DotVPN Premium Review (2024)

DotVPN’s Premium offering initially appears attractive, but it ultimately falls short due to significant privacy concerns, inconsistent performance, and inadequate support, making it challenging to recommend.

Features

DotVPN, operated by Smart Security Ltd. and based in Hong Kong, boasts 24 data centers across 12 countries, providing both free and paid VPN services.

The service offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android. The user experience with these extensions is often problematic. During testing, DotVPN’s Premium service functioned inconsistently, working only about 50% of the time.

Upon first installing the browser extension, users are prompted to submit their email and create a VPN-specific password. Unfortunately, DotVPN does not enforce distinct passwords for the VPN extension versus website logins, compromising security.

Authorization issues plagued the service, with the extension frequently stuck in “loading” and “creating a VPN password” loops. Attempts to resolve these issues by uninstalling and reinstalling the extension or switching browsers yielded poor results.

In Chrome, clearing cache and cookies temporarily resolved one issue, but a new problem emerged: the account appeared as free rather than Premium. Users experienced repeated cycles of browser launch, shutdown, and cache clearing before the account recognized its Premium status.

Opera users faced authorization failures, as the website repeatedly redirected to the login page without successful authentication. Firefox users managed to log in and install the extension but encountered authorization failures.

Compounding these issues is the absence of a user dashboard on the DotVPN website. While there is a Help and Downloads page and a support request system, users cannot view or manage submitted tickets from their account. There is no live chat support, and ticket submissions are only traceable through email.

Despite DotVPN’s claims of superiority over traditional VPNs, it struggles to meet even basic VPN standards.

The service includes several customizable features, depending on the subscription plan, such as bandwidth saver, ad and tracking blocker, analytics blocker, firewall, auto-start on browser launch, and an option to hide the app icon.

DotVPN’s Premium version supports P2P, though the list of supported countries is only accessible through the extension, not the website. This may indicate a lack of updates or intentional omission.

The available countries include two locations in the US and unspecified locations in the UK, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, South Africa, Israel, Russia, Turkey, and multiple EU countries.

Notably, there is no kill switch or access to protocol and encryption information within the extension.

Pricing

DotVPN’s free plan offers unlimited data usage and cloud firewall protection, potentially appealing to users. The Premium plan, priced at $4.99 per month or $35.88 annually, includes features such as a faster network, unlimited data, streaming capabilities, firewall, zero content restrictions, 4096-bit encryption, and P2P support. DotVPN markets itself as providing online anonymity.

Payment options include PayPal and credit cards, but not Bitcoin. The refund policy is cumbersome, requiring users to not exceed 10 GB of bandwidth, provide proof of technical issues, and demonstrate that support was unable to resolve the problem. The detailed conditions make the refund process challenging.

A concerning aspect of DotVPN’s Premium subscription is its practice of extracting profile information from Google accounts if used for sign-up. This intrusion is troubling for a service that professes to prioritize privacy, particularly when personal data, such as profile pictures from Google+, is accessed without clear consent.

Tests

DotVPN significantly impacted my connection speeds. Below are the results from a synthetic speed test conducted prior to connecting to DotVPN:

Speed Test Results Before Connecting to DotVPN:

• US Server: [Results]

• UK Server: [Results]

• Australian Server: The Speed Test by Ookla was unable to process my request after connecting to the Australian server.

DotVPN successfully passed DNS leak tests and did not exhibit any WebRTC or IPv6 leaks.

Regarding access to streaming services, it is imperative that VPN providers

cease advertising Netflix US access if they cannot deliver it.

DotVPN did not unblock Netflix US. However, it did provide access to BBC iPlayer and HBO US:

• BBC iPlayer: [Results]

• HBO US: [Results]

Privacy and Security

Privacy concerns are prominent with DotVPN. Notably, their browser extensions have access to all of your online activities.

The Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and User Agreement are extensive. The logging policies are notably ambiguous. There is a clause indicating that they log connection metadata (such as your IP address, connection time, and bandwidth usage). Additionally, some clauses suggest that the company retains usage logs, software version details, and payment information. Although they claim not to share this data with third parties, they reserve the right to store your data for up to two years and may contact you by phone.

The company is registered in Hong Kong, but its website is hosted in Frankfurt, Germany—a location known for its stringent privacy violations and close ties with the NSA.

Furthermore, linking to their website from your blog prohibits any form of disparagement against the company. It is unclear whether raising valid concerns is considered disparagement.

It is crucial to remember that despite robust encryption, a VPN provider still tunnels your traffic through their servers, which grants them the ability to monitor your online activities. The central issue is whether you trust the provider. DotVPN does not meet the expected standards of privacy or semi-anonymity.

I strongly recommend thoroughly reviewing user feedback before making any decisions.