Last update: 10.12.2018
Overview
When you have a car with 4 gears instead of 5, and sometimes not even those work properly.
VPN Unlimited is a name that may sound like it can give you infinite potential via virtual private networking to keep you safe and anonymous on the internet, but it may not be so. Such a name means nothing if the product cannot live up to it, right? This is what our mission is about with this VPN Unlimited review: To find out the real potential behind the name.
This VPN service is brought to us by KeepSolid Inc., which is based in New York. Without a doubt, this means US jurisdiction and data retention laws when it comes to your online security and privacy. Might be worth considering.
Although there are some good privacy technologies implemented in this VPN, such as obfuscation (KeepSolid Wise), DNS leak protection, OpenVPN, and more, you may still be concerned about the no logs policy, which is not really no logs per se.
This service provides user-friendly and easy-to-use clients with little customization left for the users. This can be a plus for novices and also a big minus for tech-savvy users.
The connection speeds vary from good to catastrophic partially depending on the server you choose and your distance from it. Since there are 400+ servers in 70+ countries, travelers and expats may still make good use of it. However, if you are more concerned about your online anonymity, this service may not become your best friend.
Security & Privacy: Is VPN Unlimited safe to use?
The first rule of thumb: When you find a no logs or zero-log policy claim, make sure you read every single word in the Privacy Policy for starters.
KeepSolid, the company behind VPN Unlimited, is based in New York, which raises some concerns about true privacy right away. As you may know by now, US jurisdiction is one of the least privacy-friendly since the US is one of the founding fathers of the global surveillance alliance called the Five Eyes.
Depending on what level of internet security and privacy you’re looking for, these above facts may or may not affect your peace of mind. Yet, the answer to the main question could be interesting for all: Is VPN Unlimited safe to use?
When a VPN service provider claims that it keeps no logs, you’d better double-check what they mean exactly.
Here’s what the Privacy Policy discloses about its logging:
“KeepSolid Inc. does NOT collect and log any user activities while using any of their VPN services, except the total amount of web traffic for each session and session dates.”
Let us spell it out for you: VPN Unlimited logs your connections. Period.
Most VPNs try to position themselves as true no logs services for your ultimate protection; and, of course, mostly for marketing purposes. However, if your online anonymity is sort of a life and death question for you, marketing slogans won’t save you when the following paragraph comes to life in your reality:
“KeepSolid Inc. will never disclose any personal private data to third parties except when we must comply with laws that require such disclosure to law enforcement authorities or other government third-party officials, such as subpoenas.”
Some VPN providers like ExpressVPN have already proven how true they are to their promises of keeping no logs whatsoever when forced by governments to provide data on users and the authorities had to come away empty-handed. While some like PureVPN failed big time in this respect.
With that said, we must continue our VPN Unlimited review by presenting what this VPN offers to protect your online anonymity.
Apart from the standard VPN protocols, such as OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, IKEv2, and PPTP, this service also makes sure that you can obfuscate your encrypted VPN traffic with KeepSolid Wise so that prying eyes like your ISP (Internet Service Provider), governments, and hackers see your online activities as normal traffic. This is definitely a great feature for those who live in China or other censored locations.
VPN Unlimited also comes with DNS leak protection (on by default); however, there is no built-in kill switch, which makes it a wee bit risky to use. A kill switch could protect you from potential sensitive information leakage if your VPN connection were to drop. Unfortunately, as our KeepSolid VPN review will reveal, this service may lose connection from time to time.
Still, we can mention as a positive privacy practice Bitcoin payment is supported. Nevertheless, if you are that much concerned about your online security and privacy, you won’t find this as the best VPN for anonymity.
Speed: Like a car with 4 unstable gears
Sometimes catastrophic speeds with long latency times.
Speed is the second most important point we want to cover in our VPN Unlimited review. Interestingly enough, there are reviews that mention 1000+ servers, but somehow, we end up 600 servers short since we can only find 400+ servers in 70+ locations all over the world, just like the official website advertises. Of course, this VPN server fleet is already larger than that of lots of other competitors. But, it also falls way behind the VPN market leaders with their thousands of servers worldwide, including NordVPN and ExpressVPN.
Nevertheless, the number of servers and locations are only part of the whole equation when it comes to connection speed. Your distance from a chosen VPN server could be another due to which you may experience some very average or way too slow speeds as well. For example, you can achieve just about enough speed with the server in Brazil or Japan to even stream 4K videos from YouTube; however, you can forget about using the Malaysia server, which topped at 0.62Mbps download speed with 210ms latency.
While our VPN Unlimited review has found this service to offer good enough speeds (with a bit of luck) for general web surfing, unblocking geo-restricted websites, and even streaming, we wouldn’t recommend it for torrenting, gaming, or HD streaming due to the long latencies (sometimes 250-350ms) and occasional connection drops. To be honest, there are way better premium services on the market with better pricing options, too.
The connection times can vary; you may end up waiting for as much as 15 seconds at times when changing to another VPN server.
On a positive note, our VPN Unlimited review must mention that at least they inform you about the workload of their servers so that you can go for a less loaded one. But, we would still like to see improved speeds for it to become a more versatile service.
