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CyberGhost VPN 2020 Review

cyberghost vpn

Founded in 2011 in Romania, CyberGhost is one of the best available VPN services available. The VPN networks with around 3600 servers in 58 counties, and with a single CyberGhost VPN account, you can connect up to 7 devices. The VPN supports desktop, Android, and Apple devices. We tested the premium VPN service for weeks and wrote out the following review.  

CyberGhost Account Setup 

The onboarding process is simple and quick. Once you buy a subscription package, the software download begins automatically. An email is sent with login information. Remember to change the system-generated password immediately. For retrieving account access, CyberGhost sends a special key code – keep it safe.  

CyberGhost VPN Server Range 

The servers are located around the world, but mostly in Northern Europe and Northern America. In the Southern hemisphere, their server networks are in Australia, South America, and South Africa. After creating an account, you can browse and select specific server locations, and can also view what that server allows you to do. While one server can just allow streaming, another one can enable global browsing.  

We spoke with the CyberGhost team and learned that they are actively adding on to its server network to give expensive options to the user.  

CyberGhost VPN Speed 

Speed is of high importance when using a VPN service. Slow speed is a common cause of complaint with many VPN service users. In the fast-paced Internet world, slow speed is a dampener. After creating the account, we checked the CyberGhost VPN speed and it turned out well.  

After logging in to the premium CyberGhost VPN account, test the speed of the Northern Europe and Northern America servers. You can use Speedtest.net for this. While the speed of Northern Europe and Northern America servers were good, the speed from South-East Asian servers was slow.  

The best way to use a VPN is to choose a location near your current location. When data has to travel a greater distance, the speed slows down automatically. Hence, choose a nearer location and there will not be major drops in speed and connectivity.  

Of course, do remember that if you want to view content from any geo-blocked country, you have to access the content from the country where it is allowed. For example, to access the U.S Netflix, you have to access the server from a North American server or an Australian server.  

Streaming Options 

With the CyberGhost VPN, you can access BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Disney+, HBO, Hulu, Kodi, and do torrenting. This VPN is an excellent choice for 4K or HD streaming, and you have Chrome and Firefox extensions from quick connectivity.  

A quick note on torrenting – unlike many other VPN service providers that ban torrent downloads, CyberGhost premium plan gives you access to dedicated servers from where you can download torrents, and that too from multiple locations. In fact, a unique feature we were happy to see was that you can see in real-time how many other users are using the dedicated server for the same purpose.  

They have taken torrenting a step further. With their “No-Spy” premium upgraded package, you can frequently download torrents through servers directly managed by CyberGhost employees. This feature has dedicated uplinks, better speeds, higher bandwidth, and robust hardware.  

CyberGhost Privacy and Security 

CyberGhost VPN believes in “no log files” policy, which means that your activities will not be recorded for further use. Other VPN service providers collect your usage data, which means that there is a record of all the sites you are visiting and the content you are downloading. In a legal situation where they get subpoenaed, they are bound to hand over this information to authorities. However, CyberGhost VPN does not fall under the 14-Eyes Alliance, which means that they are not legally bound to store any users’ data for law enforcement purposes.  

Their technology uses 256-bit military-grade encryption to keep your account and access safe. There is an Internet kill-switch too for immediate shutting down of current server activities. There is also an anti malware feature which when turned ‘on’ will scan the sites visited for malware infections. In short, you are kept secure from accessing unsecured sites.  

In conclusion, the CyberGhost VPN is highly recommended if you are new to using a VPN setup and want a pocket-friendly option. 

ExpressVPN 2020 Review

expressvpn

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, ExpressVPN is an industry leader in the
VPN segment. A reputed and innovative VPN provider, does it still live up to its reputation after 10 years
in the business? Our team set out to explore and came back with the following review.
ExpressVPN Speed
We tested the ExpressVPN server speed across multiple geographical locations and theirs is one of the
fastest we have ever seen in the VPN segment. The tests were run using a 50Mbps wired connection
using 256-bit OpenVPN. The speed results from servers nearer to our locations were excellent, and the

speed maintained its range as the distance grew between locations. Reduction in speed from long-
distance locations was minimal, barely noticeable.

If you want the best speed from their fastest servers, select the “recommended server” feature from the
Dashboard. The system will automatically recommend the best speed servers based on your location.
ExpressVPN Security
ExpressVPN server speed is excellent but what about security? Presently, ExpressVPN uses SHA-512
HMAC authentication with 4096-bit RSA key and AES 256-bit encryption – the unbreakable industry
standard without compromising good performance. They also follow the Perfect Forward Secrecy
protocol received through the Diffie-Hellman key exchange.
There are four VPN protocols available in the ExpressVPN app – OpenVPN UDP, OpenVPN TCP, PPTP,
and IPsec/L2TP. But you can use the “Automatic” mode for the ExpressVPN system to select the ideal
VPN protocol based on your network settings.
Next, they have a “Network Lock” kill switch feature which helps to keep your data secure that will block
all the incoming traffic in a situation where the VPN connection drops. This helps to ensure data
encryption. The feature is available in Linux, macOS, Windows, and Routers. Our team checked this
feature and it worked smoothly!
ExpressVPN Privacy
British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a self-governing and independent entity that follows strict business and
individual privacy protection laws. Due to this, it is not mandatory for them to store and retain user data
for law enforcement purposes as it is required for US or UK headquartered VPN companies. BVI has
strong data secrecy policies. Being an ExpressVPN user, your data falls under privacy jurisdiction BVI is
not a part of the 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance.
As such, ExpressVPN follows the “no data logs” policy – we verified it! They never log IP addresses,
browsing history, DNS queries, metadata, and traffic destination. This is also proven from the 2017 news
when the Turkish police seized one of the ExpressVPN servers to retrieve data in the Andrey Karlov,
Russian Ambassador to Turkey, murder case. ExpressVPN officials gave the statement that they are not
bound by Turkish law and therefore, they have no data to provide.
ExpressVPN Servers

ExpressVPN has a wide and authoritative network of servers. It has around 3,000 servers spread over 94
countries and 160 locations. Best server coverage is available in North America and Europe, followed by
Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. On their server page, you can see the VPN
protocols of each server and their online availability status.
The servers are run in RAM disk mode, which means that nothing will be stored on any hard drive. Any
time the RAM is powered off, all the data in the server gets wiped off and starts afresh. It is referred to
as the TrustedServer feature in the industry. According to us, it is the perfect way to follow the “no log,
no data” feature.
Do remember that there are no dedicated IP server options available yet. It has browser extensions for
Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. The ExpressVPN Android and iOS apps are excellent.
Netflix Streaming
ExpressVPN streams Netflix perfectly. It is currently the highest recommended VPN to stream Netflix
due to its 24×7 access to Netflix and excellent speed. If you face any network-wide blocks, contact their
Support system and they will tell guide you towards the best server.
Dedicated VPN Router
If you want unlimited connections, you have to choose their dedicated VPN router app with which all
the connected devices will have location anonymity, new IP address, and encrypted traffic. You can
easily switch between VPN servers, access kill switch, and also have the split tunneling feature.
In conclusion, ExpressVPN is a robust, military-grade, and secure VPN service provider.