The need for online privacy and anonymity has increased yearly: hackers are an ever-present threat, as they can intercept your connection and steal your passwords. Even your credit card numbers risk being duplicated and used without your authorization.
You can handle many of those security threats with a reliable VPN service. Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, mask your IP addresses and hide your shared data and traffic to prevent you from being visible online.
The Internet is full of VPN clients of all types: free, paid, quality, and mediocre. There are dozens of providers out there. However, only a few can claim to offer a complete, reliable service, and one of the most widely acclaimed is IPVanish. This article will give you in-depth insights into IPVanish.
IPVanish Review
With most of the VPN industry agreeing on its high speeds and overall good performance, IPVanish is one of the top five VPN clients worldwide. Based in the United States, IPVanish offers exciting features and the ability to surf the web privately and anonymously.
IPVanish is regarded as one of the fastest VPN service providers in the market. It offers exceptional performance, especially for users who prioritize speed and reliability and enjoy watching high-definition multimedia content. Users will have an almost no-hassle experience, but since it has so many configuration options, it might be overwhelming for beginners in the VPN world.
Other features include the allowance of P2P activity, which means an excellent environment for torrenting with safe downloads is permitted. IPVanish lets users configure their privacy needs and preferences, and it has over 1400 servers in over 75 locations worldwide.
IPVanish ensures you can implement strong encryption, which means the data you share while connected will not be available to prying eyes around the web. The Windows client may be confusing, but this option delivers outstanding service overall.
Its primary positive points include a desktop and mobile client, breakneck speeds in the UK and Europe, and highly configurable software. However, the slowness of the customer and support service is another drawback.
IPVanish Servers
While IPVanish can’t offer 90, 80, or even 70 countries for the connection like a handful of other VPNs can, it is more than covered in that area, with over 2400 servers in 130+ locations strategically located around the globe.
Imagine accessing sites, series, movies, streaming channels, torrent pages, and other services from 60 nations worldwide: it is a dream scenario for people who love to get entertainment options on the web.
Although it doesn’t have a server in Russia, IPVanish is prevalent in European countries. In its hometown, the United States of America, it has more than 1000 servers in 20 different cities.
IPVanish for Netflix
Unfortunately, IPVanish is one of the victims of Netflix’s efforts to bring down VPN attempts to spoof users’ locations and access distinct geographical regions. The company blocked IPVanish’s servers, and thus, users can’t enjoy the international content of this online multimedia platform.
However, since the currently reviewed VPN choice has the United States as its hometown, IPVanish offers the American Netflix region (which has the most exciting and complete library of movies, TV series, and productions). If you are big on Netflix, you might want to read our guide on the best Netflix VPN.
IPVanish for Kodi
Kodi, an open-source multimedia platform, is a perfect choice for streaming addicts. They don’t have to pay Netflix’s subscription fee to enjoy the best movies, series, documentaries, short features, musicals, and other productions.
Kodi functions with official and unofficial add-ons. Since lots of them are available internationally, they can’t be unblocked from any location unless you have a VPN. IPVanish is one of the best VPNs for Kodi users because of its 60 countries (that means you can get add-ons from 60 nations!) and incredible speeds.
To run Kodi with your IPVanish VPN account, you must execute the app or client, depending on your device. Then, you will have unlimited access to all the add-ons from anywhere.
IPVanish for Torrents
Without encrypting your online traffic and masking your identity, your internet activity can be easily monitored by your government, ISP, and cybercriminals. This, along with some countries’ laws regarding torrenting and P2P activity, can limit your online experience and entertainment.
Fortunately, VPN services can help. IPVanish, in particular, provides an excellent atmosphere for torrenting and P2P activity, ensuring that your online activities remain private and secure.
There is nothing like torrenting with 100% privacy; IPVanish is the perfect tool. It provides a safe environment and advanced features, such as SOCKSS5 technology, which allows you to be completely anonymous.
IPVanish for FireStick
IPVanish Pricing
If you look only at the monthly price, you will notice that IPVanish is not precisely one of the cheapest VPN clients in the market, at $12.99. However, consider all its features, including secure encryption, privacy, anonymity, and the many servers and countries available for connection. In that case, you will realize the fee is more than fair.
Besides the monthly plan, IPVanish, like numerous VPN clients, often offers deals and discounts if the person acquires the service for over a month. For example, the quarterly mode costs $8.99, and the yearly one costs $6.49 every 30 days.
