When it was launched in 2009, Swedish VPN provider IPredator gained recognition thanks to its connections with the Pirate Bay, the popular BitTorrent indexing website that has been blocked in many countries. The introduction of the IPRED law in Sweden, which gives copyright owners and law enforcement the possibility of legally obtaining personal information from internet users, prompted the creation of IPredator. The VPN provider’s main goal from the start, has been to allow people to enjoy online freedom, while helping them to keep their identity and their privacy protected. Even though the company aims to give its users a good level of security, they don’t promise to be the ultimate tool to ensure that your anonymity is 100% safe. They simply provide functions that will facilitate the protection of your privacy when you are connected to internet. IPredator offers a service without many frills and even its website is quite simple. To check if IPredator is a suitable VPN solution for you, take a look at our review.
Features
Even though IPredator lacks of the variety of features that other providers offer and its service is very basic, the setting up process is not as easy and it takes longer than expected. Once your internet connection is established, the VPN needs to be activated. Before you can start using the service, you will have to configure IPredator’s client and enter all the information requested for your account. When your finish with your account settings, the software is installed and you will be able to access it through a pop-up window. There are guides to set up IPredator with Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and mobile devices. The protocols supported are PPTP and OpenVPN, which is the recommended option to ensure that your connection is secure, particularly with the high level of encryption (CBC 256 AES) that they provide with this protocol.They are working to include additional options such as L2TP/IPsec and SSTP in the near future.
In line with its basic service, IPredator offers a single pre-paid VPN plan that starts at 8 USD/6EUR/50SEK per month. You can choose if you wish to subscribe to the service for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. Considering the lack of features and server options, IPredator does not offer good value for money. However, they provide strong security and a 3-day free trial, that will allow you to give the service a test before paying for a longer period of time. If you have paid for IPredator’s service and are experience issues, you can get a refund but you will need to give them the chance to fix the problem, in order to determine if there is something that they can do to make you desist. It is a fair approach but many customers prefer to be able to get their money back without questions or additional follow ups.
In terms of privacy, IPredator promises not to keep any logs of your online activity, websites visited or communications. However, they do keep connection logs for troubleshooting purposes only. When you create an account with IPredator, you will need to choose a username, create a password and provide an email address. These are the only details kept in the database and IPredator promises that they would only hand over these information in extreme cases, when required by law and only in connection to serious crimes that would lead to imprisonment and not just to a fine. The company also keeps payment details for a maximum period of six months, but this information is not handed to third parties or law agencies. In summary, while IPredator’s privacy policy may not seem as complete as what you get with other providers that do not keep any logs and that allow you to sign up anonymously, legitimate users have nothing to fear as their privacy will still be respected. The company also supports Jabber, a convenient instant messaging service that allows you to communicate securely and privately, even if you do not have a VPN account with IPredator. There is also an HTTP non-logging proxy and a DNS server.
Location and Performance
If you are mainly interested in online browsing, you will not experience major delays while using IPredator and your IP will be changed randomly when you use the service. Unfortunately, streaming media content does not work as smoothly. The truth is that users that are interested in downloading or streaming content are better off with a different provider. The main issue is the company only counts with servers in Sweden (50), which means that users outside Europe will not be able to enjoy optimum speeds since they will have more issues connecting to IPredator’s network. The fact that they have such a limited selection of servers, means that you will not be able to enjoy TV shows and websites that are only available in certain countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Another downside is that they do not offer simultaneous connections, so you can only use the service with one device at a time. While IPredator may still secure your connection, it will not give you the versatility, good speed and wide range of options that you can get with another providers, for a similar price.
Customer Support
IPredator’s website is easy to navigate and contains a good level of information, even though in many instances, you are advised to contact their support team for more details. The problem is that they are not available all the time and you can experience long waiting times when trying to reach them through their IRC chat. Still, you can also follow them through social media channels or read their blog to get updates. They also offer support via email and their response is effective and useful. In fact, in spite of the slow response time in the chat, one of the highlight of IPredator is its knowledgeable and skilled technical support.
Conclusion
IPredator’s good customer support team and strong encryption are aspects that should be recognized. They also stand out as a service that was created to protect customers from internet censorship and prosecution. However, the limited selection of servers and poor speeds are things that will disappoint many customers. Their privacy policy is not as comprehensive as what other companies offer and their prices are not exactly the cheapest. The reality is that while IPredator is not a bad VPN solution, it is far from being the best. Hopefully, the company will start working to address the issues in order to get ahead of the competition.