Pure VPN Review – Scam or not?
What is PureVPN?
PureVPN is a platform focused in VPN solutions, based in Hong Kong and administered by GZ Systems. It was founded back in November, 2006 by serial entrepreneur Uzair Gadit.
The service started operating with just 2 servers, but the number quickly increased to 16 in 2008. Today, there are more than 750 servers spread through 141 countries, with more than 88,000 dedicated IPs available.
Pricing and Plans
There is only one plan, whose cost varies depending on the billing periodicity and chosen duration. Prices start at 10.95 USD for 1 month of access, but can get as low as $3.29 / month with a 2-year subscription.
No free trials are offered because PureVPN states that quality comes at a cost. Users wanting to test their VPNs before investing a significant amount of money are invited to purchase it.
not sure whether to purchase a subscription or not? you can test the full service for just $2.50.
There is a 7-day refund policy for both first-time buyers and renewals, but it can be used only once and is subject to the account being in good standing (no suspensions) and having less than 100 connections or 3 GB of bandwidth used.
Authorized payment methods include credit cards, PayPal, Alipay, PaymentWalls, Cashu, cryptocurrencies and gift cards. The last two are offered as anonymous alternatives, but the money back guarantee does not apply to them (as well as to trials).
A broad range of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and some of the major altcoins (Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash, etc.) are accepted, through a partnership with CoinPayments.
Features
This is part of what PureVPN has to offer
Six protocols are supported: PPtP, L2TP, SSTP, IKEv2, OpenVPN and Stealth. Stealth is configurable only on Windows, unique platform that is currently capable of handling all of them.
The selection of the protocol is left to the user, as a tradeoff between different levels of security, speed and difficulty to set up. A table comparing their features is provided by PureVPN to assist its customers with the decision.
not sure which protocol to choose? simply check the table above
A given account can be used in 5 devices at once, and comes with unlimited bandwidth, anonymous browsing, connection security and P2P sharing. Besides traditional computers and phones, the VPN can also be configured in routers, gaming consoles and TVs, among other devices.
Not sure if PureVPN will work on your device? no problem, just check!
Privacy
The PureVPN team respects the privacy of their users and does not keep any activity logs. However, for statistical and performance purposes they track connection activity and bandwidth usage.
Some minimal personal data is also retrieved and used to enhance the user experience. No identity verification is required under any circumstances and, conversely, anonymous payment methods are listed.
Being based in Hong Kong might turn out to be an issue in the future, especially if the Chinese government in the Mainland were to intensify its presence in the island.
Security
Their VPNs support AES encryption up-to 256 bits. The only exception is the PPTP protocol which comes with a maximum of 128 bits.
VPN credentials are sent as plain text via email, but the user is advised to change them as soon as he can. Account activity is notified to the registered email, so that the user can take any necessary actions if something unexpected happened.
Corporate users are given as well the chance to enable two-factor authentication as an extra layer of protection to their accounts.
To further enhance the system security and privacy, a NAT firewall service is offered for $1.99 per month (regardless of the billing periodicity).
The Website
Their portal is nicely designed, with responsiveness in mind. Font sizes are adequate and easy to read and menus are placed appropriately.
PureVPN has a clean, responsive web site
Load speed is just OK, with some room for improvement especially when it comes to caching and imagery.
the website is somewhat optimized, but there are aspects that still need to be improved
False data is shamelessly presented. For example, it is easy to verify that the “last sold” time is just a random number within some range by opening the pricing page in different tabs. The pictures used to identify support agents are also generic photos taken from some internet database.
Support material has been carefully organized and compiled in an extensive and informative knowledge base. The support team will also gladly point you in the right direction within their complete documentation, through the live chat.
Support
An incredibly efficient live chat is available, which you won’t have trouble finding since it seems to follow you everywhere. Support agents are nice and will respond to your prompts in almost no time, doing their best to sort your problem out.
Other contact alternatives are the ticket system, email communications and reaching them out through their social networks accounts. Support is available all along, the PureVPN team is always ready to help you with whichever problems you experience (related to their service).
