PrivateInternetAccess
Website: www.privateinternetaccess.com
Price: From $3.33 / Month. (If purchased via 12-month plan) Accepts Bitcoins and Ripple.
Our Rating: – 85%
Protection: 5/5
Software / GUI: 3/5
Features: 3.5/5
Speed: 4.5/5
Ease of Use: 4.5/5
Service Overview and Reviews
Protocols: Open VPN, PPTP plus L2TP/IPsec.
Service: PrivateInternetAccess offers a paid VPN service with 3160+ servers in 33+ countries.
The software is installed using the normal OpenVPN GUI and there is a TCP option for each server. Set-up for PPTP is via control panel. Also compatible with Mac, Linux and Android.
PrivateInternetAccess utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it should not be possible to match a user to an external IP.
They allow up to two simultaneous connections, so users using OpenVPN can also multi-hop which enables the highest levels of anonymity.
Use up to 5 devices simultaneously.
Privacy: No traffic or request logs are kept and they maintain they cannot match a user to any activity on their system as they utilize shared IPs. See their Policy/Terms/FAQ
Our Thoughts: This is a rapidly expanding VPN service with very good speeds across their network and they are hard to beat on price for the longer term plans. Privacy is placed at a premium and you can pay using decentralized currencies such as Bitcoins or Ripple.
PrivateInternetAccess User Reviews
Summary
Reviews
Their protection best shines in their in their shared IP system and their policy of maintaining zero logs, something many claim but as Torrent Freak reported, it seems many mean that in different ways. So far I have had zero problems hopping from IP to IP based on geographic locations in their handy little systray tool. I came from BTGuard and the speeds are amazing. I keep a Canadian IP until I need to be back in the states for my needed collections of netflix (remember your location can limit or eliminate you titles available in streaming content). The price seemed too good to be true, but sure enough it’s 6 bucks a month or 3 somthing a month if paid annually. From the time I downloaded the file to the time I was up and running was under 5 minutes and took almost no effort, something even my family could do.
cheap but disappointing dumb software port fowrding not work slow speeds.
Used PIA for 2 months now and have just signed up for a year.
Totally reliable, never drops out and the speed is always excellent.
Very easy to configure for target counties and has the ability to set fail-safe checks if you stupidly shut it down before you should have!
Thoroughly recommended.
I’ve never had such a fast VPN. Well worth it!
fast, reliable. been connected for 2 days straight and not one disconnection. i feel a lot safer torrenting.
Please rate this VPN from your own experience via the form below:-
PrivateInternetAccess Speed Test Results
PrivateInternetAccess Speed Test
Below you can see our testing results for PrivateInternetAccess. For more details of how we conduct our speed tests go to VPN Speed Tests
Test PC #1 – United States – OS (Ubuntu 11.10) – ISP (Cox)
| SpeedTest.net (Firefox) | Location | Ping | Download | Upload |
| Not Using VPN | United States | 32 | 18.83 | 7.22 |
| OpenVPN | Netherlands | 196 | 6.94 | 6.02 |
| OpenVPN | United States | 40 | 12.64 | 6.94 |
| OpenVPN | United Kingdom | 179 | 7.9 | 4.84 |
| OpenVPN | Canada | 123 | 4.32 | 4.00 |
| Download Test (Curl) | Location | File Size | Av. Speed/sec | Time/mins |
| Not Using VPN | United States | 783M | 1640k | 08:08 |
| OpenVPN | Netherlands | 783M | 1256k | 10:37 |
| OpenVPN | United States | 783M | 1204k | 11:05 |
| OpenVPN | United Kingdom | 783M | 1222k | 10:55 |
| OpenVPN | Canada | 783M | 1377k | 09:41 |
| P2P Test (Deluge) | Location | File Size | Av. Speed/sec | Time/mins |
| Not Using VPN | United States | 703.1Mb | 1.6Mb | 06:57 |
| OpenVPN | Netherlands | 703.1Mb | 1.59Mb | 07:23 |
| OpenVPN | United States | 703.1Mb | 1.62Mb | 07:14 |
| OpenVPN | United Kingdom | 703.1Mb | 1.61Mb | 07:16 |
| OpenVPN | Canada | 703.1Mb | 1.52Mb | 07:44 |
Test PC #2 – United Kingdom – OS (Win 7) – ISP (Sky)
| SpeedTest.net (Firefox) | Location | Ping | Download | Upload |
| Not Using VPN | United Kingdom | 32 | 10.56 | 0.94 |
| OpenVPN | Switzerland | 59 | 8.37 | 0.89 |
| OpenVPN | United States | 107 | 9.12 | 0.87 |
| OpenVPN | United Kingdom | 41 | 9.92 | 0.89 |
| Download Test (Curl) | Location | File Size | Av. Speed/sec | Time/mins |
| Not Using VPN | United Kingdom | 620M | 1241k | 08:31 |
| OpenVPN | Switzerland | 620M | 1119k | 09:27 |
| OpenVPN | United States | 620M | 899k | 11:45 |
| OpenVPN | United Kingdom | 620M | 1141k | 09:16 |
| P2P Test (uTorrent) | Location | File Size | Av. Speed/sec | Time/mins |
| Not Using VPN | United Kingdom | 695Mb | 1.1Mb | 10:22 |
| OpenVPN | Switzerland | 695Mb | 0.81Mb | 14:47 |
| OpenVPN | United States | 695Mb | 0.97Mb | 12:16 |
| OpenVPN | United Kingdom | 695Mb | 1.0Mb | 11:07 |
Tips: There are four US servers to pick from but selection is random so you may have to reconnect a couple of times if you insist on a particular US server.
Note: The handshake protocol (MSCHAP_V2) used by many PPTP connections has been cracked and therefore PPTP could now be considered unencrypted. For maximum security use OpenVPN or L2TP.