Private Internet Access
Website: www.PrivateInternetAccess.com
Company: London Trust Media, Inc. (United States)
Protocols: OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP, SSTP
Servers: 3324 Servers in 24 Countries
Best Price: $6.95 / Month (Grab This Deal)
Customer Ratings
Editors’ Ratings
- Quick Summary
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Private Internet Access in a nutshell
Private Internet Access (PIA) is loved all over the world for its dedication to staying true to its name, and that means letting its customers keep their privacy. They combine this exceptional privacy policy with one of the cheapest going rates around to give VPN users a truly noteworthy option as far as their choices go.
PIA has some of the simplest software around, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have some advanced features that come in handy. You won’t find all the flash and sparkle of other VPN providers, but if you want privacy at a cheap price without all the extraneous user experience, PIA could very well be the best choice for your VPN provider needs.
PIA excels at privacy as they do not keep any logs at all. Their speeds are decent, certainly comparable to any other major VPN provider, but they will slightly lag during P2P sessions. If all you want is privacy, PIA should be at the top of the list of VPN providers that are the best fit for you.
Click Here to Visit Private Internet Access - Reliability & Speed Test
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Reliability & Speed Test
PIA was found to have surprisingly good speed when used to surf the web. The account used was capped at 2Mbps, and tested out at this rate on the day of testing:
Our Speeds with a 2mbps DL Cap (Without PIA)
Connected to PIA’s nearest server, however, the block was negated and speeds were usually around this rate:
Our Speeds With PIA
These speed increases are, of course, not possible for everyone. However, if you have a restricted line you may be able to enjoy faster speeds.
The downfall of PIA when it comes to speed is their torrent speeds. Downloads of P2P traffic always seemed to be down by about 5-10% of their normal potential. This is likely something you’d only notice if you spend too much time watching your torrent client.
Private Internet Access also has few worries when it comes to reliability. Tests were done on each server, with no disconnects once logged on. A long test was done on the USA East and the France servers. No disconnects occurred during days long testing.
Slight problems were had when switching between servers when you do not close and re-open the client. These problems were fixed immediately by closing and re-opening the app, but it did lead to the PIA client feeling a bit buggy and unstable.
Tip: VPN Speeds and Reliability always vary. For the best results, connect to a server close to you (Ping < 100ms) using OpenVPN (the fastest and most secure protocol). If you have issues with a server, disconnect and try a different one. There are no limits on switches. - Pricing & Discounts
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Pricing & Discounts
Private Internet Access has two simple pricing plans:
Best Private Internet Access Price
1 Month – $6.95
12 Months – $39.95 ($3.30/month)
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What does it include?
✔ 3324 Servers. 24 Countries. 10k+ IPs
✔ Unlimited Bandwidth, Uncapped Speed
✔ Free Custom VPN Software
✔ Compatible w/ Phones & Tablets
✔ 5 Simultaneous Connections
✔ No Traffic Logging
This puts them down as the lowest priced VPN service in our reviews. The only other VPN service which comes close is a 2 year prepaid plan with CyberGhost VPN, which is as low as $4.50/month. You get a much simpler and less exciting client for your money, but you get anonymity, an excellent VPN kill switch feature, and a no-logging policy that is second to none.
- Servers & Countries
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Servers & Countries
Private Internet Access currently has 3324 servers in 24 different countries. The last number is a bit lower than most other Tier 1 VPN provides, but they are sure to have their servers in the most often used countries like:
USA, Canada, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Germany, Hong Kong, and others.You are able to choose which country you want to connect to, giving you the ability to unlock geo-blocked content in those countries. PIA users can also select from different regions in the USA, Canada, and UK to help lower their ping rate.
- Customer Support
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Customer Support
Very rarely is there a reason to contact the support team of Private Internet Access. For fun, we made up a reason to contact them to see what happens over their three forms of support.
Email support: The response time was usually under two hours, and more than one person can get back to you in that time. Using email helps keep the conversation all in one place. If you have a complex issue, this is probably the best way to get support as it can easily be forwarded on to other departments.
Live Chat: Their live chat is available for 12 hours per day. It is best to only go to the Live Chat when you have a simple problem as you can get cut and paste answers from people who don’t really know what they’re talking about.
Community Support Forum: If you think that your problem is one that has already been addressed, or that it’s an issue that many are facing, going to the Community Support forum can answer your questions quicker than either of the above methods. Why explain yourself and then get an answer, when you can just go get the answer? It’s so much easier!
- Policy Highlights
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Policy Highlights
PIA is most well known for their no-logging policy, and for their complete lack of any restriction at all on the traffic you send over the service. Users are free to enjoy the internet any way they wish: peer-to-peer is allowed, you’re free to unlock any geo-blocked content you wish, and everything else is good to go.
An exception is, of course, for illegal activities. They state in their Terms of Service that they will work with law enforcement to capture the worst offenders who are on their service to commit crimes.
Problems with the PIA software include the fact that you are told very little about errors that occur. This can be frustrating for advanced users. The software occasionally felt buggy, or that it was a bit less than stable. The connection issue mentioned in our Reliability section holds as a drawback as the client itself can act a little buggy.
There is also no way to select specific servers. The US East selection gives you a server that is somewhere on the East Coast of America. Sometimes you connect to a server in New Jersey, sometimes it’s in New York. For those looking for the lowest possible ping, this could be an issue.
At the time of testing, all US servers were blocked by Hulu.
- Conclusion
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Conclusion
Private Internet Access chose to do one thing very well, and they have succeeded. They are perhaps the most anonymous, private, and confidential of all the VPN providers out there, and this has built great trust amongst those in the VPN industry.
Their simplistic software lends itself well to beginner users, while more advanced users will be turned off by the lack of error notifications. Setting everything up is a breeze no matter your experience level, and anyone could connect to a VPN server in minutes.
If you want complete anonymity on the Internet, you don’t need to look any further than PIA. Their slower P2P traffic, lack of advanced features, and low diversity of countries with servers (just 25), is the only thing holding them back from the top of every VPN provider list.
Click Here to Visit Private Internet Access
Customer Reviews – Share Your Experience
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I have been using PIA a while now. Whilst the software uses the Ruby Assembly Compilers and creates random files in random directories (Sending firewalls like Comodo beserk (However there is a workaround for this on their forum), this VPN provider is best in class. I have only 3 complaints.
No, obvious, SSTP provision
Not enough international coverage. However,
Use of third party hosting servers (Some with a very poor reputation).
I am sure the first 2 will improve with time, and the third is only really an issue if your connection is dropped or you logged in via those servers. There is, without a doubt, definitely no one else, (With the same level of encryption and added features such as, ip cloaking (Multiple users share the same ip address, making tracing virtually impossible. Especially if you pay by one of the anonymous methods) the kill switch, no logging, free socks 5 proxy included in your connection and remote firewall (Local firewalls are not sufficient when using a VPN.
If you need coverage in other countries (Not included in this package) and the connection speeds are not sufficient when logged in from neighbouring servers, you even have enough to take out a second account with another provider covering those zones. (With the exception of China and Egypt, the speeds on my connections were sufficient as to not need to do that).
Highly recommended! No viral infections from this service whilst using their service.
PIA is the cheapest VPN I could find and I've been incredibly impressed so far. Their software isn't as flashy as others, but it works well. I haven't had any issues yet and I have recommended it to friends.
A excellent VPN. Very cheap and dependable. However, it takes a while to connect sometimes, which can be a little distracting. Other than that, it's super fast and it's never (randomly) disconnected on me like the last one I used.
I would recommend!