The name SurfEasy might suggest that they exist simply to make browsing easy. Their logo (a shield with a centred lock) suggests that they do much more than giving you an easy online ride. The shield is synonymous to protection in the VPN world. SurfEasy came on board in 2011 as a VPN service to give you online protection and also a smooth VPN experience.
Yes, SurfEasy VPN is safe and legit. This review confirms why the VPN service is stable and reliable and not a scam.
So, if you are looking for the best and unbiased SurfEasy reviews, you have come to the right place.
There are lots of elements monitoring most of what you do online and intent on getting your sensitive information; so, as a VPN service, SurfEasy guarantees to keep your online activity private, and to secure the personal information you transmit online.
This review will examine SurfEasy VPN to help us determine if the service lives up to its promise of providing online privacy and security.
RECOMMENDED TOP 3 BEST VPN ALTERNATIVES:
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Is SurfEasy safe and Legit?
Is SurfEasy safe? As of writing this review, SurfEasy is legit and safe to use. All the users who tried the SurfEasy VPN never complained of SurfEasy not been safe or their information and data been exposed. Also, you can have your money back within the trial period if you decide to change your mind. You can see what users are saying about SurfEasy below for more clarification.
However, SurfEasy VPN does not unblock Netflix US or BBC iPlayer and is a Canadian provider owned by US-based Opera. They claim no-logs but they will disclose your usage data to government if need be. This is no problem unless you have a life-threatening activity to hide. SurfEasy VPN has no kill switch. Apart from this, SurfEasy VPN is a safe and legit VPN network.
SurfEasy VPN Complaints and Feedback:
Well, we have dug the whole internet and was not able to see a single SurfEasy VPN complaint except the not kill switch matter and not been able to block Netflix US or BBC iPlayer.
SurfEasy VPN Tutorial
Below is SurfEasy tutorial on how to install site up the VPN on iPhone
SurfEasy VPN Price And Packages
Packages:
SurfEasy VPN does not have a straightforward pricing system largely because they have two different paid versions, with each version having different billing options. They also have a free version (which I’ll come to later).
The two paid versions are called Total VPN and Ultra VPN. Both plans come with unlimited data, so you don’t have to worry about VPN data usage. This is no different from other premium services; unlimited bandwidth is a constant feature of paid plans.
Both plans also allow you to connect up to five devices simultaneously. This is also quite common in the industry because five simultaneous connections is the industry average, and only a few VPN services will allow you more connections. Thus, SurfEasy paid plans are excellent if you wish to use one VPN account to secure multiple devices.
Both plans also come with enhanced tracker blocker that blocks tracking cookies used by advertisers to follow users online. VPN services are increasingly launching beyond-VPN features that enhance browsing experience; SurfEasy VPN represents well with this ad tracking blocker in their paid plans. Whether you subscribe to the Total VPN or the Ultra VPN, you can be sure to have a private and peaceful online experience.
In a very rare move, SurfEasy VPN distinguishes their two paid plans using: number of server locations, and torrent protection. The Total VPN allows access to only 16 server locations in the 28 locations in their server network; while the Ultra VPN allow access to all 28 server locations.
When it comes to torrenting; SurfEasy VPN has created dedicated and safe torrent servers that allow you to secure torrenting. But this is available exclusively on the Ultra VPN VPN; subscribers to the Total VPN are out of luck as that plan does not support torrenting.
Pricing:
The Total VPN has two billing options – monthly and yearly. The monthly subscription is priced at $4.99, while the one-year subscription is priced at $47.88 which equates to $3.99 per month and a 20% cost saving.
The Ultra VPN also has two billing options – monthly and yearly. The monthly subscription is priced at $11.99, while the one-year subscription is priced at $77.88 which equates to $6.49 per month and a 46% cost saving.
If you want the full package with SurfEasy VPN, you go for the Ultra VPN, and that does not come cheap. Both the monthly and the annual cost of this plan will make SurfEasy one of the most expensive service in the market.
SurfEasy VPN Payment Methods:
Making a payment with SurfEasy VPN is convenient, as they accept major cards (credit cards and debit cards) and PayPal. However such convenience has a downside – the billing operations effectively rupture privacy because you are required to submit personal information. Most VPN services have responded by permitting anonymous payments with cryptocurrencies, but SurfEasy VPN does not allow these payment methods. This means that if you want the enhanced anonymity that anonymous payments provide, SurfEasy would be an ideal choice.
