Scrutinizing VPNs can be a difficult task, especially when we conduct our exhaustive bi-annual technical surveys of dozens of top providers. But we are just beginning, because it is important. Well, that's our job! And while we've reviewed most of these VPNs multiple times before, the industry is always on the move, evolving, updating, so there's always something new to learn. Here, we're going to talk about five of the most recent topics to get our attention, including significant changes to how VPNs want to be judged, how to measure the speeds of the fastest VPNs more accurately, and how much trust you really should. place. to all these "we unblock Netflix" claims.
1. Size doesn't always matter
VPN providers have been competing from the very beginning on the size of your network, and that makes a lot of sense. The more countries and locations a provider has, the more likely there is a server near you. We have seen the beginning of a change on this topic in some of our latest reviews. PureVPN offered 180+ locations in 140+ countries as of early 2021, for example; by October, that number had dwindled to 86 sites and 78 countries. By the old standards, that would be bad news, but not today. As the company explained: "...we've reserved dozens of virtual servers...to deliver a best-in-class VPN experience...Our physical VPN servers are more reliable and better equipped to deliver faster speeds..." PureVPN reinforced this by talking about starting to ramp up 20Gbps servers, providing additional bandwidth to its users. And other big providers are increasingly doing the same. NordVPN hasn't changed its number of locations significantly for some time, for example, but recently also talked about infrastructure improvements, including moving to 10Gbps servers. Next time you're shopping for a VPN, don't just look at the number of locations. Check the server page for more details, maybe browse the VPN blog, and see if they have more details on the network and its capabilities.
2. Netflix could win the VPN war
Netflix cracked down on VPNs even more than usual this year, banning some residential IP addresses because they were "associated with the use of a proxy or VPN." This battle has been going on for a long time, and the best VPN providers have always found ways to fight back, so it's tempting to assume it's pretty much the same thing. Our recent tests, however, suggest that this may not be true. Providers that unblocked Netflix in previous tests fared much worse this time around. Take Hotspot Shield and StrongVPN, for example, neither of which can unlock exclusive content in the US or Canada. It's just a temporary problem, isn't it? We asked Windscribe, and while the company didn't give up, it didn't look promising for the future of Netflix VPNs: “We're looking into solutions to fix this issue, but we can't currently guarantee Netflix unblocking will work. due to these sweeping changes put in place by Netflix." It's not all bad news. Some VPNs still work fine for unblocking, and ExpressVPN and ProtonVPN unblocked US Netflix and every one of our other test sites. Some providers have also added more unblocking options.Smart DNS is a clever technology that uses network trickery to convince websites to think you are in another location.It is simpler than a VPN and can be set up on smart TVs, game consoles and other devices where an app cannot be installed. NordVPN has a Smart DNS service, ExpressVPN's MediaStreamer also uses Smart DNS technology, and Private Internet Access just added Smart DNS to their service. There is no guarantee that this will get you to a particular site, but it's always good to have a backup system.
3. Mysterious protocols
Most of the best VPNs can encrypt your data using various protocols. These are usually industry standards, like OpenVPN or WireGuard, that give you a known level of security and privacy. And if a big vendor creates their own protocol, it will give you a lot of information about how it works. ExpressVPN has taken this to the ultimate open source, its Lightway source code, so that experts can examine every detail. What we found in our latest batch of reviews is that some providers are not that transparent. UFO VPN offers four VPNs, its website explains. That sounds good, until you read this, they are described as "Protocol A", "Protocol B", "Protocol C", and "Protocol D". Ooh, okay. Was there any information about ciphers, authentication, key size...anything? No, just vague descriptions like: "Protocol B is specially designed for making video calls." The UFO is not alone. ITop VPN lists its protocols as UDP, TCP, and HTTPS. At least these are known technologies, but the company is yet to provide any data to show how its protocols compare to industry standards. If you're just unblocking Netflix, you might not care much about encryption. But if you need a VPN with real privacy, make sure it supports a standard VPN protocol or has its own well-known system, like Hotspot Shield's Catapult Hydra or NordVPN's NordLynx. Because if it isn't, there's no way to know how secure your data can be. Sign up, if you'd like, but just cross your fingers and hope it's okay.
4. Simultaneous connections
Not too long ago, almost all VPNs had the same limit of five connections on the use of their service. In other words, you can connect up to five devices simultaneously. Our latest reviews show that this is changing in a number of ways. For example, ProtonVPN has doubled its Plus plan to ten devices as standard, and VyprVPN now supports connecting up to 30 devices. When providers maintain limits, they sometimes offer more flexibility. PureVPN has a limit of ten devices, but has added a multi-login system, which means that these devices can be owned by different users. If you have three people in your family, you can protect a phone and laptop each, while keeping four slots for smart TVs or other connected devices. While this is good news, it can't be compared to IPVanish, Surfshark, and Windscribe, which have no device limits. Still, this puts more pressure on companies that stick to the lower limits (or, like KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, charge extra fees for additional devices). Although we're reviewing ExpressVPN, its five-device limit seems somewhat archaic in 2021. We expect the typical "max device" allowance to continue to increase over the next year. Some providers will never switch to "unlimited" but that's okay, even a ten device allowance might be more than many would use.5. Beware of internet speed test sites
Measuring your VPN download speeds may seem easy. Connect to your nearest VPN server, visit a site like SpeedTest.net or Netflix's Fast.com, click a button and you'll get your results in less than a minute. But there is a problem. In fact, there are many problems in the different factors that can affect the result. Is your local network busy? A neighbor competing for a Wi-Fi channel? Maybe several users are suddenly connecting to this VPN server, or the speed test website is simply overloaded. In our recent reviews, we saw how the results of speed test websites can vary over time. Sometimes there can be a difference of 200 Mbps, 300 Mbps or more between one test and the next, at the same site. This doesn't mean you should ignore speed test sites. We use them for our own performance tests, but carefully and in a way that minimizes the impact of any bugs.