IPVanish Review

Video Review

About IPVanish

Let’s set the tone by learning more about IPVanish, and then later on, I’ll talk about my experience using it.

Let’s take it from the top: IPVanish started in 2012 in Orland, Florida. That right there is already a potential issue. The U.S. government exercises its legal rights to ask user data from companies under its jurisdiction for matters such as criminal investigations. As you’ll see later on, IPVanish became controversial because of that.

On the bright side, IPVanish has a decent server network. It has over 2,400 servers in about 90 locations. Some locations are in the same countries, though. All in all, IPVanish has servers in 55 countries. That might have been a sizable network a few years ago. But with options like NordVPN which has over 6,000 servers in 111 countries and Surfshark with over 3,200 servers in 100 countries, IPVanish has fallen slightly behind. It’s still a decent network, but 2,000 servers in 55 countries is far from the biggest I’ve seen.

IPVanish Features

IPVanish is compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Windows Phone, and other routers so it works with many different devices through Wi-Fi, LTE, 4G, and 3G connections. You can have unlimited simultaneous connections, too, which is great because it means you can share your subscription with family members or a roommate without limiting your own VPN use. We’re certainly not thrilled when Netflix limits simultaneous device viewing to five, so we’re glad we didn’t see that kind of thing in IPVanish.

Will IPVanish Log My Data?

According to their website: no. IPVanish does not log personal data.

What does this mean for you? IPVanish will not collect, monitor, or track your usage of the service. They also will not sell or rent personal information to others. All that’s needed to sign up with them is an email address and a payment method.

The only thing they claim they track is the non-personal data of the users that come to their site. That non-personal data includes:

• Page requests
• Browser type
• Operating System
• Bounce rate
• Average time spent on our site

They collect this data by using cookies, pixels, and similar technologies, such as Google Analytics. Depending on what browser you use, you typically can opt-out of cookie usage or at least specify your cookie settings.

As it stands now, IPVanish’s privacy policy looks airtight, but it had been under scrutiny in the past because of an incident that took place in 2016. The Department of Homeland Security issued a “summons of records” from Highwinds Network Group, Inc. to get information on a user who was suspected of criminal activity.1 To make a long story short, IPVanish allegedly complied, resulting in the arrest of the suspect.

Now, we’re all for stopping criminals in their tracks. However, if IPVanish did, in fact, release records that they supposedly shouldn’t have had in the first place because of the no-logs policy, that’s a different issue.

Fortunately, though, since being acquired in 2017 by StackPath, IPVanish has maintained a squeaky clean record as far as their no-logs policy goes. And just recently, the Leviathan Security Group independently audited IPVanish’s privacy policy and practices. The audit has confirmed that IPVanish’s practices are trustworthy, confirming the company’s no-logs claim. The auditors even went as far as endorsing the company as a non-invasive VPN option for privacy-minded individuals.

Does IPVanish Have a Kill Switch?

Yes, it does!

The kill switch function is set in place to protect your IP address from being leaked. If a VPN service does not have this function, your IP address will be temporarily exposed if you lose connection to their network. So an automatic kill switch will close down all of your browsers and cut you from the Internet until your VPN connection is reestablished.

This could be a pain for someone who is downloading large files and does not want to be suddenly interrupted. Thankfully, you can turn off the kill switch whenever you’d like.

What Kind of Tunneling Does IPVanish Offer?

With IPVanish you can either exclusively connect to the internet through their network or you can do what we call, “split tunneling.”

Split tunneling is awesome because it allows you to connect to another network while using the VPN. All VPNs slow down internet speed and compromise your bandwidth a bit. But with split tunneling you can spread the burden, potentially creating a better user experience.

Can I use Netflix with IPVanish?

Using a VPN to access Netflix unlocks new content for you. For example, if you’re in the U.S. and you get on a Japan server, you can access Netflix Japan. It also works the other way around, which is helpful when you’re traveling and the show you’re binge watching isn’t available in your destination.

Unfortunately, Netflix and other streaming sites don’t want users doing that, so they try their best to detect VPN activity. The good news is that IPVanish was able to avoid detection – at least on the servers I tested. Some of the U.S., Japan, U.K., and India servers were specifically designed to access streaming services. IPVanish is still not quite as good as the best VPNs for Netflix, but it does the trick most of the time.

