PureVPN is one of the leading VPN providers with more than 1 Million active subscribers. Its services can be used for a multitude of purposes such as bypassing geo-restrictions on streaming platforms, getting access to restricted websites, or securing your sensitive data. Among other reasons to have recourse to a VPN service is to protect your privacy and hide your identity while you are downloading copyrighted content from torrent sites. Therefore, many people are wondering if PureVPN is good for torrenting. This article will let you know if PureVPN will become your partner in crime when you resort to P2P file sharing.
Does PureVPN Keep Logs?
The provider advertises itself as a service with zero-logging policy. “We Do Not monitor user activity nor do we keep any logs” – this information is straight from the horse’s mouth. ‘No logs’ sounds really good and this is what every reputable VPN service should strive for. However, if you dig a little deeper you will see that PureVPN is not being completely honest to its users.
Should you look a little closer at their privacy policy you will see that, in fact, they do retain some logs. So, the service knows when you connect to their servers, who is your internet provider, and how much bandwidth you used. Of course, this information may seem like insufficient to monitor your activity and trace you back to your true IP address, but here is the food for thought – how could FBI figure and arrest a cyberstalker who happened to be a PureVPN user if the service barely has any info about its clients? It may be that PureVPN knows much more about what its subscribers do online than it wants to show. In any way, you must be very careful when you use the provider for your torrenting needs. If you do it in a country where downloading torrents is illegal, chances are (although very slim) that you can be fined.
Does PureVPN Allow Torrenting on its Servers?
For all of you who want to use PureVPN for torrenting here is a good news – the service allows P2P file sharing. The bad news, however, is that you won’t be able to download through all of their servers. They don’t allow P2P in countries where, according to the Global Web Policy, torrenting is illegal. Among these countries are United Kingdom, Australia, USA, and Canada. Well, you probably didn’t want to visit torrent sites in these territories anyway. Here is a list of server locations which you can use to hide your IP while downloading torrents. There you can find some torrent-friendly countries such as the Netherlands. On the PureVPN app, servers that permit torrenting are highlighted with a P2P symbol.
If to separate ourselves from torrent-friendly servers, PureVPN has a large network with a presence in 140 countries. More than 2,000 servers actually belong to the company and they are not rented (it is a common practice with other providers though). Why does it matter? All the information passing through servers is visible only to PureVPN, no third-parties can get their hands on your data to steal or alter it. This should give you an extra peace of mind.
Ultra-Fast Download Speed
This is one of the key factors you are looking for when picking a VPN provider for torrenting. Luckily for all of us, fast VPN connection is something PureVPN is famous for. Thanks to their own server network, the vendor can configure their equipment for the best performance off their own bat. Needless to say, it allows maintaining some of the fastest speeds in the industry even in servers that are stationed far from your location.
We all know that a VPN tunnel slows down the connection due to encryption but there are situations when a VPN can actually help to boost your speed. Your ISP may not like certain websites and torrent platforms are often among them. When you go to such a site, your ISP will slow down your Internet to prevent you from enjoying what you do to the fullest. With PureVPN, you can forget about ISP throttling and download torrents at the best speed you can get.
Split Tunneling
It is a really useful feature that is, unfortunately, quite rare among other VPN services. This function allows you to simultaneously use your regular connection and a VPN tunnel. For example, if you run a torrent client it is a good idea to route your traffic through a VPN server. At the same time, you probably would like to browse or watch a video on YouTube and for that, you don’t need encryption or IP address disguising. For this purpose, you can use connection outside a VPN tunnel. Of course, it is better if a VPN protects you all the time, but whenever your activity involves non-sensitive data transmission or you require more speed, using a connection via your ISP is fine.
Software and Features
PureVPN client is one of the simplest and straightforward in the industry. Moreover, it is available in 8 languages, which sets the provider apart from most of its competitors that offer their apps only in English.
You can configure every option to your liking from the Preferences menu. More precisely, you can select a preferred security protocol (by default, the app uses IKEv2 protocol but I recommend changing it to OpenVPN as a more secure option). Please note that PureVPN doesn’t have 256-bit encryption set by default so you will need to enable it through Advanced Options. Also, the service offers an optional IPv6 leak protection which you should always keep ‘on’ to prevent your real IP address exposure. An Internet Kill Switch is available in case if the VPN connection suddenly fails. Here is one more rare but useful feature that other providers should think about – NAT Firewall. It stops unauthorized devices from connecting to your network.
PureVPN has several connection modes to cater to your needs. If you are a torrent enthusiast, a “File Sharing” mode is what you need to select. This option optimizes your VPN client for torrent downloading to give you the best combination of speed and anonymity.
PureVPN for Torrenting Conclusion
PureVPN is no doubt a great VPN for your torrenting needs. With its services, you can securely access torrent sites even if they are forbidden in your country. You can enjoy P2P file sharing on servers specifically optimized for this purpose in a large variety of locations. The download speeds will surely please you even if you connect to a geographically remote server. PureVPN is well packed with security functions to keep you safeguard while you are torrenting. The only thing that casts a shadow over the service is their supposedly zero-logging policy which, in fact, is not that ‘zero’. I understand that the vendor may need some logs to provide a better VPN experience to its users but it could have been more honest about it.