ProXPN is set to get the attention of many users thanks to an easy to navigate website and creative web ads that clearly explain the benefits of using its service. The company was established in 2009 and counts with a large base of customers that trust ProXPN to secure their internet connection. With presence in the United States, the Netherlands and England, ProXPN aims to offer a convenient solution to protect you from prying eyes and to defend your right to privacy. By offering a free basic VPN plan, ProXPN has gained a lot of popularity and it has become the preferred choice for many people that look for an easy to use service. They also offer a paid plan that promises a better speed, more servers and features. At first sight, ProXPN seems like an ideal option for anyone that wishes to enjoy internet without restrictions, while avoiding that third parties monitor their online activities. However, to confirm if ProXPNs’ service is really worth considering, a closer look to what it offers is required.
Features
Users of ProXPN can choose between a Basic Account, which is free of charge or a Premium Account that costs $6.25 per month for a 12 month subscription. With a Basic Account, you can trust that your connection is secure with anonymous IPs, high encryption – a 2048 bit key is available- as well as enjoying unlimited data transfer and OpenVPN connection. However, the speed is quite limited, mobile devices are not supported and you can only access one of their servers in the United States. If you require advanced options and more versatility, you will need to upgrade to a Premium Account.
The Premium account gives you access to all the features that ProXPN can offer, including unlimited bandwidth and access to all the servers available. This ensures that you can access all your favourite websites and services, avoiding censorship or geo-location restrictions. With a Premium account you will also have a choice between anonymous and dynamic IPs. Basic accounts only support OpenVPN but a Premium account allows you to use PPTP as well. This gives you more flexibility and makes it possible to connect securely through your mobile devices, using Wi-Fi or data plans.
Another option that is only available for Premium account users is VPN Guard, which allows you to set up the programs that would be automatically closed in case the VPN connection suddenly drops. This is an important feature that can keep your information protected at all times. By shutting down certain programs or disabling the internet connection completely if there are any issues with the VPN connection, you can ensure that your data is not exposed.
Using a VPN service tends to slow down your connection but many providers have managed to maintain satisfactory speeds and reliability. Unfortunately, ProXPN disappoints in this area and even after testing different servers and protocols in mobile devices and PC, the performance was not ideal.
One of the reasons to use a VPN service is to protect your privacy, which is why for many users the logging policy is a crucial factor when choosing a provider. ProXPN state that they only keep logs of connections to their servers and that these records are deleted after 14 days. This means that apart from tracking connection details such as time and duration, they would not access the browsing history or online activity.
In terms of compatibility, ProXPN covers most versions of Windows, Mac OS X and it is also compatible with Android and iOS. However, ProXPN does not support Linux and cannot be used with routers, which makes it a less complete solution than other VPN services.
As previously mentioned, when you subscribe to ProXPN you can choose between a free or a paid account. The cost of the Premium Account starts at $29.95 for three months. For six months, you pay $49.95 and one year costs $74.95. The price paid per month is reduced when you subscribe for a longer period, so you can save money by extending the time of your plan. While the monthly cost for one month would be just $6.95 per month, making ProXPN an affordable option, the truth is that there are other providers that offer better value for money. The Premium Account offers advantages over the Free option, but it does not include as many features as other companies. There is a 7 day money back guarantee for new users of the Premium service.
Location and Performance
While free accounts can only access one server in the United States. Premium users have the option of accessing all the servers available in ProXPN’s network. Even though there is not a big selection of locations, users can change between servers in Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, London and Amsterdam without limits. These locations should be sufficient to ensure that users from any part of the world can access the VPN service easily and without major delays, but a wider choice would be desirable. Premium users can also avail of dedicated IPs and dynamic IPs.
Customer Support
ProXPN users can contact their support team via live chat or ticket system by accessing the Member Area, while queries from those who have not signed up yet to their service can only be addressed by email. The company also offers phone support, which is not very common in the VPN industry. Even though the information provided could be more detailed and we would like to see more features in the overall service, you can expect impressively fast replies and a helpful response in most cases.
Conclusion
ProXPN has many positive aspects, including its ease of use and fast customer support. The website offers clear information in most aspects of the service and the fact that they do not keep logs of your online activity, makes ProXPN a reliable option for Privacy conscious users. However, the speeds are slow and the locations of the servers is quite limited. They only support two protocols and there are not features that would stand out. It may be a good basic service but in order to become a top option, ProXPN needs to work to improve its technology and provide a more comprehensive service.