7-day money-back guarantee
SurfEasy VPN shows that they value customer satisfaction by offering a 7 days money-back guarantee. This allows you to request a refund of your payment if you are unsatisfied with the service. But you must make the request within 7 days of making payment.
SurfEasy calls it a “No questions asked” refund policy to show that there are no hidden clauses. However, it must be said that SurfEasy’s 7 days window falls short of the 30 days given by many of the premium services.
SurfEasy VPN Free Version:
SurfEasy VPN has a free version they market as “Starter VPN”. I always like to see VPNs offer free versions; but when it comes to SurfEasy VPN’s free version, I can’t really say I like it. Understandably, free versions are usually limited especially by data, but SurfEasy free version is the very definition of limited. SurfEasy VPN offers a measly 500MB per month free version. To put this in perspective; there is a VPN service that offers a 500MB per day free service, and there is yet another that has a 10GB per month free version. SurfEasy VPN’s free version does not close to matching what these services offer; the 50MB will be exhausted in no time except you are a very light user.
However, SurfEasy VPN allows you to get more data by doing some things. For example; if you sign up for the free account with your email you get an extra 250MB; and if you spread the word and get anybody to sign up to the service, you get an extra 500MB.
SurfEasy VPN Features
Ease of Use
The name SurfEasy couldn’t be more apt. The service is very easy to set up and use. The interface is neatly designed. The top right of the interface features a globe icon and a wheel icon; the former opens a list of possible server locations, and the latter opens the settings page. Just below the wheel and globe icons is a connect button that can be toggled on and off.
The main interface displays a dynamic world map that helps you visualize your connection and aid navigation. The interface also shows four textboxes: (i) your public IP address (when not connected, this will be your real IP address; when connected, it will be your virtual IP address, the SurfEasy OPs assigned to you upon connection to their service), (ii) your location (when not connected, this will be your real location; but when connected this will be your virtual location, the SurfEasy location you connect to), (iii) your connection status (iv) ad tracking blocker status.
The background of the textboxes will appear red when you are not connected, and green upon connection. Depending on the SurfEasy VPN plan you are using, the interface could have other tabs. The Starter VPN interface also has: “your usage” which opens to your data usage stats; “rewards”, which allows you boost your data; and “upgrade” which entices you to move to the paid plans. The interface of both the Total VPN and Ultra VPN include “ad tracker blocking” tab which allows you to enable or disable the feature.
Selecting servers is a no-hassle task; simply click the globe icon (described earlier), and pick a location. The settings page is stripped bare – the only thing to be done there is enabling the client to start automatically. This is kind of a mixed bag: on the one hand, VPN newbies will be okay with the simplicity and not be tempted to tamper with advanced settings that they don’t understand; but on the other hand, advanced users will be turned off by a lack of advanced features to tweak and customize.
SurfEasy VPN Supported Devices
SurfEasy VPN supports the platforms usually covered by the majority of the VPN services – Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. In addition to these, they also cover Amazon, which is a rare one among VPNs. So if you have an Amazon phone that you want to be secured, you can think SurfEasy VPN. The service also offers extensions for Opera and Chrome browsers. However, they currently do not support routers. So if you’d want to connect all your home devices to a router (as a way of having more simultaneous connections); SurfEasy VPN would not be an ideal choice. And if you have Linux; you are also out of luck. That’s not supported too.
Streaming:
I doff my hat to any VPN service that can still give users access to Netflix; because Netflix is “Ivar the Ruthless” in blocking VPNs. SurfEasy VPN earned that, as they are one of the few VPN services that still unblock Netflix. If you are one of those who need a VPN for entertainment, specifically to unblock Netflix geo-blocking and gain access to contents available in other countries; then SurfEasy VPN is an ideal VPN.
Most of the servers in the SurfEasy network were able to unblock Netflix. Happy Netflixing with SurfEasy. However, the success recorded with unlocking Netflix was not replicated with BBC iPlayer. The UK streaming service was too much for our easy-surfing VPN.
SurfEasy VPN Server Network
SurfEasyVPN server network consists of 1000 servers in 28 countries. SurfEasy actually out-do a lot of good VPN services with their server count of 500; but in terms of locations covered, 28 countries is on the low side (considering that there are services with about half their servers’ number that cover up to 35 countries).
