Do you want to stay anonymous while surfing the web? If yes, then AirVPN could be the ideal option for you.
While anyone can declare to be unique nowadays, when it concerns VPN service providers, AirVPN shows that it truly is.
AirVPN stands out from other VPN services because of its commitment to protecting user privacy. Right from the start, the AirVPN site starts with an appeal for your trust, specifying, “A VPN based on OpenVPN and operated by activists and hacktivists in defence of net neutrality, privacy and against censorship”.While anybody can declare to be distinct nowadays, when it concerns VPN companies, AirVPN reveals that it really is.
They have actually been around a very long time, since 2010, when it was started with the help of two lawyers and a little group of hackers and activists. The satellite communications supplier Iridium previously ran it, however AirVPN took over in November 2012. According to the owner’s listing, AirVPN, based in Perugia, is currently owned by Paolo Brini (Italy).
Throughout the last decade, it hasn’t been dogged by security scandals like some VPNs have. Nor has it been acquired by a larger company either.
Throughout their About Us and Mission pages, the company’s history is described and details the privacy projects that AirVPN has actually established or supported. These include an online encryption tool, a net neutrality monitor, and other projects such as Tor, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and WikiLeaks.
AirVPN takes the non-traditional route and breaks the mold by providing a VPN developed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.
So how does AirVPN stack up against its rivals with such strong privacy qualifications?
AirVPN’s Key Features
Servers
AirVPN’s network is much smaller than most, with only 246 servers spread across 23 countries.
Most servers are in Europe (other than those in the United States, Canada, and Hong Kong). A minor concern here is that the lack of variety of servers reduces the number of global AirVPN users who might access geo-restricted services in their home country while keeping their personal privacy.
That said, Air is popular for its exceptional performance across its server network, with lots of countries having high-performance physical individual servers.
They utilize transparent bandwidth allocation strategies to offer an accurate assessment of performance, with no overbooking or overselling. Plus, they are totally unlimited, without any speed restrictions or time limits.
To establish a connection between your machine and their servers, they utilize OpenVPN and WireGuard (in beta). OpenVPN is the most dependable and safe and secure way to create encrypted tunnels. It offers more security than the military.
Numerous ports and protocols are offered; they use OpenVPN on the following ports: 80 TCP/UDP, 443 TCP/UDP, and 53 TCP/UDP. Moreover, every Air server directly supports OpenVPN over SSH, OpenVPN over SSL, and OpenVPN over Tor. So ignore PPTP and other risky protocols.
No preference is given to any application, service, or protocol when it comes down to it. Net Neutrality is maintained. Importantly, you can overcome internet constraints such as avoiding censorship, geographical constraints, and traffic shaping.
The usage is OpenVPN is a big plus as it automatically enhances users’ privacy and security and is extremely dependable. The absence of WireGuard as standard may reveal Air isn’t rather keeping up with its rivals. That said, AirVPN states it is evaluating WireGuard, however it will not put the newer protocol fully in place until a few of its technical and privacy concerns are resolved.
AirVPN has also added a lot for power users and tech-savvy individuals who like to experiment with things.
Switching is limitless, so if you do not like one server, you can quickly switch servers as frequently as you like.
You can keep an eye on the present load on each server, any existing problems, and a history of previous problems on AirVPN’s network status page (which opens in a brand-new tab).
There is an in-depth specifications page for AirVPN’s servers, with details like the available ports, protocols, DNS server details (AirVPN has its own DNS server), and the IP addresses of each VPN server’s access points.
All of it is nice, however considering that there is no third-party audit, you have to trust that what is being provided will work. However looking at the active community forum or the in-depth open-source clients puts your mind at ease.
A great aspect of this is that you can see what other people say about the service before registering. You don’t have to take their word for it or the word of an audit.
Just How Private Is AirVPN, & Does It Keep Logs?
When it comes to AirVPN’s no-logging policy, the business is very clear. Online personal privacy and security are the absolute concern, with protection from snoopers, data miners, and other entities that invade personal privacy. There is no individual information logged by AirVPN, which has a strong no-logging, tracking, or monitoring policy.
AirVPN does not track what you do when you’re connected to the VPN, date/time stamps, or your IP address. It just collects non-identifiable “technical information” to keep the server running and improve services, however you can request this info to be erased at any time. This makes it among the most privacy-friendly VPN services.
As a result, nobody can identify you online; not even your ISP can determine what sort of traffic or protocol you’re utilizing.
There’s no listening in, so you can connect to any wi-fi network without stressing over your computer and the Wi-Fi hotspot spying on your information.
