One of the most effective ways to protect your privacy and enjoy online freedom is using a VPN service. There is a large selection of providers available and while all of them promise to offer the necessary features and technology to protect your data and help you to bypass restrictions, only some of them are true to their claims. This is why it is important to be careful when choosing a VPN service. One of the options that you will come across while searching for a VPN is VPN Master, a provider based in the United States that has been offering VPN services since 2008. If you are thinking about choosing VPN Master as your provider, we advise you to check our review fist as we will find out if it really is worth considering.
Security and Privacy
Many people are opting for using VPN services in order to keep their online traffic protected from threats like hacking and online surveillance. Security is crucial when it comes to VPNs, which is why it is disappointing to see that VPN Master only uses PPTP, a protocol that is widely considered as unsafe. PPTP is not strong enough to keep your information protected and in fact, it is believed that it was already compromised. The only benefit of using PPTP is that it allows you to enjoy good speeds and it may be good enough for people who only want a basic level of protection for general browsing. However, it is not a reliable solution for safeguarding confidential data.
VPN Master uses 128-bit encryption and although this may be good enough for general browsing, it is not the highest standard of security to defend your information against possible interception and attacks. If you are concerned about the security of your online traffic and want a high level of protection, you would be better off choosing a different provider. On the bright side, VPN Master states that it doesn’t keep any logs of your online activities and it accepts Bitcoin as method of payment, which helps you to protect your anonymity when signing up for the service. Bear in mind that during the registration process, you are asked to provide a lot of data including your name and phone. In addition, it should be noted that since the company is based in the United States, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Five Eyes spying alliance.
Features
VPN Master supports all major platforms including Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. There are setup guides that will help you to get the service running on the platforms supported. While VPN Master doesn’t offer any advances features that can make it stand apart from the competition, it comes with all the necessary functionality to protect your data and defeat online restrictions. Just like with other VPNs, you will be able to get around geographical blocks and restrictions implemented by your ISP or network administrators. VPN Master lets you access websites and services that are not available in your location. You just need to connect to a server in a country where the content is offered.
At the moment, VPN Master has servers in 14 countries including Canada, Austria, Iceland, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Romania, Germany, Russia, United States and United Kingdom. Most of the servers are in Europe and the selection may be limited when compared to other providers, but since there are options in the UK and the US, you can access popular streaming services like Hulu and BBC iPlayer. However, it is unlikely that VPN Master works for Netflix and given that the speeds of the service are not the best, it would not be the best choice for streaming content.
Plans
You can choose between three plans, based on the on the length of the subscription. The monthly plan costs $7.95, but it doesn’t seem to be available at the moment. Three months of VPN Master cost $17,85, which means that the monthly cost is reduced to $5.95. If you opt for a full year of service, the total price is $47.40, which brings down the monthly price to $3.95. You get unlimited bandwidth with all these plans, as well as access to all the servers in VPN Master’s network. While they don’t offer a free trial, it is possible to request a refund within 24 hours of getting the service. The money-back guarantee is very limited, but it gives you some time to test the service and decide if it suits your needs. It has to be said that compared to other VPNs that offer more features, higher security and better speeds, VPN Master’s plans are expensive.
Customer Support
Although VPN Master states that it offers 24/7 customer support and there is a live chat available, it can take a while to get a response and sometimes chats go without a reply. It is also possible to reach out to them via email and there is also a tool free phone support, that we haven’t tried. The website also offers a support section where you can find useful information about the service. One thing that we didn’t like is that there are some sections on the website that don’t work at all. In the end, the customer service is not up to the standards expected from a well-established company that aims to earn the trust of users who want to protect their online privacy and bypass restrictions.
Conclusion
While VPN Master promises to be best solution to bypass blocks, protect you identity and browse the internet anonymously, the low level of encryption and the slow performance of the network leave a lot to be desired. The service supports the basic features needed from a VPN and the prices are not too high, but seem expensive when compared to other options available. In addition, the customer support is disappointing and it can take a lot of time to get a response. For the same price or even less, you can get more reliable VPN solutions.