VPN Unlimited Review

KeepSolid Inc.’s VPN Unlimited is a strong tool that delivers on many fronts. Yet the devil is always in the details and VPN services vary quite a bit. So read our VPN Unlimited review to learn if this US-based tool is the best for you.

Security features

This VPN tool has very strong security features that cover all the bases. This includes:

• A good selection of tunneling protocols: OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, KeepSolid Wise
• Unbreakable encryption ciphers: AES-256, Camellia-256, ChaCha20/Poly1305
• Kill switch
• DNS leak protection
• Stealth technology (KeepSolid Wise), increasing protection in censorious countries

This is a sufficient level of security for the overwhelming majority of users – the possible vulnerabilities are reduced to a minimum. Those who want impenetrable anonymity in the face of intelligence agencies and the like may desire some bonus features that are not here. For example, VPN Unlimited does not support chaining servers (multihop), does not combine VPN technology with the Tor network, and does not allow for lots of customization in general.

With that said, if anything, the concerns begin with the privacy policy rather than the security features.

Does VPN Unlimited keep logs?

The short answer is “Yes”

VPN Unlimited does store user data – quite a lot of it, as a matter of fact. According to KeepSolid Privacy Policy and VPN-specific Data Usage Regulations, the retained data is:

• Email (for account ID)
• Device name, code, and the number of connected devices (to enforce simultaneous connection limits)
• Social media information (if the user agrees to provide it)
• Time zone and wifi network name (if you add it to Trusted Networks)
• Total amount of web traffic for each session and session dates (if you use personal servers or a personal IP address)

KeepSolid “may also collect personal data, such as names and contact information, from third parties, such as marketing, research, sales lead generator companies, social networks, as well as from any publicly-accessible sources.”

The data collected is used for improving services and marketing practices, detecting and preventing fraud, illegal activity, and any other activity that infringes upon the legal rights of KeepSolid, our other users, or other third parties.

The bright spot in VPN Unlimited Privacy Policy is not monitoring, storing, or logging your internet activities, although users should be aware of the exception for traffic and session timestamps. Unfortunately, while your session is active, all automatically collected data listed above can be connected with the session.

Going deeper into the privacy topic, KeepSolid, the company behind VPN Unlimited, is based in New York, which immediately raises some concerns. The US is one of the least privacy-friendly jurisdictions on earth. Firstly, it’s one of the founders of the international surveillance alliance known as the 5 Eyes. Secondly, US law enforcement and intelligence agencies have a lot of power when it comes to getting the information they need from businesses (such as Facebook or Google).

In short, the privacy practices of VPN Unlimited disqualify it from certain uses. We wouldn’t recommend it to journalists, political activists, or spies for that matter.

Speed and performance

Speed is the second most important point we want to cover in our VPN Unlimited review. After all, this determines this tool’s utility for things such as streaming, P2P file sharing, or gaming.

Server coverage

Despite some VPN Unlimited reviews claiming the service has over 1,000 servers, the official website is adamantly claiming the actual server list numbers 400+ in 70+ locations (54 countries).

Both the number and the spread are very decent. There are few regions in the world where users won’t be able to find a nearby server. Perhaps the only real exception to this is Africa, where the only servers are based in South Africa.

Speed test results

The number of servers and locations are only part of the equation when it comes to connection speed. To avoid ambiguity, we ran some speed tests while connected to servers in several locations around the globe.

For reference, our baseline speeds were as follows:

Then, we launched VPN Unlimited with the default Optimal Protocol (OpenVPN). This is what we found:

Hampshire, UK

• Download: 146 Mbps (49% of baseline)
• Upload: 21 Mbps (7% of baseline)

New York, US

• Download: 57 Mbps (19% of baseline)
• Upload: 6 Mbps (2% of baseline)

Singapore, Singapore

• Download: 50 Mbps (17% of baseline)
• Upload: 2 Mbps (0.7% of baseline)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• Download: 3 Mbps (1% of baseline)
• Upload: 4 Mbps (1.3% of baseline)

These are good enough speeds for web surfing, gaming, and even HD or 4K streaming. However, that comes with a couple of caveats:

• When considering the speed of a VPN, you should think in percentages. So, for example, since our base download speed is approximately 300 Mbps, if yours is lower, then calculate based on that.
• Going further away from your actual location generally decreases the download/upload speed. So, the fact our speed tests showed the best results in the UK and the US doesn’t mean these are inherently faster locations.

Ease of use and multiplatform support

As we have already mentioned in our VPN Unlimited review, this VPN has clients working for the most popular platforms. Here’s the full list of apps and browser extensions:

• Windows
• MacOS
• Linux
• Android
• iOS
• Windows Phone
• Apple TV
• Chrome
• Firefox
• Opera

All these clients are quite minimalistic and easy to use with very limited security and privacy customization options. What’s more, VPN Unlimited can be manually configured to work with routers.

So, if you are a beginner VPN user, you may be glad to have such a user-friendly VPN app. On the other hand, advanced users may find it lacking.

On the main dashboard, you can find a world map with your true IP address displayed and your physical location marked. If you are connected to a VPN server, you can see your virtual IP and spoofed location shown as well. The world map shows all 70+ locations where the servers are. However, this is not an interactive map – you can’t connect by clicking on it.

When you run the VPN Unlimited app for the first time, it will give you some tips (left). Even if the information is useful, the presentation is a bit messy.

By clicking the large blue Start button at the bottom, you can connect to the Optimal server. This server is most likely the closest and least loaded one. If you set the app to start automatically with Windows, the VPN software will connect to the default or configured server in the background.

When you click the server list button, a new screen comes up with four tabs: All servers, Recommended, Favorites, and Streaming. The active tab is the Recommend servers tab by default.