Even the most ruthless surveillance, censoring, throttling, and traffic shaping tactics will fail versus AirVPN since your ISP and government will just see TCP or UDP communication on a single port.
They also say they adhere to EU personal privacy guidelines and that any servers outside the EU will be treated with the very same or greater levels of privacy and data protection as those in the EU.
You can get a brand-new IP address to conceal your IP so that no one can utilize it to discover who you are. You’ll stay safe with the high-level security supplied.
You can still connect to an AirVPN server through OpenVPN over SSH, SSL, or Tor if your ISP or country blocks OpenVPN.
Open-source clients and a lively community forum enable you to get a sense of what present users are stating about the service before registering.
All of AirVPN’s software is open-source, which is a big plus. This suggests that anyone can check out AirVPN’s security. ProtonVPN, Private Internet Access, and Mullvad VPN have open-source apps, however only ProtonVPN’s apps have been inspected by a 3rd party.
Concerning security, AirVPN’s cryptography is perhaps the finest available. The very first exchange uses 4096-bit RSA to attain Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) via Diffie-Hellman key exchange.
When creating an account, you are not required to input any personal information, not even your genuine email address. That’s excellent since it lets you avoid leaving any sort of digital footprint. Be conscious that you won’t be able to change your account’s password if you do not utilize one.
Italy, where AirVPN is based, belongs to the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances (a group of nations that share intelligence data). However even if the federal government requested user info, AirVPN would have nothing to provide.
Who Or What Is Eddie??
The Eddie UI is the name of AirVPN’s primary open-source application, readily available on all significant platforms and OSes, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. In spite of Eddie’s considerable ability with OpenVPN, it does not yet support WireGuard, so performance isn’t rather as good as those companies who use it as standard.
Establishing the app is easy, and it has all the information you need to connect to a VPN.
Unfortunately, there are no maps or clearly indicated buttons to assist you. While it’s not difficult to get things working, it doesn’t have the most easy to use interface, so it may be a more challenging learning curve for unskilled users.
With Windows, there are a lot of download options. There are builds for various running systems (from Windows XP to Windows 11), in 32- and 64-bit flavors, and in installable or portable formats. In addition, there’s a changelog to describe what’s new and an archive of past releases in case the most present does not work on your setup.
After introducing it, select ‘Connect to a recommended server,’ and the app will connect to your closest area. You just click Disconnect when you’re completed. Easy enough for anybody, however Eddie can do so much more since AirVPN uses more fine-tuned complete control over operations than any other VPN app we’ve seen.
2 essential AirVPN functions through Eddie are its auto-connect and kill switch. AirVPN permits you to connect when your computer system launches, however you can’t pick which VPN server it will connect to; it will always connect to the one you selected last.
Despite the fact that it specifies “kill switch” anywhere in the settings, AirVPN has a tab called “network lock” that does the very same thing. The difference is that AirVPN’s “network lock” stops all traffic that isn’t going through its protected tunnel. The majority of standard kill switches only do this when the VPN is on, but you can establish the “network lock” to filter your traffic at all times.
Eddie’s design is easy to understand. Along the top, there are 6 tabs: Overview, Servers, Countries, Speed, Stats, and Logs.
The Overview simply displays the server to which you are connected, the download and upload speeds, the exit IP address, and the connection time. This is where you log into your account.
The Servers page shows all available servers in the network, along with in-depth info about every one, such as the server’s nickname, location, latency in milliseconds from your place, and current users and server load. Impressive stuff!
This tab also has an amber/green signal that lets you understand whether a server is recommended for you.
The Countries page shows the number of servers available in each country at a glimpse, together with an indicator of server load and user numbers. Similar to the Servers page, the amber/green indicator is also revealed. Numerous servers have up to 1000 Mb/s bandwidth, while some smaller ones have a 100 Mb/s connection.
A green checkmark, a red “X,” and a blank box can be found on the right rail of the Countries tab. Highlight a nation, click the green checkmark, and the servers for that nation will appear on the Servers tab. This whitelist is basically a favorites list; you may pick as many countries as you like.
If you click the red “x”, that country will be gotten rid of, effectively making it a blocklist/denylist. To remove the green checkmark from a country, click the empty box.
By selecting a country, you are not instantly connected to a VPN server. To do so, return to the Servers page and select the server you want in a particular country. Then, connect to a server by marking it and clicking on the “indication out” icon on the right-hand side (a right-facing arrow pointing into a square bracket). There are also a checkmark, “X,” and blank box icons. There’s likewise a “refresh” button to get updated info on ping times and load times.
The Speed tab shows a basic throughput graph with thin plot lines. Its temporal resolution can be altered, so you can see traffic from the last 10 seconds to one day.
