Private Internet Access™ VPN Service encrypts your connection and provides you with an anonymous IP to protect your privacy.
We are in a time where internet privacy will either no longer exist, or stay in its fragile state. You can put on a tinfoil hat and stop using the internet, or get a VPN and secure the traffic you are sending.
There are free VPN services like x and x, but how much can you trust a free service? Where do they make their money? How much data do they collect? Do they delete their logs? One click setup? Multiple locations? Allow 5 devices? Allow Socks5 Proxy? Probably not.
Private Internet Access does, and their service has been great for me. Fantastic speeds, low latency, and great support. I’ve even played games on it without many issues. Sure, I’ve had a hiccup here and there, but I’ve been able to report the issue and eventually that hiccup goes away.
I’ve set up the app on my system, logged in, clicked on a VPN location and bam… connected. It’s really that fast. I’ve tried different locations all with great results, other than a country thats pretty far away. Thankfully they have a VPN server in California that has always worked best.
Their service has recently added an Ad Blocking service that not only blocks annoying ads, but will stop trackers from learning more about you. I have not used this service yet, but I’ve heard good things. I implemented a Pi-Hole on my network to test, and I have to say that DNS level ad/malware/tracking blocking has been an interesting experiment.
What is a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network is a network connection that enables you to create a secure connection to another location, thereby allowing you to appear as if you were in another place. Your computer creates an encrypted virtual tunnel to the VPN server and all of your browsing appears as if it is coming from the VPN server. All of the Internet traffic goes through this encrypted tunnel, keeping your data from being exposed to eavesdroppers between your computer and the VPN server.
Pricing options
PIA offers three different pricing plans from monthly payments to yearly payments.
Monthly: $6.95
6 months: 35.95
Yearly: 39.95
PIA accepts quite a few different payment options ranging from Paypal, credit cards, and if you still have that tinfoil hat on, they accept bitcoin and gift cards from Starbucks, Costco etc. If you want to stay anonymous, pay anonymously!
Features
There are a lot of features to their VPN, but my favorite so far is the ability to have 5 devices simultaneously connected with their client. The operating systems supported are Windows, OS X, Linux, Chrome Extension, iOS, and Android.
The features they list on their site: P2P support, PPTP, OpenVPN and L2TP/IPSec, 5 devices, Block ads, trackers and malware, Multiple VPN Gateways, Unlimited Bandwidth, Socks5 Proxy, No traffic logs, and instant setup. I personally use their Socks5 Proxy with Proxifier on OS X (also available for Windows). It’s a great app if you want specific apps to use different VPNs.
If you don’t want to use their client, you can use their instructions for downloading the configuration files and use the OpenVPN client.
PIA also offers a Kill Switch in their client, which stops all traffic sent out if you manually disconnect from their servers or their service stops working. Other VPNs that include this feature require you to select the applications to shut down, but Private Internet Access provides the safety of cutting off all Internet communications.
How to connect?
Install the PIA VPN client, login using the credentials provided and once installed look for the little red icon in your system tray.
Before you connect, check your IP address at http://ipchicken.com. Make a note of what IP address is listed. Right click on it to display the VPN connection list, select one from the list and you are on your way. Visit IP chicken again, and see if your IP address has changed.
Speed Tests(results may vary on your internet connection)
I’ve had great results with my speed tests and I’ll include the screen shots below. To reiterate, your internet connection has a lot to do with the results you’ll get. Run tests before and after connecting to the VPN.
Since Congress is now allowing ISPs to share your web browsing history without your permission, sign up with PIA now.
NOTE: This is not a paid review. We did not receive any services for writing this. We genuinely recommend their product. The links to purchase PIA service are affiliate links that help us support the site.
I purchased PIA thanks to this article and I’ve been very happy with the service so far!
Now I’m surfing the web with encryption like a baws ;D