When it comes to requesting a cash back, they will first try to persuade you of sticking with their service, not only by providing technical support but also by offering discounts, but they will honor their word if your decision is final. The whole process takes a few days, so if you are thinking on asking for a refund, do it as soon as you can (remember its 7-day validity).
The Process
Signing Up
An account is automatically created for you after purchasing a subscription. First you have to select the length you want to contract the services for, select how you will pay and issue the payment.
Shortly after, you will receive an email with your account and VPN details. When you first visit the member area, you will be presented material of interest describing what to download and how to configure your devices.
The PureVPN Client
Clients are offered for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. Linux users need to manually adapt their system to route data through the just-purchased VPN service.
Nothing stops other customers from opting to set up the VPN by themselves too, which in fact gives some added flexibility to the configuration.
Precise instructions are presented in either case. Windows users will mostly follow the download-and-run behavior that characterizes their system, while customers using other OSes and devices will have to do some tweaks.
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- Go to the apps page and download the client
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- Double click the icon, follow the instructions and let it install
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- The client will configure a couple of things for you
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- Once installed, proceed to log in using the credentials you received after purchasing the membership
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- You will be taken through a quick configuration, tune everything according to your needs
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- You also have access to more fine-grained configurations, if you want
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- select a country (VPN) and wait for the connection to be established
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- After being presented this screen, you are ready to go
Performance (Speed, DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6 Tests)
We tested four of the servers, trying to grab them apart from each other, and looked at Speed and ping stats.
Speeds turned out to be fine for servers near our physical location, but those far away displayed poor performances. Pings were never under 150 ms, and raised to almost 350 ms at times.
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- Cape Verde
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- Ecuador
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- Italy (Milano)
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- USA (Phoenix)
There is some evidence suggesting DNS leaks and some inconsistencies revealed by the VPN could potentially enable websites to ban us out. Nonetheless, we tested sites exclusive to the geographical locations where our new IPs claimed to be from and we got access with little to no trouble.
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- RAI (available only in Italy)
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- Vevo (available only in 16 countries)
Extensions
PureVPN comes as well as a browser add-on, available for Chrome and Firefox, and a version for Opera currently in development.
the PureVPN extension is available for Firefox and Chrome
Installing the extension on Chrome is easy, since it is listed in the official plugin store. On the other hand, Firefox users are not that lucky and have to follow some instructions to get it running.
Mobile platforms
As it was mentioned before, there are apps for Android and iOS devices. A preview of the functionality and instructions for getting them running are presented on PureVPN’s website, here and here, respectively.
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- iOS
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- Android
For less popular operating systems, manual configuration is required. Specific instructions for Windows mobile are here; Blackberry users can check this other link.
What are people saying about PureVPN?
Reviews about the site are mixed, with some really good ratings contrasting 1-star scores. Some complaints that can be read here and there involve false IP connections, difficulties to connect, slow speeds and hidden terms.
This thread on Reddit, for example, points some flaws of the service and calls it “low quality”. This other review, questions almost every aspect of the site and exposes the misinformation that plagues PureVPN.
we are not the first to notice that PureVPN probably leaks
Pros
- Affordable subscription.
- Newbie-friendly.
- Strong security.
- Unlimited bandwidth.
- World-class customer support.
Contras
- False and hidden information (fine print).
- They keep logfiles and lied about it (!)
- No free trials.
- Slow speeds.
PureVPN Review Conclusion
PureVPN is a relatively cheap option, especially in the long run, suitable for browsing simple, blocked sites. Speeds are anything but good, so accessing media-streaming sites might not be the best use case for the service.
The site is newbie-friendly, so casual users have also a great alternative in this platform. There are guides for virtually everything and the few things undocumented are gracefully handled by the support team.
The biggest issue with PureVPN is that they lied about their logging policy – and got caught with it. They promised to us personally that they do not keep logfiles of IP addresses – but as this case shows, they did and lied about it. We do not recommend to use PureVPN for anything else than unblocking geo-restrictions, they are totally useless for anonymity.