Besides Netflix, IPVanish let me access Disney+, ESPN, HBO Max, and Hulu through U.S. servers, but since I live in Brooklyn, I could have accessed those streaming sites without a VPN anyway.

I was more excited to see that IPVanish allows torrenting via uTorrent. Even though we don’t support illegal torrenting and piracy, there’s lots of great, non-copyrighted content available for download from torrent websites.

IPVanish Encryption

Alrighty! Now it’s time to look at IPVanish’s encryption methods and protocols.

Encryption is basically the code that masks your data as you are perusing the web. Non-encrypted data can be read by an Average Joe with a computer. Data that is encrypted by high-quality code would need a godly hacker to crack.

That being said, IPVanish used AES-256 encryption, which is the highest quality encryption on the VPN market. IPVanish also offers various protocols that fit different needs. Protocols determine how the data is routed from your device to the VPN service.

Let’s check out our options here.

IPSec (Internet Protocol Security)

IPSec encrypts IP packets for transport and tunneling. So this can be compared to a mask people might use to hide their identity. IPSec is available for most computers and mobile devices, which is great. But be aware: IPSec does not define a particular encryption algorithm or an authentication function on its own, which means it’s not the most secure connection if it isn’t paired with other protocols that do so. IPSec just provides the framework for secure transport.

IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange Protocol Version 2)

IKEv2 is a protocol that is created through IPSec and it configures the specific approach to how IP packets are encrypted. What’s cool about IKEv2 is that it automatically re-establishes your VPN connection if you are ever disconnected from the internet. This is great for users who are using mobile devices and who may find themselves switching in between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. With IKEv2 and IPSec working together, your IP is more likely to be protected.

L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol)

L2TP actually doesn’t encrypt at all. It just creates the tunnel for the data to travel. For encryption purposes, it combines with IPSec which is responsible for encryption, channel security, and data integrity checks. L2TP/IPSec connections are very secure and it works well with most mobile devices. However, this protocol may be tricky to set up for a router and it’s not as fast as OpenVPN.

OpenVPN

This protocol is an “open-source protocol”, which means that it’s kind of like Wikipedia. Users who are a part of the community can tweak the code to increase security. OpenVPN one of the most popular, most trusted protocols out there.

Why?

Because it’s fast and incredibly secure; it can bypass firewalls and it’s highly configurable. OpenVPN works with Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, routers, and other devices.

The only pain about OpenVPN, it may require you to download third-party software to make it work, which makes for a tricky setup. But according to IPVanish, they’ve got the software that will have OpenVPN up and running easily and effortlessly.

You can also combine OpenVPN with TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) for added benefits.

TCP

OpenVPN and TCP together make the most popular and most reliable VPN connection.

TCP’s error correction prevents data packages from being lost as they travel from one place to the next. TCP reminds me of my mother back in the day, reminding me to check for my phone, keys, and wallet before I left any location. Without her, I probably would have been missing my keys more often than I would have liked.

Well without TCP’s error correction, you might frequently experience incomplete downloads and failed websites because some data’s off or went missing.

Thanks Mom! And Thanks TCP!

UDP

OpenVPN and UDP operate much faster than an OpenVPN/TCP connection because there’s no error correction with this protocol. UDP just sends the error packets. It doesn’t organize them.

Even so, many online gamers (who often have to quickly interact and respond in real-time) use OpenVPN/UDP because the speed is more appropriate for their needs.

WireGuard

WireGuard is the prodigy of VPN protocols. It’s a new protocol, but expectations for it are already high. In terms of speed, WireGuard’s lightweight coding allows for faster connections. Even today, it’s considered faster than the current gold standard, OpenVPN. When it comes to security, WireGuard is also well-positioned to rival or even overtake OpenVPN. It’s also open-source, so improvements are being made constantly. We wouldn’t be surprised if WireGuard replaces OpenVPN as the gold standard in the coming years.

Testing IPVanish

Features mean nothing, though, if a VPN is slow and “leaky” (as in leaking your IP address), so we tested IPVanish’s speed and overall leak protection.

To do all of the testing, I’ll be using my MacBook Air and my VivoBook (Windows). As for my internet connection, I’ll be using Optimum. I recognize you may be using different devices and different ISPs, which could both affect download and upload speeds. (Your proximity to a server can also affect these speeds, too.)