SurfEasy’s network feature only Brazil and South Africa in the whole of South America and Africa respectively; and they don’t operate servers in Russia or China where the governments are not so VPN friendly.
With VPN server locations, extensive coverage is very important because its app guarantees that anywhere you might be, there would be a server nearby. And you need a server nearby because nearby servers perform better than distant servers.
SurfEasy’s 1000 server will help you through a lot of geo-restrictions, and will enable you to effectively spoof your location to become anonymous online; but if you travel to some places, you might have to connect to distant servers, and make do with the reduced speed that comes with such distant connections.
ON THE PRIVACY AND SECURITY FRONT
Protocol and Encryption
SurfEasy VPN supports the OpenVPN and IPsec protocols. The OpenVPN is the protocol used by the Windows, Mac (desktop), and Android apps; the IPsec is used by the iOS and native Mac apps.
As for encryption, SurfEasy VPN says: “We use bank-grade encryption to ensure that your information is protected by the highest-quality technology“. They use the AES 256 bit key encryption; true to their words, this is the kind of encryption used by banks to secure their data, and it is the strongest as far as encryption is concerned today.
DNS Leaks Protection:
Most VPN services provide an option (usually in settings) to toggle on/ off DNS leaks protection. SurfEasy VPN has no such option. This is not because SurfEasy VPN does not have DNS leaks protection; but because the feature is implemented at the server level. I think it is cool that turning off leaks protection is not optional, because these security leaks (such as DNS leaks, IPv6 leaks and WebRTC leaks) can effectively define your real location, and therefore should be on at all times.
A test was done anyway to know if SurfEasy VPN will really plug these security leaks. They did. No DNS leaks, No IPv6 leaks, and No WebRTC leaks.
Logging Policy
SurfEasy VPN says that they are a “Strict no-log network”. They explain: “We don’t retain any logs related to your online, browsing or downloading activity, so even we don’t know what you’re up to”.
SurfEasy VPN’s privacy policy, which wins points for brevity and clarity, goes on to state that they do not store users originating IP address when connected to their service, and therefore they cannot identify users when provided the IP addresses of their servers. They add that they cannot disclose information about the websites that users visited because they did not store such information in the first place. That’s where the good tidings end.
When you sign up for a SurfEasy account, the service collects your email address and use this from time to time to advise you of promotional offers and provide you updates on new products and features; when you subscribe to a paid plan, they collect information such as your name, address, phone number and payment information in connection with your purchase; when you reach out to their support service, they collect your email address and information regarding your support request. It should be noted that collecting this kind of personal information is not peculiar to SurfEasy VPN; many other VPN services thread this path.
However, SurfEasy collects more. They collect “operational data” saying it is necessary to enable them to operate the service. This data includes: “Aggregate bandwidth usage for billing, network operations and support; and Temporary usage data to assist with debugging a problem with the service” They add that this information is not retained once troubleshooting is resolved. But that does not tell us how long they would hold the data. Most VPN services are usually more specific.
SurfEasy VPN says they perform automated rules-based traffic management for the purposes of maintaining and improving the service, and because this requires real-time analysis of Internet and data traffic, they collect data which include destination websites or IP addresses and originating IP addresses. They are quick to add that the analysis is in real-time, so no log is maintained regarding this information. However, some would feel that what SurfEasy choose to monitor is much more than what other services monitor.
While services with a strong privacy focus take a minimalist approach with using cookies; SurfEasy VPN goes as far as using cookies to target ads to you on other websites. Their site liberally uses tracking technologies; their clients also come with in-app analytics technologies like Google Analytics.
Lastly, SurfEasy states: “We may collect and disclose personal information, including your usage data, to governmental authorities or agencies, including law enforcement agencies, at their request or pursuant to a court order, subpoena or another legal process, if there is a good faith belief that such collection or disclosure is required by law“. Almost all VPN services make such declarations, but there will be less worry if the service monitors/ collects less because then there will be little or no information to disclose.
The bottom line is that SurfEasy “strict” no-log policy is not strict enough.
Kill Switch
SurfEasy VPN boasts of an impressive 99.9% uptime; this is by far more than what many VPNs can give, and it makes SurfEasy a very reliable service. However, their 99.9% uptime means that the network would be down 0.1% of times. When a VPN connection drops, you lose its protection – your traffic may become unencrypted, and it with your real location will be in the open, available to anyone watching.
