If there’s one place where freedom and privacy is zero, it is the internet. Cyber threats, online monitoring by government and ISPs, and online geo restrictions are increasing by the day. My Private Network (MPN) VPN was born in 2008 to provide VPN services to return as a solution to the problem.
They’ve had up to a decade to perfect their art. Now, they say that they’re the friendliest VPN you’ll ever need, and that they’ll give you: (i) Hack-Proof Internet Connection (ii) Surveillance Resistant Privacy (iii) Open & Borderless Content Access.
If a VPN service can give all that, and also manages to be friendly; then it is the BOMB. This review will provide information to help you decide if My Private Network VPN service is the BOMB.
In this My Private Network VPN review, we show you if My Private Network VPN is safe, legit or if it is scam and fake. My Private Network VPN complaints and feedback are also reviewed. It is the best and unbiased My Private Network VPN reviews.
Is My Private Network VPN legit and safe?
My Private Network VPN is legit and also safe to use. There have never been complaints about My Private Network VPN being unsafe or information leakage, as of writing this review.
RECOMMENDED TOP 3 BEST VPN ALTERNATIVES:
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My Private Network VPN complaint and feedback:
.o My Private Network VPN complaints and feedback was found as of writing this review,
SERVICE PLANS AND PRICING
The MPN VPN service has three service plans – the free server plan, the single country plan and the global plan. The free server plan is their free plan (I will discuss this later), while the other two are paid plans. The two paid plans are identical in every way but one. As the name suggest, the single country plan allows access to only one server location; while the global plan allows access to all the server locations in their network. The two plans both features unlimited data transfer, unlimited speed, and full protocol support.
Pricing:
The single country plan has three billing options – monthly, quarterly, and annually.
The monthly package is priced at £4.97; the quarterly package is priced at £14.16 (which breaks down to £4.72 per month); and the annual package is priced at £47.71 (which break down to £3.97 per month).
Though, you save more by subscribing to the longer term packages, the savings is not much. For example, the quarterly package is discounted by only 5%, while the annual package is discounted by 20%.
The prices of this plan are very pocket friendly; but you must remember that you have access to only a single server location (which is chosen by you).
The Global plan is also billed monthly, quarterly and annually.
The monthly package is priced at £8.97; the quarterly package is priced at £25.56 (which breaks down to £8.52 per month); and the annual package is priced at £86.11 (which breaks down to £7.17 per month).
Just as with the single country plan, the longer term packages of the global plan also do not have massive discounts. The quarterly package is discounted by only 5%, and the annual deal is discounted by 20%.
This package is the MPN VPN premium package; and it is the package I’ll be making reference to when comparing the MPN VPN service with the other VPN services.
From the prices of this premium package, it can be seen that the MPN VPN service does not come cheap. Their single month cost rubs shoulder with the expensive services; and their best value deal at £7.17 per month is very expensive compared to other services. Some of the services that have similar expensively priced monthly deal, massively discount their best offers sometimes by as much as 70%, and as a result their best value deals are less than half that of the MPN VPN service.
That said, if you need an inexpensive VPN service, you wouldn’t want to consider MPN VPN service, except you’d be content with a single country connection.
My Private Network Payment Methods
The MPN VPN service does not support a wide range of payment methods. However, they support at least a method that will appeal to you nomatter your privacy risk tolerance level.
You can make payment with the regular means such as PayPal, credit/ debit cards (specifically Visa card, Master card, Discover card, and American Express), and bank transfer.
The MPN VPN service also accepts multiple crypto currencies via CoinPayments. These methods preserve the anonymity of the user because, unlike the regular payment methods, they do not require the submission of personal information. One of such payment that affords anonymity is the Bitpay which the company recently introduced.
If one of your concerns is that the information submitted as part of a billing process can compromise a user’s privacy, then you should look at the MPN VPN service, because they allow you pay anonymously.
Refund Policy
A refund policy comes in form of a money back guarantee which allows a user to request a refund of payment if the service did not meet certain expectations. The main objective of this is customer satisfaction.
The MPN VPN says: “If you’re not a 100% satisfied, we’re not too. We’ll return your payment. No questions asked.” They back this up with an amazing 90 days money back guarantee.
