FastestVPN Reviews

Feature-wise FastestVPN is not excellent. Admittedly there are some hidden pearls here and there – and by hidden we mean practically invisible – but it isn’t like the service is keen on providing any extra tools to fine tune each and everyone’s experience. This is not entirely a problem, on the one hand, because what is most attractive about FastestVPN is its simplicity, which can be appealing enough to beginners.

Still, while these limitations are totally understandable given the first steps that the service is taking, through our experience we could not help but feel that sometimes FastestVPN is just too short on features. It would be nice, for instance, to have access to more settings and be able to customize them, though we should draw attention to highlights such as the ad blocker, unlimited bandwidth, malware protection and NAT firewall.

Connect & go

The emphasis on making everything as simple as possible is first noticeable in the user-friendly desktop client. All you need to get started is to choose the protocol you’d like to use from a number of various options and pick the desired location. This and the ability to add any servers to a favorites list means the program is simple to use, even if there isn’t much else to do. This list will appear in a menu located in the top left corner, which also allows for quick access to updating the details of your subscription, contacting support, and more.

The VPN network is not large, but considering FastestVPN’s newness it’s hardly a disappointment either, especially with more than 60 servers in 13 countries. The company uses open source servers but has physical servers in the entire world, with Europe and Asia accounting the most. It is worth pointing to the presence of a server in Hong Kong, though, which allows for a good degree of access to Chinese content – which would otherwise be impossible due to the country’s Great Firewall.

But what is most appealing about the service is that, after some extensive testing, we discovered that the provider’s name came close to being true. While these are not the fastest speeds we’ve seen, they are indeed very close, which is impressive for such a new service.

We conducted our tests from Europe on four different servers with different protocols only to find out that, despite the distance, the American server produced the best results. Still, FastestVPN never disappointed and both the European servers and even the one in Australia showed very positive results.

It is these great speeds – alongside the unlimited bandwidth – that make FastestVPN one of the best choices for streaming services like HBO Go, Eurosport Player, BBC iPlayer, and the like. However, Netflix and Hulu, perhaps the two most popular media services, are not supported.

Unfortunately, certain servers did have some issues with DNS leaking. This is important to keep in mind when file sharing in countries where such practice is illegal, especially considering that FastestVPN doesn’t maintain any special servers reserved just for this, instead it provides support for P2P on all of its servers.

FastestVPN also brings some additional features designed to increase privacy and security, such as its own NAT firewall, antimalware and an ad blocker. Though having access to these is surely a positive, the downside is that each of them work in the background, making them invisible to all users. Being able to access and control their behavior within the app’s settings or a control panel on the website, for instance, would help to understand just how – and even ‘if’ – they work and, as a result, make FastestVPN even better.

For a VPN service to be successful nowadays it is crucial that it can run on the majority of devices. In this regard, FastestVPN certainly meets such expectations as it is compatible with a vast range of operating systems, covering both computers and mobile devices.

Across the various platforms users will find the same app, which means that no time is ever lost having to get used to new designs and layouts. Having said that, FastestVPN is also available for Linux Ubuntu, as well as – most surprising of all – older OS versions like Windows XP or later, and Mac computers from at least version 10.0 . Likewise, there are apps available on both Google Play and Apple Store for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. A single license allows the installing of FastestVPN on five different devices at the same time, but it’s possible to overcome this number by opting for a router setup which will provide a VPN connection to all devices on the same network.

For any users that may be experiencing any trouble using the app on computers, we strongly recommend trying the OpenConnect Setup. We tested this version, too, and by following the step-by-step setup guide it proved to be an excellent alternative.

More great news about FastestVPN comes from the pricing department, as the service shouldn’t be considered expensive especially when looking at long-term. There are three plans to choose from and, fortunately, not even the basic monthly offer – which costs $10.00 – has any service restrictions. However, the fact that the company doesn’t have any intermediate plan between this and the annual one may deter some customers.

The annual subscription costs $3.74 per month, billed once a year at $44.95. But that’s not it, since the best offer allows for a saving of 87%. The cheapest plan actually costs the same as the annual one, except it lasts for a period of three years, dropping the monthly price to only $1.38. On top of that FastestVPN also has special flash sale offers with major discounts.

Android users are even able to test the program without paying in advance, as the seven-day free trial applies only to these users. All customers who download the program for any other platform will need to make use of the seven-day money back guarantee if they want to try FastestVPN risk-free.

And while payment methods include the usual credit cards, FastestVPN also accepts the likes of rarer options like Bitcoin and Alipay.

Fast, reliable, secure: this is FastestVPN’s motto, and perhaps in the short-term future all these adjectives can be used to describe the service. But for now the only one that truly delivers is the first; the speeds of the different connections are certainly the best take away from our experience, being fast enough to overcome even some more well-established competition.

However, this is one of the youngest VPN services and the typical teething problems are clearly noticeable. Despite the excellent protocol variety and top-level encryption the service provides, it’s hard to call it reliable or secure due to the DNS leaks that sometimes revealed our physical location on certain servers, especially when considering the emphasis they place of supporting P2P transfers.

FastestVPN is essentially a new provider with a great margin to improve, but this doesn’t mean you should completely forget about the service. At the end of the day it is still a great alternative for streaming, and features one of the best customer support services we’ve seen with VPN providers.