Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking Admittedly, PureVPN has some pretty loud hiccups, but there are still some shiny pros for those seeking a VPN contender. We primarily test VPNs on Windows devices but also test on Android mobile and, where available, Android TV apps. PureVPN occasionally offers short-term sales beyond its typical two-year plan, but even when it’s back to two years, PureVPN ranks in the top three for multi-year pricing of the VPNs we’ve reviewed. The annual subscription is second behind Atlas VPN for cheapest pricing. PureVPN also offers a 31-day money-back guarantee for all its subscriptions, which is what you can use in lieu of a dedicated free trial. That said, there was a seven-day trial for PureVPN on Android at the time of writing. Once the PureVPN software is installed, it does take a breath to load up, unlike other VPNs we’ve revied that start instantly. When it is open, simply tap the giant circle button in the middle of the screen to connect, then hit it again to disconnect. It takes around two to four seconds to connect to a server and, unlike other VPNs, you don’t usually have to wait extra time for your internet connection to catch up. Because disconnection also feels close to instantaneous, it means real-time online services like music streaming weren’t interrupted during our tests. At the time of updating this review, PureVPN said it had servers in 78+ countries and 96+ locations. The location count is more useful as it’s a collective number of countries and cities, with most countries only effectively offering a single location. By my count of thePureVPN server list, there were 77 countries on offer from 95 locations. For context, that’s around the middle for number of countries and locations compared to the 17 other VPNs we’ve reviewed. The 6,500+ global server count is among the highest, too. Mercifully, the Windows experience has improved a lot since my initial review. Back then, I had issues loading websites and everyday services had issues. Fast-forward to more recent times and, outside of the occasional Google reCAPTCHA request because of busy servers, it’s a very smooth background experience. I forgot to turn it off before a gaming session—word to the wise, no VPN plays nice with Call of Duty Modern Warfare II—because of how seamlessly everything worked. Admittedly, PureVPN still has some peer-to-peer (P2P) issues. Most other VPNs I’ve tested let you use torrenting software on regular servers, but torrents refuse to work unless you’re connected to a specialist P2P server in PureVPN. While the location choices aren’t flash, the speeds were still great. I had the best experience with the Windows app, though there were occasionally bugs that meant I couldn’t access countries or particular cities. Restarting the app fixed these issues, though it didn’t help the blocked access to my network-attached storage (NAS) drive. PureVPN also supports manual installation on a range of devices:
Most major router brands Blackberry Kindle Nintendo Boxee box Google Chromebook Microsoft Surface Synology NAS Freebox Blu-ray players Sonos Siemens Asus DSL Airport E Raspberry Pi PlayStation 3 and 4 Xbox consoles Uroad Home Bell Nvidia Shield Buffalo Apple TV Apple Time Capsule Major smart TVs Roku Kodi
As you can likely tell from all the scrolling it took to reach this bit of text, that’s a lot of supported devices. Thankfully, there are configuration guides for a lot of these devices on this PureVPN support blog. Y’see, streaming services tend to manage VPN workarounds by blocking the common, shared IP addresses used. On one hand, it makes it straightforward for VPN providers to update server IP addresses once they’re blocked. On the other, if you try to stream geoblocked content during an IP address ban, it won’t work. The solution, generally, is to switch servers, but VPNs tend to not offer manual server selection or an easy way to switch servers in the same region. That’s where PureVPN’s ‘Change Server’ button is a game-changer. I only had to click it once to get Kayo and Stan streaming in seconds. For US streaming services, HBO Max had some loading issues, but a few seconds later after a server switch, it was ready for fast streaming. While Netflix US and BBC iPlayer had moderate buffering speeds, this still makes PureVPN a viable streaming contender. While that’s great news for Windows users, it’s less great for others. I also tested PureVPN on the Android mobile and Android TV versions of the app, and neither had that convenient ‘Change Server’ button. That won’t matter if you do most of your streaming via PC but it’s a missed opportunity on the convenience front for other devices that are better suited to streaming. There’s a wealth of information and options inside your PureVPN login. This member’s area has typical account information, but it also has easy access to port forwarding, the help desk, as well as apps and PureVPN browser extensions. Clicking on ‘Other Devices’ provides blog guides for connecting specific devices, even if some of these are just a blanket guide for connecting via a router. PureVPN used to advertise inbuilt protection against viruses and malware but that isn’t an obvious part of the service anymore. What is here for more advanced users is an internet kill switch, protocol selection (automatic from IKEv2, TCP, UDP or WireGuard), and split tunnelling for managing VPN protection on a per-app basis. These days, PureVPN is way more of an invisible background protector, one that offers 10 simultaneous connections and actually has a shot at coaxing people away from big names like NordVPN and ExpressVPN with cheaper prices, plenty of locations and lots of servers.
