StrongVPN Review 2020

Know StrongVPN

StrongVPN is one of the good service providers by offering VPN services, VPN router services, and DNS services. It operates in 24 countries across the globe with over 440 servers placed in 45 suitable locations to enable an uninterrupted network. All we need to do is three easy steps to land on this safer internet experience. We would cover those steps in our StrongVPN review below. It believes that a strong customer service is a critical base for any business and with that as a principle it has grown from a small company that sells PC computers. To our surprise, every support personnel is a highly skilled and trained professional to offer a 24x7x365 support. They also specialize in providing high-quality fiber optic network bandwidth and equipped with InterNap’s that analyzes all possible routes for a connection. So, the resultant connection we will use is for sure one of the best among the available ones. It is a U.S.-based company and is a part of Reliablehosting.com. They are in businesses since 1995 and from that time they give much importance of customer service, and in fact, most people believe it is the reason behind their success. It is a 60+ person company that operates in multiple locations around the world and has its headquarters in San Francisco. In this StrongVPN review, we will explore all the features provided by StrongVPN.

Price & Unique Offers

It offers two different packages with highly variable price differences.

Monthly Package: It costs around $10 per month, and this subscription looks slightly costlier. Even though the price is on the higher side, StrongVPN provides a variety of protocol support, complete online security, and high-speed connections with this package. Here, the user is also eligible for 5-days money back guarantee.

Yearly Package: It charges $5.83 per month for a 12-months subscription and we can save up to 42%. This package also offers all the features that a monthly package has, including the money back guarantee.

These pricing plans are slightly costlier and mainly the basic monthly plan is said so among the users. As there are VPN providers, who excel in a variety of packages for a lesser cost that too with advanced technical features. From this StrongVPN review, we can say by just offering simple connections they could have reduced the cost in favour of users who need to bypass just geo-restrictions. Fortunately, people who wish to access contents from China and to circumvent the ‘Great Firewall of China’, StrongVPN is a good choice despite charging more.

5 Days Money Back Guarantee

The positive thing about pricing of StrongVPN is that it comes with 5-days money back guarantee. It means that we can avail the subscriptions with no fear as we can get the full refund with discrepancies in the network. Sometimes, people claim this feature because of lesser transparent technical support. Otherwise, the rest of the features of StrongVPN are up to the mark, and it does not create a need to use the facility. But to avail the feature, we need to raise a request within 5 days of purchasing it.

No free trials: It could have been better if there is a free trial account available before we buy a package. This is disappointing for the users who wish to test its performance.

Payment Options

StrongVPN accepts almost all credit and debit cards such as Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, It supports online payment modes such as Paypal, Bitcoins, etc. So, people who get a VPN service for anonymous access can also pay anonymously via Bitcoins.

Gift Cards: They even accept gift cards or virtual CC for the
above-mentioned payment modes, but they are not refundable. So, we need to check with the respective card vendors to know more about it.

Referral Credits: We can also earn credits by referring our friends to StrongVPN services, and in turn, we can use that credit for our purchases at the StrongVPN. But it does not apply to buy StrongVPN routers.

Auto-renewable payments: All the subscriptions are accounted as auto- renewable unless the user specifically mentions to do it manually. It is a useful feature for those who use VPN continually, and this option eliminates the overhead of renewing every time it expires. There is also a facility to ask every time before performing the auto-renewal.

Core Features of StrongVPN

Security & Privacy features

These are the most important features that people expect from a VPN provider. When we travel overseas, or when we need a safe streaming service, we rely on a VPN for security and privacy on our connections. Each VPN provider has their own system in place to offer those features in an exclusive manner. Below are some of the measures that the StrongVPN has taken to ensure security and privacy of connections that we have explained in Strongvpn review.

Data Encryption

StrongVPN uses both 128-bit Blowfish and 256-bit military grade encryptions. These encryptions are offering many secured connections in the present scenario. The only drawback is that the choice of these encryption levels is not in the user’s hands. The VPN provider itself chooses it as per the need. So, we may not be able to identify which encryption we use at a point of time. Besides this issue, the level of security is genuinely good.

VPN Protocols

It supports all major VPN protocols such as PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, SSTP, and OpenVPN. The automatic setup of Android devices is supported only with OpenVPN protocol whereas Windows and MAC OS are compatible with all the protocols as mentioned above. It has 238 PPTP servers, and 368 OpenVPN servers. Vast tutorials are available to know which protocol is supported for which devices and operating systems. So, at least in the protocols we have the option to choose whichever as per the need, explained in Strongvpn review.

