Ivacy VPN
If you pay any attention to my blog, you’ll know that for the last 3 years I have been living abroad and traveling to many countries including China, Korea, Japan, US. All truly beautiful countries, you should try reading some of my other posts to see my adventures!
As always, I want to start by saying I do NOT support using a VPN to avoid legal blocks (like the Great Firewall), accomplish illegal or illicit activities, or do anything that the government would not approve of. Those things are illegal – if you don’t want to follow their local laws, find a different country to live or travel in.
So if you aren’t looking to break firewalls and get into sites you shouldn’t be getting into, why would you want a VPN? You can find my list of the pros and cons of a VPN here. In general, I like the security a VPN provides to me, whether at home or abroad. I still use my VPNs in the US, especially if at a public location to avoid the same hacks, viruses, and trojans I worry about while traveling. A VPN can help keep you fast and safe. Sometimes. Depending on which VPN you choose. Also, it sometimes helps me bypass technical issues in the system. For example, my university uses Blackboard, but it does have random glitches that drop it a lot. About 25% of the time, it only works if the teachers use a VPN. When other teachers are down and out, those with a VPN can still get on.
To be honest, I actually go back and forth between several VPNs right now including Astrill and VyprVPN. You can read my reviews for them here and here. But I recently Ivacy offered me the chance to test them out – kind of a new VPN on the shelf. Here’s my experience so far!
WARNING:
I have yet to find a VPN that didn’t require re-installation sometimes. Because of that, I just save the “installation” file they give you at the beginning. Once you install the program, just save that download file in case you need it again. For Ivacy – the website doesn’t actually work in some countries blocking vpns. You can get to the site, but not the download page. You’d have to try getting the download file from a different site instead. You can find links to Ivacy’s APK here.
Also, a lot of websites have started figuring out that there are VPNs in the world and are now blocking them. For example, Hulu is blocking all VPNs so don’t try accessing them with it. Another example is KissAsian (a website for anime and Asian tv shows). Also, if you use a VPN while getting onto your email accounts, they will repeatedly block you out and force you to verify yourself. If you used a US phone for your verification and don’t have access to that, you’ll be locked out of your email account.
CONTACT THEM
- Email: support@ivacy.com
- Phone: +1 658 237 4152
- Website: Ivacy
PRICE
$9.95/1 month | $44.94/6 months | $49/ 2 years (with current BOGO deal)
Review: If you don’t get the BOGO deal or other sale, I think the price is probably a little bit cheaper than both Astrill and VyprVPN. I really appreciate that I don’t have to worry about buying any add-ons or anything. It’s not like “this package is this” or “this package is that.” There is one package with everything you need. That simplifies the purchasing process a lot and is really more honest imo compared to Astrill which offers things but then you realize you need add-on after add-on. Also, if you wait a minute on their page, a pop up offers 10% discount 🙂
Also, you can pay in a TON of different ways – which I appreciated!
Installation: Easy (sort of)
Review: So I have mixed reviews on this part.
Don’t get me wrong. The installation process itself is SUPER simple. You set up an account with username and password and then download the program. Just download the file, follow the steps, enter your username and password – viola! Ivacy is good to go! You can find their download page here. There have options for a ton of different technologies – Apple, Android, Linux, Desktop, etc.
Here’s why I’m a little sketchy on this process. The first time I downloaded it on my laptop – worked great for about an hour. I turned off my laptop, turned it back on – Nothing would connect. It tried and just went back to “disconnected.” Tried it on my phone, same thing. Worked great then nothing. Tried it on my mom’s phone. Same thing. Worked great then nothing. Now – to be fair this was back around June that I was trying all this. That’s why it took my so long to write a review – I couldn’t actually get the sucker to work for about a month and a half. I tried uninstalling and re-installing. Finally in July, I was able to uninstall, reinstall, and it’s working ok. But anyway, it just took a lot of installations before it would actually work.
Also, while you can purchase Ivacy in different countries, some countries block the download page. So if you do buy it, try to download it before you travel or find the APK online. Then keep the installation file for later in case you need to re-install it.
Use: Easy
The basic program itself is pretty simple to use as long as it is working. It automatically signs you in, you pick your server from a drop down list, and it connects you right up. You can choose by country (it’ll go to the fastest option available automatically), by city, or by purpose (unblocking sites, maximum security, etc.). I recommend using unconventional cities if possible – they tend to be a little faster because less people are using them. No complexities involving “fast ports” or “reliable ports,” not issues over “stealthy” or “openvpn” or any of the stuff that confuses new users. If you are super trained in computers, you might find it easy to mess with all that. But for simple or basic computer users, I think Ivacy has been the most simple of all the VPNs I have tried.
Access: Iffy in the Past 2 months, OK for about 2-3 weeks now.
The technology is easy to use, but like I said, it didn’t do great for me the first two months. I kept getting error messages when I tried signing in, it kept dropping connections as soon as it connected, a lot of the big locations (US, UK, Australia) wouldn’t connect at all. I basically couldn’t use it at all for about a month and a half. Then for a couple weeks (after uninstalling and re-installing), I managed it on the small, odd locations (Latvia, Singapore). However, for the last 2-3 weeks, I’ve been doing okay with it so far. I do want to say that I never actually contacted customer service about my issues. I was in the process of moving houses and a lot of trouble trying to get paperwork done changing jobs and visas, etc. so it wasn’t worth the hassle to me. It is ENTIRELY possible that they could have fixed my issues really quickly if I talked to them.
That said, when it works it does really well. Youtube loaded the fastest I’ve ever seen on a VPN. All of my sites went really well. Once it connects and stays on, it doesn’t ever drop. Unlike Vypr (which drops and must reconnect) or Astrill (which doesn’t drop, but just stops connecting and forces you to change servers), Ivacy actually worked great on the server until I turned it off. It is really steady and reliable. It’s fast, I don’t have to keep watching it – I’ve really enjoyed using it now that it’s working.
Features-wise, they offer 200 different servers in 100+ locations with UNLIMITED server switching (love that! ❤ – I get frustrated with Astrill telling me I changed servers too often when I had to because they aren’t working. 😦 ) You can connect to Ivacy on 5 different devices simultaneously, so your laptop, phone, family’s devices – it’s all good. (Also I love that this comes with the package instead of being an add-on). It also has Split Tunneling which allows you to send some sites through the VPN and not others.
Customer Service: I Don’t Know Yet.
Probably should have called them about my issues early on, but didn’t. I know the person I spoke with while I was setting everything up seemed really nice.
Conclusion: I like it WHEN it’s working. Next time, I would definitely have called someone earlier about why it wasn’t working. I’m gonna guess other people will have the same problem, since I experienced all the same issues on three different devices. So, if I were you, just download it and then call them as soon as it is messing up. Once you get it working, it’s super cheap and super good for a VPN. No confusing over what you’re buying, no extras you have to purchase later, no issues over how to use it. It’s easy, simple, clear, reliable, and fast. As long as you get it up and running properly, I really do love this VPN!
Deceptively Blonde 
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