Comparison: VPNArea vs PureVPN
VPN Providers
Price
$2.49/mo
$9.90/mo
Servers
500 Servers in 140 Countries
120 Servers in 22 Countries
Multi Login
5
None
Money Back Guarantee
7-Days
7-Day
Encryption Level
256 bit
256 bit
Bandwidth
Unlimited
Limited
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Introduction
According to the Facebook page, VPNArea was founded in early 2011.
Switzerland based VPNArea is owned and operated by Offshore Security LTD. This is not Offshore Security LTD’s first venture into the online security and privacy industry. Offshore Security LTD has been working on online privacy projects in the past. This includes the Houdini Anonymizer for Socks5 Proxies.
VPNArea Unique Selling Proposition
VPNArea’s unique selling proposition is its Users:Servers ratio. VPNArea’s Users:Servers ratio is extremely appealing and VPNArea is doing a good job of sustaining its Users:Servers ratio by continuously expanding the VPN server network.
I can see that VPNArea is expanding load capacity rapidly. As a frequent VPN reviewer and hard-core online privacy advocate who always welcomes quality VPN service providers to the industry, I wish VPNArea luck in the future.
Plans & Pricing
Plans
VPNArea has a pretty traditional one-package approach. This means you get one package and can subscribe to it for different time lengths. 1, 6 and 12 month subscription plans are currently on offer.
VPNArea offers access to all of its servers and unlimited bandwidth to its users regardless of the pricing plan they purchase. The same holds true for VPNArea’s 7 day money back guarantee and the flexibility to use one VPN connection through up to 3 multiple connections at the same time.
All packages come with the option to purchase a dedicated IP as an add-on. VPNArea is currently offering dedicated IP’s from the US, UK and Netherlands.
Dedicated US IP: $13 for 6 months and $15 for 12 months
Dedicated UK IP: $28 for 6 months and $30 for 12 months
Dedicated Netherlands IP: $28 for 6 months and $15 for 20 months
Dedicated IP
VPNArea promises a free dedicated IP VPN server for each dedicated IP bought. Customers who subscribe to VPNArea’s dedicated server are further facilitated by adding the server’s IP in the Chameleon software. That way if somebody tries to connect to the dedicated server will get authentication failed message
Dedicated server IP’s are found at the bottom of the list and are named “ZprivateXX” for easy identification should a user desire to access the IP via Chameleon software. An IPConfig command allows the configuration of specific IPs into the client application.
Pricing
The 1 month plan is available for $9.90, while the 6 month subscription is available for $5.50 bringing the per month cost down to $8.33. The 12 month package is available for $59.99, which brings down the per month cost to $4.91. I would personally recommend that you either go for the 1 month plan or the 12 month plan.
On the same subject, I particularly like VPNArea’s simple sign-up process. I’ve seen countless forms, but VPNArea’s subscription form has to be the most inviting one I have ever seen. It is simple and really user friendly; which is something that I point out because I don’t often see it during my VPN service reviews.
Servers
VPNArea is currently providing 120 servers in 45 countries. I love the Server Status page on the VPNArea website! It shows Server IP, location, supported protocols, online users and online status of every single VPNArea server offered.
VPNArea lists its VPN server IP addresses on its Server Status page in the client area. It makes things easy for VPNArea’s service users who want to configure their VPNs manually or tweak them from time to time.
VPNArea Software
Windows: The VPNArea software for Windows is called VPNArea Chameleon. The VPNArea Chameleon software for Windows will run on Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Make sure you have administrator rights to your system though.
Mac: VPNArea uses Viscosity for Mac users. Viscosity is a user-friendly client-app developed by Sparklabs and works on Mac OS X (versions 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 & 10.9+). VPNArea’s Viscosity for Mac users is easy to install and very uncomplicated to use.
Android: VPNArea uses OpenVPN Connect to provide users access to its excellent VPN services. You can get hold of OpenVPN Connect through GooglePlay and follow the simple 7 step guide on the VPNArea website to connect to VPNArea within minutes.
iOS: Much like in the case of Android, VPNArea uses OpenVPN Connect to provide users with VPN services. OpenVPN connect is an extremely user-friendly open source program that allows users to set it up and run it with minimal configuration. There are detailed guides available on the VPNArea website to help iOS users setup their OpenVPN Connect software.
Linux: VPNArea stands out in the crowd because of the hard work that it has put into catering to Linux users’ needs. The VPNArea team has created a cross-platform client software just for Linux users looking for some good quality OpenVPN security.
The cross-platform client software has been designed so that Linux users can use it in both (choose between Terminal and Graphic Gnome Environment) modes. The VPNArea cross-platform client software for Linux is compatible with all Linux distros and can be setup within minutes using the simple setup guide available on the VPNArea website.
VPNArea Chameleon
As a benchmark of what VPNArea has to offer, I will consider the VPNArea Windows app as an example of VPNArea’s feature set.
The VPNArea Chameleon app is the best thing about VPNArea. The VPNArea Chameleon comes equipped with a variety of controls and features that help users manage and control their VPN connection.
Home
The first thing you will see when you open out the VPNArea Chameleon software is the Home screen. This dashboard will allow you to enter in your login credentials and select a VPNArea server to connect to one of VPNArea’s many servers around the world.