IPVanish Coupon: One of the best things about IPVanish is that it offers discount coupons, which give you an additional discount on its price. Currently, the IPVanish coupon SAVE20NOW is live, which you can use at checkout to save an extra 20%.
One of the most appreciated VPN features is the free trials and convenient refund policies. Keeping up with the norms of the VPN industry, IPVanish now also offers a 30-day Money-back Guarantee.
An excellent trait for customers is the vast array of payment methods that IPVanish accepts for its services. Those include credit cards (all the major ones), PayPal, Bitcoin, Giropay, CashU, DineroMail, and more.
IPVanish Speed and performance
IPVanish passes almost all speed tests conducted by specialists and experts. This US-based option can get 30-35 Mbps in UK servers and a similar rate in the rest of Europe, which is known to be particularly strong.
The speeds are not only high/fast but also consistent. Most servers in the United States can reach up to 25-30 Mbps. IPVanish has a compelling advantage over other providers. The standout feature is the option “Best server,” which automatically connects you to a fast server that is available. However, you may find a faster server manually than the one IPVanish assigns.
IPVanish has DNS leak protection and a killswitch, among other features. These ensure users’ privacy while enjoying some of the best speeds in the VPN market. You may not find a faster client in the UK, the rest of Europe, or the United States.
IPVanish’s speeds can compete with even the most reliable VPN alternatives in the field, and that is something that streaming lovers do not take for granted.
Usage experience
The “Best server” feature considerably enhances the user experience, mainly if the customer is a beginner in the VPN world. Without this, it would be troublesome for someone using a Virtual Private Network to navigate through the dozens of options and configurations for the first time.
The Android and iOS apps show your current IP address, the server you are connected to, and how long you have been using it. They also show the customer how much data it has shared with the system.
A minor drawback to IPVanish’s otherwise excellent service is the lack of an ad-block feature. A few things are as annoying as delaying one’s online experience because of inappropriate advertising messages you don’t want to see.
There are tutorials for installing and setting up IPVanish for Amazon Fire TV Stick, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, so users have guidance when they are amateurs. These apps usually don’t take long to download and are usable after installation.
The interface offers numerous configuration options that can personalize the VPN experience. IPVanish has also added support for light/dark mode to match the OS preferences.
Protocols and Encryption
IPVanish is rich in security measures and features, particularly for mobile devices such as iOS and Android. One standout feature is “network block,” which prevents certain apps on your phone from accessing the internet until the VPN is enabled, providing an extra layer of security. With unlimited data throughput, you can always keep the VPN active without worrying about data limits.
With a functional, innovative system, IPVanish protects against unsafe, public Internet connections that don’t require passwords when your phone or laptop has Wi-Fi activated. Numerous hackers exploit people’s lack of attention and naivety, but IPVanish ensures you are not the latest victim.
IPVanish uses the widely spread OpenVPN encryption, with AES-256 bit cipher, HMAC SHA1 data authentication, RSA-2048 handshake, and HMAC SHA-256 control authentication.
The USA’s government commissions AES 256-bit encryption because it regards said method as the best, using it to protect its online communications at all levels. Despite worries that the government can use IPVanish as a facilitator to read messages “hidden” through the AES-256 method, that is not the case since all significant VPN service providers implement the measure for encryption.
VPNs that implement AES-256 bit encryption with the OpenVPN protocol, like IPVanish, are usually near or at the top regarding experts’ rankings and people’s preferences.
Clients and compatibility
IPVanish provides more than enough compatibility to satisfy most circles around the Internet. This brand has Windows, Mac OS X, macOS, iOS, Android, and even Amazon Fire TV / Stick apps. That is incredibly convenient since IPVanish allows users to connect unlimited devices simultaneously.
The IPVanish Windows client installer will put a shortcut for this VPN brand on your desktop. You must click on it to get the app up and running. After entering, you must provide the username and password you created in the sign-up process.
When you are in, you should see three server locations on the main screen, located in the lower part of the layout, just above the button used to “Connect.” You will need to choose the country with which you want to establish a connection, then the city, and finally the server.
You can choose among the 850 servers that IPVanish offers its loyal customers. The Settings section contains the configurations and options to personalize your experience.
IPVanish Logs Policy
Everybody is familiar with IPVanish and its location on the world map for privacy, data, and activity logging. Being in the United States, this option must deal with possible pressure from the NSA and other law enforcement agencies. In addition, copyright defenders actively condemn alternatives like VPNs for their roles in helping shady people do obscure stuff.
