Based in Sweden, OVPN is a VPN service provider that is owned by OVPN Integritet AB. OVPN was released in 2014 to provide internet users with a secure and log-free VPN service. In this review, we will discuss the different aspects of OVPN based on their free trial.
Pricing
OVPN offers one package that fits all which comes in 3 different subscriptions. The monthly plan costs $10.99, quarterly subscription costs $8.33 per month and the annual subscription costs $7.00 per month.
In addition, OVPN provides several add-ons, such as:
1- Proxy add-on for $2 per month.
2- Filtering add-on to block pop-up ads and malware for $3 per month.
3- Public IPv4 add-on for $3 per month.
4- Multi-hop add-on for $5 per month.
We find the prices a bit high compared to other leading VPN services that offer more options.
Payment Methods
OVPN accepts both anonymous and regular payment methods, including: Paypal, Bitcoin, credit cards, Swish as well as cash.We recommend using anonymous payments, such as: Bitcoin for extra security & anonymity.
Free Trial & Refund
OVPN offers a 5-hour free trial for users to get full access to the service and test it before subscribing to any of their plans.
As for refunds, the policy is somehow complicated. According to Sweden’s digital laws, OVPN are not obliged to issue refunds for digital products once activated. However, the company makes some exceptions to offer certain refunds on their website:
“OVPN allows customers to cancel their purchase within 5 days given that the customer can prove that OVPN has not delivered what was promised. This is only applicable the first time the customer makes a purchase. For subscriptions longer than a month, OVPN allows customers to cancel their purchase within 10 days, given that the customer can prove that OVPN has not delivered what was promised. This is only applicable the first time the customer makes a purchase.”
Privacy Policy
OVPN follows a strict no logging policy, which means that they do not keep records of their users’ online activities, timestamps, bandwidth, personal informations, etc. This maintains and strengthens the user’s anonymity and security on the internet and protects the user’s data from being tracked by third parties and cyber criminals.
“OVPN does not log any activity from customers when connected to our VPN service. Thus, we do not know who is connected to our service, what they are doing or when they are doing it. At a bare minimum, this means that we do not store any bandwidth information for users or any timestamps for connections. Writing permissions for the OpenVPN processes have been removed from the servers operating our VPN service. This prevents any user information from being logged at any time. This is a conscious decision from our side as we take anonymity seriously and believe that privacy online is a human right.”
The Client
We signed up for a free trial and downloaded OVPN Windows client to test the overall performance of the service. The signing up process was very easy, all you need to do is to provide a valid email and a password. You will then receive an email to activate your account. You can also start downloading the app until you receive the activation email. As for the download and installation process, the app is significantly large in size (about 61 MB) compared to other software clients. However, the installation process is effortless and took only a few moments for the app to be set up on our system. Once installed, you can then launch OVPN Windows app and insert your username and password to start connecting to the VPN.
The software interface is very elegant and attractive. It is also very well designed to include multiple features and options in a very organised way. For example, users have the options to activate a kill switch, DNS leak protection, DNScrypt or monitor the performance of their VPN connection through a “Statistics” tab, etc.
OVPN Features
In this section, we will explore the different features provided by OVPN, such as: encryption levels, server network, bandwidth, platform compatibility, security features, etc.
Security & Encryption
OVPN uses AES-256-GCM encryption and 2048-bit Diffie-Hellman key to act as “HMAC firewall” coined with 1024-bit TLS-key to protect the connection from DDoS attacks and provide optimal security levels. OVPN only supports OpenVPN tunneling protocol which is considered to be the strongest and most secure encryption protocol to this date. In addition, OVPN manage their own DNS servers to avoid any DNS leaks when a user is connected to the internet. The software application also comes with a built-in kill switch to prevent any data exposure during any sudden disconnections and IPv6 leak protection to avoid any IPv6 leaks.
Servers & Bandwidth
Though OVPN is pretty impressive when it comes to security, however, it falls back when it comes to network coverage. The service has only 39 servers in total spread across 6 countries (Sweden, USA, Germany, Canada, Netherlands & Norway). We must admit that we are surprised to find that they do not have servers in the UK which means that OVPN will not give you access to any geoblocked content in the UK, such as: BBC iPlayer. This is absolutely inefficient considering their high prices.
As for bandwidth, OVPN offers unlimited bandwidth to all users on all plans without any throttling in speed.
Platform Compatibility
OVPN is compatible with several platforms and operating systems, including: Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Synology NAS and different Linux distributions, such as: Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Manjaro, etc. This means that the service can run on a wide range of devices, such as: desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets and routers.
Customer Support
Live chat support is available. We have communicated with one of their representatives and it went great. The agent was very knowledgable and managed to answer all our questions. There is also a comprehensive F.A.Q section as well as a detailed set-up guide available for self-assistance.
Conclusion
OVPN is generally a good service with very good security features. We still believe that they demand higher prices than what is offered especially with such a measly network of servers and not very stable connection.On a brighter note, there are a lot of impressive features & the customer support is excellent.
