Do you ever wish you could just make your IP Vanish? Well, my friends, that’s the entire premise of this next service, who put their gimmick right there in the title. While your friends, neighbors and coworkers might be easily identifiable online by a string of seemingly random numbers, you’ll be enjoying anonymity, privacy, security, and all the other benefits that come with these perks.
IPVanish.com claims the crown as “the best VPN,” and while it’s a bold statement, they’ve got a pretty strong reputation. The company offers a Virtual Private Network service that encrypts your traffic and shields your IP address, which can come in handy for a number of reasons we’ll get into shortly. The site gets well over a million visits a month and they’ve got a great rating on TrustPilot, but naturally, I wanted to take a peek for myself and see how they measure up to all the competition out there.
I Think I Know Why You Need a VPN
We’re living in some fucking weird times, aren’t we? I’ve been a pervert my whole life, and I’ve always loved the plethora of pornography we’ve always been putting out here in the great U.S. of A. Never in my life would I have imagined the laws popping up in certain states demanding age verification on adult sites, but I bet a lot of you are reading this because that same buzz-killing blonde popped up on your screen when you tried to visit Pornhub.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the technology, a VPN works by basically sending all of your traffic through an encrypted tunnel. The IP address assigned by your internet service provider tells the whole internet who and where you are, but if you’re using a VPN, all they can see is the VPN’s IP. What’s more, you can choose your own location, making it seem like you ain’t living or internetting somewhere with a pesky censorship issue.
IPVanish.com has over 90 VPN locations, more than 2,400 servers and over 40,000 IP addresses around the world. This kind of massive infrastructure is one of the things I look for in a good VPN service, because it helps ensure you always have plenty of fast, reliable ways to use the service. Some of the bigger sites out there are sometimes able to recognize VPN IP addresses, but the massive spread of them here should help cut down on that. On the same note, IPVanish’s OpenVPN Scramble is designed to combat exactly that type of VPN detection.
Another major factor I look for is speed. IPVanish promises optimized streaming speeds. You won’t be shuffling your traffic through some shitty, slow-ass proxy server, but a high-powered VPN capable of 4K video without endless buffering. I don’t normally mention reviews from other sites, but IP Vanish offers up quotes about their speeds from outfits like Tom’s Guide, C-Net and IGN. This shit’s legit, my dudes.
IP Vanish works with damn near any device connected to the internet, with lots of dedicated apps. So, what are you on? Windows? Mac? Tablet? Laptop? TV? You can use this bad boy with your router, your browsers, or whatever. One of notable absences to me was Roku, but I’ve been having issues with their business model ever since they deleted all my porn apps. Maybe I’ll upgrade to a decent smart TV that works with IPVanish…
All the Perks for Every Member
IP Vanish costs about $13 a month, which is about what I expect to pay for a typical VPN. The long-term rates are really cheap, though, so they are an easy recommendation if you know you’re going to be using a VPN for a while. I’ve been using them for a few years now, and frankly, I’m not willing to go back. That’s like raw-dogging the whole internet, and the internet’s a sketchy place. The two-year rate right now breaks down to just over two bucks a month, a digital condom even cheaper than the real thing.
Some plans come with a 30-day risk-free guarantee. I’m a little bummed you don’t get a free trial with the regular monthly membership, especially since it seems to be a relatively common perk if you look around. The yearly and 2-year subscriptions are eligible, which is honestly a good way of coaxing you toward a longer plan.
I do like the straightforward, non-tiered pricing scheme. All members get the same benefits, so you don’t have to stare at a chart wondering what you really need and what you should really spend. For example, everyone can connect with unlimited devices and enjoy unlimited bandwidth. These can be a real bottlenecks with some of the other popular VPNs, especially if you’ve got a household full of gadgets and gizmos.
Another nice perk for everyone is the no-logs rule. IPVanish.com is focused on privacy, so they don’t record any of your online activity. Nobody’s going to come knocking to ask if you looked at a porn site without uploading your ID, no matter what backwoods state you live. For even more protection, they’ve got a built-in kill switch in case your VPN connection is lost. It’ll block out everything until you get safely reconnected.
Another really useful feature is built-in Threat Protection. I had to dig into the IPVanish.com website a bit to learn how it works, but it sounds like they’re using a really hefty, constantly updated blacklist to filter out whoever’s serving up ads, tracking your activity, or trying to steal your identity. I always use adblocker plugins for any web browser I’m using, but this could add yet another level of protection, shutting those spammers out before my plugins need to.
What Else Can I Do with IPVanish?
I’ve spent a lot of this review speaking from the perspective of an American trying to look at porn in a state with a new age verification law. This is just one of the reasons you might need a VPN, though, and frankly, one of the newest and most surprising. Perverts in more restrictive countries have it harder, and yeah, IP Vanish can help them out, too. Sometimes, it goes beyond porn and into the world of really serious business, but we don’t need to touch on global politics around here. I mainly talk boobs and butts, to be honest. Maybe a dick joke about your local government is in order.
IPVanish can also help you unlock content from streaming services that ain’t available in your country due to licensing issues; they promise support for Netflix, ESPN+ and more. VPNs are really popular among the torrent scene, too. Some folks use VPNs to score cheaper prices on digital goods and services by pretending to live in cheaper country, though platforms like Steam have done their best to crack down on the practice.
On more of a day-to-day level, I can’t tell you how valuable a VPN can be if you’re just looking for better privacy and security. Forget about watching blocked porno or Canadian Netflix for a second. Forget about downloading torrents. Do you know how many sites are tracking you online? There’s a reason your ads are targeted, and those are from the “reputable” trackers like Google. If you’re connecting to public wi-fi at the coffee shop without a VPN, you’re playing with fire, my dudes, even if you’re just checking your email.
IPVanish.com has the major features I look for in a good VPN, like an expansive global network, no logs, fast speeds and support for a wide range of internet-connected doodads. To me, their standout features are the unmetered devices and bandwidth, saving you the trouble of worrying about what’s connected and for how long, as well as those sweet rates on the long subscriptions. Their Threat Detection feature also elevates IP Vanish above some of the more barebones VPNs out there, and bumps up your security even more. They’re only offering that money-back guarantee on the longer plans, but really, what do you have to lose besides all those invisible eyes on the internet?
