Even in this day and age, access to certain websites is blocked in many countries. There are several reasons for the bans that range from political to religious. Thankfully, for those who do want to access all of the Internet, virtual private networks like VPN by Private Internet Access exists. Even if there are no bans on websites in your country, it is always better to be on the safe side and use a VPN for security purposes. I live in a country where a lot of websites are permanently in accessible through normal means. Not only this includes social networking websites but also some educational forums which are deemed inappropriate by the government. Has this stopped me from gaining access to the websites I want? Absolutely not because I use a VPN. The Internet censorship has been going on for at least 5 years here and by now. I’m an expert on free VPN’s as well as some paid ones. We have already written an article about best VPN apps on android so make sure you check that out as well.
Interface – (4/5)
When you start up VPN By Private Internet Access you’ll notice that the interface is kept quite simplistic. This is a great way to ensure that the users have quick access to the VPN activation button as well as the option to change servers. There is a big button fight dab in the middle of the screen that allows you to activate the VPN without having to fiddle any options. Simply press the button and the VPN will activate and you will have complete access to the Internet. I also really like the simplistic interface because 9 out of 10 times I only want to activate the VPN and don’t even want to check out settings. Overall I give the interface high rating because it values the time of users and places the most important option at the most accessible location.
Servers – (5/5)
I have used a lot of free VPNs for the years and these days I am big fan of Opera VPN. However, I was completely taken aback by the sheer number of servers available on the VPN by Private Internet Access. Don’t take me wrong, Opera VPN is one of the best free VPNs available but it has only 5 different servers choose from. 5 is a pretty small number when compared to dozens available on VPN By Private Internet Access. One good thing about the servers is that they are easily accessible and they also show the ping which is essential in selecting the best server. Although I have noticed that the automatic option works well, it connected me to USA servers a lot despite other servers having lower ping. So I recommend that you select the server that suits your needs and stick to it because some websites may not be available on all servers.
Connectivity – (5/5)
This is a premium VPN service and as it is a paid one, I expected it to be stellar in connectivity. When I first tap the connect button and allowed permission for the VPN to activate, it only took 2 seconds to connect to a server. At first I thought it was a glitch and the app hasn’t actually established a connection but when I opened a band website, I was surprised to see it working perfectly fine. I disconnected and tried different servers and came to the conclusion that the connectivity of this app is out of this world. It only takes mere a second or two connect to a server which is for me and an incredible feat. Maybe I was beaten down by free VPN services that take a long while to connect, but this certainly seemed like a marked improvement. Is able to stay connected for around 2 hours, granted most of which was on idle but I did play some videos for around 30 minutes or so. Connectivity was top-notch during the whole process.
Access and IP – (4/5)
I was able to access any website I wanted, and use those specifically banned websites and they were fairly easy to access. I visited some forums that are in accessible here and they were loaded extremely fast to. Even threads that are hundreds of posts long didn’t have trouble loading on my smartphone. The IP address of my device was masked easily and I was able to test it out myself. You don’t have to worry about changing your IP address because the app will take care of it automatically.
Speed – (4/5)
The speed on the other hand was quite frankly halved. It is not a bad deal but I expected a little bit more out of it. Maybe it was the servers I connected or maybe my Internet was not working very well during testing, but the speed was on the average half of what my Internet provider provides. Was I able to stream high quality videos? Absolutely there was not a single buffering screen I saw during my testing. And yes I did stream some objectionable content because why not, and everything worked really great.
Pricing – (4/5)
VPN by Private Internet Access is available for $7 on a monthly basis which seems a little steep for my tastes but if you’re into quality services this may not be that much. Or if you are like me and want to better deal, you can simply purchase ease a yearly account for $40 which will run you around $3.32 per month. That number seems significantly smaller than what you have to pay for a standalone month so I say it’s a great deal.
Conclusion
Overall VPN by Private Internet Access is a capable app that delivers a lot of punch for a very small fee. I was able to browse the Internet without any worries of access and speeds. Browsing as well as streaming videos worked perfectly fine and I faced no problems whatsoever in terms of connectivity and access. Overall I give huge thumbs up to this app, all they need to do is polish some design aspects and they have a very stable, fast and feature-rich VPN app on their hands.