They are clearly the industry leaders in this regard. The “generous” refund offer of some of the leading VPN services is 30 days; but the MPN VPN service trumps that with a crazy 90 days offer that allows users to request a full refund of payment even with 90 days of using the service. They even state that at their discretion they would grant partial or full refund to request made after 90 days. You can request a refund by contacting their help desk via support@my-private-network.co.uk.
Free Plan/ Free Trial
The MPN VPN service offer a free plan. The free plan is not limited by time; you can use the service free of charge forever. However, it is limited in other ways: speed is limited to 1 Mbps, you cannot connect multiple devices simultaneously, you cannot use the free Smart DNS, and you have access to only one server location. However, the location is one randomly assigned to you; it is unlike in the “single country” plan where you get to choose the server location. The free servers randomly assigned are in Germany and Spain.
The MPN VPN service points out that in the free plan, you are allowed unlimited data transfers; but with speed capped at 1Mbps, you wouldn’t be doing much transfer. Streaming videos and downloading over a 1Mbps max network will give you only one thing – headaches. For example, Netflix recommends a 3 Mbps connection for one standard-quality stream and 5 Mbps for a HD stream. The service even says this about their free plan: “you can’t really use it for downloading, streaming and accessing geographically restricted content“. The one real good news about free plan is that there is full protocol support, so you have the same level of encryption and security as in the paid plans.
The MPN VPN service also allow you a full feature free use. They offer a 3 days free trial on the paid plans which allows you to have access to the full features of either plan free of charge for three days.
One thing of note about the service free trial is that it does not require the submission of payment information. You simply select a plan, and sign up with an email address, and you’ll have unrestricted access to all features of the chosen plan for three days. Since payment information was not submitted, it means that there is nothing to cancel before or at the end of the trial period, and the service will not automatically move a free trial user to the paid plan.
SERVER NETWORK
The MPN VPN service does not explicitly state the number of servers that they operate; instead the choose to highlight the number of countries that they host the servers in. In their server dedicated page, they state that they have: “Servers In 44+ Countries… And Counting!” The network covers North America (3 countries), South America (2 countries), Europe (24 countries), Asia Pacific (9 countries that includes Australia and New Zealand), Africa (2 countries), and the Middle East (4 countries that includes India).
First, it must be said that the number of countries covered by the MPN VPN network is really impressive. Only very few services reach more countries; and many of the highly rated VPN services cover only about 30 countries. Also, the MPN VPN network is one of the finest in terms of geographical distribution. It covers every region of the world. While many services avoid Africa and the Middle East in their server network; in the MPN VPN network, Africa is represented by Egypt and South Africa, and the Middle East is represented by Isreal, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
The true global server network of the MPN VPN service ensures that anywhere in the world you might be (or travel to), there will be a nearby server to connect to for optimal performance. It also enhances anonymity because it gives you the opportunity to select a virtual location across the globe.
If your primary concern is a VPN service with a robust network for optimal performance and anonymity, then you should really look at the MPN VPN service (specifically the global plan), because they have a robust and well distributed network that gives just that.
FEATURES
Ease of Use
The MPN VPN service advertises as “the friendliest VPN and SmartDNS you’ll ever need”. This statement is on point with the Android app. After signing up, you proceed to download and install the client in very easy steps. After that, you launch the app, and input your login credentials when prompted to.
The interface is simple, and you’ll have no problem navigating and effecting a connection even if you’ve had no experience with VPNs. It displays your IP address, location, and connection status. It features a drop down menu for selecting a server location, and a “connect” button for effecting a connection. Upon connection, the interface shows your virtual IP address and virtual location, and notifies you of the successful connection. A menu button at the top right corner of the interface opens some options among which is the “settings” where you can configure some preferences.
However, the Windows app is not so intuitive. The major snag is that it requires you to make some connection settings during installation. For example, you have to select your connection method, and also the countries you will connect to. If you bought the single country plan, this is where you choose the country you will be tied to; and if you bought the global plan, you’ll still need to select all the server locations you will want to use. After successfully completing the installation, the server locations that will be available to you for connection are those that you select during the installation. After the installation brouhaha and the app is on your device, it gets pretty easy from there. Connecting, switching between servers, simple settings tweaks and all can be done with no hassle.
Simultaneous Connections
The MPN VPN service (both paid plans) allows you to connect up to five devices at the same time with one VPN license. It is only the free plan that is limited to one connection. Five simultaneous connection is one of the best in the industry. In fact, the industry average for simultaneous connections is five; only very few services give more.
