This VPNArena review will analyze the Bulgarian-based
They currently have servers in 65 countries, which is pretty impressive, with a few countries having multiple locations so that they have 100+ total locations. That’s a pretty decently-sized network, but they only have a total of just over 200 total servers. This can spread some servers pretty thin during peak hours, reducing speed and bandwidth. Where they do well is with their features, which will be looked at deeper in this review.
We like VPNArea, particularly their feature set, but they could improve their server numbers slightly before they make it to our list of the Best
Features
This may be the best aspect of VPNArea as they have the standard features a
- Ad blocking and malware prevention
- IKEv2
VPN encryption - Killswitch
- P2P Allowed
- IPv6, WebRTC, DNS leak protection
- Server load display before connecting
- Double
VPN servers - Stealth
VPN / Stunnel
The last two features are of particular note. Their “Double
Servers & countries
VPNArea has worked hard to build their network across 65+ countries, and over 100 server locations. This is a great count, and includes these countries:
- Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, USA
- Asia/Oceania: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam
- Europe: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK
- Middle East/Africa: Egypt, Israel, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkey
- Eastern Europe: Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine,
You can also see the locations as they are now on their map:
Where they stumble here is with only having around 200 servers in total. This means that many locations only have one server, or three at most. Issues can arise where servers in one location become popular for some reason and they overload. They don’t need to be in more countries at this point, and should focus on getting more servers in locations they already have.
Speed & reliability
98% of the servers managed by VPNArea are claimed to be 1Gigabit, which is the standard for upper-level VPNs. They also claim that a number of their servers are optimized for torrenting and gaming, which will help out those doing that get the speed they need.
It’s also worth noting that they offer unlimited bandwidth with their packages. Speed is great, but not being cut off or throttled is even better!
Pricing & payments
VPNArea have a pretty standard pricing structure, and prices which are right around average. You can choose:
- One-month: $9.90 per month, billed monthly
- One-year: $4.92 per month, billed $59 yearly
- Three-year: $2.99 per month, billed $107.64 once
Their three-year plan is the biggest saver, but that is a very long-term commitment.
Payments can be made via PayPal, Credit Cards, Bitcoin, WebMoney, AliPay, GiroPay, and others.
Support
The best support feature from VPNArea is their live chat. We found it to be quite responsive, but it did take a little time for the support agent to understand our issue.
Other ways to get help from VPNArea include:
- Email: sales@vpnarea.com, support@vpnarena.com
- Ticketing: For members only
- FAQ: located in the header for easy access
We highly recommend using their live chat. We were a bit let down by their lack of more extensive guides beyond and FAQ section, and wish they had a blog to update us on their developments.
Policies & logging
There are three clear policy sections put in place by VPNArea, but the most important policy of all is that they do not monitor your activity online, and they do not log what you do. Here are some details on the three policies:
- Privacy policy: They must collect an email address, but state that they don’t need confirmation so it can be temporary. European users must specify a country for VAT purposes. Those who use PayPal will have an account ID created for refunds, and can have this erased under the right to be forgotten clause, while Bitcoin users will have no data created about their account. They will not sell your data to third-parties.
- Terms and Conditions: You must be over the age of 18 to use their service. Accounts can be shared with family and friends but the account holder assumes all responsibility. They have a zero-tolerance spam policy over their network, and ban all other forms of digital crimes over their network, including copyright infringement.
- Refund policy: You must send an email to refund@vpnarea.com to start the process. You must do this within 14 days of purchase for monthly plans, or within 30 days for one or three-year plans. It can take up to 48 hours to process refunds.
These are a solid set of policies, but we are slightly confused as to how they can say that they allow P2P and torrenting on their site, yet forbid it in their Terms and Conditions. This is a bit of a contradiction.
Expert recommendation
This VPNArea review should have made it clear that are a good provider, but they’re not a great provider. We liked their refund policy, and their expansive network. They also have a great support team, and say that they support torrenting with their no-logs policy. These are always great things to read.
However, they’re held back from being great due to their low server numbers, and their lack of supporting materials. The best
