PIA VPN (2022) Granskningsguide

Letar du efter en ny Private Internet Access VPN recension? Det är logiskt, de senaste åren har dessa tjänster vunnit enorm popularitet, nästan 30% av internetanvändarna har använt VPN -tjänster under de senaste 5 åren. Vi på Globalwatchonline.com tested and tried all different providers for you, read our comprehensive PIA VPNreview and learn everything about this service, we are sure that once you’re done reading you will know if this provider suits you.

Who and what is Private Internet Access?

PIA is well-known VPN service, but how does it stack up against other popular VPN services? In order to find out, I decided to purchase their monthly plan and tried them out. Private Internet Access (PIA) is probably the most popular VPN on the market today.

• Det startades av London Trust Media, INC. Tillbaka i augusti 2010. Trots att det är en av de billigste VPN: erna och har tusentals användare, är det tillräckligt bra för seriös användning? I den här granskningen testade vi PIA-servernätverkets prestanda, användbarheten för deras VPN-app samt tekniken bakom deras VPN-tjänst (OpenVPN + 128-bitars kryptering).
• True to its name, this provider is best known for its strict no-logs policy and commitment to user privacy. It's not one of the billigste lösningar dock, men det ligger högt på the best VPN list of 2022.

Is PIA truly as trustworthy as they claim when it comes to protecting user privacy and anonymity? How does it perform in other categories like streaming, torrenting, and safety? We tested PIA ourselves to find out, and the results are in. Some of the highlights of PIA’s VPN service include its user-friendly interface, robust security, anonymous torrenting, and support for 10 simultaneous devices. Downsides include variable speeds and inconsistent ability to access popular streaming sites like Netflix, Kodi or Hulu.

Vilka är fördelarna och fördelarna?

• No-logging policy
• Obegränsad bandbredd och användning
• Upp till 10 samtidiga anslutningar
• Numerous features, including kill switch, Ipv6 leak protection, ad blocker, P2P support
• Over 35,550+ servers in 78 countries worldwide
• User-friendly interface

Private Internet Access Is One Of The Fastest

One of the most important factors of a VPN is their download speed. If you’re signing up with a slow (read: bad VPN), you’ll end up with ridiculously slow speed. We’ve faced that several times, especially when I tested speed in StrongVPN and Mullvad (both were below 20 Mbps out of 100). However, things with Private Internet Access look quite good actually. As always, to make our PIA review accurate, I went to speedtest.net and put the following locations to the test: US, EU, Asia, and the UK. The location I used to track the speed was in the middle of Europe: Amsterdam

Amerikansk server (New York)

• Ping: 118ms
• Nedladdning: 77,56 Mbps
• Uppladdning: 36,75 Mbps

EU-server (Amsterdam)

• Ping: 41 ms
• Nedladdning: 81,46 Mbps
• Uppladdning: 40,30 Mbps

Asia Server (Hong Kong)

• Ping: 283 ms
• Nedladdning: 69,98 Mbps
• Uppladdning: 13,04 Mbps

UK Server (London)

• Ping: 48 ms
• Nedladdning: 75,67 Mbps
• Uppladdning: 23,00 Mbps

In conclusion – PIA is pretty fast VPN. Not as fast as NordVPN or ExpressVPN, but surely an “OK” alternative as it’s cheaper. Keep in mind, speed is an important factor and is vastly connected with the VPN software you’re using. Of course, there are some ways to speed up a VPN connection, but the main styrka comes from the actual VPN servers.

PIA Claims No Logging

‘Logging’ is a practice used to monitor and record data points from your VPN activity. For example, your internet service provider (ISP) will log which websites you access along with your personal information used to connect (like email or ISP). And they can actually sell that data. Some VPN providers will log certain details, like when you log in or sign off, in order to monitor their usage to improve service. PIA has a no logging policy that will not track or monitor traffic logs, or communication logs.