The ‘Home’ window also displays a running log of the VPN connection status.
You can move around the VPNArea Chameleon software by either using the buttons on the left side of the screen, or the buttons along the top of the screen.
Servers & Speed
The Servers & Speed feature allows you to test the speed of all the VPNArea servers. The best part is that this built-in Speed Test tool is very customizable. You can also select specific VPNArea servers and speed-test them. You can select the protocol (choose between TCP and UDP) and you can also change the port if you want to.
The tool also lets you see how many VPN users are connected to a specific server. That way you can identify VPNArea servers with the least user load and connect to it. Very few VPN service providers offer this feature in their software and more should offer it because it lets you connect to the fastest server.
Kill Switch
The VPNArea Chameleon software allows you to place a VPN safeguard on the programs/software/application that you use to connect to the internet most commonly. For example, if you add Mozilla Firefox or Chrome to browse the internet, you can add both of them to the Kill Switch list.
Adding a program to the Kill Switch list will place a security test on them. If you start the selected programs, the program will not be allowed to connect to the internet if your VPN is not connected.
This way you will never be unprotected when you go online. The ‘Kill Switch’ feature comes in particularly useful when you are browsing the internet and your VPN connection drops for any reason. In such cases, the VPNArea Chameleon software will pause your internet connection for the selected software until you restore your VPN connection. The benefit of this feature is that it keeps you safe from taking any unprotected risks.
Anti-DNS Leak
The Anti-DNS leak is an advanced feature for veteran VPN users. However, the VPNArea Chameleon software has made sure that it is user friendly enough for everybody to use.
Changing your DNS server will allow you to hide your internet activity from your Internet Service Provider. Unless you specify a different DNS server, you are directed to your ISP’s DNS server. Your ISP is thereby able to track which web pages you are visiting. Once you change your DNS servers, your ISP will have no idea what you are doing on the internet.
Auto-IP Changer
The VPNArea Chameleon software comes with an Auto-IP Changer. The Auto-IP Changer is one of the best tools that you can find in any VPN software. It is a great way to ensure online security because it keeps changing your IP address after every few minutes. The best part is that if you activate the Auto-IP Changer, you can specify the time duration after which your IP is to be changed.
The advantage of the Auto-IP Changer is that you become untraceable if your IP keeps switching. Nobody on the internet will be able to monitor if you activate the Auto-IP Changer. It is the best part of using a VPN.
Speed Test
It is my belief that one should never turn to Ookla’s speedtest.net if the VPN client already has a speed test tool. I was particularly looking forward to try out the built-in speed test in particular because of VPNArea’s use of Chameleon’s software.
Here is a screen shot of the remarkable result I got when I clicked on ‘Speed Test – All’ in VPNArea’s Servers & Speed tool:
Customer Support
VPNArea offers three customer support options.
Email
VPNArea has three different email ids to help address technical, sales and management related queries separately.
• Send your technical related questions to support@vpnarea.com
• Send your sales related questions to sales@vpnarea.com
• Send your management related questions to manager@vpnarea.com
Skype
vpnarea-support is VPNArea’s support’s Skype id. It might take some time but the wait is worth it in the end. Skype based support makes it very convenient to ask questions and receive responses.
LiveChat
LiveChat is available through the VPNArea website but customer support stays more active on Skype; perhaps because of Skype’s awesome mobility features. There were times when noticed that VPNArea’s Skype support was online even when the LiveChat support was inactive.
Payment Methods
VPNArea only accepts PayPal, Payza and Credit Card right now. The signup form indicates that VPNArea will be adding Bitcoin and 2CO to the list of accepted payment methods soon.
Compatibility
I couldn’t help but notice that VPNArea is using Viscosity to power its VPN client for Mac users and using the Chameleon software to power its VPN client for Windows users.
Frequent VPN users will be nodding their heads in approval when I mention Liquid VPN is also a notable user of the Viscosity software; so you can be sure that this is a tried and tested technology that you can rely on.
Tutorials Provided
This image shows the devices/platforms for which VPNArea’s OpenVPN setup guides are available.
Protocols And Encryption
VPNArea servers support OpenVPN, L2TP and PPTP protocols. VPNArea offers PPTP protocol without encryption, L2TP with IPSec encryption and OpenVPN with blowfish encryption.
Log And Privacy Policy
Everything in the VPNArea privacy policy is pretty standard with the normal request to keep cookies enabled. Also present is the evergreen promise that no activity logs are being maintained besides login time frames, bandwidth usage and similar statistical data that is used for service optimization and maintenance.
Free Trial
VPNArea does not offer a 7 day free trial at the time. But you can always try out VPNArea with complete confidence that the 7 day money back guarantee is there to keep you covered.
Additional Services
VPNArea does not provide any additional services at the moment.
Conclusion
VPNArea has entered the industry at a time when the demand for VPNs is at its peak. VPN service providers are rallying against the NSA as they defend people from cyber crime. Netizens are demanding cyber security, online privacy and internet freedom; and they don’t want to accept anything less than complete privacy and freedom. VPNArea is great!
Now that you have read about VPNArea, how you about looking at some of Top VPN reviews.