How to download and install it
Thanks to KeepSolid, you can download, install, and use VPN Unlimited for 7 days for free as a trial. So, you can skip the whole purchase step and simply select the Downloads menu (at the top, on the website). Here, you can choose your platform and download your client with a single click.
Our VPN Unlimited review has found that the installation of this app is not any more difficult than installing any easy-to-use software. A couple of Next buttons to click, and that’s it more or less.
You can also access this Downloads page if you scroll down the page and click the Download link in the Pages section of the footer.
This service is available on all major platforms, including Windows, Linus, Mac OS, iOS, Windows Phone, Android, Apple TV, and it also has a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox.
How to use VPN Unlimited
What you may not expect at all, and here’s a newsflash: when writing VPN Unlimited review we’ve found that you can use this app for one day – instead of a 7-day trial – without creating an account. This certainly deserves a pat on the shoulder for KeepSolid.
However, if you do sign up for an account, you can enter your credentials and start enjoying whatever online security this VPN may provide to you.
Easy-to-use VPN clients, good news for newbies.
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 to choose new locations from as we have seen an example in our NordVPN review.
You can connect to an optimal server, which is most likely the closest one to your physical location, if you click the VPN status Off/On button (off by default).
The interface is quite minimalistic; we wouldn’t call it the sliced bread of UX or software design, for sure. But, it’s very easy to use.
On the left, you can find the menu panel with the following tabs:
- VPN status: displays the dashboard (world map)
- Servers: the list of available servers. There are specialized servers like Optimal, Streaming Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and Torrenting as well. You can mark your favorite servers and access them through the Favorites subtab. You don’t need to disconnect first to connect to another server; simply click on any other and you will be connected in the next 10 to 20 seconds.
- Settings: Redeem a code, Change Account Password, Network settings, Run on Startup, VPN debug information, and Password Protection
- Information: links to social media sites and support pages
- 6 day(s) 23 hour(s): if you haven’t purchased the product, you can see all the deals here
- Notifications: special offers
While writing this VPN Unlimited review, we came to a conclusion that this is not the kind of paradise for VPN customization as some more advanced users would like to have. Definitely not like the one we wrote about in our TorGuard review.
The VPN Unlimited app is totally user-friendly, maybe even too much so. You don’t have much control of your security settings apart from deciding whether you want DNS leak protection or not, or what kind of VPN protocol (obfuscated or not) you wish to use.
Well, if it were only the ease of use that counted, we would probably recommend this VPN for beginner users. But, that is not the case.
VPN Unlimited for Netflix
We continue our VPN Unlimited review with a section that is important for most VPN users. It seems that you can use VPN Unlimited for Netflix and access the Netflix US catalog, for example; however, not all servers will work since some have already been blacklisted and blocked. If you fail to access Netflix, you can still try the specialized server in the list.
We’re backing these statements with a number of tests that we ran from Europe. Without a VPN, Netflix’s own speed test fast.com showed us 39 Mbps.
According to the Netflix website, the recommended download speeds are:
- 3 Mbps – for SD quality
- 5 Mbps – for HD quality
- 25 Mbps – for Ultra HD quality
VPN Unlimited servers in the US
We tested VPN Unlimited for Netflix with 3 out of 16 server locations in the US. In general, we were pretty happy with what we’ve got. VPN Unlimited also gives each server’s workload, so this might help you in choosing the best option.
US California, San Francisco – Streaming Netflix, Hulu
Our first test bunny, with a workload of 19%, gave us solid 30 Mbps, enough for streaming in UHD. Unblocking went well, just as the streaming – no stuttering and no long waiting times after skipping parts of the show.
US California, San Francisco – Streaming
Server with no optimization for Netflix or Hulu and about the same workload didn’t disappoint, showing 31 Mbps. The show loaded maybe for a second longer (notice we’re skipping the fact that Netflix again was unblocked without any issues, which is not bad for a VPN that you won’t find in any Top 10 list), skipping was a bit slower, but overall nothing you should whine about.
US New York, New York
Lastly, we wanted to try at least one server on the East Coast, and the obvious choice was New York, with its 46% load and no streaming optimization. Well, guess what – we got the fastest speed of 35 Mbps! But when we checked the fast.com details, we noticed that the IP we got assigned as NY’s was found in Phoenix by the speed test, therefore assigning a Western test server in LA. In any case, it all didn’t matter as Netflix showed an error message, informing about the use of proxy or VPN.
VPN Unlimited for Netflix outside the US
We had some really witty lines prepared about each country, like “In Germany, VPN Unlimited will leave you eating bratwurst and staring at the wall.” But it will suffice to say that although the results from fast.com did not drop below 24 Mbps while we traveled from Canada to the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and Australia, we were unable to access any of local Netflix libraries outside the US.
Speed test results – is VPN Unlimited Netflix-worthy?
It’s possible to access US Netflix library from the servers in the West Coast, and the speed should be good enough for HD, if not UHD streaming. Please keep in mind, though, that your location and therefore your physical distance from certain servers could cause serious latencies and terrible download speeds as well.