However, it does track some information, such as:

• Your email address
• Payment data
• Clients who opt to use the optional control panel will receive a temporary cookie

Inga läckor upptäcktes

Private Internet Access is located within the United States, a founding member of the Five Eyes Surveillance Alliance. Not ideal right off the bat. If they were to get their grubby hands on your data, it would end up in government databases all around the world. Thankfully though, this is a system without leaks, which greatly hinders the government’s ability to spy on your browsing activity. As you can see in the results below, PIA passed all of our tests, both to detect the presence of leaks and to ensure that their installation software was 100% clean.

Solid Encryption & Great Features

In addition to important features, such as:

• Anonymous IP
• Ability to torrent
• Kill-Switch (but people have complained about it)
• 10 simultaneous connection
• Total servers: 3300+
• Total countries: 32 (last verified on 28th of May, 2019)

PIA also has several different levels of encryption: The default settings use 128-bit encryption on your data, which is good, but not the best. However, you can step up your data encryption to 256-bit, which is the industry standard, and will give you a very secure connection (it will slow everything down a bit, though). 

1. Du kan också välja krypteringsnivå på både din datautentisering och din handskakning. Båda dessa hjälper din dator och servern att verifiera äktheten av anslutningen och data som överförs. Standardinställningarna är för SHA1 och RSA-2048, en 2.048-bitars krypteringsnyckel. Det är väldigt svårt att bryta.
2. Du kan dock gå ända upp till RSA-4096 och dubbla storleken på datautentifieringsnyckeln med SHA256. Återigen rekommenderar jag att du använder de maximala inställningarna så att du får bästa möjliga säkerhet. Men om du verkligen behöver extra hastighet kan du överväga att använda standardrekommendationen. 

And while the Risky Business setting might seem like a good idea if you need extra speed for torrenting or streaming, we’d really recommend against it. There’s probably not anyone trying to break your VPN encryption… but why risk it?

Specialized in Torrenting

Om du är looking for a VPN that won’t restrict your torrenting, PIA is a solid choice. They don’t restrict or monitor any connections, and that includes peer-to-peer file sharing. You can use any torrenting client you like to download whatever you want, secure in the knowledge that your account won’t be blocked or your connection throttled. While Private Internet Access’s website doesn’t specifically say that the company supports torrenting, they do say that P2P is supported. So that’s something. But the VPN has developed a reputation for being torrent-friendly, so people recognize them as being a solid choice for file sharing.

One of The Oldest and Known VPN Providers

In the VPN world, it means a lot to have a reputation. And Private Internet Access has one of the best reputations in the business. They’ve been around since 2010, and they’ve provided reliable service ever since. In late 2017, they won the award for Most Stable VPN, which means a lot. Was it sponsored or not? Hard to tell. They’ve also received multiple editor’s choice award, but we can never know if they were compensated by PIA or not.

• The VPN shows up in a lot of best and fastest VPN lists, and there haven’t been any serious questions about their commitment to privacy (though they’re based in the US, which can be problematic; keep reading and we’ll discuss that momentarily). 

Being in business for almost 20 years is definitely a sign of prestige in the VPN world. PIA’s reputation and longevity make it a very safe choice. The company also supports many organizations that are making the internet a better place, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, Blender, Inkscape, Gnome, and the Software Freedom Conservancy.

Decent Device Compatibility

PIA supports most popular platforms. That includes Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and Firefox. They also have browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. They also support routers, technically speaking. But that will require some manual setup through OpenVPN. Not a huge fan of the extra labor. However, it does mean they’re compatible with DD-WRT, Lede, Merlin, PFSense, Tomato, and ASUSWRT routers. Plus, you can then connect both smart TVs and game consoles to those specific VPN routers. So there’s your light at the end of the tunnel.

One Out of Five Servers Worked for Netflix

PIA’s support forums confirm that they’ve been working diligently for years to find ways around Netflix’s detection. How have they fared? We tested four of their servers and saw the same dreaded black screen:

Those four losers included:

• USA: New York
• Kanada
• Storbritannien
• Nederländerna

However, we did get a successful one in Sunny California. Believe it or not, one out of four is pretty good these days. Especially when the majority of VPNs don’t even try to work with streaming services anymore. Do some more research into good Netflix VPN's or check out guides about Kodi VPN providers.