Go to purevpn.com
I’d stay away from PureVPN, they cancelled my account a few weeks ago without notice requesting more information.
This is a dishonest service who doesn’t provide the service they promised, extremely unsatisfactory and does not honor refunds even though they give you a “risk-free guarantee”. They are thieves. Avoid this service at all costs.
Not reliable and when I logged a call they said they would call back and didn’t.
Connects sometimes and other times refuses to connect.
Sometimes it can see sites and next day can’t.
Flakey at best …. don’t think I’ll renew.
I would agree with Gary. Stay away from this company. They won’t even part refund after a 500 MB use. Don’t trust them with your money, or your online security!
Don’t buy it. It isn’t worth the money. it didn’t work for me (poor performance, bad service). I didn’t get my money back.
The best VPN i have tried so far. I have no complaints.
DO NOT USE: 7 Day Money Back Guarantee – what a load of rubbish, only if you don’t use their service.
I signed up for a 2 year deal wit the understanding of a 7 day money back but U kept getting disconnected and it would then not reconnect either. I tried various protocols as they recommended bit still no joy.
I asked for my money back after 24 hours and said i had used more than 500MB of band width and more than 30 sessions.
I signed up for 2 years of PureVPN service on Dec. 2, just before leaving on a business trip to China, so that I could access Google services while traveling.
On the same day, Dec. 2, I tested the PureVPN android app and couldn’t connect to any of their servers. I wrote to their customer support with 4 specific questions, noting that I needed access to Google services. Six days later, on Dec. 8, when I was already in China, I got a response from PureVPN Technical Support asking what my questions were and what I needed to do with PureVPN.
I tried using PureVPN several times when in China, selecting different servers, and it never worked. The error message it provided was “Seems like your ISP has blocked openVPN ports or this server is not responding at this time. Please try another server.” I tried servers in China, Korea, Hong Kong and the US, all gave the same error message.
I cancelled my PureVPN subscription on Dec. 19th, the day after I returned from China. Even though I was never able to use their service, PureVPN would not refund any of the money I gave them.
The PureVPN android app is poorly designed. It is unclear what options should be selected, and there is no help in the app to explain things. Their customer support was completely unhelpful, and requesting a refund was a series of hoops to jump through and fruitless in the end. I have nothing good to say about my experience with PureVPN.
This VPN did not work for met to stream Charter cable t.v. while I was on the island of Bonaire, the only reason I wanted it. The “24/7” live chat is not monitored 24/7, the wait times exceeded 5 minutes, which exceeds my patience.
They frustrate you when you try to cancel. I could spend many paragraphs explaining what I went through, but it took 3 days. I believe their 7 day cancellation guarantee is borderline fraud. They were trying to run out the 7 days, so I would have to pay up.
When I finally threatened to trash them on every review site I would find, and deny the charge on my credit card, they cancelled. THREE days! Uncountable emails What a rip.
Save yourself the hassle. Find another vpn!
I just had an hour and a half long chat session with them about their logging policies. They advertise, “Strict zero log policy”, and their slogan says, “Internet Freedom with Complete Online Privacy & Security” … yet when you read their terms of service: https://www.purevpn.com/term.php they say,
“We do not log any user activity (sites visited, DNS lookups, emails etc.) We only log access attempts to our servers (for security and troubleshooting). We do not get involved in any form of censorship. We do not give your personal info to any third parties. We do not cooperate with any requests for information unless we are ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction”
So I asked them what SPECIFICALLY do they log, and they REPEATEDLY told me:
“The session logs are kept and used to identify session durations, bandwidth used, access attempts made to our servers (for security and troubleshooting purposes), and user clicks on our software (to track the popularity of specific features and improvements).” They also said, “We just store the IP you use form the server as it helps us to improve the service”
So when I asked them … “So then you record the account AND the IP address used by that account as well as the date and time it was used by that account”, they would not stop dancing around the question and they would not answer me directly until I pushed the issue where they then said “What do you mean by ‘account’ ” … Im thinking to myself, “Really? You’re going to sit there and tell me ‘well, it depends on what is … is’ ” – in true Bill Clinton style … so we came to the agreement that an account was a purevpn account that someone uses to log into their service so that they can use it.
