OneVPN is a Hong Kong based VPN service provider. They do not mince words; they say they are “the world’s best VPN with distinct features”. They say they are the best in just about everything – streaming, torrenting, security etc. Look at these statements: “OneVPN is a feature-rich VPN service that covers internet user necessities from every angle, be it privacy, security, or content accessibility” and “At One VPN, you can find the features and policies that are an important ingredient for a VPN Service“
One thing is clear – One VPN can talk the talk. What we need to determine is whether they can walk the walk. Do they really cover internet users’ necessities? This will include securing your connections by encrypting all your data, giving you anonymity by altering your original IP address, and unblocking geo restricted channels and giving you access to desired contents. This review aim to give you the information to answer that question.
In this OneVPN review, we show if you if OneVPN is legit. And also show you if OneVPN safe, legal and secure. Or if it is scam and fake. OneVPN complaints and feedback from users are also reviewed. So, if you are searching for the best and unbiased OneVPN reviews, you have come to the right place.
Is OneVPN safe and legit?
OneVPN is safe and legit. They have been in usage for a very long time without any information leakage complaints from its users. OneVPN has internet kill switch to protect your from any exposure. It comes with trial offers and money back guarantee which means you can cancel and have your money back if you are satisfied with OneVPN function withing the stipulated period.
However there have been an issue of inactive support and lack of response to messages.
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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.
OneVPN complaints and feedback:
Simon says:
Great service ! Support most probably reply in less then 12 hours on email and always reply on chat as well. happy to have OneVPN subscription of 1 year. If they are scammers they never talk to their customers.
Go and check it out how they are honest with the services you will know by your own.
Paul says:
I have used OneVPN with little issues for over a month. Since then, there is no connections – none, out of about 77 – work. They have absolutely zero support. They have not been responding to any tickets sent to them.
James says:
OneVPN worked for some time for me, then stopped. They did not respond to any email sent to them for assistance. If you go for this VPN service, your money will be gone without recovery. If you do happen to connect as well as verify your IP address. Even when it was supposed to be functioning, it was not.
Packages And Price
Service Plans
One VPN has one service plan that is separated into three packages using the three billing options available. All packages have similar features, and the only difference is the length of time of access to the service.
The packages are: a one month subscription, a 6 months subscription, and a 4 years subscription.
Pricing
The one month subscription cost $7.95; the 6 months subscription cost $29.95, which breaks down to $4.99 per month; and the 4 years subscription cost $48.00, which breaks down to $1.00 per month.
One VPN advertises that you save 20% by going for the one month subscription; it is surprising as there is no package anywhere that would have resulted in a $9.94 cost. However, their pricing is such that you are better off the longer your subscription. The 6 months deal (at $4.99 per month) is 37% off the one month deal; while the four years deal is a whooping 87% off.
Comparatively, One VPN’s one month deal falls in the middle; the expensive services charge $10.00 or more, but there are cheaper options. However, the 4 years deal represents a bargain; users who are up for the long term commitment will be hard pressed to get a cheaper option.
Payment Option
One VPN supports an endless list of payment options. You can make payments with credit/ debit card (visa card, master card, and American express), PayPal, Paymentwall (over 10 platforms), Alipay & Gift Card (10 different gift cards), and Bitcoin.
If you want the convenience of the standard payment methods (credit cards and PayPal), you are served by One VPN. On the other hand, if you are concerned that the regular methods require the submission of personal information (which includes name, address, and credit card information), and would rather pay anonymously, you are also served by One VPN.
Money back guarantee
VPN services like to offer a money back guarantee that allows users who are not happy with the service to request a refund of their payment.
One VPN gives a 7 days money back guarantee. The 7 days of the guarantee means that you can request a refund only within seven days of making payment.
However, though the 7 days money back guarantee allowed by One VPN is definitely better than a “no money back guarantee”, it must be said that it is stingy. This is because there are many VPN services that give money back guarantee of up to 30 days.
Also, it does not help One VPN’s case that their money back guarantee is laced with conditions. One VPN will deny all refund requests made after seven days of using the service. Many other services (even though they have longer guarantee periods) do consider requests made after their guarantee periods; they look at extraordinary circumstances, and at their discretion, grant partial or full refunds. One VPN will not accept a refund request from a user who does not state a reason for the refund claim. Many services offer a ‘no questions asked’ guarantee and do not burden users with having to explain themselves. Most damningly, One VPN will not grant a refund request if the user have consumed 3GB of bandwidth before asking for a refund. Many services still give refunds nomatter how much data have been consumed.
