SpiderVPN caught my eye when looking at providers as they have two options a VPN only plan or a VPN router plan. Being a bit of a techie I was intrigued how this worked so got to ordering one.
Delivery was truly next day as advertised and I was updated on progress via email and text.
The router plugs into a spare port on your existing router so does not replace your existing router as I first assumed it would.
Setup was really simple, plug it in, power it on and then login. In the box with the router was a quick start guide which detailed all the steps needed to get up and running including changing the VPN location.
The router was delivered already configured with my login details so in effect you could just plug and play but I would advise checking which location you are connected to.
Once logged in I was connected to a location in Ukraine so I changed this to UK and restarted the connection.
The router offers up its VPN access via wireless networks and has 4 extra LAN ports which can be used to hardwire devices.
There is two networks available, one utilising 2.4ghz band and another offering 5.8ghz band. The classic router plan only provides a 2.4g connection, the Pro router plan offers both.
There doesn’t seem to be an app available for the VPN only option but they do give you details on how to manually setup a VPN for various platforms, in my eyes this is better than using an app as the app can sometimes get in the way of what should be a simple connection.
Because we are using a router there is no limit on the amount of devices you can connect to use the VPN.
Because we are using a piece of hardware there is not a trial on offer but they do offer a 7 day money back guarantee.
I got the following results of a speedtest on a 100MB Fibre connection.
Single Connection Mode – Best for testing over VPN or simulating a single file download
Without VPN – Ping 16ms / Downspeed 107.79 Mbps / Upspeed 6.09 Mbps
With VPN – Ping 21ms / Downspeed 94.1 Mbps / Upspeed 5.14 Mbps
Multi Connection mode – used to show your maximum potential speed by using multiple downloads in parallel
Without VPN – Ping 15ms / Downspeed 103. 42 Mbps / Upspeed 6.4 Mbps
With VPN – Ping 23ms / Downspeed 105 Mbps / Upspeed 5.54 Mbps
As you can see the speed difference is barely noticeable. This is the best VPN performance I have seen so far.
Pricing is very reasonable seeing as you are receiving hardware and there is no messing about with apps and logins etc.
The classic router plan is £7.99 a month and the pro router plan is £9.99 a month. Both plans are billed monthly and there is no minimum contract length so you are free to leave as you please.
A VPN only plan is currently £4.99 a month and is limited to 6 similtaneous connections.
Currently SpiderVPN has a 9.4/10 score on Trust pilot which echoes my feelings with regards to the service they provide.
All in all even with the lack of an android app I am very happy with the service provided and the ease of use/setup.
Click here to be taken to their page.