Express VPN Review

 

ExpressVPN

$8.32

1 Month Money Back Guarantee. ExpressVPN is consistently ranked among the top five VPNs by users from all across the world. In fact, you’d have to search long and hard to find a ‘Top Ten’ list without a single mention of it.

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ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is consistently ranked among the top five VPNs by users from all across the world. In fact, you’d have to search long and hard to find a ‘Top Ten’ list without a single mention of it. With more than 3000 servers spread across 94 countries, ExpressVPN is no doubt very fast and accessible. But how does it fare in terms of features, customer support, and security? Are there any issues with using ExpressVPN? Let’s find out!

ExpressVPN at a Glance

• Based in the British Virgin Islands
• Employs a strict no-logging policy
• Is supported across all platforms and devices
• Unblocks streaming services
• Permits Torrenting and Peer-to-Peer
• Currently has more than 3000 servers located in 94 countries
• Provides 24/7 Live Chat Support
• Starts off at $6.67/mo

The Pros

To start with, let’s dive into what’s great about ExpressVPN:

Very Strict No Logging Policy

A no-logging policy means that ExpressVPN will not store any of its users’ traffic data including IP addresses, DNS queries or metadata. Not only that, it won’t keep detailed logs of your sessions, such as what websites you visited and for how long. This means that neither your Internet Service Provider nor the government can spy on your online activities while you’re using Express VPN.

However, ExpressVPN does collect some data and this is fully disclosed on their privacy policy. Here’s a list of the things they do keep a record of:

• Records of app activations
• The days you connected to the VPN (although timestamps are not logged)
• Server locations used
• Amount of data transferred per day

The above data are collected in order to provide a better customer service experience to users.

The jurisdiction in the British Virgin Islands

ExpressVPN’s headquarters are based in the British Virgin Islands, which, among other things, is famous for its lack of data retention laws. This means that any VPN companies based here aren’t legally obligated to track and keep a record of their users’ data. It also means that these companies do not have to comply with offshore investigations.

Powerful Encryption

Express uses AES-256 encryption to protect your traffic data. To give you an idea of how effective this encryption method is, it’s the same one that’s utilized by both the FBI and CIA. Hence it’s safe to say that you could even use a public Wi-Fi connection without worrying about a data leak.

ExpressVPN also provides users with a range of tunneling protocols, which are the data transmission methods employed when connecting to a server location. By default, ExpressVPN uses OpenVPN which is extremely secure, but it also supports other protocols such as SSTP and PPTP. If you have some technical expertise, you can easily configure a connection that is fastest for you. However, bear in mind that you may be sacrificing security in order to improve speed.

High Speeds

ExpressVPN is one of the fastest options around. If you have a 100mbps connection, for instance, you’ll only experience a 15% speed loss when connected to a local server. That’s plenty for things like online gaming and streaming movies.

Of course, if you want to connect to a distant server, your speed will be shaved off some. For example, if you’re located in Europe and you want to connect to a US server, expect the speed to cap around the 60Mbps mark. If you’re using an ExpressVPN US server to bypass Geo-blocks on Netflix (like most of us do) that speed should still be more than enough.

Large Number of Servers to choose from

As mentioned before, ExpressVPN offers more than 3000 servers spread across 94 countries. This means that regardless of where you are, you’ll be able to connect to a close, low-latency server. Additionally, for a few select countries, ExpressVPN also offers a city-level server. This means you can reduce latencies even further by connecting to the location that’s closest to your own city.

Kill Switch

Sometimes a VPN connection can get interrupted while you’re browsing, exposing your data as a result. ExpressVPN prevents this from happening with its Kill Switch feature. Once engaged, this feature will prevent your entire device or certain applications from accessing the internet when the VPN connection fails.

Netflix Unblock

VPNs are popular ways to unblock content on Netflix that is restricted in certain regions. For example, Australians only have access to 60% of the total number of TV shows that are available to US subscribers. Hence a lot of people use virtual IP addresses that point to a US location in order to bypass these restrictions.

The problem is that Netflix is well aware of this tactic and the company is working hard to block VPNs. However, ExpressVPN manages to stay one step ahead. While not all of its US servers will be compatible, you’ll be able to quickly find one that does. In addition, servers located in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands may also work for bypassing Netflix restrictions.

24/7 Live Chat Support

Customer support is something that a lot of VPN companies fall short on. Fortunately, ExpressVPN is an exception. With 24/7 live chat offered on their website you can ask one of their support staff a quick technical question or open up a support ticket for more elaborate issues. In addition, Express VPN also offers the traditional contact forms and support emails if you wish to go that route.

Simultaneous Connections

Initially, ExpressVPN allowed users to connect 3 different devices simultaneously. Currently, this has been upgraded to five. When having multiple connections open, we recommend using ExpressVPN’s own router app to keep each device well-protected.

The Cons

We couldn’t find any major issues with Express VPN. The only cons we can think of are quite minor:

Price

On a month-to-month subscription, you’ll end up paying $12.95 a month. This can seem expensive if you don’t intend to use it all that much. If you see yourself using ExpressVPN for more than a year, it can be more cost-effective to sign up for the 15-month plan.

Lack of Transparency

There is a lack of transparency across the entire VPN industry as a whole and ExpressVPN is no exception. You won’t find a single phone number listed anywhere on their website.

In Conclusion

ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPNs all across the globe and for several good reasons. The 3000+ server locations will give you more virtual IP address than you’ll ever need and reduce latency, no matter where you are. Meanwhile, its no-logging policy, use of AES-256 encryption and Kill Switch feature will keep all your traffic data secured at all times. In addition, will you get access to live chat support 24/7 if you run into any issues.

While it may be a bit pricey, you will certainly get what you pay for with ExpressVPN.