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VPN Deals

What is a VPN? 

A Vpn (Virtual Private Network) is a secure link between yourself and a dedicated VPN server. Any requests made by your equipment using a VPN then goes via this connection. 

Any requests made via the VPN should be encrypted so not even your ISP knows what you are doing. 

What can I use a VPN for? 

A VPN can be useful for many reasons, for example streaming content from a region you may not be entitled to see. 

For example the iPlayer is only available to users in the UK. If you were in Spain connected to a Vpn in the UK you could still access the IPlayer as it would think you are in the UK. Without the VPN you would be blocked. 

A VPN can be used to circumnavigate restrictions put in place by your ISP or even your government. 

Where can I get the best deals? 

There are plenty of providers out there and it can be a minefield trying to find the best one. There are many free VPN providers but most of these will not have much support and can give you more problems than if you paid for a subscription. 

Below I have found some of the best deals for a paid VPN subscription, to get some of the deals you will be required to use a cashback site to utilise the savings. 

How do i know which one to choose?

My personal preference is Surfshark as this is a bargain for two years plus there are no restrictions, if you are worried about the cashback not tracking then this is for you, if you can afford to outlay £80 for NordVPN now and wait a few months for cashback then choose them, if your filthy rich pick any one!

NordVPN

They are one of the best providers for vpn as rated by tech radar. Nordvpn allows 6 devices to be connected at the same time.

You can get a great deal on them with up to 60% cashback via topcashback. This works out at about £40 for 3 years after cashback.

Topcashback currently offers 60% cashback.

Quidco currently offers 50% cashback.

Signing up to topcashback will get you a £5 amazon voucher one you reach £10 payable cashback.

Signing up with Quidco will get you £5 extra cashback once you earn £5 cashback. You will achieve this with a nordvpn 3 Yr deal.

Surfshark

This is a newer member to the market but have an excellent deal for 2 years vpn for only £38. The bonus with surfshark is that you can connect unlimited devices and use simultaneous connections. The terms of service explicitly say you can share your account with friends and family.

ExpressVPN

Also another big player in the market and highly rated by tech radar. Restricted to 3 devices at any one time though.

ExpressVPN has been around for 10 years now so has a big foothold in the market, Current deal is $99 for a year.

A 30 day moneyback guarantee is offered as standard.

IPVanish

Another recommendation from techradar’s top 5. Allows up to 10 similtaneous connections.

Current deal is $99 for 2 years of VPN access, so around £75.

Want to know more about Cashback?

Click here to see my blog post regarding cashback sites and how to use them.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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Coming Soon

I have obtained a Physical VPN Router, this connects to my existing router and then provides a VPN Wireless network. Any device connected to this wireless network will then automatically be protected via the VPN.

In depth review coming soon….

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VPN Features

Here i will look into the Features available for the VPN’s i have recommended and the availability of Apps for each provider as well as their usability.

Accessibility

First i will look at which platforms the app is available for. All four Providers have availability for all of the common platforms, so in terms of accessibility they are all the same.

Apps are widely available in each of their related appstores.

PlatformIP VanishSurfsharkNordVPNExpressVPN
AndroidYYYY
IOSYYYY
WindowsYYYY
MacOSYYYY
AmazonYYYY
LinuxYYYY
RouterYYYY

Usability

Each app that i tried on the Android Platform was really intuitive. You simply login and click connect. The only app i had a little trouble with to start with was IPVanish, once i force closed it and opened again it started to work as expected.

Features

Now i will look at some of the Extra features that are included from each provider. For the comparison below i will be comparing the four providers Android apps.

Extra Security relates to additional features in the App which give further protection from things like malware and ad’s etc. In Surfshark this is called CleanWeb and in NordVPN its called CyberSec.

Split Tunneling in Surfshark is called Whitelister. Split tunneling is a really handy feature as it allows you to select which apps needs to use VPN and which apps can bypass it for example you could set a Streaming App to use the VPN and Netflix to bypass the VPN and use your regular internet connection. This removes the need to manually turn your VPN on and Off for different apps.

FeatureIP VanishSurfsharkNordVPNExpressVPN
Auto ConnectYYYY
Split TunnelingYY*NN
Max Connections10unlimited63
Extra SecurityNYYN
Countries60+506294

Verdict

It really is hard trying to find a favourite in regards to features as they all pack a punch in their own way. I think Surfshark still pips the post for me. The unlimited connections makes it favourable and due to it being relatively new it also allows via the App to suggest/request new features. When an App/Service is relatively new developers are more susceptible to accepting such requests as its helps them build a better product.

In the app there is a list of Shortlisted Ideas which you can Vote up and this will give weighting to the ideas which will then allows the developers to choose what to implement, so if you do purchase Surfshark check the list out and cast your votes!

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VPN Speed Test Results

I have compared the speed tests of the 4 VPN providers that i have recommended here. Below are the results, i performed 3 tests in total.

The test was performed on my Mobile phone (Xperia XZ1), i did one test on Wifi in the morning, one test on 4G (o2 Network) and a 3rd test in the evening on the Wifi.

Each test was performed using Ookla’s speedtest tool, using single connection mode. For each VPN provider I used the recommended server all of which were in the UK.

For each test I have worked out the difference in downspeed compared to without a VPN, Upspeed doesn’t seem to be affected as much. This shows a percentage loss of speed. Where you see a negative percentage the speed actually increased. This only happened on the 4G test.

In the last row I give an average per provider over the 3 tests for the percentage difference in downspeed.

Test #MeasureNo VPNIP VanishSurfsharkNordVPNExpress VPN
1 (Wifi AM)Down56.318.436.426.920.36
 Up24.120.727.747.539.11
 Ping7ms12ms7ms14ms8ms
 Difference 67%35%52%64%
2 (4G)Down9.0314.0111.64.868.12
 Up3.894.284.815.61.73
 Ping31ms30ms33ms99ms30ms
 Difference -55%-28%46%10%
3 (Wifi PM)Down100.7217.9163.228.3947.9
 Up6.255.555.685.575.37
 Ping15ms21ms16ms21ms17ms
 Difference 82%37%72%52%
AverageDifference 31%15%57%42%

According to the average difference in downspeed across the 3 tests i would rate the VPN Providers in the following order for Speed.

  1. Surfshark
  2. IPVanish
  3. Express VPN
  4. NordVPN

Finally i would like to conclude that whilst i tried to keep all variables the same thoughout this test it was not a laboratory test so you may get different results but this is my findings.

In another blog post i will look at the various features for these providers.

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VPN Benefits

Using a VPN can actually give your added benefits, below I will explain some of these.

Using a vpn to make it appear like you are in another part of the world can give you preferential pricing. This is because of location and/ or exchange rates. Turkey is a good place to open an account from as you get more bang for you buck at the moment.

  1. Cheaper xbox games/ subscription – put yourself In Brazil -verified
  2. Cheaper netflix subscriptions (place yourself in Turkey)
  3. Cheaper Spotify account (place yourself in Turkey)
  4. Cheaper deezer subscription (use PayPal via Brazil.) – verified
  5. You can even get savings on holidays for example put yourself in France to receive preferential pricing for euro Disney.

Another benefit is to access geo restricted content. If you travel outside the UK and want to watch iplayer you cant without the use of a vpn, with a vpn you can virtually put yourself back in the UK and access the content.