Astrill Review
9/10 | |
Website: | https://www.astrill.com/ |
Contact: | https://www.astrill.com/contact-us.php |
Phone: | +1 323 522 5635 |
Location: | Seychelles |
Cost: | $5.83/month |
Year Founded: | 2009 |
Imagine being able to protect yourself on the Internet. What do we mean? Well, consider how instance if you could block anybody and everybody from eavesdropping on your online activity. Also ponder being able to ward off any hacker attack.
Is this possible? Yes, it is! It’s possible because of Virtual Private Network technology. It works like this:
- You connect to a VPN server through a tunnel.
- All your information gets trapped in the tunnel.
- From the VPN server, you then connect to anywhere else on the Web.
You basically get to surf the Web, engage in social networking, partake in instant messaging and do anything you want without facing the risk of being spied upon or hacked. The only thing you need to do is ensure that you sign up with a high-quality VPN service provider like Astrill.
Introducing Astrill
Astrill arose in 2009 as a coordinated attempt to provide enhanced security to both home users and business professionals who utilize the Internet. It has since grown into one of the most expansive VPN service providers in the entire world.
It hosts hundreds of employees. It operates out of more countries than its competitors. It hosts more servers than its competitors. And it offers better customer service, greater system flexibility and more encryption algorithm versatility than its competitors. It is for all intensive purposes the best of the best, and we guarantee it!
Like we mentioned earlier, Astrill caters to both regular consumers, as well as small- and medium-sized businesses. Some of the benefits of utilizing its incredible services have been included below for your convenience:
- It prevents your Internet Service Provider from inspecting the data being transmitted to and from your home network. Nothing, and we mean absolutely nothing, can be picked up by the ISP. So long as you are connected to an Astrill VPN server, you are safe.
- Nobody can discern your Internet Protocol address. This is an identifying signature that identifies you and also gives people the power to track you down by location. That is a scary thought, and one you can get rid of by using a VPN.
- It allows businesses to survey their competitors’ websites and applications without being detected. It’s therefore extremely useful for corporate surveillance, though maybe not so much for espionage (which we do not recommend, by the way)!
- It permits you to access websites that either your government, company or school do not want you to access. It also lets you access websites that block outside traffic. For instance, Netflix is only available to US customers.
- It lets you log in to your business email server and check it without having to worry about security risks, even if you are sitting in the middle of a diner in Tokyo — and you using the restaurant’s public WiFi.
- Its servers rely on a Video Accelerator that ensures that HD videos from the likes of YouTube, Netflix and Hulu transmit at lightening-fast speed. This means that you never have to wait for a video to finish buffering.
Astrill Services Review
Astrill offers two primary services — Personal VPN and Business VPN.
- Protocols: OpenWeb, OpenVPN, SSTP, L2PP, PPTP, Cisco IPSec
- Devices: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android Phones, DD-WRT/Tomato Routers, Synology NAS
Personal VPN
The Personal VPN service ranges from $5.83 to $9.98 per month, depending on the length of the contract. It’s designed to cater to all consumers: students, single men, single women, families, etc.
More importantly, this VPN service caters to every type of protocol and device in existence, including all of the following:
You also get access to 150 VPN servers spread across 50 countries. All in all, this service allows you to do pretty much anything you want on the Internet, including P2P file sharing. Best of all is the fact that it’s exceptionally affordable.
Business VPN
The Business VPN service is significantly more powerful and reliable. Furthermore, it can handle between 10 to 100 devices, though the yearly price quickly increases from around $1000 to over $9000. It’s only optimal for businesses, so please refrain from even considering this option if you are just a single guy or gal who wants better Web security.
Note that the Business VPN offers the same benefits and features as the Personal VPN service. You can still use the same protocols and devices.
Added Features
One of the things that places Astrill leagues ahead of its competitors is its incredible selection of added features, all of which have been included below:
- NAT Firewall: This is an optional packet filter that provides an extra layer of protection by protecting your VPN’s IP address. Your IP address will be protected by the VPN, but the VPN will then be protected by the NAT Firewall.
- Home Plan: This useful feature lets you connect up to five devices (computers, televisions, phones) at the same time. This is very useful for sharing a single VPN account with your entire family. Keep in mind you still need a router.
- StealthVPN/ProADDon: These are customized versions of the OpenVPN software suite. The first one is for regular computers, while the second one is for specialized devices like routers. They are mainly designed for escaping the network limitations of countries like China. However, they can also be used to bypass your ISP’s Internet settings.
- VPN Sharing: This is like the Home Plan, except that you share the VPN directly from your computer. As a result, connected devices don’t get the speed and convenience that they get with the Home Plan.
- Private IPs: This added feature entitles you to a completely dedicated IP address used by nobody else by you. It’s useful for taking advantage of more bandwidth. It’s not recommended as an add-on, unless you really need it.
Astrill Routers
Astrill also retails its own set of completely preconfigured routers. These are a bit pricey, but they’re very useful for sharing your VPN services with family members or company employees. Furthermore, they’re compatible with everything, including PCs, Macintoshes, Boxees, Apple TVs, HDTVs and of course mobile phones. While all available routers are decent, we highly recommend the Asus RT-N66U.
Exemplary Customer Service
Astrill offers the best customer service in the VPS industry. First, you get access to countless configuration guides, certificates, server lists and more. You can also send an email, dial a phone line, set up a Skype conference or engage in an online chat. We took advantage of the chat service around 12:30 am, and even at that hour, it impressed us! There are also numerous tutorial videos on the website.
We are 100% confident that the website itself can answer any and all your questions, but feel free to test out the customer care department if you want!
Frequently Asked Questions
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Does Astrill offer a free trial?
The company does in fact offer a 7-day trial so that you can test out all of its impressive services prior to making an official purchase.
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Is there a refund policy?
You can obtain a conditional refund if and only if you purchase a contract without first going through the 7-day trial. If you use the trial and then sign a contract, you are not eligible for a refund of any kind.
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Are all online data transactions encrypted?
Absolutely. All transactions are encrypted with an 128-bit SSL encryption tunnel.
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Are any software downloads necessary?
It is highly recommended that you use the Astrill Application, which performed way above our expectations. However, you can use any VPN client you want, including the open-source software suite OpenVPN.
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Does Astrill offer licenses for large businesses?
The company does in fact cater to corporate clients, though you have to contact them directly to get a quote for your particular business. Note that corporate clients are those who have more than 100 employees on their payroll.
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What types of payments does the company accept?
The company accepts all major forms of payment, including credit cards, debit cards, bank wire transfers, CashU, PayPal, AliPay, WebMoney and even BitCoin. We were especially impressed by the fact that it accepts BitCoin, because it is a completely anonymous form of currency.
Conclusion
After testing out and reviewing Astrill, we have come to the conclusion that it cannot be matched for a plethora of reasons:
- It operates across 49 countries.
- It runs 155 ultra-fast VPN servers.
- It hosts over 60,000 fully functional IP addresses.
- It supports every single VPN protocol.
- It offers superior customer support.
- It comes with a 7-day money back guarantee.
We have tried out a lot of VPN providers, but none of them can come close to matching Astrill. It truly takes the cake as the best of the best, and it is for this reason that we want to honor it with an A+ rating! If you want to protect yourself, your family or your business from being spied upon or hacked, then we unequivocally give our full recommendation to Astroll!