While most apps display your existing VPN server location and IP address at most. Eddie’s Stats page also reveals fine-grained info, such as the server’s location, load, existing user count, protocol, port, encryption algorithm, session start time and length, IPv6 exit address, information uploaded and downloaded, and much more.
Power users, in particular, should value the capability to use a VPN with all the info they might ever want about the different locations, down to the variety of users on a specific server. It’s a priceless resource.
Finally, Logs is a detailed record of connections, routes, and other information.
This enables you to tweak the setup, such as whether it needs to always connect when opened, which protocol to use between UDP and TCP, and which port number. Proxies, Tor support, custom-made DNS servers, and routes can be modified.
The truly knowledgeable user can enter into Advanced and Expert Mode settings, which permit, among other things, sending orders to the OpenVPN Management User Interface through the Logs pane.
If the large function list appears scary, even if you are a VPN expert, it might be hard to find out what specific settings do and how to get the desired results. In addition, it is unlike any other service in terms of customization.
Nevertheless, do not dismiss AirVPN’s Eddie just because of its complexity. Bear in mind that the program generally operates fine on its own, and you’ll never see the settings till you search for them. However, if you sometimes yearn for power or configurability, the app will provide it.
Suppose you don’t want to use Eddie. In that case, you can also set up a router or firewall to send all traffic through a VPN tunnel. This works with routers running the open-source DD-WRT and Tomato firmware and the FreeBSD-based pfSense firewall.
How Good Is AirVPN’s Mobile App?
There isn’t any VPN software for iOS, you can utilize an incredibly feature-rich Android VPN app rather. This software provides the same substantial configuration options as its desktop sibling and handy status info.
Separate pages for nation and server lists are what the Android app does not have that the desktop versions provides. Instead, you can expand a nation and select a specific city on the same page. Some valuable text additions make the details more understandable, however it’s still rather difficult to comprehend in some spots.
Android does not have as lots of settings as Windows. That’s not a significant critique; there are still many more than most people will ever require. The software application likewise tries a little bit more to assist you, with additional text subtitles to discuss what each choice does.
Speeds/Performance
Utilizing OpenVPN, the Eddie Windows app from AirVPN normally connects quickly and is ready to enter less than 10 seconds.
Online reviewers felt the connection monitoring was great, with the app identifying when the VPN tunnel drops, informing us with a desktop alert, and reconnecting us in seconds.
In regards to privacy, leak tests showed that AirVPN’s Windows client didn’t have any DNS leaks, which reveals that the Network Lock/Kill Switch works well.
Now let’s get to those speeds.
It was always going to be slower than the WireGuard-equipped competition because AirVPN only supports OpenVPN.
Nevertheless, reviewers have reported speeds to be exceptional. Indeed, one stated there wasn’t a single country where they might grumble about the speed. On the contrary, it was really excellent overall.
While it wasn’t quite on top tier for VPNs that utilize WireGuard, it was still more than fast enough for most people, and scenarios like HD gaming, streaming, and video conferencing certainly won’t slow you down.
What AirVPN does not have is a more comprehensive variety of server places. This may restrict the ease of access of neighboring servers for some users (which will constantly result in much better speeds). As a result, this VPN is an outstanding option for the majority of people in the United States and Europe, but perhaps less so for other regions.
Streaming
Streaming the huge services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple Television, Hulu, HBO, BBC iPlayer, and Discovery+ has actually been a mixed bag for reviewers. Some report that AirVPN is effective enough to bypass the VPN blocks used by Netflix in the USA, whereas others do not.
Indeed, some report that Air is quite poor for streaming and does not work with any of the significant streaming services. It appears to work with less-popular streaming apps like Peacock and Sony Crackle.
Another reviewer says services like BBC iPlayer and US Netflix hardly ever work, and when they do, finding the ideal server requires lengthy trial and error. This is probably due to the fact that, unlike other providers, AirVPN doesn’t use servers that are optimised for accessing streaming sites.
Thankfully, on AirVPN’s site, there is a list of ‘blocked websites’ that users can examine to see if the situation with these streaming sites ever changes.
Streaming is certainly not an area in which AirVPN excels, just since that’s not what the service is about, as they are more focused on privacy and security.
Does AirVPN Allow P2P?
Air supports P2P file-sharing on all of its servers. Simply connect to the VPN server of your option and get going.
Plus, you can utilize port forwarding to enhance your file-sharing performance. Numerous applications, such as BitTorrent and eMule clients, would run badly without it, and your computer’s shares might be inaccessible from the Internet.
