B.VPN Review

Overview

This is a VPN provider that provides customers with the fundamentals one needs from a VPN, with no additional services offered. While b.VPN might not have the frills that other providers offer, it has impressive 24/7 customer support, and is a good VPN choice if one is located in China!

B.VPN allows up to six simultaneous connections, with three OpenVPN connections and three L2TP connections. The company has servers in most of the major countries around the world including, Saudi Arabia, a market that is not served by most providers, since there is strict internet censorship there and VPN use is prohibited.

Features

B.VPN is based in the Netherlands, and has 18 servers in 11 countries worldwide. The web site is available in Russian, English, Arabic, and Chinese. B.VPN has an Android app that is available in English and Arabic.

The VPN allows users to hide OpenVPN connections in an SHH tunnel, as well as another feature, called SMOKE, that helps users go around VPN blocks. This feature is especially useful for accessing typically censored sites in China.

B.VPN is a barebones service with clients available for most platforms. Of course users do not strictly need clients, but the client can make the configuration easier.

Privacy and Security

The company offers L2TP and OpenVPN protocols. They do not offer PPTP, but that has been deemed not secure by Microsoft, who invented the protocol along with other companies. They also offer SSH, which is not a VPN protocol at all. SSH is used to connect to a remote server from the command line.

The company does not keep any logs on user activity, thus helping to enhance privacy and security.

Pricing

At $9.99/month, it is quite expensive compared to other VPN providers. For six months, the price drops to $8.33/month, and for one year, the price is $7.50/month. They also provide so many different payment options that people who are in countries, where it is not easy to get international credit cards in dollars or euros, will have no problem signing up for their service.

Speed

We tested this on a Windows PC using the Ookla Speed Test site. The speeds you experience will vary, depending on the server and protocol you select. You should see the fastest speeds from b.VPN’s UDP-based SMOKE tunnel, which was developed to bypass the type of firewalls erected by nations like China and Iran. When we ran tests on London-based servers, we got really encouraging results. As long as you opt for one of the UDP-based options you should find that b.VPN won’t hold you back in the speed stakes.

No VPN: 92.27 Mbps Down/9.95 Mbps Up
With VPN: 19.03 Down 7.46 Up

We’ll return to this test at a later date so we can try out a broader variety of protocols and servers. Stay tuned for more.

Ease of Use

The setup instructions for L2TP are straightforward and easy. They provide the IP address of the servers and shared secret without having to click through a lot of tutorial-type screens, which the experienced user is not going to need anyway.

The OpenVPN setup is easy. You simply download the config file which b.VPN has already set up with the IP address for the server that you selected. On Mac OS you would use the opensource Viscosity client. For iOS, since Apple does not let third party companies create VPN connections, the iOS client just creates the VPN configuration. Then the user clicks it to make the connection.

They offer any step-by-step instructions with screen shots for those who need visual assistance.

Below is the Android client. As you can see, it is easy to use. It also requires fewer steps than setting up Android manually, although that is not complex.

Customer Support

A good way to check the quality of a company’s VPN support is to send them a support question before you sign up. With b.VPN you have to sign up first. We signed up and sent them an email. Four hours later there was still no response to the email support request.

We sent their chat support a message, and they came online after 15 minutes. They state that they provide 24/7 customer support, which is more than many providers claim. It seems that the best way to reach an agent, is through the chat system on their site.

Verdict

VPN has become a commodity product. The most important aspect is that the VPN has servers in the locations you need, supports the protocols you want, and has a client if you need to use one. So, given all of the characteristics mentioned, b.VPN checks out as a competitive VPN provider. B.VPN also has the added bonus of being a great VPN for countries that have high levels of internet censorship, like Russia, China, and the Middle East. It also works well in those areas because it provides language support for those locations, and payment options available to most of the population in those regions.

Share Your View

We made every effort to ensure that this review was accurate and fair, but we’re only human. If you think we’ve got something wrong, or that the review does not reflect your own experiences with the product, we’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below, send us an email, or write your own review in the Customer Reviews section.