Hide My IP VPN is a free service that is secure, fast and no software installation required. Its features include L2TP VPN standard, 20MBPS of connection, full support for iOS and Android and is ideal for streaming videos. Where truly protecting your privacy is concerned, however, this is not the best choice, for several reasons.
Pricing & Plans
There’s no charge for using this service. It’s completely free and there are setup instructions on the site.
Free Trial/ Money-back Guarantee
Again, Hide My IP VPN is completely free to use.
Privacy & Anonymity
This is not a good solution for privacy. The service only provides the PPTP protocol, which is not secure enough for serious use. It will change your IP and allow you to access sites that may be geo-restricted in some nations, but it’s not a level of security you can really trust.
Provider Logging Policy
This service will give your logs to third parties if they detect what they deem to be abusive behavior. The excerpt below is from their original privacy policy:
“Upon discovering of any network abuse behavior, we keep the right to expose offender’s access logs to 3rd party authority when needed, thanks for your understanding on this in order to keep a very safe and secure free VPN service up and running for long term.”
Torrent Policy
Torrenting is not allowed on this service. Any P2P activity, in fact, is highly inadvisable, given that they turn your records over to third parties upon request. Their website mentions that “to maintain a high-quality VPN service and to avoid possible service interruption, we don’t allow P2P/Torrent traffic on the VPN service. Plus, any users should not use our free VPN service for any illegal activity.”
Customer Support
This is a free service, so there really aren’t any customers to support. While there are connection details and installation links on the Hide My IP VPN website, there is not enough knowledge base or even an FAQ section for setup instructions and information about troubleshooting common error messages.
Product Testing
You can configure Hide My IP on any operating system that accommodates PPTP connections, including mobile devices. However, there isn’t a client to test with this service. Your connection is made manually using the PPTP settings for your operating system.
VPN Server Locations
Hide My IP VPN has a limited number of servers across a small number of countries. For details on their server, please see below:
- Hide My IP VPN Type: L2TP VPN
- Hide My IP VPN Username: hidemyipvpn.com
- Hide My IP L2TP VPN Secret: hidemyipvpn.com
- USA IP VPN Server: us.hidemyipvpn.com Password: 2020
- Canada IP VPN Server: ca.hidemyipvpn.com Password: 2020
- UK IP VPN Server: uk.hidemyipvpn.com Password: 2020
- Germany IP VPN Server: de.hidemyipvpn.com Password: 2020
- Netherlands IP VPN Server: nl.hidemyipvpn.com Password: 2020
Countries Supported:
Speed Test
This is a free service. We weren’t expecting much in the way of speed. HideMyIP had a download speed of 5.22Mpbs.
This was on a connection that’s normally over 40Mbps, as you can see from the baseline. This is not a fast service, clearly. The server selection was limited.
IPCheck and DNSLeak Test
Our IP was changed successfully, but our DNS did leak. This service will require that you manually configure your DNS server address for security.
Feature Summary
- Free
- 100% Change your online IP
- L2TP VPN Standard
- Works in any computer OS
- Full support for iOS and Android
- Limited servers
We Liked
There’s really not much to like here. The speed would be acceptable, given that the service is free, but they do log your activity and will send it to third parties.
Areas for Improvement
Sending your data to third parties on request is not acceptable. PPTP is not secure.
Conclusion
Hide My IP VPN, even though it’s free, should be avoided. They do not protect your privacy. They slow down your connection to the point that it’s nearly unworkable. The old adage that nothing is free rings true here. In exchange for using their service, you’re exposing your information to anyone they decide to hand it over to, and you’re not getting any of the benefits that come with a real VPN service.
Leave a Reply