File sharing has decent speeds on local servers, permits port forwarding for as much as 20 ports simultaneously (which lets you connect to more peers for faster speeds), and deals with top torrenting clients like qBitTorrent and uTorrent.
AirVPN’s built-in kill switch, triggered by default, will obstruct all traffic from leaving your device if the VPN connection ever drops. That way, you will not be sending out unencrypted packets to the Internet. If you are file sharing, a kill switch is really hassle-free, especially if you need to leave your connection unattended.
Reviewers have actually revealed torrenting to be remarkable, smooth running with fast download and upload speeds, and without any issues whatsoever.
AirVPN Plans & Pricing
AirVPN provides a broader variety of plans than many VPNs. As standard, each plan lets you connect up to 5 devices all at once, so you can connect your PC, phone, tablet, and a couple of other gadgets all at the same time.
This makes it an outstanding option for individuals who reside in a family home or wish to utilize a VPN on a public network. While 5 really should suffice for many people, other VPN suppliers provide 7 or even 10 if you require more.
Pricing differs based on the subscription length, and each plan consists of the same features. The majority of plans use good value; however, longer memberships use the best offer.
The standard pricing is in Euros. However, they use the European Central Bank to offer real-time currency exchange rate for those abroad, so it can be quickly transformed to and paid for in the currency of your option.
The present plans available are:
Three days- EUR2
One month – EUR7
Three months – EUR15 – works out to EUR 5/month
Six months – EUR29 – works out to EUR 4.83/month
One year – EUR49 – works out to EUR 4.08/month
Two years – EUR79 – works out to EUR 3.29/month
Three years – EUR99 – works out to EUR 2.75/month
AirVPN accepts major credit cards, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and a whole load of cryptocurrencies, consisting of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Doge. Lots of global choices are also accepted, such as Alipay and Giropay.
AirVPN offers a three-day free trial, which can be obtained by sending a message to the support team and utilizing the discount coupon code they send you.
There’s likewise a 30-day money-back guarantee, as long as they haven’t broken the terms of service or used more than 5 GB of data during that time.
AirVPN Customer Assistance
AirVPN has a different customer support offering than many other VPNs. While it does not have live chat, it offers e-mail support and frequently asked questions (FAQs) and has an extremely active support forum with contributors from both the service itself and the community.
Notably, AirVPN’s email support isn’t contracted out however can be a little inconsistent with the time it requires to get a response. That stated, the email assistance is high quality, and the agents are friendly and useful, but the detailed answers can be pretty technical, which may put off those brand-new to VPNs.
AirVPN’s website has a great deal of information, including a big Frequently asked questions section that is broken up by topic.
AirVPN’s community forums cover several topics, however newbies will have the exact same problems understanding a great deal of the tech lingo in the posts.
AirVPN Pros & Cons
Pros:
No logging Whatsoever.
Excellent speeds with very little loss.
Unrestricted P2P allowed with Port Forwarding.
Strong security on apps and servers alike, with advanced protocols and encryption.
Network Lock/Kill Switch.
Split tunneling.
Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, mobile, and routers.
Supports Tor over VPN.
Easy app setup and use.
Many, many advanced settings and customization choices in the client app.
Solid Customer Service.
Active Community Forums and In-depth Guides.
Great rates, especially for longer-term plans.
Optional block lists protect you from ads, adware, trackers, and damaging sources.
Cons:
Only fully supports OpenVPN.
Client app isn’t extremely user-friendly or pretty like other services.
Client app might overwhelm newer users.
It is extremely hit and miss with streaming services.
No native iOS or ChromeOS apps.
Possibly there are a lot of advanced options.
Located in 14-Eyes Country.
Server numbers are fairly low.
Rounding Things Up – Is AirVPN The Very Best Choice?
The bottom line is that AirVPN is a strong, dependable, and safe VPN service with good pricing. It’s clearly geared towards more power and advanced users, so those brand-new to VPNs will be better served by a less, shall we say, specialized VPN service provider. But even new users might do much, much worse.
While it could be challenging to use if you’re brand-new to VPNs, you’ll receive much quicker speeds and better results than many of its competing VPN rivals.
When it boils down to it, this VPN service is more focused on protecting your privacy than unblocking streaming services like Netflix or Hulu.
It may not ensure the very same level of privacy and privacy as a service like Mullvad, which designates you a random account number and enables you to pay in cash, AirVPN is still an excellent choice for consumers who value their privacy.
While it does not hit the speed heights of a WireGuard service, performance-wise, it’s definitely the best purely OpenVPN service out there. In addition to being an exceptional option for online filesharing.
Highly recommended!
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