Private Internet Access Cons

The Limited Live Chat Support is a con, although PIA offers “24/7 North American” support. They only offer a live chat option for paying customers, which is kinda bad if you want to inquire about their services. I think that means their support personnel is located in North America. Seeing as the whole “24/7” thing means they should always be available (no matter where you’re located). 

1. However, when I contacted them through a middle of the night, I got a response at next morning. Not so 24/7 anymore, huh? On a positive side, they also provide a separate Twitter account dedicated to customer service. I took a look at that network to see how they interact with customers. 

The good news is that they will still try to provide long, detailed answers (despite Twitter’s condensed medium). Furthermore, they have a FAQ page which might help some of you:

Located in The US, This Can Be A Problem

Private Internet Access is based in the United States, and that’s problematic for many people. The US has some of strictest, most privacy-invading surveillance laws in the developed world, and that applies to VPN providers. 

1. The government has been known to pressure VPNs to give up user data with secret warrants, and that worries privacy advocates. 
2. Of course, the fact that PIA doesn’t keep logs means that they have very little to share with the authorities if they come knocking. But the fact is that they may not have a choice; if they have any data about you at all (such as whether you’re a customer or how long you’ve been one), they may be forced to hand it over.
3. Should that worry you? Maybe, and maybe not. There are rumors that the NSA has been able to break the encryption on some VPNs, which means the government could be snooping on your connection. 

If you’re using the maximum security recommendations, that’s less likely. Because of the combination of surveillance laws and intelligence-sharing agreements in the US, I tend to avoid VPNs based there. But that doesn’t mean it’s completely necessary for everyone.

PIA Pricing

PIA has a single plan with tiered pricing based on the length you’d like to commit and prepay. That keeps things nice and simple. And you can also get a great deal if you’re ready to shell out a single year in advance.

Plan ett:

• En gång i månaden
• $9,95/månad

Plan två:

• Årlig
• $5,99/mån ($71,88 per år)

Plan tre:

• 2 år
• $3.49/mån ($83.87 per 2 år)

Can You Easily Buy Private Internet Access?

They offer a 7-day money back guarantee. So you can give the service a spin over the course of a few days. If you’re unhappy at all during those seven days, you can simply get your money back. Interestingly, PIA accepts all kinds of different methods of payment from credit cards to PayPal & they’ll also accept Bitcoin (which could also help you add another layer of privacy to the transaction).

Even better way to mask behind your identity?

• No logging: No activity logs, only payment and email information.
• Ease of the VPN software: Simple and smooth, installation file was over 60mb though.
• Hidden fees & clauses: None. In fact, their privacy policy is remarkably straightforward.
• Upsells: Inga upsells.
• Direkt åtkomst efter betalning: Ja.
• DNS leaks: Protection is built in (though you should always test it yourself).
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Protocols: OpenVPN, IPSec/L2TP, PPTP, Socks5 proxy.
• Kill-switch: Mixed reviews. Users can enable or disable it, and some have found that it doesn’t work as consistently as they like (I recommend testing it yourself).

Rekommenderar vi privat internetåtkomst?

PIA är ett användarvänligt VPN med robusta säkerhetsfunktioner som är enkla att konfigurera för att uppfylla dina preferenser. VPN fungerar bra när det gäller säkerhet och anonymitet, men inkonsekventa hastigheter och skakiga geo-spoofing-förmågor gör att PIA inte är det bästa valet för streaming. Vi var inte heller särskilt imponerade av PIA: s kundsupport. Trots sina nackdelar har PIA fortfarande mycket att erbjuda till ett överkomligt pris.

• PIA erbjuder utmärkt täckning i Nordamerika och Europa, med massor av servrar centralt belägna. Den täckningen är dock inte lika stor i andra delar av världen, med bara några få servrar utspridda i Mellanöstern, Asien, Oceanien och en ensam i Brasilien för sydamerikanska användare.
• PIA har alla större protokoll tillgängliga, tillsammans med toppmoderna krypteringsmetoder. Deras årliga prissättning är bland de lägsta i branschen. Och de har en sju dagars pengarna-tillbaka-garanti om du vill prova dem.
• Ingen allmän chattstöd och företag som finns i USA.
• Användarvänlig, prisvärd och sekretessvänlig, men har några nackdelar