So if you have multiple devices that you want to protect with one licence, or you want to extend VPN protection to your family or friends without spending on another license, then MPN VPN might be an ideal service.
Supported Devices
The MPN VPN service supports all the popular operating systems and platforms. You can use the service on Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10), Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux. This is impressive because many services do not support Linux. You can also configure the MPN VPN on routers and protect all devices connected to the router. The service is also compatible with Chromebook and Kindle Fire.
Torrenting
Torrenting is a fast and effective way of downloading files from the internet; but it can become dangerous when the user unwittingly download copyrighted materials. As a result, people seek VPN cover for safely and anonymously downloading torrents. Some VPNs ban torrenting altogether; while others that allow it limit the activity in other to limit their own liability.
The MPN VPN service falls among the latter. The service allows torrenting, but limits the activity to servers in Russia and Malaysia. They say that the legal environment of these two countries allows for downloading torrents; and they expressly prohibit downloading torrents from any other location outside these two. They also say you can torrent when connected “to our torrent cluster”, but there’s no information on what that means.
Smart DNS
My Private Network includes a Smart DNS as part of their package. When you subscribe to the MPN VPN service, you also get a Smart DNS service free of charge. They call the Smart DNS MyTelly.
As the name suggests MyTelly allows you watch television shows and movies that are not available in your location. MPN MyTelly Smart DNS service unblocks over 95 channels in the US alone. Numerous other channels are unblocked in the UK and other countries. These include top streaming services like Netflix, Pandora, Hulu, HBO GO, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and others.
However, it should be noted that the Smart DNS is different from the VPN provided by the My Privae Network service. When using MyTelly Smart DNS, the data that you transmit through the internet is not encrypted, and the IP address of your network is not changed. What it does is simply to redirect certain of your traffic through a server in a particular country allowing to watch contents specific to that country. So without the encryption of a VPN, MyTelly Smart DNS gives fast speed for watching geo restricted contents.
Streaming
As discussed above, the Smart DNS offered by the MPN service has excellent streaming capabilities by unblocking tons of geo restricted channels. However, the MPN VPN itself can be used to stream safely and anonymously, but will not give the result as the Smart DNS.
PRIVACY AND SECURITY FEATURES
VPN Protocols and Encryption
The MPN VPN service supports all the main protocols – PPTP, L2TP, SSL, and IKEv2 protocols. Though your MPN VPN account provides you access to use any of the VPN protocols, the service recommends using the SSL based OpenVPN for establishing connections.
It is the most secure protocol, it is highly configurable and can be set to run on any port, and it has great speed even on connections with high latency and across great distances. The IKEv2 is the newest protocol and bsed on IPSec tunneling protocol; IKEv2 and L2TP are considered secure alternatives of the OpenVPN. While the PPTP is known as insecure, but offers some benefits becaue of its speed and ease to set up.
In terms of encryption, the PPTP is with MPPE 128 encryption, while the OpenVPN, IKEv2 and L2TP/ IPSec all use the AES 256 bit encryption. AES 256 is the industry standard and the highest encryption level known today. To tell you how secure it is, MPN VPN says: “Even if you combined all the power of every super computer on Earth, it’ll still take millions of years to crack the 256-bit AES encryption“. With this encryption level, your data with the MPN VPN service is secure and virtually uncrackable.
Logging Policy
On their landing page, the MPN VPN service discusses why you should choose them; among the reasons given is: “We do not log your traffic”. This pitch them with almost every other VPN service that claims not to keep logs.
Because log keeping threatens anonymity, a no-logging statement should calm privacy conscious users, but it doesn’t because no-logging is one area where VPN services have been found to say one thing but do another. We need to make sure that the no-logging claim of the MPN VPN service is not just as advertisement speak.
To do this, I went through the fine prints of their privacy policy and Terms of Service to find out what information (if any) is collected, why it is collected, and how it is handled.
The privacy policy starts by the service saying that they do not retain or store any information regarding users’ internet activity, bandwidth usage or DNS queries.
On to what they do collect: they collect and record the username, password and email address you submit when creating your account. When you purchase a service, they also hold a transaction info against your account, but do not hold the credit card information itself. When you contact the service through the support channels, they record the exchange.