Free trial
Free trials are increasingly being offered by VPN services to enable users test the service without being charged for it. The bold advertisement claims might catch some users; but nothing is as effective as allowing the service speak for itself via a free trial. It is reported that up to 60% of free trialist convert to paid plans.
However despite the big benefits of free trials, both to the user and the service provider, One VPN does not offer free trials. They state: “If you’re not already a customer, why don’t you try us out today? We’ll cover you 100% with our risk free 7-Days money back guarantee“. That is, they equate their 7 days money back guarantee to a 7 days free trial since you can request a refund of your payment and will receive the full payment.
However, the two are not exactly the same. For he money back guarantee, you are charged and your account is debited; but in free trials, there are no charges. Users who wouldn’t want to be charged at all will not like that no free trials are offered. Also, in the money back guarantee policy, you can only get back your money if you make payment through the regular methods (such as credit cards and PayPal) which requires you to submit your personal information. You cannot get a refund if you paid anonymously. It therefore means that users who would rather pay anonymously cannot try out the One VPN service for free.
Lastly, the absence of a free trial also makes the 7 days period of the money back guarantee too short. Since it is the only way to test run the service, the period really can be extended. Many of the services who give a 30 days money back guarantee also give free trials.
That said, if you want an extended period to try out a VPN service before committing your resources; One VPN might not be an ideal choice.
Features
Supported Devices
One VPN support the major operating systems. You can use the service on Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. It is also compatible with routers and Linux. To use it on smart TVs and gaming consoles, you’ll have to go through a router. That is, get the service on a router, and connect the devices to the router.
Simultaneous connections
One VPN allows you to connect up to five devices at the same time with a single VPN account. This is a generous offer that will attract people with multiple devices and/ or a small family who’ll wish to secure all the devices of the unit without paying for another VPN account.
Comparatively, this is one of the highest offers in the industry; the industry average for simultaneous connections is five, and only a few services offer more.
Ad blocker
VPN services are offering beyond-VPN features to enhance user experience. One of such feature is ad blocker. Pop up ads can be annoying when they prevent you from smoothly watching contents; they also cause websites to load slower than they should; worst still, they can be user by hackers to attack get at sensitive information in your devices.
One VPN says that their service comes with a built-in Ad blocker. They call it the ultimate ad killer, saying that feature blocks ads from the source and allows you an ad-free browsing experience.
However, it is either I’m cursed with bad luck or their ad-blocker didn’t work because I did not notice any reduction in ads when using the service.
Malware Protection
Malware can penetrate devices and cause irreparable damage, it can also be used by hackers to steal sensitive data from your devices. Therefore, malware protection is necessary. Many people realise this and at additional cost would buy a stand alone anti-malware service in addition to the VPN service – the VPN to protect their online traffic, and the anti-malware suite to protect their devices.
One VPN says that their sercive comes with malware protection. According to the company: “One VPN Anti-Malware acts like an anti-infection service, creating a shield to keep your device secured at all times“. If it works this would save you the additional cost of buying a stand-alone anti-malware suite.
However, since their much-publicized ad-blocker didn’t give me any ad blocking; I really can’t speak for how much of malware protection their anti-malware does. I’ll rather still buy and use my stand-alone malware protection.
Using the service
It is straightforward downloading and installing the service. You get to submit your email address in the process of signing up, and two separate mails will be sent to you with your login details.
Upon logging in, the interface is displays a coloured map and a marker showing your location. The map is basically for aesthetics only; you cannot click on it to connect to a location. Also, unlike with some other services, clicking connect does not automatically connect you to the nearest server. One VPN arbitrarily gives you a server. This is surprising because automatic connect should connect a user to the best performing server which are usually the nearest servers.
Also, the server shows pings only in the desktop apps; when using the service of mobile devices, there is no way to determine the best performing servers, and you are virtually connecting blindly when you connect to any server.
Also, the app does not show any of the advanced features advertise by One VPN on their website. There is no settings option to enable/ disable ad blocker or malware protection. There is also no such option for the internet kill switch. Simply toggling on/ off such functionalities is what most services offer; but with One VPN you have to go through a laborious (for any new user) process that starts with turning off all anti-virus and third-party firewall to use the kill switch feature. Also, this feature is available only to Windows users.
Streaming
People are seeking VPNs for entertainment purposes. This is because many media contents are geo-restricted – some contents which are available for viewing in certain locations are not available in others. To watch content not available in your location, you need a VPN to place you in a location where the content is available.