FINALLY, they admitted that *YES* they do indeed keep logs of this specific information:
The account name that you log in with (which can be tied to you directly)
The IP address that they issue you when you log in
The date you logged in
The complete time frame when you used the IP address that they assigned you.
So basically, all a court needs to do is issue a warrant, asking for the account information for which ever user had a specific IP address at a specific date and time, and BAM – you are no longer anonymous.
This place is a joke and they deliberately lie and say you are private when you in fact are NOT!
PureVPN online help sucks. PureVPN representatives, specially Andrew Hawkins, keeps repeating the same suggestions over and over. He doesn’t even bother to read my replies. He keeps suggesting actions that have already been made. In the end, he terminated the chat on his own! The problem remains: My TP Link C9 Ac1900 router’s speed is very slow compared to the PC (BOTH connected to the SAME server).Thanks a lot for a crappy service. That was a wasted $45 on PureVPN.
Got it for streaming, mainly Netflix US, but also French content. Streaming from Spain. Worked OKish in the beginning, not super fast in buffering, but enough to stream in HD. But then ran into first issues, couldn’t connect due to strange error messages in the client. Had to manually change protocols. Then started running into regular speed issues, couldn’t always stream properly. Then it started connecting me to incorrect places in the world. I wanted a US IP and ended up in Colombia or in France. That was it for me, stopped using it. Customer service responds fast but didn’t solve any issue in the end. They will refuse any refund in spite of the service just not working as advertised. 45 USD lost…
might be a good service but didn’t work for me.
Netflix did not accept me connecting through this service.
The customer service was available to respond but was not always upto the required level (many times same question)
Main issue
************
I asked for a refund before the “so called 7 days guarante refund” expired and this was refused because of too high consumption during the week that I was continuously trying to use their service and have it correctly set-up.
Think carefully before deciding to sign up to this service.
I’d stay away from PureVPN too. I used PureVPN on an Asus RT-N66U router and my download speed dropped from about 120 Mbs to about 4 Mbs. So after 3 days I tried to cancel my subscription and get a refund. On their subscription page they state a “7 Days Money-Back Guarantee. Try Risk Free!”. But it’s not risk free: if you used more then a 3Gb, this guarantee is no longer and there is no money back. THAT is not stated on the subscription page! Even their online chat closed your chat before you are able to give a negative comment about them. Poor poor service!
Worse service ever. Slowest and most unstable of all the services I tested. And as other say, this is a bunch of dishonest thieves who do not honor their so called money back guarantee. AVOID AT ALL COST!
Terrible terrible customer service……they just dont care and ask you to change router defaults and all sorts when they dont even understand the problem.
I had purevpn monthly registered. It was somehow unsuccessful and I cancelled my registration.
Unfortunately they tried to continue invoicing and get money from my PayPal account. When you register they made it automatic payment monthly and I I hadn’t cancelled my PayPal automatic payment, they would be charging to me without I noticed!!.
for watch italian tv are 3 months and doesn’t work anymore it’s crap don’t buy
I have never paid for anything so useless as PureVPN. It worked fine for a little while (after a bit of hassle at first with the settings that weren’t working). But after a few months I start having a lot of trouble logging in. Different errors. The helpdesk cannot help me. They just keep repeating the same useless sugestions. They refuse a refund, because you need to ask for it within a few days. Well, it worked then, but not anymore. My advice: find another company.
Used to work flawlessly, now 90% of the U.S. servers are stuck in a ” fetching IP Address” loop where it never connects.