All in all, we don’t believe that this is anywhere near the best VPN for Netflix or any other media streaming service (even though you should be able to stream BBC iPlayer and Hulu as there are special servers for them). Again, some users may get lucky and stream HD TV shows and films without any serious issues.
Feel free to continue your quest for the best VPN by reading our other reviews and comparisons.
VPN Unlimited for Torrenting
While most of its servers may manage to stream data at an acceptable speed, you may experience annoying connection drops as reported by several users. This, combined with the long latency times can ruin your BitTorrent experience.
Of course, this is relative again, and you may be totally fine using the KeepSolid VPN Unlimited for torrenting. Still, our KeepSolid VPN review concluded that you might want to consider the US jurisdiction as well when it comes to torrenting. Also, the very limited number of P2P servers this VPN offers.
We end this section of our VPN Unlimited review on a sour note: there are definitely much better VPN options out there, for example, TorGuard. Don’t give up your quest just yet.
Live chat support
VPN Unlimited offers its customers 24/7 email as well as instant live chat support (sponsored by Zendesk). While the email support may work quite well with fast and relatively helpful replies, we must mention our disappointment in the n/7 (n=?) live chat support.
A good example of how NOT to do live chat support.
It seems that this support team has a weird idea about being “instant” and “live” like these meant “in an hour or so” or “maybe tomorrow.”
There is indeed a light blue Support button in the bottom right corner of your browser window, but, if you click it, you can only contact the support by entering your name, email address, and message. If you are lucky, you may get a reply within the hour. Is that what VPN Unlimited means by instant live support?
You do get a confirmation email about the information request you sent right away, to be honest. But this is not what live chat support means in our dictionary, for sure.
In any case, you can also visit the Support page on the official site, where you are offered a couple of alternatives. For example, you can press the Contact Form button, and the support pop-up comes up in the bottom right corner, which is supposed to be the live chat window, by the way. Or, you can send an email, browse the FAQ or the manuals.
All in all, this is far from excellent and instant customer support that we have seen in the case of some top 10 VPN providers. Since using a VPN service is hardly ever without technical and other issues, we believe that it’s a must to have a proper and fast support system. So here is the part in our VPN Unlimited review where we conclude it has failed us and will probably fail you too.
Apps and extensions
As we have already mentioned in our VPN Unlimited review, this VPN has clients working for the most popular platforms, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, and iOS. The browser extensions work on Chrome and Firefox. (see the full list below)
All these clients are quite minimalistic and easy to use with very limited security and privacy customization options.
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 unsatisfactory for their needs.
Pricing: For this, you can get better
VPN Unlimited can be tried for free for 7 days, or you can purchase the following basic plans:
- 1-month plan: $9.99 per month
- 1-year plan: $5.00 per month
- 3-year plan: $2.78 per month
- Lifetime plan: $199.99
There is also a 7-day money-back guarantee; however, you may experience some issues getting your money back (in time) as suggested by user reports and comments. If you want more than five devices to use simultaneously, you can add additional devices for an extra cost billed monthly.
Apart from these basic plans, you can also buy a Personal Server or a Personal IP.
The best thing about the payment options is that in addition to Credit Cards, Amazon, PayPal, iTunes, Google Play in-app purchases, and gift cards, you can remain anonymous by paying with Bitcoin.
Although these prices are quite reasonable, you always need to consider what you get in return. For this reason, we would look elsewhere for better value for our money.
VPN Unlimited by Reddit
To cut the not so long story even shorter, this VPN has a limited presence on Reddit. While this VPN provider has all the most important social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), Reddit doesn’t seem to be swarming with reviews, comments, or pros and cons.
As a matter of fact, if you list out all the related Reddit threads in the past year, you will find that 2 out of 3 are lifetime subscription promotions and one may be about accessing US Netflix with this VPN. Reddit won’t get you too far this time if you want to find out more about this service than you can read in our in-depth VPN Unlimited review.
The conclusion of VPN Unlimited review: No hard feelings, Mr. KeepSolid VPN
“It’s nothing personal” – we could go on, but we can’t because it IS indeed all personal since it is your online security, privacy, and anonymity at stake when choosing the best VPN for your needs.
This service may offer a few good security and privacy features, but we are not convinced that your anonymity is in the best hands with this provider – which is based in the US, by the way.
The speeds we saw during testing for this review are rather average or uselessly slow in the case of certain servers, not to mention the long latency times, which may limit the versatility of this VPN service to simple, safe browsing. Of course, despite all this, you may be able to use VPN Unlimited for streaming even HD quality videos.
However, you’d better check out for free whether it works well for you, because based on your location you may experience lags, buffering, or even connection drops, which may not be too good for online banking, gaming, or watching your favorite TV shows.
Without a doubt, we would rather go on searching for the best VPN for torrenting, Netflix, gaming, and for whatever you may need the highest possible level of anonymity. Fortunately, the VPN market – though not unlimited – has at least top 10 VPN services for you with even better prices.
How about learning from other VPN users?
Do you have any related questions? Have you ever tried to use VPN Unlimited or any other VPN apps before? What are your impressions? Maybe you put them in your own VPN Unlimited review?
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