If you are caught using a VPN to share and distribute pirated content, your chances of going to jail are high. However, IPVanish allows P2P activity and trusts that its customers will not engage in such activities. It certainly does not endorse any criminal activities.
In its privacy policy, IPVanish states that it doesn’t keep any logs of its users’ activity while connecting under VPN encryption, so in the event of an NSA court order, it wouldn’t have anything to help them. Because of this, people are confident of IPVanish’s reliability.
IPVanish Extra Features
While it may seem overly complicated for beginners and simplicity lovers, IPVanish does have exciting features that most VPN regulars will take advantage of and implement. For example, the company provides a 30-day money-back guarantee.
DNS leak protection prevents WebRTC or IP leakages that can seriously threaten your online identity or digital assets. A killswitch also allows users to protect their resources even if the VPN connection goes down.
Five simultaneous connections allow users to combine numerous devices under the same VPN connection even if they don’t configure the encryption in their routers. The app is self-installing, helping beginner users.
While not very attractive, the interface is considered easy to use, although some circles have complained about the numerous menus, setups, and configuration options. There is unlimited data throughput, though.
Along with the +850 servers and 60 countries to which IPVanish allows users to connect, there is a pool of more than 40,000 IP addresses to give away. Customers can switch between servers in their quest for better speeds and performance.
IPVanish allows P2P activity, a perfect torrenting setup, and a SOCKS5 web proxy. It implements the best encryption protocols in the VPN industry, including OpenVPN, L2TP (Layer to Tunneling Protocol), and the old PPTP (Peer to Peer Protocol, the father of VPN).
IPVanish Browser extensions
Despite all its useful and exciting features and offerings, IPVanish does not have dedicated extensions for specific web browsers. However, it has a Chromebook-designed app for users of the operating system and apps for nearly all OSs and devices.
Customer support
IPVanish’s customer service used to be a letdown. They only provided email support, which took nearly 24 hours to get answers. However, the support system has improved considerably.
IPVanish now offers 24/7 Live Chat Support and Phone Support during business hours.
In addition, the FAQ page is another way of helping IPVanish clients by installing, setting up, and assisting with accurate advice. Users can quickly search for specific items and features they want to know more about.
Besides, IPVanish provides complete setup guides on correctly installing and using this VPN service on all devices and under any operating system. If you need to know anything that the FAQ, tutorials, and guides can’t answer, you may email, live chat, or call the phone service.
IPVanish Review: Final thoughts
In conclusion, IPVanish is a fantastic VPN client that comfortably ranks among the best five in the business. It has an outstanding number of servers and can help its customers connect with 60 countries worldwide. What does that number mean? Clients can access streaming content, torrenting sites, favorite websites, and Kodi add-ons from 60 nations, an elite number that tops nearly all primary providers, with a few notable exceptions.
IPVanish does have some weaknesses. For example, it does not have a free trial option, the refund policy is relatively short compared to other top competitors, it doesn’t have an ad blocker, and the Windows client can be a little awkward, judging by several expert opinions. However, its main drawbacks are nearly unresponsive customer service, lack of a live chat feature, and the inability to respond via email to simple queries or requirements that may be urgent.
Nevertheless, IPVanish is a preferred option for streamers and torrent lovers worldwide. Based in the United States, it has more than 400 servers, spread over 17 locations. Given that the country has many streaming sites and platforms, add-ons, shows, online channels, and other kinds of content, IPVanish can be extremely helpful in your quest to unblock things in America.
Using military-like AES 256-bit encryption, IPVanish ensures that your content and shared traffic are off-limits to spies and prying eyes on the web. It also allows its customers to choose between several protocols, including OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP.
IPVanish, despite its United States roots and being subject to several law enforcement agencies, does not keep logs of users’ activity, making sure they can navigate the web privately and with anonymity.
The bottom line is that IPVanish is a top VPN with excellent offerings and a good value if you consider its many features and unique elements. For experienced VPN users, IPVanish is a dreamy client because of all its setup and configuration possibilities. Even if you choose to purchase the most expensive plan, which is the monthly one, you surely won’t be disappointed, as the prospect of having access to content from 60 countries with high speeds and constant performance is hugely enticing.
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what if you buy vpn and move to another state
Hye Sharon, that will make no issues. You can use a VPN from anywhere in the World. It is not restricted to your current location.