PureVPN is a scam. I spent hours working with “them” to make a connection only to finally conclude it does not work where i reside. They then informed me by email that my fully paid account was blocked until “with trembling fingers you must first verify your identity by sending a scanned document with your name and address on it (a clear attempt at identity theft is what that is!). I decided to terminate my account after that message, which was within 24 hours of opening it, and here it is 10 days later and no refund despite the claim that they will give a full refund within 7 days of opening an account. After repeated emails to them (we are always available 24/7) there is still no acknowledgement that they will abide by their full refund claim. Stay away from these scam artists if you know what is good for you.
not half as bad as most of the people here claiming it to be. have doubts these comments are scripted :S
I tried to cancel my service under their “Hassle free 7-days refund policy”, after 3 days and well within the download limit, but was given the runaround for days. I have now raised a dispute with PayPal. Purevpn’s response was: “you are requested to please wait now, since you have opened the dispute and we
have to wait for the decision that is made by the paypal”.
AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!
I have payed one year subscription, the VPN is not working and they don’t want to give me the money back for the next 10 months…a pure fraud!!
So, I subscribed for a year and trying their android app. It simply not working and they were at loss for a solution. Furthermore, their split tunneling function for Windows is broken as hell. To be fair though, their speed is somewhat better than PIA and they have more servers available. Keep in mind, this is not the VPN you want to choose if anonymity is important since they keep logs files.
This software is okay.
You can’t connect! The app for the iPhone will consistently drop the connection after a few minutes.
Introduction:
I would highly suggest that you heed this review and take a look at the 1 star review by all the users here. The review by this webpage is based off advertised features and not real to life experience. Absolutely stay away from this company.
Issues:
I tried it out for the 7 day with 100% refund option, but you must purchase first to get it. They do not tell you that there are more limitations. Like a 3gb bandwidth limit. If you exceed that they will not refund.
Reason for Cancellation:
Terrible stability, extremely low bandwidth. I could not stay connected to them for any amount of time, and speeds ranged from 3 kb/s to less than 1 mb/s. Here is the error log from my router, it is a sniplet but the entire screen was filled with this error for several hours on multiple occasions.
Aug 22 06:04:19 openvpn[3210]: RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: de1-ovpn-udp.purevpn.net: Name or service not known
Aug 22 06:05:24 openvpn[3210]: RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: de1-ovpn-udp.purevpn.net: Name or service not known
Aug 22 06:06:29 openvpn[3210]: RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: de1-ovpn-udp.purevpn.net: Name or service not known
Aug 22 06:07:34 openvpn[3210]: RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: de1-ovpn-udp.purevpn.net: Name or service not known
Refund Process: I sent them an email, I contacted the Live Chat, who told me to send an email. I get an email back with a link stating I had to go to to request a refund. Once there I learn of the 3gb Limit.
Conclusion:
They seem like a legit company, they are nice until you want the refund. Even after showing them proof of the issues they ignored me. Look to another company to save yourself some money, headache, frustration, and time. These guys are by far one of the worst I have come across
Thanks guys, I’ve merely made a yearly payment, but had to read the reviews first, and at the end I’ve decided to give up, too much complaints here.
Thanks Gary, Chris, Alexander, etc. because of you I’ve finally decided to stay away from this company
No invoices, the ticket system is doesn’t work and purevpn can anytime changes your login data. This offer is not serious.
The PureVPN client would often hang upon launching on my Windows 7 PC. I uninstalled and re-installed 4 times to no avail. When it did load, connecting to the service took almost 1 min. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons I don’t feel comfortable with PureVPN is that it’s based out of China. We’ve all heard the news reports of State sponsored hackers from China.
I switched to Private Internet Access. Much better product, cheaper pr/mo and not had one problem with it. It’s US based but I don’t mind that since I’m doing nothing illegal. I just want to encrypt my Internet traffic from hackers.
Really poor, connection drops out every few minutes – should change their name to ConVPN
Pure VPN is one of the worst services I have used to date. Constant problems with their application, slow connections and drops constantly, forced to use outdated software because they can’t fix their own problems, customer service is literally one of the worst I have used for anything when it comes to technical support, they push you into their 2 year deal to only find out how terrible their service is after the 7 day money back guarantee. This truly is the worst service I have ever used. I am out the money on a 2 year plan and I am still going to purchase another plan with another company because the service really is that terrible. Once they lock you into their 2 year plan, you will hardly get a stitch of REAL support out of them.
