The name (FastestVPN) tells you what you should expect – high speed connections. Though the name does not suggest it, FastestVPN says that the service is “fully loaded with all the features that you need for high security, privacy and online freedom”.
In a time when cyber crime, cyber monitoring and online restrictions are unprecedented, we’ve come to expect a VPN to primarily provide security, privacy, and online freedom. If a VPN service deliver on those three counts while serving blazing speeds, then it is a great service.
Does the FastestVPN service meet this description of a great VPN service? This review will provide the information to help you answer that question.
Is FastestVPN safe and legit? In this FastestVPN review, we tell you if FastestVPN is legit. And also if FastestVPN is safe, real and secure. Or if it is scam and fake. FastestVPN complaints, good and bad feedback of users also reviewed.
Is FastestVPN Legit and safe?
FastestVPN is legit and safe to use. You information is highly secured. Even when the connection disconnects, the vpn has an internet kill switch that kills off your internet connect to avoid it from leaking out your information. FastestVPN also has a money back guarantee, so you can request for your money back if you are not satisfied with the service.
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Note: Since you have nothing to loss, it will be a very good idea to register from this post so we can be able to assist you by getting in touch with them if you have any problem in the future. We have the power to force them into rectifying their faults. However, we cannot do anything if you try to trick the system. Just make sure you comply with their rules and regulations to make it easier for us.
Packages And Pricing
Packages
FastestVPN has only one service plan. There is no higher graded plan that hold some advance features and available to higher paying customers, or is there a lower graded plan. There is just one plan separated into packages based on how long you have to access the service. Nomatter the package you subscribe to, you have access to the same features as another subscriber in another package.
Fastest VPN has three standard packages – a single month package, an annual package, and a two years package. At the time of writing they were also offering a special five years package.
Pricing
The one month package cost $10.00 per month; the 12 months package cost $34.95, which breaks down to $2.91 per month representing a 71% cost saving; the 2 years package cost $39.95, which breaks down to $1.66 per month representing an 83% cost saving.
The service is currently offering a five years package that cost $60.00 which breaks down to $1.00 per month representing a whooping 90% cost saving.
Comparatively, Fastest VPN’s single month plan is priced with the expensive services; but the longer terms have massive discounts that bring their prices to unbeatable low levels.
If you want an inexpensive service in the short term, Fastest VPN might not be ideal; but if you are up for the long commitment, you’ll be hard pressed to see services that can beat the low prices of Fastest VPN.
Payment Methods
You can make payment for the Fastest VPN service with credit/ debit card, PayPal, and AliPay. These payment methods will afford users a lot of convenience; but they require submitting personal information that can compromise users’ privacy. Fastest VPN respond by also accepting anonymous Bitcoin payment.
If your concern is convenience when making payment, Fastest VPN has options for you; and if your concern is paying anonymously, Fastest VPN also has you covered.
Refund Policy
Many VPN services guarantee to refund the payment of users who are not satisfied with their services. This way they convey that they value customer satisfaction.
Fastest VPN offer a 7 days money back guarantee. This allows users who are unsatisfied with the Fastest VPN service to request a refund of their payment not later than seven days from the time of making payment.
While a week long refund period is good; there are services that offer a refund period of up to 30 days.
Free Trial
Many services offer free trial so that users can test the service free of charge, and personally experience its features before committing their resources to a subscription.
Unfortunately, Fastest VPN does not offer free trials. This mean that the only way to test the service is through the money back guarantee. That is, you pay for a subscription, use it for up to seven days, and request a refund of your payment. However, many users would prefer an actual free trial because the user is not charged at all. To use a money back guarantee, you have to make payment with the regular means that require submitting personal information; this is because the anonymous options leave no track to you, which makes getting a refund impossible.
But in actual free trials, payment information are not required, and the user is not charged. That said, if your primary concern to first test a service without being charged at all, Fastest VPN might not be the ideal service.
Also, the lack of a free trial further shines the spot light on the shortness of the money back guarantee of FastestVPN service. Since a free trial is not offered; the service should really have given a more generous period. Many of the services that give a money back guarantee of up to 30 days also offer free trial periods.
Server Network
Many VPN services advertises the number of servers they operate and the number of countries where the servers are hosted. However, the FastestVPN service choose only to highlight that they operate servers in 21+ countries.
The number of servers in a VPN network is a necessary consideration when choosing a VPN service because the server count directly affects performance. When a service has a small server count, then many users will be connecting to and using the resources of the few servers leading to poor performance.
