NVPN Review & Test 2021 - Keep This in Mind Before Buying

nVPN is well known for its security and privacy, but I was curious to see how well it would do in other areas. Its price of $8/month per month isn’t the cheapest, so I was initially skeptical of its abilities. The lack of information about nVPN online didn’t raise my hopes either.

After conducting my own research, the verdict is that nVPN only delivers with its security features. If you’re wanting to use a VPN for other reasons, such as streaming or gaming, then I’d consider using another service.

Other VPN providers usually come with a free trial or a money-back guarantee, which lets you try them without any risk. nVPN is extremely strict about its money-back guarantee, so the same can’t be said about them. For this reason, I couldn’t test nVPN and had to base my findings on research.

NVPN Features — Updated for 2021

Streaming — Fails to Unblock Netflix

nVPN can’t unblock popular streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Kodi, ESPN, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video. This is because it can’t get past the robust detection systems and security protocols that these websites use. However, it succeeded in unblocking Skype, Yahoo, and Google Talk in geo-restricted areas.

The main thing is that nVPN is honest and upfront about its inability to unblock Netflix. If streaming is your main focus, then it’s worth considering another VPN provider that’s proven to work.

Speeds — Steady and Reliable

nVPN’s speeds are largely steady because they don’t slow down your usual online activities. The speeds you get will depend on the protocol you use, as each protocol has different purposes. From my research, I discovered that nVPN reduces download speeds by about 74%, which is standard for a VPN. Your data has to travel a further distance with a VPN and gets encrypted, so your speeds usually decrease.

However, its speeds are still fast enough to stream shows in HD, which only require you to have download speeds of 5 Mbps. nVPN also provides unmetered bandwidth and doesn’t throttle your speeds either, which helps is ideal when streaming or gaming. If you want a VPN that can unblock streaming sites, then there are plenty available.

Server Network — Small Global Server Network

nVPN has 56+ servers in 31+ worldwide, which even includes some obscure countries like Iran and North Korea. Unfortunately, that’s not a lot when compared to the big providers like ExpressVPN, which has over 3,000 servers in 94+ countries. The good news is that the servers don’t perform any throttling.

Signing up for nVPN requires you to choose a country, but the problem is that it only lets you change servers within your country for free. You only get one chance to change countries, and after that you’ll need to pay a monthly fee of around $10 to change countries on its server network. Most VPNs provide unlimited server switching at no extra costs, so it is really disappointing.

Security — Very Robust

nVPN keeps you safe with its selection of robust protocols, such as OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec (IKEv1), IPSpec RSA (IKEv2), Squid proxy, and SOCKS5 proxy. These protocols keep you protected from online threats like hacking and surveillance. Its default proxy is the Squid Proxy, which can be used with OpenVPN and provides a good balance of security and speed.

To protect your internet traffic nVPN uses AES-256 bit encryption as a default, which is military-grade encryption. It’s also possible to use 128-bit Blowfish-CBC encryption with SHA1, which provides faster speeds at the expense of protection. This is ideal if you require more speed than security, such as when you’re gaming.

It also supports SSL encryption with sTunnel, which lets you set up your connection using the TCP protocol with port 443. This means you can bypass internet restrictions that are put in place by the likes of schools, colleges, and workplaces.

By using nVPN’s members area, you can also use open ports (port forwarding) without configuring your router. The benefit is that it protects its servers from unwanted access when you’re using them, as well as public IP addresses. It even uses Anti Port Clash technology, which prevents any port crashes with other users.

Privacy — Strict No-Logs Policy, but Not Audited

The nVPN privacy policy clearly states that they operate on a stringent no-logs policy, which means that they don’t collect any of their users’ online activities or data. When I read their privacy policy, it stated that they don’t collect connected IP addresses, session duration times, device information, the websites you visit, and the amount of data your online traffic uses.

nVPN states that it keeps a no-logs policy, but we can’t be entirely sure

But upon reading their privacy policy, I discovered that they collect your payment-related data, such as your payment method and transaction ID. However, this can be avoided by paying through cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which enable anonymous payments. VPN widely accepts cryptocurrency payments that allow anonymous payments through the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Even though nVPN works on minimal data retention, it has never been audited by third parties. This means you need to fully trust them to uphold their privacy commitments because they haven’t been proved to follow them.

Torrenting — No Issues

Torrenting is optimized on nVPN through the Squid and SOCKS5 proxies. They work by encrypting your connection and narrowing your bandwidth, which increases your security and speed when torrenting. Without a VPN, your ISP and other third parties can easily see your torrenting activity and possibly intercept your connection, which can be a serious threat to your privacy and security.

nVPN also works with Kodi too, which is a streaming platform that provides shows and movies through torrenting. This lets you watch your favorite content on Kodi with the increased protection and speeds.

China — Bypasses the Great Firewall

nVPN uses Anti DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) technology to bypass the Great Firewall of China. This is done through the OpenVPN over SSL protocol and is available to all the nVPN users. The anti DPI technology works by scrambling your internet data so that it looks like a normal connection to firewalls. Since firewalls like the Great Firewall of China can’t tell that you’re using a VPN, they won’t block you.

Simultaneous Device Connections — Up to 5 Devices

You can connect up to 5 devices simultaneously on nVPN, but it requires you to use different protocols.

The main problem is in OpenVPN’s security settings, which randomly drops a connection when one or more devices are detected on the same network. These drops occur every 2 minutes and are rather irritating. Therefore, the best way to enable simultaneous device connections is to connect each device with a different protocol. Since there are 5 different protocols, you can have up to 5 device connections.

It should also be noted that nVPN’s validation script has a max session value to prevent account sharing. If you share your account with other people, such as friends or family, nVPN has the right to terminate your account. This occurs when you regularly exceed the max session value.

Device Compatibility — Problematic for non-Windows Users

nVPN has device compatibility issues. Even though you can use it on all major operating systems and certain routers, it only has a native app for Windows. Therefore, you will need to manually set up the VPN if you aren’t a Windows user, which can be quite complicated.

If you aren’t a Windows user, then there are plenty of other VPNs that have native apps for other operating systems.