they do provide a simple terminal app. Because of this, it’s a bit harder to use their service on Linux than on other platforms, and there were some problems with the program.
The easiest way to get through the installation process is by following VPNArena’s tutorial for Linux as getting the service installed can be challenging.
First, we had to download the VPNArea scrip using the following command “wget --no-check-certificate https://vpnarea.com/downloads/vpnarea.pl” after the download has finished we had to make the script executable using “chmod +x vpnarea.pl”. Now the terminal application should be ready for use.
Make sure to remember the command “sudo ./vpnarea.pl” for later use as this is how we can start the application.
The script welcomes the users with the server selecting menu, here you can choose between 56 countries. Connecting to a server is done by entering the number next to the county’s name. Most of the countries have more than one server and users can choose between them in the next menu once the server has been selected, the last choice is between UDP or TCP, and also what port should the service use.
The last step is entering your username and password. As soon as you hit enter the application will spit out a lot of information, which we are guessing is for debugging reasons, but there is no indication whether or not the connection was successful or if it failed. As matter of fact it does fail quite a lot, at least half of our connection attempts timed out.
While installing the software for testing we ran into some problems with the VPN not connecting. Most likely the server list is not up to date in the app and only some of the servers from the list work.
VPNArea’s Linux client certainly needs a lot of work. But this application and interface is a good starting point on the Linux market. Almost none of the large providers have a graphical application for Linux so it’s acceptable to have a text-based one. As of now, VPNArena needs to pay more attention to their Linux client and add more features to it if they want to contend with other providers. During our testing, we found no privacy issues with the service, due to the connection problems, we can only recommend using this VPN on Linux if there is no better choice.
Can you use VPNArea on your router?
We tested VPNArea on a router running AsusWRT firmware and here is what we had to do to get it working, and what we think about the service on this platform.
Setting up a VPN connection on any router running AsusWRT is really simple, but if that wasn’t enough VPNArea has a good range of tutorials for different commonly used firmwares.
First, you have to navigate to the VPN panel of the router’s configuration page then select add new profile, give the connection a name, enter your name and password that you selected when creating your VPNArea account.
Next, we had to download some .openvpn files from the website of VPNArea. Once you decided which server to use, the only thing left to do is to upload the configuration file to the router and it was ready to use.
The main reason why people would use a VPN on their router is because it gives the ability for every device on the network to work with the service. The only drawback of using a virtual private network on your router is that it’s difficult to turn on and off and hard to switch between locations.
Setting up VPNArea was a really pleasant experience, and our testing shows no security problems/IP leaks and we didn’t notice any bugs or glitches while testing the service.
Our short conclusion regarding VPNArea
After we have reviewed VPNArea in detail, we are satisfied with its privacy and security features. It’s a “no-logs” VPN provider that collects no personally identifiable information from users, and its jurisdiction is conducive to privacy. The other privacy and security features of VPNArea are impressive, e.g., leak-proofing, “kill-switches”, “Auto IP Changer”, own DNS servers, etc.
VPNArea unblocks streaming services and P2P/torrenting services. It supports all key platforms with its user-friendly custom apps and allows a sufficient number of simultaneous connections. The speed isn’t the best in the industry, moreover, VPNArea doesn’t have a free trial period.
However, the reasonable pricing with steep discounts in the 3-years plan offered by VPNArea, along with its excellent customer service overcomes its few drawbacks adequately. VPNArea is quite certainly a good buy.
