Table of Contents
Pros
- 30-day official money-back guarantee
- A 7-day trial for free
- P2P sharing is allowed
- good performance
- decent security
- simple
- customer support is good
- unlimited bandwidth
- encryption implementation is strong
Cons
- Can’t pay via Bitcoin
- Keeps some logs
- Lack of support for routers
Summary
Avast Secureline is an overall decent VPN service provider.
It has decent anonymity tools, offers decent reliability and decent performance.
As we said, a decent VPN service provider.
It could do more to improve the number of features that it offers to users.
As for customer support, Avast offers a reasonably fast one.
Avast Secureline VPN is a decent value-for-money VPN service but don’t expect it to provide access to sites like Netflix or work in China or provide extreme forms of online security and anonymity like some of the elite VPN services do.
Avast Secureline VPN full review
Let’s get the obvious things out of the way first.
Avast SecureLine is nowhere near the most popular VPN that one can purchase from the market today.
However, our research confirms that Avast Secureline VPN comes with the added advantage of having the backing of a company that has made quite a name for itself in the field of security software.
In other words, Avast is close to being the best antivirus company in the world and SecureLine VPN has its backing.
A lot of online consumers have shown satisfaction over the quality of the company’s antivirus product offering.
And expectedly, the majority of welcomed the decision of Avast to introduce a VPN service to the overall Avast family.
Online consumers who have an interest in researching and finding out whether the company has successfully managed to not only meet but also exceed expectations should definitely give this Avast Secureline VPN review and all the details that come with it a view.
User interface
If there is a VPN service out there that defines what a no-frills software means then that I Avast Secureline VPN.
Users have the option of downloading and setting up the VPN service quickly and very easily.
There is no need for the user to have any kind of previous knowledge about VPNs or how does a VPN service works.
Avast Secureline VPN presents users with simple and easy to understand instructions that appear on the screen.
They can then install the software and then have Avast Secureline VPN running within a couple of (or slightly more depending on the user’s machine) minutes.
If we stick to the VPN client for now, then Avast Secureline VPN is a simple and pleasant experience.
The VPN client from Avast does not have any special features though.
The only possibilities that it provides to users are,
- selection of a VPN server of their choice
- have the VPN service enable options such as whether or not it should connect to the user’s home network or any other unknown network automatically.
- Have it form a connection over an unsecured or open WiFi network.
Users also have the option of setting up their VPN client to use the Optimal Location.
Thus the VPN client enables its software and all the code that comes with it to select the best possible VPN server for the user.
Reliability and performance
Currently, Avast Secureline VPN offers around 52 VPN servers which are located in a total of 33 countries around the world.
Some of the countries that Avast Secureline VPN has covered include,
- Singapore
- The Netherlands
- The United States of America
- Japan
- China
- Canada
- The United Kingdom
Now, we should mention here that the number of VPN server locations and number of VPN servers is pretty average.
However, our research shows that for a normal online consumer Avast Secureline VPN has more than what most need.
Our research also shows that the Avast Secureline VPN client does slow down the user’s internet connection a little bit.
With that said, it is also true that the speeds that these servers offer are still pretty much above the average for the majority of the time.
Though users should expect the speeds to vary from,
- time to time
- location to location
- server to server
Our research also shows that the actual decrease in speed fundamentally amounts to just a couple of Kbps.
This isn’t a lot.
But since the nature of the internet is inherently chaotic, expect to see better or worse results.
We have also come to know that even if the user experiences the greatest decrease in internet connection speed, he/she still has the option of streaming and downloading content without ever having to worry about various different glitches.
As for the overall performance of the VPN service, we would say Avast Secureline VPN does enough to provide more than a satisfactory experience.
Users who make use of the Avast Secureline VPN should not have to worry about those annoying disconnections that pop up from time to time on low-quality VPN services.
The one thing we appreciate about the Avast Secureline VPN service is that it allows users to enjoy an unlimited amount of bandwidth.
