About StrongVPN:
Founded in 1995, StrongVPN has headquarters in United States and has a reputation for excellent support and large number of reliable servers located all over the world. Winner of 2011 Editor’s Choice by VPNSP, this VPN service provider is one of the big names in the VPN industry and continues to provide reliable VPN services to its users worldwide.
StrongVPN has over 362 servers located in 20 countries and has over 12046 IP addresses. It supports multiple VPN technologies including PPTP, L2TP/IPSec and OpenVPN on 128-2048 Secure Encrypted Channel. It works for all VPN connections from PC, Mac or Linux as well as allows access from from mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, Android devices. It supports DD-WRT router setup and users can also use Netflix via PC, Mac and network devices like DVD players, digital media players with StrongVPN connection.
Often considered as the most reliable and high speed VPN service, StrongVPN offers a number of pricing packages, based on location and switching server fees per cities and countries.
Features:
1. Pricing Plans: StrongVPN offers different packages for different geographies and the good things is – they give suggestions on what package to choose based on your location and requirements.
StrongVPN packages are divided into 3 groups: PPTP packages (Lite, Standard, Deluxe, Special), OpenVPN packages (Lite, Standard, Deluxe, Special) and Premium plan for PPTP + OpenVPN + all countries and all servers. They also have flexible payment plans for 3 months, 6 months and 1 year for each of their packages.
• PPTP Plans: StrongVPN offers fast speed Lite PPTP at $7/mo and standard PPTP plan at $12/mo. Each of these packages give access to PPTP/L2TP/SSTP type servers United States - New York, Miami and San Francisco and more. The deluxe plan priced at $15/mo is for those who are looking for servers in more countries including US.
• OpenVPN Plans: StrongVPN offers Lite Open package for access to PPTP/L2TP/SSTP or OpenVPN (SSL) type servers starting at $10/mo. The standard Open package is priced at $15/mo and both Lite and Standard are available for US. A deluxe Open package is available for those looking for servers in more countries including US.
• Premium PPTP + OpenVPN Plan: Starting at just $30/mo, StrongVPN offers combo plan that features access to all servers.
As a new user, you can choose to use StrongVPN services on a trial basis at for up 7 days at 100% money back guarantee. StrongVPN accepts PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, MoneyBooker, Discover. In addition, it accepts Western Union and Wire Transfers from Banks which gives people more flexibility and payment options. The prices and the features are clearly laid out on the website.
2. Ease of Use: Even though it has great and flexible payment plans, StrongVPN is not among the most user friendly services available. Unlike many other services, it cannot be automated to connect on start up. It does require the user to click on the connection manually.
Ease of Use: Even though it has great and flexible payment plans, StrongVPN is not among the most user friendly services available. Unlike many other services, it cannot be automated to connect on start up. It does require the user to click on the connection manually.
• Quick & Easy Installation: Once you have purchased the plan that is suited to you, you will receive a welcome email with username and password along with installation, setup and downloads. StrongVPN requires you to download the VPN client for your OS (Windows or Linux). They do have regular updates for different versions so you need to select the one that suits your requirements. Strong VPN also supports PPTP and L2TP Protocols, and the installation is far much easier than OpenVPN Protocol.
Once installed, you also need to download the config files from your customer area and store them at appropriate location in Program Files. Once that is done, you can connect using their VPN connection. Overall installation process is tricky and can be overwhelming for the beginners. StrongVPN does provide good tutorials and clear step by step instructions for set up which can be really helpful in the installation process.
• VPN Client Interface: Since the config files already contain your username and password including the server information, you can simply click on the connection from your program files.
Although StrongVPN does not require user to enter username and password again and again, the client area itself is not impressive and too many lines of codes can overwhelm the user. Once the connection is established, you can safely surf the internet.
Overall, we do not particularly like the way clients have to take care of things at their end before starting it. There are other VPN services out there giving very user-friendly Client Interface.
Being a popular VPN service, StrongVPN website is blocked in many countries which makes it difficult to purchase, open or configure if you are a first time user.
• Online Client Area: The client area is like a comprehensive dashboard with all billing, package details, ticketing information laid out in different tabs. You can enter your login details at the top of the StrongVPN website and see profile but there are secure login areas for orders and billing.
StrongVPN does provide all information in the welcome email to enable quick set up including the guide for those places where StrongVPN is originally blocked.
Overall, we do not particularly like the way clients have to take care of things at their end before starting it. There are other VPN services out there giving very user-friendly Client Interface.
Being a popular VPN service, StrongVPN website is blocked in many countries which makes it difficult to purchase, open or configure if you are a first time user.