Automatic Wi-Fi Security

It provides excellent protection for our connections even when we use a public Wi-Fi at airports or cafes. It lets nobody share our data even when we access it with an unsecured public network.

Internet Kill Switch

We often face connection interruptions when we travel or use public networks. Sometimes, it happens even with no known reason. In such cases, StrongVPN closes all our sessions and guards us against anybody using it. This is achieved by the usage of internet kill switch option that is provided in the advanced settings menu.

NAT Firewall

It acts as a virtual Firewall for our connections, and it does not let any intruders or hackers to spy on our connections. It can even put a barricade to ‘The Great Firewall of China’ by overcoming Deep packet Investigation (DPI). The security measures of StrongVPN are awesome with the Firewall in place.

DDoS Protection

StrongVPN protects its servers from DDoS attacks by the earlier prediction of server load and route optimization. So, when it looks like a server is overloaded, then it does server switching.

Server Switching

StrongVPN allows server switching with time latencies or any discrepancies in the connections. But it is restricted to just a specified number, for each type of subscriptions. This is an annoying restriction for services like online streaming. So, we need to bear with the time lags in our connections once we exceed the allotted number of server switches. It is disappointing that even after paying more money, we have to adjust with the time lags.

No Log Policy

The StrongVPN states it follows a no logging policy. The concern is that it has to store certain general information as per the Government guidelines as it is a U. S-based company. That information includes time, date and the location of the VPN connection, duration of the connection, and the bandwidth usage. But they are periodically discarded once it exceeds the Government mentioned duration. But a log kept is kept, irrespective of the duration. Anyhow, this record contains just the information of the connections and not of the users. Read our article about the best Anonymous VPN to learn about logless VPNs.

Concurrent Connections

StrongVPN allows a maximum of two devices to connect to the VPN concurrently. The count seems to be less than most VPNs offer 3 to 5 concurrent connections. So, when the members of a family need VPN, it cannot support over two members. Also, for small firms that operate at different geographic locations; this VPN is not a suitable choice where concurrent connections are the basis of work coordinately. For the use of a single person or two, then it is a good option.

Fast and Secure Browsing

StrongVPN analyzes the available routers and identifies the most optimal path for connection to be established. Here it gets assistance from the Internap for providing such a connection. So, the connections are with no or lesser interruptions and hence, they are faster and secure as well. Also, it allows P2P activities although it forbids sharing of copyrighted materials.

Compatibility

Device Compatibility

StrongVPN Client software is compatible with devices such as Desktop computers, Smartphone, Routers, iPhones, iPads, iTouch, Tablets, Amazon Kindle devices, etc. The list is vast when we compare it with other VPN providers in the market. It also offers easy deployment possibilities with automatic setup procedures or through remote assistance. We can say the StrongVPN is compatible with a variety of devices and it has lots of guides and installation manuals for an easier startup.

Platform Compatibility

Our StrongVPN review provides you details about the compatibility of StrongVPN with all the major devices and OS. Furthermore, It supports operating systems. Such as Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and Windows XP. And even supports Windows 2000 and 2003 for manual setups. Additionally, It also supports MAC OS X, Android, Linux, Ubuntu, Amazon Kindle OS, HP webOS, Google Chrome OS, Router operating systems such as DD-WRT, TomatoUSB, Sabai, Mikrotik, The broad support means that the StrongVPN is one of the high platform compatible VPN providers.

Server Locations

It has over 440 servers comprising the 140 servers in San Francisco and the rest around the world. They concentrate on providing all fibre networks for the servers with exceptional 5-star support. They also have two data centre locations; the main one is in San Francisco and the second is at Internap in New York. The server location is one of the reasons that StrongVPN can offer good connections throughout the world. The servers are all well-backed up with Digital Realty Trust that provides uninterrupted UPS power, pre-action early warning fire protection, N-1 cooling/HVAC configuration, surveillance and access control.

Apart from these, the servers are all well connected and are inter-connected to over 30 other networks through transit and peer connections. So, from this StrongVPN review, we would firmly say it can connect to North America, Asia, and Europe over many Gigabit fibre optics. The good news about StrongVPN is that they have been adding servers to offer an excellent VPN experience to its customers. Recently on 1-Nov-2016, they have added 4 more servers to provide better connectivity in South Korea.