What I’m saying is: Your numbers could be slightly different from mine. But I’m testing to give you a general sense of how the VPN performs on different operating systems.

Speed Test

Download Speed Tests

Upload Speed Tests

Ping Speed Tests

IPVanish on my MacBook Air works very well in terms of speed. While every VPN will slow your connection down, IPVanish does a great job of maintaining as much speed as possible. The ping time only dropped 14% (while the average drop is 32% among VPNs). And the download and upload speed was decent as well. Although, I have used faster services like CyberGhost, which saw a decrease of less than 10% for both downloads and uploads.

My speed significantly slowed down on my VivoBook. I did not like seeing that -62.37% on my downloads. Knowing that I’d say IPVanish may not be the best for Windows users.

DNS Leak Test

So the DNS, or Domain Name Server, is the address that you type in when you go to a website, like gmail.com. Basically the DNS takes an IP address and puts it into an alphabetic sequence. For us VPN users, private DNS’s are used for our security. But we want to make sure your data remains encrypted as it travels through the VPN tunnel.

After testing, IPVanish showed no DNS leaks on either Mac or Windows. Woohoo!

WebRTC Leak Test

WebRTC is like the translator that allows Firefox, Chrome, Opera — name your browser — to communicate with one another. It’s the things that make data transfers smoother, web conferences less glitchy, and streaming The Office without many interruptions. For WebRTC to work though, it requires that devices share their IP address. So it’s important that this information doesn’t leak while using a VPN.

Here’s some good news: IPVanish had no WebRTC leaks when I tested it on my MacBook Air and on my VivoBook.

IPVanish Subscriptions

Options

IPVanish’s prices are comparable with other affordable VPNs on the market. NordVPN prices can be as low as $3.67 a month. IPVanish’s lowest subscription package is pretty close to that: $$3.99 a month, the same as IPVanish’s one-year plan. What sets apart IPVanish is that with the one-year plan, users get a free subscription to VIPRE Advanced Security, an antivirus that protects your device from malware. This antivirus software costs about $75 a year, so having it included in the one-year plan is quite a way to save.

Manual Configurations

IPVanish works with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Linux (Ubuntu PPTP, Ubuntu Open), Chromebook, and wireless routers such as DD-WRT and Tomato.

Browser Extensions

Unfortunately, IPVanish has no browser extensions.

>> Related reading: Best VPNs for Ubuntu

IPVanish Customer Support

As great as technology can be sometimes, it fails and so we need to know who to talk to when things break down. Even when things aren’t going wrong, understanding the VPN world can be confusing. You need help.

In each of these cases, it’s important that the VPN service that you use has great customer service. But how much does IPVanish support its customers? Let’s find out.

Features

Okay, IPVanish has extremely good customer service when it comes to access. They’ve got a phone line, email support, a 24/7 live chat room, and a robust FAQ library. There are so many ways for you to find the answers that you’re looking for.

The reps on the chat are highly responsive. If they don’t answer you right away, they will tell you where you are in their query queue. I never had to wait more than five minutes, which I think is a little long. But it was still better than waiting a day for them to email me.

Customer Support Ratings

So even though I thought IPVanish was great, I wanted to know what other people thought about their customer service.

When I checked the reviews on Amazon, I discovered that in 2017 users were really unhappy because there was no customer service at all. At some point, IPVanish only had email support and took days to respond … The first positive review of their customer service was in 2018: “Better than expected.” Things have improved from there, but the company still garners its fair share of detractors.

On Trustpilot, IPVanish has a 4.6-star rating out of five from over 7,000 reviews— amazing! While I wasn’t able to do a search specifically for customer support, I could see that the majority of people were pleased with it in the more recent reviews. With 82 percent of the reviews at a perfect five-stars, IPVanish is doing something right.

The IPVanish App

Apparently, Apple users are much happier with the IPVanish App than Android users. In the Apple store, the app received 4.5 stars and that’s the rating I would give it. When I opened it up on my iPhone X, I discovered that it was really easy to navigate and connect with the VPN. I didn’t have any issues.

Meanwhile, the app received a 4.2 star rating in the Google Play store. Customer concerns were mainly about having connection issues.