ExpressVPN Review – Is it best choice for you?

So, you have heard all of the fuss surrounding ExpressVPN and have decided to find out more. Well done, you are now on the road to securing yourself a private internet experience. However, before you sign-up blind, let me guide you through this ExpressVPN review and show you what this British Virgin Islands-based company has to offer.

Highlights

For those of you who prefer to read in a rush, here are my quick pick highlights for the ExpressVPN service. They will give you an overview of the service.

The Pro’s

1. Super secure: 256-bit AES OpenVPN encryption
2. Speeds on offer above 60Mbps
3. Easy to set up and use
4. Reliable high-performance
5. Desktop and mobile clients
6. Large choice of servers and locations
7. 30-day money back guarantee
8. 24/7 Customer support with live chat

The Con’s

1. Cost is slightly higher than most competitors
2. No trial offer/plan is currently available
3. Connection metadata collected for service improvements

ExpressVPN Plans and Pricing

While the service from ExpressVPN is a little more expensive than some of its competitors, it prides itself on quality. And that means for a little more you get quite a lot.

What do you need to Know?

There are three plans all offering a great 30-day money back guarantee, and the same features. Yes, there is no free-trial period; however, the money back offer basically gives you that. Plus, there’s the additional referral programme.

It works as follows: You convince a friend to sign up, and you both receive 30-days free. Furthermore, you get the benefit of access to 94-servers across the world an ultra-fast connection, and security.

The Cost

• Monthly: Billed at $12.95 per month
• 12-Months Upfront: Billed at $99.95/Equivalent to $8.32 per month
• 6-Months Upfront: Billed at $59.95/Equivalent to $9.99 per month

The Sign up Process

Getting ready to sign up to the package of your choice is simple. All that is required is the following:

• Payment details:You can purchase ExpressVPN with your Credit and Debit Cards, PayPal, and even Bitcoin
• A valid email address:This can be a onetime use disposable address

When you have finished entering the above, you should look out for an email. It will contain important information and links to useful setup pages.

How Private is this VPN?

Apart from price, the most important question you may be asking yourself is, “How well will it protect my privacy?”So in this next section, I’m going to tell you what I know about that, after which you will have your answer.

Does ExpressVPN Keep Logs?

Fortunately, after double checking, I can confirm for this review, that unlike some of its competitor’s, no usage logs are kept.

What does that mean to you? It means, that while surfing the internet, watching a video, or playing games. In fact, no matter what you do, ExpressVPN keeps absolutely no logs that may enable someone to match an IP address or timestamp to you. In fact, it uses shared IP addresses so that nothing can be later related to a single user.

Yes, a small amount of data is collected which relates to server connections, dates, and the amount of data transferred. However, none of this can identify you as a user. And according to the company, it uses this information to improve its network resource allocations.

Additionally, it may from time-to-time, share this information with a third-party. Why?It does so to improve its service by identifying bugs and errors. Again, none of the information shared relates to a specific individual IP address.

How Secure is ExpressVPN?

OK, this may become a little complicated, but I’ll keep it brief before explaining in laymen terms.

ExpressVPN uses an AES-256 cypher, with an RSA-4096 handshake, plus SHA-512 HMAC hash-authentication … Phew! Wait, there’s more …

The latter makes this service excellent for what is referred to as forwarding secrecy. And that, in turn, is provided by Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Key exchanges. This guarantees that data channel encryption is solid.

Thanks to the use of OpenVPN encryption technology, and my research for this article. I can corroborate that should you opt for this provider; you will get the strongest OpenVPN encryption available. That is, at the time of writing this Review. Yes, for some providers this level of security could mean slower user connections, but not with this provider.

How Fast is ExpressVPN?

So far I have revealed that you get privacy, security, at a selection of price points. Furthermore, I’ve told you that you get a premium service, that for the most part is rivalled by none. But, no ExpressVPN Review would be complete without a look at server performance and speed. So, in this next section, that’s what I will do.

Having conducted a few tests for this article, I can say, without doubt, it is very fast. In fact, compared to other VPN’s that I have looked at recently, it is fastest overall.

To be more specific, that means in the U.S.A. compared to the server connections of those others it was the best. And that was also true for servers in Australia and the U.K. As for what that would mean for you as an ExpressVPN customer? It means that you do not need to accept certain pitfalls often expected from VPN’s. You can stream video, take part in multi-player games and more with no drop-off.

More importantly, you can expect no server lag/low latency, plus ultra-fast upload and download speeds.

ExpressVPN Server Locations

To put it simply, the more servers and locations a VPN service has the faster and more reliable its service is. And that’s where ExpressVPN has the upper-hand on the majority of its rivals. With servers in 94-countries is has an extensive global network, one which continues to grow.

In one of the company’s latest upgrades, it added an extra 500-servers to its inventory, and as such cemented itself as a premium provider.

Represented on every continent across the world this VPN is nothing but astounding. It has a growing number in almost all the places you can think of. However, high growth areas are places like Africa and the Middle East, with Asia, the Americas, and Europe extensively covered. They pretty much contain the largest selection of servers available, although other continents are catching up.

Is it easy to use?

Imagine being up and running within a few minutes of signing up. That’s what I found ExpressVPN offers. And that means you get the speed, encryption, security and more straight away. But, what’s even more interesting about this service is what else you get.

Works with popular sites and its torrent-friendly

Having tested the service for a month, I can tell you that, it works with services like BBC iPlayer, and Netflix, although be careful with that one. Because, Netflix continually blocks VPN’s’ although, service providers like ExpressVPN, keep up these changes. Other great sites and apps usable are YouTube, HBO, Hulu and more. Additionally, ExpressVPN allows and is good for torrenting / P2P, safe from prying eyes.

From the moment you sign up, you have access to a vast array of sites straight away. And thanks to its 60mbps speed, I was able to test this and stream instantly, after testing multiple times I saw no lag, drop-off or instability.

Desktop – Mobile Apps – Browsers

Another amazing feat of those behind ExpressVPN has been their ability to develop a consistent experience. By that I mean, it works across multiple platforms and devices, for instance, there’s a solution for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. Plus, Firefox and Chrome extensions mean internet browsing on a laptop or desktop is safe. And for those, who have trouble setting up those kinds of things, there’s a wide array of tutorials available so you won’t get stuck.

ExpressVPN Rating

If you want a premium service, one that is a little more expensive, but has a lot to offer, it’s for you. What with more locations, better performance, increased privacy & security, plus being easy to use, it’s a must try!After all, if you do not like it, there’s always the 30-day money back guarantee to fall back on.

However, if after reading the above, you remain uncertain. Take a look at how it compares to its nearest rival NordVPN, that should help you decide.