That feature, our research shows, always proves itself as a huge plus for any VPN service.
Compatibility
We have already alluded to the fact that the operating systems and platforms that Avast Secureline VPN has support for are few in number.
The support isn’t impressive, in other words.
With that said, it is also true that the support is not disappointing either.
Currently, Avast Secureline VPN offers compatibility for operating systems such as,
- Android
- iOS
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows 10
- Mac OS X
- Mac OS X 10.10.x
- Mac OS X 10.11.x
The unfortunate thing here is that Avast Secureline VPN does not offer support for any WiFi routers.
With the help of nothing but a single account, users have the option of using the official Avast Secureline VPN on a total of 5 simultaneous devices.
That may sound like great news to some people.
But the problem, again, here is that Avast does not allow users to use the same VPN account on different types of devices.
The devices have to be exactly of the same kind in order to support Avast Secureline VPN’s 5 devices limit.
To take an example, if the user has purchased the Avast Secureline VPN for the PC, then the user cannot make use of Avast Secureline VPN on his/her mobile devices.
If users want to protect their devices on different platforms they would have to pay Avast Secureline an additional amount of money.
Features
We have already mentioned previously in this complete Avast Secureline VPN review that for the money (which we will talk about in a later section) Avast Secureline VPN offers users reasonably good performance and speed.
There is the unlimited bandwidth feature a well.
Moreover, it has full support for the majority of platforms that online consumers today make use of.
A single subscription package enables users to make use of a total of five simultaneous devices albeit the user has to make sure they are of the same kind.
Does Avast Secureline VPN allow torrenting?
Our research says yes.
It does allow users to engage in P2P file sharing.
However, users should take notice that the torrenting feature is not really available on all Avast Secureline VPN servers.
We recommend that users who are interested in torrenting and engaging in other forms of P2P sharing activities, should connect to the company’s VPN servers which are located in regions such as,
- Paris
- London
- Seattle
- Miami
- New York City
- Amsterdam
- Frankfurt
- Prague
If there is another thing (the first being, no-frills software) that Avast Secureline VPN is good at then that is offering users a solid number of VPN servers which are strategically distributed.
Readers already know that Avast Secureline VPN service does offer average VPN speeds.
Our research shows that users should not have a problem in streaming content from sites like Netflix (not saying that it actually works with US Netflix, because it doesn’t) and others or even while downloading content.
Avast Secureline VPN does make use of bank-grade encryption implementations.
And that is how it is able to keep its users extremely safe in that regard alone.
Readers should know that Avast Secureline VPN does not accept Bitcoin as a payment method.
And it doesn’t officially adopt a no-logs policy.
Some of the other relatively advanced security features that Avast Secureline VPN offers to users are,
- built-in fast customer support
- automatic DNS leak protection
- the feature where Avast connects to a VPN server when it detects the user has connected to home or unsecured network.
Apart from these features, Avast really does not provide users with any advanced security features.
With that said, it is also true that Avast Secureline Vpn does provide users with pretty much everything that they would quantify as necessary.
And because it does not offer users any extra features, it is able to provide them an above-average easy and intuitive VPN experience.
Privacy and security
The official Avast Secureline VPN client makes use of a total of two protocols.
One of them is OpenVPN on UDP.
And the other one is IPSec.
Both come with AES 256-bit encryption.
As most of our readers would already know, many consider AES 256-bit encryption to offer users the most amount of security.
In other words, it is the strongest encryption available today.
Avast Secureline VPN offers users OpenVPN on the Android and Windows platform while it offers the IPSec VPN protocol for users with use with their iOS and Mac OS X devices.
The reader should know that this VPN client offers users encryption on all ports.
It does not limit its encryption implementation to web browser ports.
Because of that Avast Secureline VPN is able to provide security to all of the user’s activities.
Now, the other thing we would like to mention here is that the company makes no efforts to monitor the user’s online activity.
However, Avast Secureline VPN does make it clear that it collects certain logs.
