DotVPN Review

Why do we need a Virtual Private Network? It is a question that many of us may have asked at one point. For those who are yet to experience the benefits of a VPN, we have to state that it is a revolutionary tech that can help with our digital security. As the name suggests, it’s a virtual and private network that allows connected users to remain safely hidden behind remote servers and access the internet privately.

It also secures data communication via encryption. Hence, there is no chance of someone peeking at what you’re doing on the internet. However, individual VPNs are web services. Thus, there have to be providers who offer it to regular users. DotVPN is one such vendor that we came across recently. That is why we are writing a review on DotVPN to better understand this service.

DotVPN overview

DotVPN is a VPN exclusively for the mobile platform. Although it has plans to expand to the desktop market, it has yet to do so. Founded in 2014, the company isn’t as new to the VPN industry, as one would expect. But it lacks brand recognition. Also, it has limited reachability as it lacks some of the most obvious features of a VPN. The service adopts a fairly decent privacy policy but forgoes the relevant security add-ons.

Having studied it in-depth, we didn’t find anything the VPN excels at. The company operates out of Hong Kong, which is a safer choice from a privacy point of view. But overall, the experience is poor. Be it streaming, torrenting, or bypassing blocks, the VPN is almost terrible. Having said that, given below are our detailed findings for the interested readers that can justify our lack of interest in the service.

Note — The following article is subjective. We do not recommend any particular service or product. Readers are free to visit the official DotVPN website for any additional information.

DotVPN key specs

Features	DotVPN
Bandwidth	Unlimited
Connection speed	47 Mbps
Data logging	Zero-logging policy
IP, DNS, WebRTC leaks	None
Jurisdiction	Hong Kong
Servers	700+ (Unconfirmed)
IP addresses	Not disclosed
Countries	12
Streaming	Unsupported
Torrenting	Not permitted
Number of simultaneous connections	5
Obfuscation	Incapable
Customer Support	Texting
Cheapest price	$2.90 over 12 months
Free trial	30 days (Payment information needed)
Money-back guarantee	30-Day money-return warranty

Features of DotVPN

It’s time to look at the aspects that distinguish DotVPN from the competition.

Privacy and logging policy

Hailing from Hong Kong, the VPN did alright with the privacy aspect. It has also included a clear-cut no-logging policy that can allow users to have peace of mind. Here’s everything the VPN logs:

• Your email address and password
• IP address but only for 24 hours
• Your payment schedule
• Any data from tech support and comments on the website for up to two years

Although some of you may find the logging of IP addresses a red flag, it is pretty reasonable when explained. Also, it is temporary to prevent spam, fraud, or other abuse of the site and service. There is no PII (Personal Identifiable Information) within the collected data.

Security

DotVPN chooses to provide different VPN protocols based on the platform. While it uses OpenVPN on Android, iOS has to make do with IPSec. Sadly, though, none of these apps include a much-needed VPN kill switch to ensure security. For advanced features, it offers Tor over VPN servers and that’s all. Here’s what the vendor has to offer:

• VPN protocol — L2TP/IPSec, OpenVPN (TCP/UDP), SSL VPN
• Encryption — AES-128, 4096-Bit Key Encryption
• Security — None
• Advanced features — Ad blocker, Tor over VPN servers

Speed

Surprisingly, DotVPN is relatively fast for a mobile-only VPN. Although its top speed can’t outmatch market leaders, being a VPN with a smaller network, it doesn’t disappoint. The local connection was smooth, and even the speed on international servers was not lacking.

VPN servers

While the VPN claims to offer more than 700 VPN servers, once you boot up the app, you will only find 12 locations. And even these locations are not well spread as one would expect. Most servers are in North America and Europe. Outside these locations, it has one each in Singapore and Japan. We were surprised to find that the VPN doesn’t offer any server coverage for Australia, South America, Africa, or even India.

Streaming

Sadly, the VPN is a bust for streaming, as most mobile-exclusive VPNs are. It fails to bypass the geo-blocks of the most prominent streaming platforms. Although one reason can be a lack of global coverage, it surely lacks the necessary features. We also missed Smart DNS.

Torrenting

The VPN is horrible for torrenting. While it lacks the VPN kill switch to prevent any accidents, the servers, too, forbid any P2P traffic. Furthermore, it lacks the Port Forwarding that torrent users love.

Bypassing VPN blocks

There is no obfuscation tool available for the VPN, so forget about sidestepping VPN blocks. The service won’t work in highly censored regions, despite claiming so.

Customer Service

There is no 24/7 live chat support or even an email option. It has a simple text user interface that allows you to send messages and wait for a response that can sometimes take more than 24 hours.

Platform support for DotVPN

As we have explicitly expressed previously, the VPN is a mobile-only service with exclusive apps available only for Android and iOS. Although it has a Chromebook add-on, it is a simple browser extension proxy. It also has browser extensions for Opera, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome.

DotVPN pricing and subscriptions

We agree that the VPN is cheaper than most. Then again it also lacks more than enough necessary features. In the same price bracket, you can get a leading vendor. However, it has two subscription choices:

• Monthly — $5 per month
• Annual — $2.9 monthly

The VPN also accepts Bitcoin as payment alongside different cryptocurrencies. Also, you can use the VPN without paying for 30 days as it has a free trial. Furthermore, it has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Verdict

After our review, there’s no arguing that DotVPN is decently fast and has a well-intended privacy policy. But other than that, it is a waste of money, time, and effort. You couldn’t stream or torrent on its network, and there are no. Also, basic privacy and security are at stake due to a lack of features. The network, while not dangerously small, isn’t diversified. There are simply too many holes to fill, even if they introduce desktop applications. Thus, we won’t be recommending it anytime soon.