PrivateInternetAccess VPN Review

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Summary

PrivateInternetAcess is one of the most popular, trusted and affordable VPN providers. It has an outstanding service, the best privacy protection available, and unparalleled speeds for the price.

Despite being based in the US, a cause for concern amongst many, PrivateInternetAccess (PIA) have shown themselves to be true believers in online privacy.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Servers in 30 countries
• Non-logging policy
• DNS Leak protection
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unparalleled speeds
• Accepts bitcoin and other crypto for anonymous payment

Cons

• Based in the United States

Features

The main features of Proxy.sh's VPN service are:

• Servers in 30 countries
• Non-logging policy that has been tested in court
• Allows 5 simultaneous connections
• Allows all P2P activity (BitTorrent, Soulseek, Usenet, etc.)
• DNS Leak protection
• SOCKS5 proxies available
• OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, and PPTP
• Unlimited bandwidth; exceptional speed and performance
• Compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, Linux, others
• Accepts bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for anonymous payment

PrivateInternetAccess is perhaps the single most popular VPN provider around. They don't store any logs of your activity, and what's more, this has been tested in an FBI case in the United States, where PIA stated they are unable to comply with the FBI's demands, as they do not log and hence have no logs to provide in response.

Although being based in the US is a downside, particularly for the paranoid amongst us, PrivateInternetAccess have shown they are truly privacy-friendly in every sense.

Security and Privacy

Encryption

PIA offer very strong encryption, and allow the user to change these settings.

They offer AES-128 or AES-256 for data encryption, SHA1 or SHA256 for data authentication, and RSA-2048 or RSA-4096 for the handshake — this means the user has full control over whether they opt for security, or for speed. However, even with the highest encryption settings enabled, PIA is still able to offer fantastic speeds, making it perfect for video streaming, gaming, and P2P use.

Privacy

PrivateInternetAccess is based in the United States, placing it within the reach of the Five Eyes, to which the US belongs.

Despite this, PIA don't store any logs of your activity, which isn't just a claim; this policy has been tested in a recent FBI case in the United States, where PIA responded to a demand for logs by explaining that they are unable to comply, because they do not keep or store logs of any kind.

With thousands of users trusting PrivateInternetAccess, they're quite obviously a good option for those concerned with their privacy. However, for the paranoid "tin-foil" types, a VPN based in a more privacy-friendly country like Panama or the Seychelles might be better — such as Proxy.sh or NordVPN.

Pricing

PrivateInternetAccess is very cheap, with plans costing as little as $3.33 per month, or $39.95 if paid yearly.

You can pay with all the usual suspects — Visa, AmEx, Discover, iDEAL, giropay, as well as Amazon Payments, cashU, ripples, OKPay, Google Wallet, gift cards, and more.