Setup StrongVPN for Windows

Useful Setup guides and tutorials are available on the StrongVPN website for an easier deployment.

Teamviewer Remote Setup: StrongVPN assists its customers in the setup process by remotely logging into our system with apps like Teamviewer and doing the setup on our behalf. They also extend their support for setup via Skype, voicemails (US number), email, etc.

Manual Setup: In this StrongVPN review you will know the setup options offered by StrogVPN. We can also set up the StrongVPN software client manually for Windows, Windows RT, Mac OS X, iPad, iPhone, iTouch, Android, Linux, Ubuntu Linux, Amazon, Bada, HP web OS, Google Chrome OS, DD-WRT Routers, TomatoUSB, Sabai Router OS, and Mikrotik RouterOS.

Automatic Setup: It has automatic setup applications to be used for Windows, iOS, Macintosh, and Android. This process is simple, and we can do it by ourselves without the need of technical support.

StrongVPN Windows Setup (Manual)

Let us discuss in detail about the Windows setup that we have simplifies here in our Strongvpn review.

StrongVPN is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and Windows XP, whereas the manual installation procedures support Windows 2000 and 2003. Here are the step to set up StrongVPN on Windows manually.

1. Download the setup file for Windows and allow it to Run. Before running it, we can make sure that the publisher is Black Oak Computers.
2. Click ‘Yes’ two or more dialog boxes that come in order.
3. Then select the language from the drop-down list and select ‘ok.’
4. It is at this point the actual setup process begins, and soon it ends up with a wizard saying click next to continue.
5. Be sure to accept the agreement and choose a folder to place the files.
6. Choose the additional tasks such as creating a desktop icon.
7. Once the files are installed, it will ask permission to install Network Adapters. Just click ‘Install’ as they are safe to install.
8. Now the setup is over, and we can start our Signup process.
9. Once the Setup process is completed for the Windows VPN, follow the below steps to use the VPN service. But the signup process asks us a lot of personal information before getting that login username and password.
10. Just login into the network with the StrongVPN client by providing the username and password.
11. Choose the location of the VPN server and just click connect.
12. We are all set to use the StrongVPN network, and we can also use the advanced settings option to fine tune to our requirements.
13. Advanced settings include an Internet kill switch, Port Forwarding, Encryption strength selection, limited server switches, etc.

Customer Support Response

Our StrongVPN review identifies that the VPN provider is keen on responding to the customer queries, but the level of technical expertise is not what is expected in today’s market. Here is the list of ways StrongVPN connects to its customers.

Email Responses: StrongVPN responses fairly quickly for its customers with issues. Also, the replies were meeting the purpose and not just answered for the sake of answering.

24 X 7 X 365 Live Chat: The VPN provider has a live chat facility, and they work round the clock. This is a useful means to reach out the staff with connection issues.

Remote Assistance through Team Viewer: Most people avoid using a VPN just because the setup process is hectic. Also, we cannot expect everyone to install and carry out software operations as it might not be their kind of job. Through remote assistance, StrongVPN does this process and makes the setup process easier for whoever wishes to do so.

FAQs, Forums, and Blogs: It has easy to understand articles listed in their Faqs, and blogs. The forum is also a useful communication channel to connect its customers among themselves and with the StrongVPN.

Support Desk ticketing system: Support desk works 24 hours a day, and the raised tickets are resolved quickly. Even they can handle issues related to billings, and the billing support that works separately is also awesome with StrongVPN. The only drawback is that the technical support tickets are taking a considerable time to get resolved. So, we need a lot of patience when we are caught in a technical issue.

Conclusion of Strongvpn review

Though StrongVPN offers secure connections, it does not allow its users to pick the needed encryptions. Also, a user is not aware of whether he or she uses a 128-bit or 256-bit encryption at any instance. After our StrongVPN review, we can even say transparency is missing in these activities. Also, it allows only two concurrent device connections and it very lesser for those higher prices.

So, people who do not need over two connections at a time can go for it bearing the heavy cost. Whereas in places there require a number of simultaneous connections, e.g., in a small firm, it is not a wise choice. Remote assistance in setup processes, router optimizations are some of the excellent features that StrongVPN provides to its customers. When it takes an effort to reduce the prices with apt subscription plans, then the chances of StrongVPN is enormous to revolutionize the VPN market.