One VPN say they have a feature called One-stream or Web TV which offers ease of access to hundreds of online streaming channels and other content from all around the world. In their words: “One VPN believes in online freedom. Internet users don’t deserve geo-restrictions barring them from accessing their desired content, especially in their native language. Period“.
However it is observed that this One-stream and Web TV “feature” of One VPN is actually the spoofing of location by giving you a virtual location that places you in a place different from where you actually are. This is actually a basic function of any VPN, and definitely not a special feature.
Thus, it was not surprising that One VPN failed in unblocking Netflix. However, they are not the only VPN service to fail to get pass Netflix wall. Netflix have effectively blocked a lot of VPNs, and it rare to see services that still give access to Netflix content. Netflix access is used by many users to determine a service streaming capability not only because Netflix is easily the world’s number one streaming service and has a vast library with countless titles, but also because it takes a damn-good streaming VPN service go pass Netflix firewall and unblocks the service.
That said, if you want a VPN to access Netflix vast library for streaming pleasure, you’ll have to look beyond One VPN.
P2P Activity and Torrenting
Torrenting is a fast way to download files in the internet. It involves connecting with peers to move large files in bits. However, the activity can prove dangerous. Insidious peers may use the file sharing activity to get at personal information stored in devices; also, one may unwittingly infringe on copyrights and get on the wrong side of the law. For these reasons and more, One VPN says: “If you are downloading Torrents, you better keep your identity secret“. VPN services are used to download torrents safely and anonymously. However, not every VPN service allow torrenting; so those that do have a strong appeal.
One VPN fully supports torrenting. They even have a dedicated torrenting page where they: outline steps for torrenting anonymously, specifically recommend the One VPN service as the best VPN for downloading torrents, and also recommend using BitTorrent or uTorrent Client.
Server Location
One VPN says that their global server network consist of 390+ servers in 59 countries around the world. Their dedicated server locations page lists: 90 server locations in Asia, 10 in Africa, 110 in the Americas, 150 in Europe, 15 in Oceania, and 15 in the Middle East. It is good to see server operation in Africa and the Middle East becaue these regions are often neglected by VPN services. Africa is represented by Egypt and South Africa; while the Middle East is represented by Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.
On the whole, One VPN network sounds impressive. Though some services operate thousands of servers, the 390+ server count of One VPN is one of the highest in the industry. Also, their 59+ countries of operation is easily one of the highest in the industry.
In the VPN world, the bigger the server network (that is, the more servers and more countries covered), the better for anonymity and performance. This is because there will be more locations to choose from when spoofing your real location; and you will not have too many users connecting to few servers.
However, it would seem that One VPN use virtual servers. That is, their servers are not located where they are advertised to be. This is because, during test, I choose and connected to a particular location, but my virtual IP showed another location. While, my real location is still anonymous, I will be turned off if I am concerned about the actual location that my data is routed through.
Security And Privacy Features
VPN Protocols and Encryption
One VPN supports the following protocols: PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN (TCP/UDP), and OpenConnect.
The OpenVPN is the most secured protocol for establishing connections. The L2TP is considered a secure alternative of the OpenVPN, while the PPTP is outdated and known to be very vulnerable. It is somewhat surprising that One VPN uses the PPTP as its default protocol despite that this protocol is insecure and can be hacked easily. Also, they recommend using the OpenConnect protocol, when the OpenVPN is widely considered the most secure, and always recommended by every security person.
In terms of encryption, the OpenVPN comes with 256bit AES encryption; this is the highest standard of encryption currently available. You can be rest assured that your data is secured with this level of encryption.
Internet Kill switch
One VPN offers an internet kill switch for their Windows app. This will mean that one will be protected from sudden drop of the VPN connection. However, One VPN kill switch feature cannot easily be toggled on and off in settings; you’ll have to first uninstall all third party firewall then go through a riotous manual set up process.
Logging Policy
One VPN says that one of their security features is “zero logging”. With this they acknowledge that logging users’s data can compromise users’ privacy and security.
For privacy concerns, users seek out no-logs or zero-log VPN services. This would make One VPN an appealing VPN. However, because of recent reports of VPN services that kept logs despite claiming no-logs, users no longer trust the no-log claims of VPN services. One need to go beyond the claims, and go to the privacy policy and terms of service to determine what information (if any) the service really collects, and how it is handled.
The privacy policy of One VPN is very short and simple. It revealed that One VPN do collect some data. In their words: “To make things better at your end and provide you with maximum privacy, we collect minimal data, which is basically your name and e-mail address. That is about all that we keep“. While it can be argued that this information is really necessary, it should be remembered that many services definitely do not collect names. And there a few that do not even require an email address because of their focus on users’ privacy.
