Firstly, it is proper and right to know that VPN is more or less the officially recognized abbreviation for Virtual Private Network. If you are looking for online privacy or you want to remain anonymous online, connect to a VPN. Most importantly, VPN services provide greater privacy by establishing secure and encrypted connections.
In addition to that, VPNs conceal your internet protocol (IP) thereby making it almost impossible to be traced.
Remember, surfing the web exposes your browsing habits like torrenting and private information too. Therefore, connecting to a virtual private network (VPN) is a must if you want to enhance your online security and privacy. Otherwise, you are vulnerable to hackers, fraudsters and even eavesdropping by strangers if you read emails or do payment transactions from a public network.
In a nutshell, a VPN gives you the advantage to hide your IP address and location, devices, web activity especially torrenting which can easily land you on the wrong side of the law, location of streaming and your browsing history.
How many VPNs are available then?
There are very many VPNs in the market out there and they differ in quite a number of aspects including features, speed, the number of servers, locations and even the means of getting started with one as well as payment plans. Included in the list of VPNs is the ExpressVPN and for which the following highlights are offered.
Does ExpressVPN have a free trial?
Although there are VPNs which allow for some period of demonstration or free trial, there is no ExpressVPN free trial. However, there is a 30 daymoney back guarantee policy which applies to all the three available payment plans for the use of this software. In order to get back your refund based on the money back guarantee policy, you have got to choose a payment plan that works for you, enter your email address and select your mode of payment.
Modes of payment include Credit Card, PayPal, Crypto currency, Google Pay and Amazon Pay.
In order to get your money back, you must ask for a refund within 30 days. The first plan is for billing per month and it costs $12.95 monthly.
The second plan is where you are billed $59.95 every 6 months.
The third and final plan is for 15 months which comes with a bonus of 3 months for free. In this plan, you get billed $99.95 for the first 15 months and then bills will follow annually thereafter. In the third plan, you stand to save 49%.
Read our full ExpressVPN review here
How do I get free ExpressVPN?
As already stated there above, there is no free ExpressVPN. Instead, you can get started with the software on a 30 day money back guarantee policy. This policy is such that you can choose the one month payment plan in which case you will be charged $12.95.
Alternatively, you can opt for the second payment plan whereby the charges are $59.95 for a time period of 6 months. In the third instance, you can pay $99.95 which covers the first 15 months. Whichever option you select, you can ask for a refund within 30 days to be guaranteed your money back.
ExpressVPN free trial or money back guarantee? What is the difference?
There is no provision for ExpressVPN free trial but there is a provision forget your money back guarantee policy. Free trial programs are run differently and it is good to look at one case study here. In this case study, users are advised to sign up for free without providing credit card information but on condition that their accounts get locked up or closed upon expiry of 14 days if they happen not to pay up within that time period.
In the case of 30-day money back guarantee, users are required to provide credit card details and charges effected immediately. But for the 30 days period, a user can request for a refund and get his or her money back. From these two contrasting examples, it is abundantly clear that whereas in the case of free trial there is no requirement for upfront payment, the same cannot be said of the money back guarantee model.
In the latter case, upfront payment is a requirement followed by the need to request for a refund whereas a customer’s account just gets locked up or closed down upon expiry of a prescribed period of time in the case of the ‘free trial’ model. As a matter of fact, ExpressVPN falls under the money back guarantee policy.
Why to choose ExpressVPN?
When you ask yourself why people decide to go for the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), you will realize that there is a wide range of reasons why you will be compelled to choose ExpressVPN. Firstly, ExpressVPN is free from restrictions of content and censorship whereby it allows you unlimited access to music, social media, video and much more from anywhere around the globe. If you are looking to hiding your IP address and encrypting your network data, ExpressVPN offers a ready solution.
Compatibility is another reason. ExpressVPN has got easy to use apps for a variety of devices namely Linux, Routers, Mac, iOS, Android, Windows and many more others. This software comes with best-in-class encryption feature that cannot be matched by hackers or spies. When you connect to ExpressVPN, you can surf the web for any content and from anywhere in the world with no worries about how to sidestep geoblocks.
ExpressVPN servers have got unlimited bandwidth whereby no attempt to limit the speed at which you download content can succeed especially during times of torrenting.
This software has got a very huge global network which is spread over 94 countries in 160 locations. ExpressVPN has got extensions for browsers such as Firefox, Edge and Chrome. Smart TV systems are not left out either namely Amazon Fire TV Stick, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, Rokuand Apple TV. Also included are game Consoles notably Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.
The other reason for choosing ExpressVPN is its advanced features especially VPN split tunneling which allows you to direct some traffic of your device through a VPN while other devices access the internet directly, Network Lock kill switch for keeping your data safe when your VPN connection drops thereby blocking all internet traffic until protection gets restored. Another feature is the TrustedServer technology which prevents data from being written to a hard drive for the enhancement of your security.
The Private DNS is another feature which ExpressVPN runs on every server thereby making your connections faster and safer. To reinforce security, ExpressVPN does not log traffic data, DNS queries or such other thing that may be used to identify you. That is not all, there are also educational features such as the ExpressVPN Trust Center which makes it hard to breach systems thereby ensuring that hackers don’t stay for long while minimizing the risk of harm with constant test on defenses. Another one is the built-in speed test feature which aids in choosing the fastest server for a location without guesswork.
Others are Public WiFi safety feature, Active blog feature, Stream Sports guide feature, How-to privacy guides, 24-hour live chat support, the use of 5 devices simultaneously and the Defeat ISP throttling feature with which to escape buffering by malicious Internet Service Providers.
Does ExpressVPN work with Netflix?
ExpressVPN works with Netflix yes because the servers of this software have got fast and throttle-free access to Netflix streaming. But you need to have an active Netflix subscription in order to access Netflix from anywhere using ExpressVPN. In order for ExpressVPN to work with Netflix therefore, begin with getting an ExpressVPN.
Connect your device like a smartphone or a computer that supports VPN apps and an active ExpressVPN subscription.
Secondly, install ExpressVPN app or browser extension and then connect to your chosen VPN server. Of course you must find out how to install ExpressVPN on such devices as Linux, Routers, Android, iOS, Firestick, MacOS, Windows or whichever that is applicable. After connecting to VPN, log in to your Netflix account and you are good to go. Note that ExpressVPN apps for Windows and Mac have got a speed test feature as explained there above already. This speed test feature is responsible for checking latency and download speed of each server location and does ranking by speed index.
In order to find the fastest VPN server location for Netflix streaming, you are advised to run the Speed Test feature and choose a United States of America server location with the highest speed index. Note that download speeds differ when connected to a VPN and this can therefore result in different qualities of Netflix videos. As a guide, a speed of 1500 kbps is sure to give you normal quality, 3000 kbps is credited with standard quality whereas 5000 kbps high quality.
Check the ranking of top VPN providers for Netflix
Can I cancel ExpressVPN free trial?
There is no ExpressVPN free trial and therefore you cannot cancel. However, it is imperative to point out that in order to get started with ExpressVPN, there is a provision to ask for a refund within 30 days under the 30-day money back guarantee policy.