Buffered is located in Hungary. If you’re worried about the EU’s data retention laws or the DMCA, the jurisdiction makes this VPN provider attractive from the start. The service, in addition to advertising itself as a privacy solution, also emphasizes its capability to unblock content, allowing those travelling abroad to see programs from their home nation, no matter where they are. This service is very straightforward, as is their client, so new VPN users shouldn’t have any trouble finding their way around.
Buffered offers a user-friendly interface, fast speeds and dependable security. However, it is not capable of unblocking some popular streaming sites like Netflix.
Pricing & Plans
All Buffered VPN plans include the company’s VPN software and unlimited bandwidth. The pricing is as follows:
- Monthly: $12.99
- Six Months: $9.99 per month
- Twelve Months: $8.25 per month
Buffered accepts PayPal, credit card and Bitcoin payments.
Free Trial/ Money-back Guarantee
There’s a thirty-day money-back guarantee with your signup. There’s no free trial, but you can get your money back at any time during your first thirty days of service.
Privacy & Anonymity
Buffered’s Hungarian location means that you’re not subject to the worst of the EU’s and US’s privacy-busting laws.
Logging Policy
Buffered does not keep any records of user activity, according to their privacy policy. However, the do log the following information for up to 30 days:
- Your real IP address
- Duration of your connection
- Amount of data transferred during your session
Torrent Policy
Buffered is torrent-friendly and does not restrict any P2P activity on any of its servers. You will be able to get good speeds when connected to nearby servers.
Customer Support
Buffered has a well-designed site with an extensive knowledge base. Any trouble you have can first be investigated by seeing if one of the available articles addresses your issue, and it’s likely that one of them will. There’s no live-chat window on Buffered’s site, but they do have a ticketing system that you can use if you need personalized support.
Product Testing
Buffered is compatible with major platforms: Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux and DD-WRT routers.
Setting up the client is easy and selecting a server is quick to do and there’s really nothing manual required of the users. Where building the Windows client is concerned, Buffered did a great job.
The client gives you everything you need, along with an announcements tab to boot. It might not be advanced enough to satisfy users who want to micromanage their connection, but it’s easy enough to get an OpenVPN connection up and running with it.
VPN Server Locations
Buffered has over 40 servers in more than 30 countries which is quite enough for most VPN users.
Countries Supported:
Speed Test
Buffered performs well in terms of speed. We tested their VPN service on several of their US servers and compared to our baseline speed test, there were only minimal changes on the speed.
IPCheck and DNSLeak Test
Our IP address and DNS server addresses changed with no errors when we logged onto Buffered.
Feature Summary
- No logging
- Great jurisdiction
- 24/7 customer support
- Unlimited bandwidth and server switches
- Torrenting allowed
- Windows/Mac client
- Mobile support
- Linux and Router support
- Easy to use application
We Liked
Buffered is a VPN client that no one should have trouble using. It has fast servers and provides good service and support to its users. We appreciate their logging policy as well as how convenient it is to use especially for P2P and torrent downloading.
Areas for Improvement
Adding some more protocols might be good. Given that this VPN service has a good jurisdiction and client going for it already, IKEv2 and other feature enhancements could really put it over the top where privacy options are concerned.
Buffered was also tested for streaming services and unfortunately it did not fare well especially when compared to other VPN services. It was unable to bypass geo-restrictions on a lot of popular streaming sites like Netflix, HBO Go and Hulu.
Conclusion
Buffered isn’t the cheapest VPN provider out there, but it is a good option. Their client is well-designed, their service is thought out and they’re located in a nation that makes the EU and US problems with privacy non-issues. Their prices could be more competitive, but they are selling a good service, so what they charge isn’t unjustified. They’re competitive in just almost every regard with some of the bigger providers out there.
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