Fast VPN Review 2024 - Is It Really Built For Gaming?

Fast speeds, unlimited bandwidth, and affordable plans have Fast VPN gaining popularity with gamers. It even touts itself as the fastest gaming VPN of 2019. Despite that, it can't beat its competition when it comes to pingback time, a crucial element for gaming.

The speeds are fast enough for streaming in HD and UltraHD, and it unblocks some popular providers like Netflix. Still, Fast VPN's Privacy Policy has conflicting information that leads me to believe it isn't a no-logs VPN.

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Streaming - Can It Unblock Netflix? Yes

Of those servers, there are 5+ in the US, and I was easily able to unblock Netflix. I was initially blocked by Netflix, but switching servers resolved the issue. I also unblocked BBC iPlayer, Netflix UK, and Disney+.

Speeds - Consistent Across Servers

My basespeeds were blazing-fast to begin with but I did expect a natural drop in speeds when I connected to the VPN. Anytime you connect to a VPN you will notice a drop in speeds because your data is now being filtered through multiple servers, sometimes thousands of miles away from your true location. The farther your data has to travel, the more significant the decrease in speed will be.

I was pleasantly surprised that the download and upload speeds for the servers I tested remained consistent after I connected, only the ping speeds increased significantly.

Download and upload speeds stayed consistent across servers

While I experienced a more than an 80% drop in download speeds, it's important to note I am the only house connected to this fiber optic node. Basically, that means since I live in the country and no other houses are connected to this fiber optic receiver, I get breakneck speeds.

This basespeed isn't the average speed for individuals living in well populated areas who likely experience significantly lower speeds, as many houses may be on the same receiver. For that reason,  download speeds of 58Mbps or over are actually incredibly fast when put into perspective. Additionally, it takes around 25Mbps to stream buffer-free in UltraHD/4k, so Fast VPN is more than fast enough for comfortably streaming high definition movies on each of the servers I tested.

Is Fast VPN Fast Enough for Gaming? No

For a service that totes its gaming speeds, I was surprised by how drastic a rise I experienced in pingback. Anywhere from 20-100ms ping is acceptable for gaming, otherwise you end up with lag, disconnects, and freezing during play.

That means 100ms is the high end of acceptable, and 20ms is the recommended speed. The New York and Quebec servers are closest to my true location, so I was surprised that the pingback increased so drastically; approximately 10 times slower ping than my basespeed. When I hit London ping speed was already over the highest recommended speed, so I wasn't expecting much when I logged into Mobile Legends.

When I connected to Mobile Legends I was a little disappointed at the initial connection speeds. I was also disconnected from the server twice but that could have been due to server congestion or a host bypass issue.

Still, I wouldn’t call it a strong gaming VPN just yet. While the speeds are good, the host server connections are a bit shaky and it has a long way to go before it can compete with our top gaming VPNs.

Servers - Decent Network Size

Fast VPN has 1,000 servers that span 90 locations in 90 countries, a fair amount for a smaller VPN.

It also offers access to servers in 11 different countries on the free version. That's decent coverage for a free service, usually you get three or four locations to choose from and they can't unblock services like Netflix or BBC iPlayer.

Does Fast VPN Work in China? No

Fast VPN does have servers in Hong Kong, but I was unable to access content in China using them. If you want to access local Chinese content abroad, you would be better off with one of these VPNs.

Security & Privacy

In terms of security Fast VPN features wifi protection for public connections and uses 256-bit encryption. Available protocols include SS, TLS, TLS+ and the default protocol (which it doesn't reveal on its website or the app). There’s no kill switch or split tunneling, so if you illegally download something by accident while torrenting it could be traced back to you if the server fails.

While the service says it doesn't keep logs, it's privacy policy tells another story. I found out that it may share personal information in the following cases:

• If you violate the laws of the VPN
• Other instances it deems relevant to the laws, regulations, and policies of its website
• As required by judicial or administrative institutions

There are other instances that draw alarm bells in the privacy policy too, many of them are located directly after the area that states Fast VPN doesn't collect or share your data unless you allow it. For instance, it says it won't share your information with unrelated third parties, and in the same sentence goes on to mention the application and affiliate third-parties can decide to share your information alone or jointly.

Fast VPN may share your information under certain circumstances

Is Fast VPN Safe for Torrenting? No

I didn't come across any specific statements discouraging torrenting or endorsing P2P activities, but the ambiguous Privacy Policy is a deal-breaker for me. Given the inconsistent information about how personal data is stored and shared, I wouldn't suggest using this service for torrenting.