But these are logs that do not really have any potential to directly endanger the user’s online privacy.
Avast Secureline VPN currently keeps logs of the user’s,
- bandwidth
- disconnect time
- connect time
- session duration
However, the company does make sure that it erases all the data after the passage every 30 days.
We think that this practice should not cause trouble to those users who only want to unblock sites and download some stuff from the internet.
Of course, for the most privacy-conscious of us, any VPN service that does not adhere to a zero-log policy is not a good VPN service.
Now, we have already mentioned the fact that Avast Secureline VPN offers users strong encryption and decent online security in general.
However, we have found it very disappointing that the company does not provide users the facility to pay for the service via payment methods such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Our research also shows that even though the company claims it provides users with WebRTC leak protection, it does actually leak WebRTC.
But we have come to know that the company is actively working on the problem and is fully aware that it doesn’t function well at the current moment.
Therefore we have hope that Avast Secureline would resolve this problem as soon as possible.
Customer support
We have already alluded to the fact that Avast Secureline VPN does offer users excellent customer support options.
There is a dedicated support section on the official website and it is filled with beneficial information.
We should also mention that there is a forum for users to take advantage of as well.
It can provide help to both beginner and advanced VPN users.
There are those times when the user simply needs to dig a little deep in order to find the answers to his/her problems, for those times Avast Secureline VPN provides users with a search field.
The search field makes it a breeze to find what the user wants to find quickly.
The Avast Secureline VPN official website is not the only place where users can find tons of information about how the service works and how to troubleshoot common problems.
There is also the 24/7 customer support option.
Apart from that, there is also a ticketing system.
Users can also send the company emails with their problems.
Avast has a separate department for the billing support problems and technical support queries.
Users should make use of the ticketing system if they want to make sure that the staff responds back with a solution rather than with a simple ‘hi, what can I do for you today sir’
Our research shows that the staff is fairly quick in responding to user queries.
They can send users helpful and detailed answers in less than 24 hours as well.
Avast Secureline VPN also provides users with the possibility of sending the company a request for help straight through the official VPN client of Avast Secureline VPN.
Price
Our research shows that Avast Secureline VPN provides users with different packages for different internet-enabled devices.
As far as the Mac and PC versions are concerned, the company offers subscription plans lasting,
- 3 years
- 2 years
- 1 year
- 1 month
The 1-month package costs users around $7.99 per month.
There is also the annual subscription package which costs users around $59.99 per month.
Apart from that, there is the 2-year package which costs $109.99.
And finally, there is the 3-year package that costs consumers around $159.99.
If we’re talking about the Android and the iOS platform, users have the option of selecting between monthly subscription or yearly subscriptions.
The monthly subscription on these platforms cost users around $2.99 while the yearly package costs around $19.99.
With that said, users should keep in mind that Avast Secureline VPN does offer discounts plenty of times throughout a given year.
Moreover, users can also scheme a little bit to pay less.
The way to do that is to purchase subscription packages for different internet-enabled devices but do so at the same time.
One other thing that readers should note here is that these Avast Secureline VPN plans come with just a single internet-enabled device of the user’s choice.
The company does offer a multi-device package which provides protection for a total of 5 devices.
The pricing for such packages go like this,
- $219.99 for 3 years
- $149.99 for 2 years
- $79.99 for 1 year
- $8.99 for 1 month
Users also have the option of purchasing subscription packages for a total of 10 devices which cost even more.
What about free trial?
Avast Secureline VPN does offer users an official 7-day trial for free on all of their devices.
So if the user does not feel satisfied with Avast Secureline VPN even after using it for a period of seven days, he/she doesn’t lose anything.
What about money back guarantee?
Avast Secureline VPN offers a mammoth 30-day official money-back guarantee along with all its subscription packages.
Payment options
Current payment options are,
- Paypal
- Wire transfer
- credit card
The only unfortunate problem here is that the company has no facility for users who want to pay for the service via cryptocurrencies (for more privacy and anonymity) such as Bitcoin.
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