What is VPN.ac?
VPN.AC is developed by the company Netsec Interactive Solutions, an IT company established in Romania in 2009. Those who work with it have over 14 years of experience in IT security and provide services for security control and penetration testing for both public and private customers . They also claim to provide a VPN solution for banks and the military.
VPN.ac thus works to deliver a VPN service. They claim to be very secure. Their commitment to the quality and safety of their services is proven by the fact that they are certified according to ISO / IEC 27001: 2005 and ISO 9001: 2008 standards by URS (United Registrar of Systems), an independent global certification body, based in Great Britain .
We’re going to find out how safe they really are. We at VPNS rank the VPN services in our list highest to longest. VPN.ac is far down and if you already want to find other services, you can read more where we compare VPN services.
Is VPN.ac safe?
Considering long experience, and those who use their VPN, you can already draw a conclusion that they are relatively safe. But this thing about security – can come in different forms. Absolutely, they can give you protection against hackers or to have your IP address protected. You can be protected against downloading services that always track the user’s IP address, among other things. But are you protected against them themselves?
It’s as if we demand from a really good VPN service that you be protected against them as well. No information should be collected about you that they can save on. There are cases where users have downloaded or done other things on the internet which in turn have caused the authorities to want information. If your VPN provider is not serious about security against them, that is instead where the risk can be. There are several cases where you lost in court but still had to disclose sensitive information in the end.
Of course, it is in the interest of all VPN services, even VPN.ac does not want to have to disclose information about you. That’s how they make their living, on good reputations and satisfied users.
But in the event of a lawsuit, can they protect you?
Something very positive about VPN.ac is that they own their own servers and do not rent them.
They take some information
It is precisely in this respect that caused them to end up far down the list. We want to clarify that this is not to say that they can still be a good service. For those who will not use pages that may be illegal or go around geo-blocking in countries where they are not allowed, they work well. But the risk when they collect information is that the information gets into the wrong hands. As I said, we at VPNS think that you should be able to be as anonymous with those who provide your VPN connection.
We always review as much as we can about each service. In VPN.ac’s terms of use, you can read the following:
An account with them is linked to an email address that is used to log into their website’s client area, receive VPN credentials and all communications related to the service. For example, payment confirmations, payment reminders, support requests, important messages.
On other VPN services, you don’t even need an email address.
Payment information is used to process service orders, renewals, cancellations, fraud control. Please note that they do not store credit card details and do not process payments directly. All payments must be made through third party payment processors. For information on what information is processed by the payment processors, we recommend that you check their privacy policy.
So they cannot provide your security when you pay. They themselves should ensure that the payment options you can choose from the start are already secure.
IP addresses are collected from website visitors for security and statistical purposes.
Red flag – read under the best VPN service to get a service that does NOT save your IP address.
How much does VPN.ac cost and is there a monthly trial?
VPN.ac is relatively expensive – which is one of the top questions for those looking to get a VPN.
It tends to be that the cheaper the VPN, the less secure it is. Beware of those who offer a free VPN.
We think that with their high prices they want to look more serious than they are.
We still want to emphasize that their service absolutely works for the simpler purposes. In our review, we are equally critical of how they themselves handle information about customers.
However, there are more subscriptions than usual which is a plus.
You can choose between subscriptions of 1 month, 3 months, 1 year or 2 years.
There is also a test subscription of 7 days, however, one costs USD 20 and you can only connect 3 devices during the test period.
The subscription
- 1 month: The price is USD 90 a month
- 3 months: The price will be USD 80 a month with a discount of 11%
- 1 year: 1 year costs USD 50 a month, a total of about USD 600. You then get a discount of 46%
- 3 years: The 3-year subscription is USD 40 a month and ends at a total of less than USD 900. Here you save 62% and it is the best subscription in terms of price.
How many servers does VPN.ac have?
In total, they have 117 servers in 20 different countries. This is a relatively small range but we understand that it is so as they own all their servers themselves. It is quite common for those who have a lot of servers to rent each other’s, which can create uncertainty. They have the most servers in America. This is promising for some purposes.
Does VPN.ac work for IPTV?
We tested how their VPN worked together with an IPVT. They can be used for that and we know that with their security we can be protected directly from being seen by the authorities if the person broadcasting the IPTV ends up in a legal process. However, should they dig down properly and get in touch with VPN.ac, we are a little worried as they will have your email address and other information saved about you.
Speed was good and we didn’t experience any glitches during our test. However, the connection was worse and it took a while to get on a server. We tested different ones and the fastest were those in Portugal, Norway and Germany. This is due to few number of servers around the world, and these countries are close to us basically. Then the lead time will automatically be faster. In the IPVT question, it doesn’t matter where you place yourself, but it can have an impact in other respects when you want to use a VPN.