I looked into the FastestVPN service to know exactly how many servers they operate in the 21+ countries covered. The servers dedicated page on their website shows a map showing the locations where their servers are located. The map shows one server in 20 different countries, and 3 servers in the US. That adds up to 23. Also, the Fastest VPN desktop client reveals only 23 server locations. QED. Fastest VPN operates 23 servers in 21 locations.
The number still falls short of the hundreds and thousands of servers operated by the top players in the industry. These top players also cover more than double the number of countries covered by the FastestVPN service.
Some services who have a small server count and covers small number of countries still do well in spreading their network across the globe. So I checked to see if the network of FastestVPN will redeem itself in geographical distribution. It still didn’t. The network covers North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The whole of Africa, South America and the Middle East are not represented.
A true global network is important for enhanced anonymity because it will give you virtual locations all over the world; but FastestVPN’s network cannot give that. However, the network will adequately give you anonymity by allowing you bounce around Europe, Asia, and North America. Also, FastestVPN offer unlimited server switching meaning that they do not put any restriction on changing locations. They also say they have a 99.99% uptime; which would mean that their servers will always be available for you to connect to.
That said, if your primary concern is a robust network that can place you in any region of the world; then FastestVPN might not be an ideal choice.
FastestVPN Features
Ease of Use
To get started you have to sign up which includes selecting a plan, creating an account, selecting a payment method, and making payment. These are all easy steps. Next is to download and install the app, lauch it and enter your login details in the appropriate boxes.
Upon login you are automatically connected to a server – which is the best performing server closest to you. The interface shows all the basics without looking cluttered; it shows your connection status, your location and IP, a prominent button to click to disconnect, data transferred, and the active VPN plan. With the apps of most services, by your location is a drop down menu that opens the server list where you can select and connect to a different server. But with the FastestVPN app, you’ll need to click on menu and click on “location” tab to see the server list. A “favourite” feature allows you to save certain servers for fast connections at a later times.
Simultaneous Connections
Typically, users have more than on device, and might use them at the same time. As a result, they seek VPN services that can be used to cover multiple devices without attracting extra cost.
With the Fastest VPN service, one subscription allows 5 multi logins on any type of device at the same time. So even if you have a small family or small business, an which to secure all the devices of the small unit without paying for another VPN license; you can use Fastest VPN to secure up to five devices.
This is a very generous offer that is on par with the industry average for simultaneous connections; only a few services can give more than the five simultaneous connections that Fastest VPN offers.
Device Compatibility
Fastest VPN is compatible with a range of operating systems and platforms. You can use the service with Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, Linux and routers. The support for routers can be used to get extra connections; you can configure the VPN on a router, and connect the other devices to the router.
The service is also compatible with TVs and gaming consoles (Xbox, PS4 etc). Their websites list that the service is compatible with over 20 devices. However, they have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android only; and they provide manual guides for setting up the service on the other platforms that they support.
Inbuilt NAT firewall
Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall is one of the early lines of defense against malicious attacks on the devices connected to the internet. VPN’s basic operation of encrypting data packets causes a problem with local NAT firewalls. This is because encrypted packet headers cannot be read, so all packets are passed; meaning that even malicious data will slip through.
A VPN NAT firewall will decrypt the packets and do the appropriate sorting to ensure that only requested traffic passes; no malicious data can slip through.
FastestVPN comes with an in-built (NAT) firewall which blocks all unrequested traffic entering your device and gives an extra layer of security.
Block Malicious Content
Malware attacks can be used to steal sensitive information from your devices as well as to cause irreparable damage to the devices. This mean that when you use a VPN to protect your confidential information from others, you are still not secured if those persons can attack your device and get the information. Thus, malware protection complements VPN protection for all round protection.
Fastest VPN has a malware protection feature that blocks all and any malicious content from entering your device. This adds another layer of security to the whole security package of the service.
Most users buy a stand-alone malware protection suite in addition to buying a VPN subscription. The Fastest VPN service saves you the additional expense because it comes ready with malware protection feature.
Ad Blocker
Ads can result in a frustrating user experience. They constantly pop up and commandeer your screen preventing you from viewing contents. They also cause websites to load slower than they should; and worst still, cybercriminals can use them to take over your computer and steal your information. For these reasons, VPN services are offering extra-VPN ad blocking features.
Fastest VPN offer an ad blocker feature which protects your device from annoying ads and ensures that you have an exciting browsing experience.
Torrenting
Torrenting is basically connecting to peers to download large files in bits. It is a fast way to download files over the internet. However, it is not always immediately apparent if the files are legal or not, and so one could unwittingly download illegal files and be on the wrong side of the law. It is for this reason and more that you should use a VPN service to download torrents safely and anonymously.