They are not alone in maintaining this kind of log because most services keep these logs. Also, a user can limit exposure by using an anonymous email address, paying anonymously, and refraining from using the contact support channels. So these logs are not particularly worrying.
Now to worrying part; the MPN VPN service also collect time stamps. Whenever, you connect to the service, they record the date and time of the connection and disconnection.
The only thing I like here is that the service did not do like most others in writing off the connection timestamps as “non personally identifying” to falsely convey that the information cannot be used to track a user. Connection timestamps can be combined with other tit-bits and used to mount an e2e time correlation attack to effectively track a user. This is not just theoretical; it is on record that connection logs has been used to identify a VPN user.
Fortunately, the MPN VPN service says that the information is retained for only seven days, after which it is purged from their systems. That’s some good news; but every privacy conscious user will agree with me that it is best that the information is not recorded in the first place.
They collect meta data concerning your connection and the pages you visited anytime you visit their site. I understand that such tracking is necessary to improve the website, and I understand that the data is anonymized; what I have problem with is using a third party data analytic software like Google and Facebook. In my paranoid mind, Google and Facebook does not share the same table with privacy.
To end this logging section on a happy note, the MPN VPN service recently published a Warrant Canary showing that the service hasn’t have to respond to any warrant.
Security Leak Protection
On their landing page, the service list DNS leaks protection among its security and privacy features. DNS leaks happen when DNS servers send unencrypted queries outside of the VPN connection; this effectively exposes the online activity and real location of the user.
The MPN VPN service is equipped to protect against such security leaks. I tested the service for leaks; and was satisfied that there was no DNS leaks or IP leaks.
Jurisdiction
According to My Private Network, one reason why you should choose them is because they are in an offshore sanctuary. Though the company is British, they are headquartered in Hong Kong in other to be free of the unfriendly privacy laws of the UK, and to take advantage of the friendly privacy laws of Hong Kong.
For starters, Hong Kong does not enforce strict data retention laws. This means the government will not force the service to keep and disclose users’ data. Also, Hong Kong does not belong to any surveillance network such as the dreaded 14 Eyes surveillance (read: spy) network.
SPEED
One of the simplest way of measuring the speed of a VPN service is to take speed readings when connected and when not connected to the VPN, and compare the result. VPNs generally slow network speed, but the fast ones will record very little drop of network speed.
The MPN VPN service showed a significant drop of network speed. On the average, the service dropped my download and upload speed by 59% and 53% respectively. This speed performance was sufficient to stream high quality movies. However, it does not score any points for the service because it sits with the average speed performers in the industry.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
My Private Network VPN service support consist of a knowledgebase and direct contact channels. The knowledgebase consists of FAQS and set up guides. The FAQS treat a lot of questions that users have asked in the past – both generic questions and technical questions. The MPN VPN guides can be found by clicking the “Get Started” button on the website. It holds detailed instructions for manually setting up the VPN on the supported devices. The service also has a strong social media presence; you can follow them and request assistance on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus.
To contact a rep of the service directly, you can email them by submitting an online ticket. The ticketing form is opened by clicking “Email Us” under support at the bottom of the website. The effectiveness of a direct support service is measured in: the quality of responses, and the timeliness of responses. The MPN VPN scored well on both. Response I got was specific, well-thought and adequately addressed the queries. I fired a couple of inquiries to gauge response timeliness, and everytime response was fast in coming. Twice response came under an hour, and once it came just over two hours.
The MPN VPN service also has a live chat feature which can be employed for instant responses to inquiries. However, the live chat is only available on the mobile apps.
CONCLUSION
My Private Network VPN is a service that distinguishes itself by offering a single country subscription, and by adding a Smart DNS (MyTelly) as part of its complete package.
It’s shining points include:
- Security and privacy:
(Support for all the popular VPN protocols including the secure OpenVPN; use of industry standard encryption; security leaks protection; anonymous payment allowed)
- Connectivity
(a robust server network covering every region of the world; compatibility with a wide range of devices; five simultaneous connections allowed)
- Service
(a free Smart DNS; excellent streaming capability; torrenting allowed; 90 days money back guarantee; very responsive customer support)
However, there are a few knacks with the service: they log connection timestamps; Speed is not great; and torrenting is greatly limited (only to two countries).
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