Vypr VPN – For All The Privacy You Need Online [Review]

Being a student, enthusiastic traveler, employer, and employee, I am always on the move. Even though I have opted for a generous data plan from Fido but being always on the move means I do, at times, have to rely on open Wi-Fi hotspots. This could be anywhere, while meeting a client at Starbucks, a quick highway exit to Tim Hortons, etc. Though I am easily able to get the work done but there’s always this lingering doubt in my mind pertaining to safety and privacy whilst accessing such open networks.

This is why I decided to try out Vypr VPN, a relatively well known VPN service provider. Courtesy Goldenfrog, I was allotted VyprVPN Premier account to play around and share my experience. Before beginning, It important to know that this isn’t a sponsored article or in any way motivated to promote VyprVPN or Goldenfrog in any manner. The views shared are what were experienced after using their services for almost 5 months.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I’ll get back to VyprVPN. Being a VPN, you barely need to access their control panel rather it’s more about how the service works. However, I would still mention that their control panel is slick and shows only what is required i.e. connection information, rest is pretty basic (account information, etc.)

Setting Up VyprVPN

Getting started with VPN can really be a pain. I have come across software which tend to mess up with networking drivers but VyprVPN offers a different approach. They, like others, do offer a dedicated software to get started quickly but they also offer a detailed setup to configure and use the built in VPN client. And the best part is this support is across different platforms i.e Android, iOS, Windows, Chromebook, Mac, even your router! A less technical user would rather rely on applications available for aforementioned platforms however, for a power users, setting up a VPN from the root is far more efficient and effective. In-fact this is one thing I liked the most about them, the availability of applications (and setup instructions) across different platforms and devices! Needless to say, irrespective of the way you setup you still get options to connect to a location of your choice.

Available Locations (Servers)

Having a bunch of servers across the world is important especially if you are planning to access locally available content. VyprVPN scores here as well! They have servers in different continents viz. North America, Europe, Oceania, Central America, South America, Middle East, and Asia we well. The detailed list (as of publishing this review) is shared in image below,

Now showcasing availability of servers across different locations is one thing but do they really work?! Well, I mostly had a positive experience in a limited location test. I connected to primarily servers in Los Angeles, Toronto, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney. Connection to them was made from Montreal, QC, Canada and New Delhi, India. And for all of them I tested using their app on Android, iOS (iPad), Windows, and Chromebook. The only server I couldn’t really verify was that of Mumbai, India. There was no problem connecting to it but while trying to access local content, I always encountered a “Content not available for your location” error. Further investigation revealed that for some weird reason the request was being seen as coming from UAE instead of India! Apart from this, all other servers worked as expected.

Important thing to mention here is that I had far greater success using the built in VPN client and setting it up for VyprVPN than the dedicated applications.

Browsing Speed, Pings

The worst ping I ever noticed was for Hong Kong server at 455 ms and best ever for Toronto at 15 ms. The former number might seem too high but in real life, you would hardly notice any lag (unless you are timing it out using a scientific watch!). The tendency is to go for the fastest connection (which the apps do automatically) but even if you were to connect to a ‘less responsive’ location, you should be fine!

As far as browsing speed is concerned, irrespective of the server (location), I always noticed a hit in browsing speed. I tested out the connection on a very high speed Bell connection and noticed following results,

On a more mediocre connection i.e. say a 20 Mbps line, the results are far less skewed. I was able to get download speed of roughly 14 Mbps. Now I am not sure how server speeds are handled but I am assuming that the servers are capped to discourage them being used a content hosting boxes. Anyhow, with what’s on offer, carrying out usual tasks like full hd streaming on YouTube, streaming Netflix content, etc is still a breeze.

For a starting price of $ 6.67 (USD) per month, you can give yourself a peace of mind with online safety. For more on Vypr VPN visit its product page.