If you click your chosen location on any of these tabs, the VPN Unlimited app will start connecting right away. By clicking the blue button in the top-left corner, you can also run a Ping Test. Click the X button to close the Servers screen and get back to the home screen.

After connecting to a location, your app should look something like this:

As you can see, your real location and the destination are both indicated on the world map. Press the Stop button to disconnect.

If you’d like to change your settings or check your account information, click the 3-Bar icon in the top-left corner for the Menu.

There are four tabs here too: My account, Settings, Information, and Support. What you may be the most interested in is the Settings tab:

Here you can toggle the Kill Switch to protect yourself against leaks and select from a number of protocols.

Our VPN Unlimited review finds that the “Optimal” protocol is selected by default. This can well be OpenVPN. But, you’re free to select IKEv2 or KeepSolid’s own Wise protocols with the UDP or TCP pairing. It’s worth running some tests of your own to see which one performs better with specific VPN locations. VPN Unlimited may not be as well-equipped as the super-customizable TorGuard, but it still leaves a lot more at your disposal than many competitors.

KeepSolid VPN Lite

KeepSolid has recently released its VPN Lite app for Android and iOS. It comes in two versions: Free and Turbo.

This new app offers:

• No ads
• No registration
• Fast performance
• Intuitive, one-tap interface
• No logs policy
• 24/7 support
• Dark mode

VPN Lite doesn’t require registration for starters. No email address is needed, which means a higher level of anonymity. You simply download and install the app for your Android or iOS device, and that’s it.

The Free VPN Lite only comes with one server, AES-128 encryption (not as strong as the 256-bit ciphers of the full version), no logs policy, the OpenVPN protocol, 24/7 support, no ads.

The Turbo VPN Lite app offers 400+ servers in 70+ locations, AES-128 and AES-256 encryptions, no logs policy, OpenVPN and KeepSolid Wise protocols, free 7-day trial, and 24/7 support. This Turbo plan is available for $2.49 per month (billed $29.99 yearly) or $4.99 billed monthly.

Unblocking Netflix and other streaming platforms

VPN Unlimited is a good choice for streaming content on Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, and more.

We tested VPN Unlimited for Netflix with 3 out of 16 server locations in the US. In general, we were happy with what we got. VPN Unlimited was reasonably fast on Netflix servers and was able to bypass geo-blocking using all three servers. Here is the speed test result using one of them:

US California, San Francisco – Streaming Netflix, Hulu

The solid 30 Mbps is enough for streaming in UHD (which requires 25 Mbps).

We were unable to access Netflix in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, or Australia. However, our luck returned on both Hulu and BBC iPlayer.

P2P and torrenting

VPN Unlimited is reasonably good for torrenting. The service allows P2P traffic, which is a good start. It’s not available on all servers, but there are designated servers, which should fulfill the purpose well enough.

The speeds are certainly passable. Perhaps the only thing to note here is that we experienced some connection drops – something that was also mentioned by other users. In light of this, you should make sure you have your kill switch on at all times so as not to risk leaking while torrenting.

There’s also no free SOCKS5 proxy on offer, which makes VPN Unlimited a bit less flexible.

Online censorship in China and elsewhere

This service is well-equipped for use in China and other censorship-heavy countries. The server list is sufficiently dispersed for good performance almost anywhere. Additionally, VPN Unlimited is secure enough unless you belong to a particularly sensitive user group, such as political activists or journalists.

China and some other repressive states rely on Deep Packet Inspection to block VPN traffic (particularly OpenVPN). To bypass this advanced measure, VPN Unlimited offers the KeepSolid Wise protocol, which disguises VPN traffic as something benign. This makes it a reliable service for climbing the Great Firewall.

Customer support

To receive assistance, visit the Support page on the official site, where you will get the following options:

• 24/7 Contact form
• 24/7 Email support
• Live chat
• FAQ
• Manuals

Live chat support is a great addition but is yet to work 24/7, not having which is somewhat unfortunate. There’s also no telephone line, so help is generally slower than with some of the top VPN services, although their website claims that they will answer your email or contact form inquiry within an hour.

The self-help resources are well-written and cover most of the relevant topics.

Pricing

The pricing subscription options offered by VPN Unlimited are very flexible. Here are the plans:

• 1-month plan for 5 devices: $9.99
• 1-month plan for 10 devices: $14.99
• 1-year plan for 5 devices: $59.99 ($5.00/month)
• 1-year plan for 10 devices: $89.99 ($7.50/month)
• 3-year plan for 5 devices: $99.99 ($2.78/month)
• 3-year plan for 10 devices: $149.99 ($4.17/month)
• Lifetime plan for 5 devices: $199.99 (limited time offer)
• Lifetime plan for 10 devices: $299.99 (limited time offer)

A 7-day money-back guarantee covers all plans. Some users have experienced difficulties getting a refund (on time), but this doesn’t seem to be a common issue.

Apart from these basic plans, you can also buy a Personal Server or a Personal IP.

There are plenty of payment methods to choose from:

• Credit cards
• Amazon
• PayPal
• iTunes
• Google Play in-app purchases
• Bitcoin

You can also remain anonymous by buying a gift card.

We consider these prices reasonable – especially the Lifetime option. Just don’t forget that they don’t mean your lifetime when they say that.

Bottom line

This is an above average VPN service that offers some good security features. It’s good for streaming, torrenting, or gaming, but it’s not the best in any of these areas. The biggest issue with VPN Unlimited is its Privacy Policy, which stands out as a bad example on the top end of the VPN market. Not bothered? Well, this tool might just be for you!

How about learning from other VPN users?

Do you have any related questions? Have you ever tried using VPN Unlimited or any other VPN app in the past? What are your impressions? Maybe you’ve put them in your own VPN Unlimited review?

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