WiTopia VPN Review

WiTopia VPN is among the longest-running VPN companies, yet remains relatively unknown. And it’s not because they lack quality, but because of their branding. To clarify, they advertise the product as “Personal VPN”, without mention of the company name. We can’t blame them, since they clearly focus on perfecting core functionality and bonus features, but it’s something a marketing department could fix. However, we don’t like to start on a negative note – this only explains why you might have never heard of them. With that said, let’s start our WiTopia VPN review.

WiTopia VPN Features

The following are some crucial features of WiTopia VPN:

Age and Headquarters

WiTopia was founded in 2003 but has operated a VPN service since March 2005. WiTopia is based in the United States, which is a member of the Five, Nine, and Fourteen-Eyes Alliance. This would’ve been disastrous if it weren’t for their no-log policy.

Zero-Logging Policy

The VPN provider doesn’t monitor, record, or log users’ activities, metadata, or DNS. However, due to US jurisdiction, must store e-mails, Customer Care chats, the time and network location VPN was mode, and the duration it lasted. They also store limited weblogs for 30 days, and occasionally share non-identifiable data with other companies for purposes such as advertising.

Server Base and Ownership

The number varies greatly, but at any given time, WiTopia has between 65 and 500 physical servers in 43 countries around the globe. They own approximately half of that server number, while the other half is owned by third parties.

Speed

We used our native Internet connection in Europe for comparison. After hiding our IP with a VPN, we noticed:

• Testing a few servers in Europe resulted in download speed loss of 7%-14%
• Connecting to their UK server reduced our download speed by 8%.
• Connecting to a server in Australia made our download speed shrink by between 67% and 80%.

Does WiTopia VPN Have Any Leaks?

No, when we used VPN test sites to check our VPN, we didn’t observe any IPv4, IPv6, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. Moreover, you can benefit from their NAT Firewall, which turns over control of filtering undesired traffic from your router to their VPN server.

Bandwidth, Data Limit, Concurrent Connections

WiTopia VPN offers unmetered bandwidth and data usage on all of their servers. You can also connect up to 5 (Basic, Pro) or 8 (Premier) devices to the VPN simultaneously.

Bypassing Streaming Service Geo-Lock

We’ve had no problems bypassing Netflix VPN block with WiTopia VPN, nor did we struggle to circumvent anti-VPN measures with:

• Amazon Prime Video
• Hulu
• HBO Max
• BBC iPlayer
• Sky UK
• Disney+

Security Protocols and Encryption

The availability of encryption and security protocols depends on the payment plan:

• Basic. You can hide your IP with a VPN using PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, and Cisco IPsec using 128-bit AES encryption.
• Pro and Premier. Allows use of OpenVPN SSL (UDP/TCP), IKEv2, IKEv1, or Stealth Mode (Obfuscated OpenVPN) alongside 256-bit AES encryption.

Additional Features of WiTopia VPN

We continue our WiTopia VPN review with a rundown of some of its extra features:

Bypassing censorship

“Does WiTopia VPN work in China?” is among the most common questions people ask. The answer is yes, but you might have to reach out to Customer Support for help with VPN server selection. The same applies to other censorship-ridden countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Iran, etc.

Kill Switch and DNS servers

While the Kill Switch works, we observed a 1-2 second delay, possibly enough to leak personal information. As for DNS servers, we noticed the VPN provider supplies their own by default, but also allows you to enter your own configuration.

Customer Support

WiTopia offers 24/7/365 online chat and e-mail. In the latter case, a representative will create an instant support ticket with technical support. Plus, they have a comprehensive Knowledge Base on their website.

WiTopia VPN Installation and User Interface

At this point in our review of WiTopia VPN, we were pleased to see you don’t need anything more than an e-mail address (which can be fake) and password to sign up. Moreover, the web Dashboard shows payment plans and expiration dates while their apps are beginner-friendly and intuitive. Their desktop apps allow searching via keyword or sorting server locations using All, By Region,  Custom lists, or saving Favorites. Furthermore, the VPN service has apps for Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, iPhone, iPad, and macOS and has configurations for Chromebook, Amazon Fire TV/Stick, Microsoft Surface, routers, etc.

WiTopia VPN Pricing

WiTopia VPN has a whopping 12 payment plans, split into 3 VPN service tiers:

• Basic. $5.99 for 1-month, $28.99 for 6-months, $49.99 for 1 year, $79.99 for 2 years, and $109.99 for 3 years.
• Pro. $9.99 monthly, $39.99 for 6-months, $69.99 annually, $119.99 for 2 years, $159.99 for 3 years.
• Premier. $59.99 every 6 months, $99.99 yearly, $169.99 for 2 years, $209.99 for 3 years.

Do they measure up against the industry giants?

Only the Basic plan has any chance versus industry leaders such as NordVPN Review, CyberGhost VPN, or IPVanish. And while it might be a tiny bit more affordable on annual plans, all 3 (and many others) smoke WiTopia VPN when it comes to value-for-money. Also, many VPN providers support cryptocurrency for total anonymity, but this one only supports PayPal and credit cards.

Any other products or services that stand out?

Yes, the VPN provider offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, although with no genuine free trial, unlike our VPNs that offer a free trial. Also, they sell pre-configured VPN routers with 1 year of service included for $299 (AC1750 802.11ac B1) and $399 (Asus AC3100/RT-88u Gigabit Router) and require $129.99 per year thereafter in both cases.

Conclusion

At the end of our review of WiTopia VPN, we can say we liked flexible military-grade encryption, which can increase VPN speed at a slight compromise in security. Their server base is small but optimized for heavy modern use. The VPN provider also excels at removing geo-blocks imposed by countries and streaming services, offers apps for major operating systems, and has knowledgeable responsive Customer Care. We disliked their lack of torrenting and split tunneling support and the imperfect kill switch. Also, we tend to be wary of US-based VPN services in general, even with a no-logging policy, because of mandatory data retention laws.