Gabe Turner: Hey, folks.
This is Gabe at Security Baron.
Can you paint with all the colors of the Windscribe?
Well, today, we're going to find out in our review of Windscribe VPN.
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Gabe: In today's review of Windscribe, we're going to look at the pros and cons, features,
run some speed and leak tests, check out their subscription options and customer support
before finally delving into their mobile application to make sure you have all the information
you need to make the right decision.
If you'd like to see a list of our favorite VPNs, google "Security Baron best VPNs."
If you have a question about today's review, leave us a comment, and I'll get back to you.
Let's look at the pros and cons of Windscribe VPN, beginning with the pros.
The main event with Windscribe is the fact that they give you unlimited simultaneous
connections on unlimited devices with just one account.
You're not going to run into any issues with having it on your phone, on your iPad, on
your Kindle, on your MacBook Air, all with your account.
They also double hop.
That means that they run your traffic through two separate servers each time.
That's a nice little added bonus.
When it comes to cons, they are based in Canada, which is a part of several international surveillance
alliances.
That's something to think about when using Windscribe VPN.
Now that we've gone over the pros and cons for Windscribe VPN, let's look at their features
set beginning with data logging.
Most VPN companies say that they're not going to log your data, but they do keep a few things
like your payment information, your user name.
Windscribe keeps a little bit more than we'd like.
They keep a timestamp of your activity, how many bytes you transferred, and how many parallel
connections you have made.
Their reasoning is that they want to make sure that someone isn't sharing an account
among 100 people, but still a little bit more than we'd appreciate.
When it comes to the Kill Switch feature, also known as Network Lock Feature, they do
employ it.
You don't have to worry about your information being exposed.
If, for whatever reason, the VPN goes out, all of your Web browsing app usage will, of
course, be knocked out, and you won't be exposed on a public network.
When it comes to split tunneling with the Windscribe, you can do it.
If you want to reduce your bandwidth by using both a public and private network at the same
time, you can do so with Windscribe, which is always a feature that we love to see with
the VPN.
When it comes to Netflix access, you can do that as long as you're using one of their
US or UK servers.
Outside of that, you're not very likely to be able to get on Netflix.
Now that we've looked at the pros, cons, and features of Windscribe VPN, let's run some
tests.
I'm going to run a speed test, DNS leak test, and WebRTC leak test.
For the sake of transparency, I want you to know that I'm going to be running these tests
on a MacBook Air and Asus VivoBook in Brooklyn on my Optimum Network.
Let's check out the speeds for Windscribe VPN.
On my MacBook, my download speed decreased by about 20 percent, while it decreased by
over 40 percent on my Asus VivoBook.
When I went to do upload speeds, things reversed.
On the VivoBook, it only decreased the speed upload by 16 percent, while on the MacBook,
it decreased the speed by 60 percent.
The final thing that I tested was ping or latency.
Both of my computers, initially, had about a 12-millisecond latency without Windscribe,
but with Windscribe, I saw the latency increased to 20 milliseconds on my Mac and 16 milliseconds
on the Windows computer.
The next test that we run is the DNS leak test.
That stands for Domain Name Server.
This is basically the IP address that underlies all of the websites that you might go to.
Websites like securitybaron.com.
We want to make sure that that doesn't leak out and remains in that private tunnel that
you created with your Windscribe VPN.
Fortunately, they pass this test with flying colors.
The final test that we conduct is similar and that it is based on the WebRTC.
The WebRTC stands for Web Real-Time Communication.
It is what you use anytime you connect two IP addresses directly without going through
an intermediate server.
This happens when you live stream, video chat, or just transfer large files from one device
to another.
Fortunately, once again, that was all secure and safe in that special tunnel created by
Windscribe VPN.
Let's check out the subscription options for Windscribe VPN.
Windscribe VPN has some pretty interesting configurations when it comes to subscription
pricing.
Of course, they give you that one-month plan, which is nine dollars, pretty straightforward.
They even have a year plan that's $49, which cuts that down by more than half, which is
about four dollars a month.