They simply won’t give you your money back for nothing!
Is a BIG JOKE and SCAM. I have 4 Dedicated IPs which sometimes working sometimes not. The last 2 purchased recently is working bad, with one these days I lost more than 100 pounds because the service wrong function one account was closed and I lost that money. Customer support don’t resolved it, no refund no exchange. so will remain without money. A BIG SCAM. DON’T BUY!!!!!!!!!
Very disappointed by PureVPN.
First, I had the bad surprise to be refused for 7 days refund because I used more than 3Gb of data volume (refund condition quite hidden) !
Then, impossible to get a usable and reliable setting for OpenVPN on Tomato router. The support is very responsive, but except referring to existing tutorials, they only try to explain that the situation is “normal” and that they can’t do more, which is simply unacceptable.
My connection speed goes from 95Mbps without VPN to 25Mpbs on one server, less than 10Mbps for all the other using OpenVPN.
I don’t recommend this provider … at all.
Brutal. Connections were poor for the most part, and would die out completely in most cases within a few minutes. Customer service was a joke!! Thankfully, they refunded my money. That’s the ONLY positive thing I can say about them!! My new VPN provider is FANTASTIC!
I ask in the live chat if Netflix would work and they said yes, than I ask if PureVPN had an Android APP and they also said yes.
I purchased PureVPN and tried Netflix but it didn’t work on Android so I ask the support and they told me it only works on PC….. So I tried Netflix on PC but the quality is below DVD quality. When I turn off PureVPN it switches immediately to HD/4k.
I purchased it to watch the US Netflix and they told me it would work but I don’t find that it works if its below DVD quality and it can’t get higher.
After one month I still didn’t receive a refund and they don’t give me an answer anymore….. It’s all a bit strange !
To be fair, their customer service is polite and professional. But they don’t seem to know what they’re doing. They sounded like robots who keep saying the same thing that has been said already, without resolving the issue at all. It’s really frustrating, I had to move to a different VPN. Glad that I haven’t had problems with Astrill yet.
I have this service, While the laptop version has worked fine, I have been extremely disappointed with the android version that will not work at all. At first, it worked when I was on wifi, but not 3g. Then it stopped working on both. I chatted with the support team they they told me that I had to go into settings and set up a direct link to a specific server. The support team kept sending me links to the instructions that I could not access as your site is blocked where I am. I had to download a free VPN on my phone to view them. This free VPN works instantly with both wifi and 3g and does not disconnect when I go from one to the other. I still have not been able to get it to work on my phone and it has now been days. They also canceled my account for a few days as they said they needed a photo of my credit card. Eventually I complained enough that they turned it on without this.
PureVPN is one of the worst services possible! TONS of connection issues, unreliable, customer service has problems communicating in English, trick you into a 2 year contract to only hold you hostage, ignore your technical problems, and refuse to give you your money back even TONS of problems and them promising they will give it back, and then they make up excuses and stop communicating with you. BEWARE OF THIS SERVICE! WORST OF ALL THE ONES I TRIED! Still without my money and service now. RIP OFF COMPANY!!!!
Awful VPN. Connection worked fine for the first few months, then, after a few months, it started dropping every few minutes, making it impossible to use. I’ve tried everything the helpdesk suggested but nothing would work. Clearly a problem on their side, but they refused to refund. So, stay well away. It will stop working and they will keep your money.
5 years of personal use.
No issues at all
I’d give Purevpn a negative review if possible. I’ve found DNS leaks, very slow vpn connection, not able to ping cities/servers, DNS often fails to resolve, etc. etc. Save yourself a lot of trouble and choose another VPN provider. I regret subbing for 5 years…. WTF???!!!!
Not only did this VPN not serve the intended purpose, their customer service is the worst I have dealt with from any tech company in years. They were unhelpful and unwilling to honor their money back guarantee. I had to speak with at least seven representatives over two weeks to get anything resolved.