PrivateInternetAccess | User Rating Average: Private Internet Access Review, (see user reviews): |
 | Website: www.privateinternetaccess.com Price: From $3.33 / Month. (If purchased via 12-month plan) Accepts Bitcoins. Protection: 5/5 Software / GUI: 3/5 Features: 3.5/5 Speed: 4.5/5 Ease of Use: 4.5/5 |
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Service: PrivateInternetAccess offers a paid VPN service with 350+ servers in 9 countries. Multiple servers are available in the US.
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.
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 Bitcoins.
PrivateInternetAccess User Reviews
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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 |
https://www.cloudcracker.com/blog/2012/07/29/cracking-ms-chap-v2/
The speeds and reliability and support is good for the money.
But they are registered in the USA so this ‘we don’t log or share things’ talk is hogwash. Any VPN provider in the USA has an obligation to work with the authorities (the Patriot Act) so this is as anonymous as HMA (non-existent).
Response taken from PIA’s answers given to TorrentFreak’s article VPN Services That Take Your Anonymity Seriously, 2013 Edition:-
1. We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP. These are some of the many solutions we have implemented to enable the strongest levels of anonymity amongst VPN services.
2. Our company currently operates out of the United States with gigabit gateways in the US, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Romania. We chose the US, since it is one of the few countries without a mandatory data retention law. We will not share any information with third parties without a valid court order. With that said, it is impossible to match a user to any activity on our system since we utilize shared IPs and maintain absolutely no logs.
They lie. They are registered in the USA.
errr….Yep! That’s what they say in 2 above. No lie.
I also use btguard and vpn4all and although the others are good for the money you cannot beat this service. Always quick speeds, helpful IM service for chat. Never disconnects either
I’ve had no issues regarding geolocation protection during my 7 days of trial with PIA. However, the mains issues I had were:
-very restrictive NAT on most servers. XBOX rarely gets to connect, their DNS severely limits what you can do online.
- it’s ok for most computer/tablet use but for other devices (game consoles, dedicated media players) it’s not enough
- their support is very slow to understand and slow to reply.
The worst part: there’s no refund like promised! It’s been over two months since I renounced my subscription after the trial (6th day) and even though they acknowledged I am eligible for a refund, there’s been no reaction during all the time (only replies like ‘we’re looking into it’).
i OWN MAC….. they told me that there is not DNS leak protection for the MAC OS….. so the tier 1 support tol me to use Google’s DNS servers via 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and said hundreds of thousands of people use it so they could never track me…. .FUCK THAT! BTW DNS leaks are just as bad as not having a VPN….. they were good on replying back quick and they did have good price.. just missing the mai factor…
I´ve been using for 2 months in two diferent countries, one in South America and the other one in the North. Never had a problem and have never been desconnected. Because of this, I´ve just signed for the one year plan.
Their automatic fraud policy leaves much to be desired. I subscribed to the service just before I left the states to go to Asia for a temp posting. I had no issues with it. While in Asia after I start using it next day I was unable to do so. When emailed they claim it was fraud policy that disabled my account. So I can’t use it in another country? Support was polite and wanted to re enable my account but I decided to cancel and request refund.
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!