VPNhub Review

How VPNhub meets the 5 criteria

1. Main Security Features

When scrutinizing a VPN service, the most important issue you want to take a close look at is the security it provides users with. For most people, the main reason for using a VPN is to prevent hackers and other ill-willed individuals or entities access to your personal info and data. The provided security needs to be topnotch, all the time. Otherwise, the whole purpose of using a VPN is gone.

Encryption
VPNhub offers users several ways to set up an encrypted connection with a Remote Access Server (RAS). Since the mobile VPN apps are an equally important part of its product portfolio, VPNhub offers to connect using the IKEv2 protocol, currently the most common encryption method for mobile devices, and the OpenVPN protocol, which is widely regarded as the best encryption method, providing the best security and functional even in case of firewall restrictions. Depending on whether you want to scramble the OpenVPN connection, you have the option to choose between 256-bit and 128-bit encryption – when scrambled (which allows the VPN to bypass network traffic sensors aiming to detect and block VPN usage), only the 128-bit cipher (the encryption algorithm) is available. With the 256-bit OpenVPN encryption option, VPNhub delivers the highest security level available.

Additionally, when using the OpenVPN protocol to connect, users have the option to choose between a UDP connection or a TCP connection. The UDP connection, when supported by the network, is preferred due to its greater speed, although the TCP connection is generally considered to be more reliable. VPNhub offers both, so you can take your pick.

DNS Leak Protection
DNS, short for Domain Name System, is a fundamental protocol for the functioning of the internet that takes care of the conversion of domain names into numerical IP addresses. Your Internet provider, Google, or other third parties whose DNS servers you are using, can monitor, or even censor your internet activity. VPN providers, including VPNhub, usually have their own network of DNS servers. This means that from the moment you sign in to VPNhub, your web activity is private and protected from prying eyes because you are using one of VPNhub’s 76 dedicated servers, which are divided over 49 different countries. The list of servers and countries seems to be updated a lot, so it appears that VPNhub is working hard to expand its server network. Now, what happens in case of a VPN connection failure?

We speak of a DNS leak when software issues are causing your VPN to fail, meaning your ISP can track your internet activity, regardless of whether you’re using a VPN or not. This is a situation you want to prevent from happening, but your VPN provider relies on servers – and servers are known to sometimes fail. How does VPNhub deal with such occasions? What do they offer to counter this potential problem?

VPNhub offers two simple solutions to deal with this potential threat.

• Auto-reconnect: users have the option to activate the setting that automatically reconnects in case the VPN tunnel unexpectedly disconnects.
• Kill Switch: the Kill Switch feature, if activated, immediately cuts your internet connection completely when your VPN connection fails.

Connection logs
The definition of a connection log reads as follow: A connection log is a record of incoming and outgoing connections to a VPN server, which may include a user’s IP address. In other words, a reliable VPN service should not have connection logs, because it conflicts with the purpose of using a VPN in the first place. VPNhub does not keep a connection log. The only logs it keeps, and shows in the “Logs” tab of the settings, are an “Application” log that shows when the service is activated and to which location it connects and a “VpnSDK” log that mostly shows technical info and system errors. An activity log of your internet activity is absent – as should be the case.

2. Resource Consumption

First of all, modern PCs with ditto processors, should not be affected by the use of a VPN service. The processor performs the encryption/ decryption of data and you should not notice a huge difference between your PC’s performance with or without the VPN service running. We’re using our PC’s task manager to get an indication of the CPU percentage used by VPNhub. When the VPN is running but we didn’t connect to one of the servers offered yet, VPNhub takes up the amount of memory you’d expect from a running application, but no CPU power.

To get a good idea of how much of PC’s resources are consumed by an active VPN service, let’s first look at a PC’s performance while the VPN is not active. We can create a benchmark measurement by checking the up- and download speed. We used three services (speedtest.net, meter.net, and fast.com) and all three reported similar numbers, which leads us to believe the measurements are accurate. Our download speed is approx. 37 Mbps (Megabit per second), while our upload speed measures at approx. 42 Mbps, with a PING (reaction time of the connection; the lower the value, the faster the connection) of approx. 2 ms (milliseconds) and a jitter of 14 ms (jitter is the variation between reaction times; a low jitter score (lower than 30 ms) indicates more reliable and consistent reaction times).

We checked to check the up- and download speed with the VPN service activated, to determine the difference. We used the same three services for measuring the speed, and again they report similar numbers. Our VPN activated download speed is approx. 36 Mbps, while our upload speed is still a bit higher, approx. 39 Mbps. In other words, activating VPNhub does not have a huge impact on our PC’s performance at all. Up- and download speeds do not drop significantly when activating VPNhub.

3. Connection Stability

The stability of a VPN connection depends on several different factors:

• Device influence: a VPN connection can be interrupted based on the device’s power management.
• Mobile network influence: the stability of a VPN connection largely depends on a direct, uninterrupted connection between your VPN server location and your own device.
• Wireless network influence: using an overloaded WiFi connection, or an old, outdated router can impact the VPN’s stability.
• Distance VPN server – device: generally speaking, it’s wise to connect to a RAS close by to keep latency low. The lower the latency, the faster the data stream.
• Distance + extra distance: if you choose a RAS far away from your physical location, the internet activity has to travel all the way back to your location. Calling on specific content from another physical location adds more latency to the process, impacting the stability of the VPN connection.

With a network of over 75 servers spread over 49 countries, VPNhub offers most users the option to connect to a server close to them, which will help to keep latency to a minimum. Other factors, like the quality of the available internet connection and your device’s power management, are factors you can easily anticipate on to limit potential problems. In general, VPNhub shows a high level of connection stability, even when connecting to servers far away from our location. Connection stability is one of the core features of a VPN service and VPNhub scores points by offering users a very stable service. In case an outside factor does compromise the stability and the signal is interrupted, VPNhub can suspend your internet connection immediately with the Kill Switch option, or you can set the system to reconnect automatically with the purpose of keeping downtime to a minimum.

4. Platforms/Devices Accessibility

VPNhub is available for Windows and Mac, and for Android and iOS on mobile devices, which means it covers the dominant platforms of today, and with it the majority of users. Apps for Android & iOS are free, but to be able to use VPNhub on a PC/ laptop or iMac or Macbook requires you to purchase a Premium subscription. If you have a Premium subscription, you can install and use VPNhub on up to 3 devices.