Not all VPNs supports torrenting, and the few that does are highly regarded. The FastestVPN is one of the few. They advertise that they allow P2P traffic and have “servers optimized for ultra-high speeds torrenting”.
Apart from having servers optimized for P2P activity, FastestVPN do not have bandwidth caps, so you can trasfer as much data as you please.
If you want to download torrents anonymously with your IP address hidden from prying eyes; FastestVPN might be ideal.
Streaming
FastestVPN advertises accessing geo-restricted content as one of their features. In their words: “Stream, buffer, watch and listen content that is censored and geo-restricted – from anywhere around the world“.
The true test of a VPN’s streaming capability is arguably Netflix. The streaming giant has a vast library of countless movie titles; but has effectively blocked VPNs from helping users beat its geo restrictions. Very few VPN services can still give users access to Netflix; and those few are regarded as excellent VPNs for streaming.
The question about whether FastestVPN is a good service for streaming is whether they give access to Netflix. One question in FastestVPN FAQS is: “Can I use Netflix with FastestVPN?”, and the answer provided is: “At the moment, Netflix US is not working with FastestVPN”.
Unfortunately, FastestVPN still does not give access to Netflix. If your primary concern is access to the vast library of Netflix, you have to look beyond FastestVPN.
Privacy And Security Features
VPN Protocols and Encryption
FastestVPN pulls its weight towards providing good speeds, and they did deliver. How will they fare in the primary function of a VPN which is security?
The service supports four VPN protocols – PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN (TCP and UDP), and IKEv2. Minus, the PPTP, these are all secure protocols. The OpenVPN is the oft recommended protocol because it is open source; it has been picked for vulnerabilities, but none has been found to date. Not only is it the most secure of the bunch, but it is also highly configurable. The L2TP is considered a secure alternative of the OpenVPN, while the IKEv2 is a new protocol that is also very secure. The PPTP is insecure but offers the advantage of speed for those times when you might prioritize speed over security.
In terms of encryption, FastestVPN also reached for the skies with industry standard AES 256-bit encryption. This is the encryption level used by banks and military agencies to secure their online data.
With FastestVPN’s secure protocols and air-tight encryption standard, you can be assured that your data is secured.
Kill Switch
The kill switch, the VPN side-kick, is not featured by FastestVPN. Remember that the service promise a 99.99% uptime. That means that there is a 0.01% downtime. It is inevitable; a VPN would for some reason loose connection. Though, they reconnect almost immediately, the few seconds between loosing connection and reconnecting is enough for watching eyes to capture your data and real location. The kill switch prevents that by cutting off internet connection the moment the VPN looses connection, so that no data is transmitted online without VPN protection.
Unfortunately, FastestVPN does not have this all important security feature. This, when the services abruptly loses connection, there is nothing preventing your data and real location from being exposed.
DNS Leak Protection
The security package of a VPN should include protection against security leaks such as DNS leaks. This is because DNS leaks exposes your location (IP address) and activity. It happen when your internet requests go outside the VPN tunnel and are handled by the default DNS servers.
FastestVPN says they have built-in leaks protection which would plug DNS leaks and ensures high sexy. This is what every security conscious user wants to hear/ see. However, IP leaks and DNS leak are not difficult to test, so I ran some tests. It didn’t make for good reading; FastestVPN leaked my IP and DNS.
With the high level of security that their secure VPN connection and encryption affords, it was really disappointing that security leaks are there to undermine the good work. It also throw a cloud over using the service to torrent; because the leaks effectively shatters anonymity.
Logging Policy
FastestVPN advertises on their landing page that one of their features is “No Log Policy”; and in another place they say: “FastestVPN has zero log policy making you untraceable over the internet”.
It is no news that log keeping threatens privacy; neither is it news that some VPN services that claim not to keep logs actually keep truck loads. Thus, we need to find out whether FastestVPN, though saying the right words about not keeping logs, collect and store users’ data that threatens users’ privacy. One way of finding out is going through the fine prints of their privacy policy.
First, FastestVPN’s privacy policy is short and very clear. Most importantly, it is assuring. The service does not monitor or store any information related to your browsing history; this will include the websites you visit, the content you download or stream, your traffic destinations, or your DNS queries. I would have been shocked if they did; no serious VPN will log such online activity.
Apart from browsing history; FastestVPN also does not keep session data. This will include timestamps and bandwidth usage. Many services who claim no-log keep session logs; but FastestVPN prove their zero log claim by not keeping session logs.