The kill switch is increasingly becoming a VPN sidekick that is featured in a VPN to ensure that users remain protected even when the VPN is down. The kill switch does this by shutting down internet connection at the instance the VPN loses connection; ensuring that you do not continue online and transmit data without VPN protection.
Unfortunately, SurfEasy VPN does not have a kill switch feature. No doubt, they guarantee a 99.9% uptime; but the few seconds that their 0.1% downtime will allow will be more than enough for watching eyes to capture your personal information and reallocation. And your anonymity will be out of the window. If you are really focused on privacy, the absence of a kill switch will make SurfEasy not an ideal choice.
Jurisdiction:
Where a VPN is located makes a lot of difference. Just as you are subject to the laws of your land; a VPN service provider, being a legal entity, is subject to the laws of the land they are resident in. There are privacy concerns when those laws require data retention or permit the selling of users’ data to third parties. SurfEasy VPN is located in Toronto (Canada) a place that, technically, does not have such anti-privacy laws.
However, the location still gives privacy-conscious users the chills because Canada is a Five-Eyes country. The Five-Eyes is an agreement between five countries (the U.S, the U.K, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to work together in gathering and sharing intelligence. The alliance has now grown to fourteen countries; meaning that the intelligence agencies of all these countries around the world can prey on your personal data.
Also, SurfEasy VPN is very related to the United States. The VPN service is now owned by cybersecurity giant Symatech Corporation which is very American. Thus, SurfEasy VPN will be subject to some of those anti-privacy U.S. laws, as well as the U.S’s often-invasive intelligence agencies.
You might as well look away from SurfEasy VPN if you are one to be concerned that: invasive intelligence agencies are lurking, and local laws might not be strong enough to prevent them from getting your personal data, or that your personal data could be shared around the world in a global intelligence network.
Speed
Generally, using a VPN slows down your browsing speed because of all the encryption and rerouting involved. A poor VPN will bring your speed to a halt, and frustrate your browsing with “loading bars” and “buffering spinning wheels”; but a fast VPN will have only small/ insignificant reduction in speed.
SurfEasy’s speed will be measured by comparing browsing speed with the VPN connection and comparing these to browsing speed with the VPN disconnected. On the average the service: increased latency by 320%; reduced downloads by 83%; and reduced uploads by 59%. These results do not make for good reading; they are below average performances and will place SurfEasy VPN well behind the speedsters in the VPN industry.
Customer Support
SurfEasy VPN customer support is what I like describing as the complete package. They have the self-help knowledge base where you can see short and professional articles that’ll help you solve a lot of issues.
For direct contact with support staff; SurfEasy supports an online ticketing service, an email support service, a live chat service, and even a telephone support service. This is very very impressive because many VPN services have only the ticket and the email service.
SurfEasy VPN advertises that their support team is “available 7 days a week to help with whatever you need“. 7 hours a week does not mean 24/7; they work only from 9 am to 5 pm (EST). SurfEasy VPN also has a strong social media presence; they are active on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Linkedln where they hold an active presence. And you can also find tutorials on SurfEasy’s YouTube and Vimeo channels.
Conclusion
SurfEasy gets a lot of points for being easy – easy to set-up and easy to use. They have a good number of servers, and they allow access to Netflix. That’s the one big selling point – Netflix.
On the security front, SurfEasy: support the very secure OpenVPN complete with bank-grade encryption, and they protect against security (DNS, IPv6, WebRTC) leak. And that’s about it.
I’ll flash SurfEasy VPN a yellow card for the following:
With the number of servers SurfEasy has, they really should have more locations. Supported devices are just average; they really should give us Linux and some routers. Support options are good enough, but an upgrade to a 24/7 support service will turn good to great. I didn’t quite as that torrent protection comes only with the pricey Ultra plan.
What follows is where SurfEasy saw red:
SurfEasy recorded below-average speed, and they have no settings options for advanced configurations.
On the privacy front: Their logging policy is not strict enough; they monitor and collect more information than really necessary. Headquartered in Canada and owned by an American company, SurfEasy is right in the middle of the Five-Eyes spying alliance. They do not have a kill switch feature, and this leaves one exposed to the sharks when the VPN connection drops. Lastly, you can’t pay anonymously.
Do you have any experience with SurfEasy VPN? Kindly use the comment section below to give us your brief SurfEasy VPN review.