What's really interesting is that you can configure your own servers and get your price
down to one dollar a month.
That's something we have not seen with any of the other VPN providers out there.
One thing to remember with this pricing model, they only give you three days to try it out.
That's their money-back guarantee.
Three days, better use Windscribe to your heart's content because, beyond that, you
will not be able to get your refund.
Let's check out the customer support options with Windscribe VPN.
Of course, you have an online help center.
You can also fill out an online form or email them.
They also have a live chat feature and a subreddit dedicated to FAQs and guides.
They definitely don't lack for a manner of getting answers to the questions you have.
In our own experience, we wrote them a very long email, with a litany of issues that we
wanted resolved, and questions that we had.
They responded to us very thoroughly within 24 hours.
We found that to be pretty professional and on point.
When it comes to what other people are thinking, they have a 3.9 out of 5-star rating on Google,
and a 3.6 out of the 5-star rating on Amazon.
Of all those reviews, only two specifically mention customer support for both Amazon and
Google, and we got split decisions.
One was positive and one was negative on both Amazon and Google.
However, using our experience and the fact that there's not much of a sample size on
the Internet for what people are thinking about Windscribe, we thought that they're
probably doing pretty well for customer support.
All right, hold on, quick break.
I hope you're enjoying our Windscribe VPN review.
If you'd like to be kept up to date on all our VPN and smart home security content, please
subscribe to our channel.
Let's get back to the video.
The final element that we want to go over today in our review of Windscribe VPN is the
mobile applications.
Of course, you can use it on Mac, Linux, and Windows, but we wanted to look at how it works
on mobile.
In the Apple App Store, it has a 3.9 out of 5-star rating, which is pretty positive.
It does even better in the Google Play Store with 4.2 out of 5 stars.
Let's go ahead and check it out on my iPhone X.
Here I am checking out the Windscribe VPN app on my iPhone X.
If you'll note at the bottom, it tells you how many gigabytes you have left on the VPN,
because there are various options.
You can customize Windscribe in a manner of ways.
You can upgrade that, you can downgrade, whatever you like.
It's a very flexible configurable VPN.
It's pretty straightforward.
You see the on and off button.
I'm currently disconnected.
Best location.
Let's see if I wanted to go to Germany.
I could tap Germany and boom.
Here we are.
Now, I'm in Germany on my Windscribe VPN.
Let's see if I want to change to Switzerland.
[non-English speech].
There we go.
[non-English speech].
Let's go to the United Kingdom.
Pretty straightforward.
I love the options that you have with Windscribe VPN.
Let me go ahead and turn it off.
I tap on the upper left corner.
We have our settings.
You can see that there are very few options here, and boom, we're ready to go.
Ultimately, my thoughts on Windscribe VPN is that it's pretty straightforward.
There isn't too much to confuse you.
You can tap on the very obvious power button to connect or disconnect.
You have a host of countries to choose from in terms of where you want to be located,
in terms of VPN standards.
It's a simple app.
Generally, a pretty big fan of apps that are simple.
This is Windscribe VPN on my iPhone X.
We've come a long way with the Windscribe VPN, and you're wondering, Gabe, "Is this
the right VPN for me?"
Well, are you the kind of person who needs unlimited simultaneous connections on unlimited
devices because you are a person with a lot of capacity?
Well, Windscribe VPN is for you, baby.
It has that going for it.
It allows you to do whatever you want with as many devices as you have.
If you couple that with the fact that they have one of the more affordable plans out
there, you're doing pretty well.
You can choose your own servers and get that down to one dollar a month.
Something to be wary of with Windscribe is the fact that they are headquartered in Canada,
which is a part of multiple international alliances like 5, 9, and 14 Eyes.
If you couple that with the fact that they do maintain a little bit more of your data
than we would like including a timestamp of your activity and all the parallel connections
that you make, you may want to be wary of their privacy settings, if you will.
Overall, Windscribe VPN is a pretty solid choice for a VPN.
That concludes our review of Windscribe VPN.
If you appreciate today's video, give us a like and hit that subscribe button.
As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron.
Be secure.
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