However, One VPN adds that they do not collect physical addresses and locations, phone numbers, or any other personal information. In terms of what you do online and your connection; they do not track your online activities, and do not collect or keep records of your IP. In an FAQ article, they say that they collect some session logs, but their privacy policy is silent on these collected session logs. I will want to know what exactly is collected. Is it session timestamps, or bandwidth usage? Most importantly, how long are the logs kept?. In any case, session logs are not as harmless as most services will make them appear. For example, timestamps can ne comboned with other tit bits to narrow down on any particular user.
Happily, One VPN state that it is against One VPN’s organizational rules to share user data with anyone, so they strictly refrain from sharing users’ information with third parties and other entities, whosoever it may be. While this is assuring, it should be noted that all services respond when served a valid legal document to disclose users’ information. One VPN did not specifically state how they will react to a valid warrant, but states: “Besides, OneVPN cannot share the data it does not store/keep/track. Therefore, besides your name and e-mail, we have nothing to forward or share“.
It is safe to say they will respond to a valid warrant, subpoena or any other legal document, and disclose users’ information to the requesting agency. As they say, they have only your name and email address to disclose. I’m not seeing the comforting side of that; your name will effectively reveal your identity.
Speed
All VPNs slow down network speed. It is the inevitable consequence of the security that VPNs provide. All the encryption and rerouting of traffic take their toll on network speed. However, a fast VPN will record very minimal/ indecipherable drop of speed from the baseline, while the slow ones will record huge drop in network speed.
One VPN makes huge claims to being the fastest VPN which would mean that it doesn’t bring down default network speed by much.
However, my tests show that One VPN significantly reduces network speed. On the average, the service reduced my download speed and upload speed by 70% and 58% respectively. The download speed is all too important to many users, and One VPN DoD not perform well in that regard. Granted, this speed level will still allow you do about anything. You can still watch high quality movies, download and play speed-sensitive games without disruption; but it definitely does not place One VPN among the fast VPNs, not to talk of it being the fastest service. At best, it will place the service among those offering average speeds.
Customer Support
OneVPN offers support via two channels – a knowledge base and direct contact. The knowledge base is for those who would like to solve their problems (or get answers) themselves, while the direct contact channels connect users to a customer rep of One VPN.
One VPN knowledge base resources include set up guides and FAQs. The guides are detailed tutorials for manually setting up the service on the supported devices. One VPN offers a lot of video tutorials for setting up the service. The FAQs holds answers to questions that some users have asked in the past. One VPN FAQs touch on many issues, and you should really look at it if you have questions, as your question may have already been equayely answered there. However, the FAQ section may need an upgrade. Some of the questions st I hold answers that no longer reflect the current features of One VPN. For example, the question about simultaneous connections answered that the service allows only three devices; but the service currently allow five simultaneous connections.
For direct contact, you can reach out to One VPN by sending them a ticket using an online ticket service found on their website, or by sending them a mail via support@onevpn.com. The effectiveness of these support channels are measured through the quality of response received and the timeliness of the response. One VPN did not seem to do well on both count; responses were too bare-bones without much details, and I had to wait for up to 24 hours for the response. While 24 hours waiting time is not the longest I’ve seen among VPN services; I expected One VPN to have faster response times since they did not offer life chat. The live chat feature provides fast and/ or instant responses to users inquiries; if a service does not offer it, then their ticket/ email service should at least be fast enough.
Summary
One VPN really know how to talk the talk. They say they’re the fastest VPN, the best VPN for torrenting, and that they are loaded with distinct features.
However, their distinct streaming feature turned out to be the basic VPN function of spoofing location. It also appeared that their ad blocking feature did not work; and so their malware protection feature is also suspect.
They say their privacy feature is top-notch, but this is in reference to the basic VPN function of providing anonymity via dynamic IP addresses. While they claim to be a “zero logging service”, they collect name, email addresses and session logs; and their privacy policy is silent on certain important privacy matters.
They claim to be the fastest VPN, but tests reveal that they offer average speeds. One VPN’s true strength should’ve been that they have a large server network; but even in that regard, their numbers seem to be inflated by the use of virtual servers.
Their customer support will answer your question but you have to be the patient user; no live chat or telephone service for instant feed back.
But the service is cheap; their four years deal is insanely cheap. But as the saying goes: you get what you pay for. You can also add that there is no free trial, and the short period money back guarantee is conditioned via a data cap.
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