FastestVPN confesses that they collect some necessary data such as username and password. They also track login attempts made in order to counter abuse of multi-login feature and troubleshooting any server-end errors. Also, they keep the email address that you submit when signing up for the service; but just for billing purposes and account registration. The data collected does not threaten your privacy especially if you used an anonymous email address.
The service also removes from their database the data (email address) of all those who deactivate their account. Lastly, FastestVPN say they’ll respond to a valid legal order, but because no logs were kept, there’ll be nothing to disclose to the requesting authority other than an email address.
Jurisdiction
The FastestVPN service is located in the Cayman Island. Commenting on the location, FastestVPN says the Cayman Island is “one of the few countries with no mandatory data retention laws”. By being in this privacy haven, the service is not legally bound to store any user data or share such data with anyone.
Also, the Cayman Island is not a member of any surveillance alliance. The Five-Eyes, Nine-Eyes and Fourteen-Eyes global alliances use the strength of the intelligence agencies of member countries to spy on particular targets within their jurisdiction. It is therefore a big scoring point for FastestVPN that they are not located within the jurisdiction of these spy networks.
Speed
Their name suggest that they should be the fastest VPN in the market. Generally, VPN reduce network speed because of the layers of security (encryption) that VPN adds to data packets. A fast VPN will be one that has indecipherable reduction in the speed.
To test the speed of the Fastest VPN service, I connected to four server locations (two distant location, and two nearby location), and recorded uploaded and download speed, then I averaged the result. Afterward, I disconnected the VPN and read off the default network speed; then I compared the two result.
On the average, Fastest VPN reduced download speed and upload speed by 5.5% and 37.2% respectively. To put this in perspective, many services who put speed behind by 50% are still considered fast.
Fastest VPN’s download speed is unbelievably fast, but their upload speed (though still great) drags down their overall performance. If their upload speed performance can match their download speed performamce; the service would really be the fastest. At the moment; they are not the fastest, but are super fast.
Customer Support
FastestVPN says that they have a 4 layer support center available to make sure all queries are addressed; this is in reference to the four support channels they offer – FAQs, tutorials, live chat and emails.
The FAQs and tutorials are self help options that would give the user the needed assistance without having to contact the service; while the live chat and emails require directly contacting a support staff of the company.
FastestVPN’s FAQS are not extensive, and the answers are not detailed (some are actually one liners); but each answer adequately answer the question it addressed. The tutorials are detailed steps for setting up the service on the supported devices.
The direct contact options are always the crux of any support package; and the effectiveness of these determine the effectiveness of the whole support offering. Effectiveness is measured by the quality of responses received and the timeliness of such responses. FastestVPN took up to 24 hours to reply to our email submissions, and their response appeared well thought and satisfactorily addressed our concern. However, 24 hours waiting might be too long if you’re pressed. On the live chat; though FastestVPN advertises that “support is available 24/ 7 via live chat to help you with your queries”, it was definitely not 24/ 7. No one was online when we checked; but when someone did come online it went smoothly.
Summary
FastestVPN is really fast and offers speeds that some other services can only dream of. The service is very cheap owing to massive discounts of the longer term packages; and they also offer some nice features like ad blocking, malware protection and NAT firewall. In terms of connectivity, they do not disappoint. They are compatible with a host of devices and platforms; they have dedicated VPN apps for the four major platforms (Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android); and they allow five simultaneous connections. However, their network of 23 servers in 21 countries is small and should really be significantly enlarged if they are to be counted among the big leagues.
Also, on the security front, FastestVPN started with a bang and later tailed off. They give excellent security by offering secure connection protocols with strong unhackable encryption; then they tailed off by lacking a kill switch to keep data and location from being exposed when the VPN suddenly looses connection. They utterly disappointed by exposing my IP via DNS leaks when claiming to have built-in DNS leak protection. They managed a shot at redemption with their logging policy and jurisdiction; they truly do not keep logs, and are safely located in privacy-friendly Cayman Islands.
They do allow torrenting, but the double blows of ‘no kill switch’ and DNS leaks means it is not an ideal service for the activity; and they also do not give Netflix.
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FastestVPN is a very trustworthy and fast VPN service. Having various locations to choose from around the world and an internal ad-blocker and malware checker. They have expanded their list of servers which can be reached at various protocols. They all work very well and are backed up with 24/7 customer support.
They do not log your activities and have an extremely clear privacy policy, unlike some VPN providers who regularly hide details inside them,
Their software is really easy to use and modern. If you need any help with setting up your VPN their support can help you. A great addition recently has been FastestVPN's new browser extensions for Chrome and FireFox (personally I use FireFox, and it works great with the extension). It comes with WebRTC protection built-in, so you don't need to worry about leaks - I've tried and tested this and found none.