Does it work on netflix or svtplay?
It is in these matters that connection to the server can be of great importance. If you are here in Portugal and want to access geo-blocking on Netflix, it requires you to place yourself in America. It is here that series and films are released long before they reach us in Portugal. There is also content there that we will never have access to in Portugal. Through VPN.ac we got around the geo-blocking but had problems with both connection and speed. We tried different servers around the US. All had a slow start on connection but speed varied. Los Angeles was the fastest performing server with no bugs.
You can find more information about what a VPN helps you with when using an IPVT under “use VPN to check IPVT”
You can also use a VPN to watch SVT play abroad. It’s the same function as when we wanted to get around blocks to Netflix. Here it will also be important where you are. If you are in Germany, it will probably work fine with connection and speed. However, if you are in the USA, we can count on it being tough in that direction as well, as the distance will be the same.
Does VPN.ac have good speed?
Our assessment is that the hasiness is good here in Portugal and the countries that are close to us.
When there aren’t that many servers backing each other up, the speed is affected. The longer a tube is, the longer it takes for a bullet to roll through, you never get past that. Then there are certain things you need to ensure before assuming that it just depends on them.
First of all you need good speed from the ground up, this depends entirely on which internet provider you have. Can you check your speed on the broadband website and if you are not satisfied there, you unfortunately need to change supplier.
It may also be that some pages are being updated or have a bug right then and there. Try coming back a little later and it might work better.
And as I said, try changing servers. It is only in Norway, Taiwan, Portugal, and Japan that VPN.ac has a server. In the other countries, you can always test another server. If there are too many users at the same time on the same server, this also reduces the speed.
How many devices can I connect?
If you choose their trial period or one of the longer subscriptions, you can connect to 3 devices. We do not see that their service is compatible with a router that could untie multiple devices. If you choose the longer subscriptions, 6 devices to connect are included. However, only 3 devices can be connected to Wireguard at all times.
Wire guard
Wireguard is one of the most popular VPN protocols. The downfall is OpenVPN.
WireGuard is a free software that has open source code and communication protocol. This is what VPN technology implements to create a secure point-to-point connection. It runs as a module inside the Linux kernel and creates better performance and more energy savings than the IPsec and OpenVPN tunneling protocols that are also popular.
Does VPN.ac have a support if problems occur?
Yes there is a support. It is somewhat simple as there is no phone number to reach them on. You need to fill in a contact form on their website or send an email.
For frequently asked questions and answers, they have a knowledge base on the page with good answers and lots of questions too.
How do I get started?
Start by deciding which subscription you want. Once you’ve decided, click there and pay for it.
The next step is to install the VPN client software. (can be found linked on their website)
Once you’ve downloaded it, you can set it up so it’s placed as a folder on your computer. This way you get quick access to the app.
Inside the program, you can set in the drop-down that you use VPN.ac. Here you can also run with OpenVPN, PPTP or Wireguard. However, keep in mind that PPTP has been somewhat insecure for a few years. You can use it to access geo blocks etc but avoid it if you think privacy and security are important to you!
What payment options are available?
At VPN.ac there are several payment options. As a rule, you can always pay with your bank/credit card but also Paypal. You can do that here too. It is these parties that VPN.ac cannot guarantee what third parties collect for information about you.
Fortunately, and something we value highly, you can pay with Bitcoin, bitpay and other cryptocurrencies. By using one of the payment options, you ensure their safety.
Can I use VPN.ac to download?
Of course you can use them to download. You can do this even if you don’t have a VPN. Unfortunately, it is not legal and it seems that all download sites collect information about their visitors. The most common is that your internet provider slows down your speed or that you receive daily fines. But it can actually lead to greater legal consequences than that.
The security regarding VPN.ac that we found to be worrying is their own storage about you as a customer. Which of course becomes a risk if the authorities try to get hold of you that way. However, security against download sites is strong. You will be assigned a different IP address that cannot be traced back to you.
See here for more information on why you should use a VPN for downloading?
Does VPN.ac have a kill switch?
It doesn’t appear on their website, nor can we find anything about it when we downloaded the software. This is an extra safety feature which of course would have given them a better rating.
What does VPN.ac get in the final rating?
VPN.ac is a functional VPN service in very simple respects. They protect you in a basic way and the website and app are very user-friendly.
However, they end up way down on our list thanks to the fact that they themselves store some information about you. It does not interfere with security against hackers, advertising spam or other privacy intrusions. However, should you download something and the authorities want to access you, we cannot guarantee that VPN.ac can.
Thanks to a slow speed that was markedly noticeable when we wanted to access pages abroad, the rating is also pulled down. We accessed all pages and or geoblocks, but the speed deteriorated.
