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ExpressVPN has taken over mainstream advertising on sites like YouTube and has become a household name – at least as famous as a VPN could be. In June’s compilation of the top nine providers, it came out on top for streaming services, frequent travel, and gaming. However, it’s worth noting that it fell short in areas like security and user-friendliness, and wasn’t the best overall.
Besides general security, there are three main VPN use cases: geoblocking, streaming, and gaming.So my test was like watching Shrek Get 24-hour access to Canadian Netflix from your US-based home office with a VPN (no demon movies currently available).
ExpressVPN was easy to sign up, download, and use, which was a surprise to me when compared to other services. For example, competitors such as ProtonVPN had easy ways to sign in across platforms. However, ExpressVPN subscriptions come with a password manager to store and autofill your credentials across websites. In a world where complex passwords are essential to keep accounts secure, this is a plus.
The best VPNs are so unobtrusive that you’ll hardly even notice they’re working. But what’s odd is that ExpressVPN’s internet speed was above my baseline internet speed reading. All other VPNs negatively impact internet speeds in some way, so this service may be avoiding traffic shaping and similar anomalies by your internet service provider. However, it successfully masked your IP address and passed DNS and WebRTC leak tests as a privacy measure.
ExpressVPN also allowed me to easily access geo-restricted content with little to no buffering. When I tried to stream news on YouTube using ExpressVPN, there was a loading delay for a few seconds, but no delay after that. Finally, ExpressVPN passed our gaming test by avoiding lag and maintaining normal load times. However, this was a very basic test of logging into the online game Slither.io from a UK-based VPN and competing against international users. Surfing the web with ExpressVPN was as easy as online without ExpressVPN. In a ping test using ExpressVPN, it took 100ms for data to go from my computer to the server and back, compared to 16ms without the VPN turned on.
The biggest perk of ExpressVPN is that it supports up to 5 devices simultaneously. In other words, we were able to run all tests at the same time without any slowdown. This is perfect for sharing with family or people who like to play games, watch TV and scroll on their phones at the same time. This is the main reason why ExpressVPN is our first choice for streaming and gaming. The connection was solid, they had a wide range of servers in 94 countries, and clear instructions were provided. Settings for any device.
However, from a security standpoint, we felt we needed more. ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands. the company advertises This is because the territory has no foreign intelligence operations and does not participate in any 14 Eyes intelligence-sharing agreements.However, it is owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns competitor CyberGhost, and Kape Problematic history, including malware distribution. Not only that, but in 2021 the Justice Department indicted ExpressVPN CIO Daniel Gericke for conducting cyber espionage on behalf of the UAE. ExpressVPN sided with the CIO in a blog post.
But it’s not all bad. ExpressVPN’s security audit is public mobile app, protocol and desktop app last year. This is a win for security transparency. nevertheless, 2021 Consumer Reports Survey We found that ExpressVPN doesn’t support multi-factor authentication, doesn’t meet brute force mitigation checks, and retains some data after your account is terminated. However, ExpressVPN exceeds industry standards in protecting against unauthorized access, has a vulnerability disclosure program, and says it will not take legal action against security researchers. In short, when it comes to security standards and practices, ExpressVPN has made too many corporate mistakes and not enough hits.
We recommended ExpressVPN as a great choice for gamers, frequent travelers, and heavy users of streaming services. This is because users can access a wide range of locations from a variety of devices with high speed connections and no delays. With options that can be configured directly into your router or gaming console, it’s a solid choice for those who have a heavy burden on their ISP. Still, there are better his VPNs for those who value security or want something more affordable.