A VPN service is a great option for safeguarding your data and by creating a tunnel between your computer and the VPN server. In our continued discussion on the best VPN services, we will today review the TorGuard VPN and find how effective the service has been in providing you in terms of the service quality.
TorGuard VPN – An Overview
TorGuard has been rated as a feature-rich VPN. It has been considered to be a great service for those of you who are looking to keep your peer to peer file sharing secure. However, even when you are not someone who is not interested in peer to peer sharing, it does provide you a lot of other features.
The name may be a little confusing as you are likely to get confused with the TorProject and safe browsing. But, TorGuard VPN has nothing to do with the Tor Project. The name TorGuard simply means that the tool is specifically designed for those using BitTorrent clients.
The VPN service does have a stronger global presence and claims to have more than 3000 servers worldwide. The features are designed to provide you with a high degree of privacy. It does work in a perfect cross-platform functionality and offers apps for Android and iOS apps.
Security
TorGuard provides you access to a top-level performance with Fort Knox style AES-256 bit encryption. You also have an IPVS leak protection that further improves your experience. This will provide you access to a great degree of experience if you are someone who cares a lot about privacy and data breaches.
TorGuard does provide you access to a plethora of VPN protocol support – OpenVPN, PPTP, SSTP, L2TP/IPSec, and IKEv2/IPSec. It may be a good idea to go with the OpenVPN protocol as you get a better IP Obfurcation quality along with frequent fixes for leaks and vulnerabilities.
VPN Speeds
All the VPN services are bound to face a little downgrade on the speed. The VPN service acts as a tunnel between you and your ISP, and that is exactly why you would experience a downgrade in your network speed.
We observed a good range of above-average to good speeds when using TorGuard. Ideally, on most of the networks, the drop was to the tune of around 35 to 55 percent. The faster servers of the VPN service were observed in the US and EU countries. The Asian servers were found to be quite slower. It may be a good idea to check out the servers close to you and get a good speed.
What about the Logs policy of TorGuard?
If a VPN service keeps the logs of your activities and sessions, that would perhaps be one of the strongest negative factors with respect to a VPN service. However, you would find TorGuard providing you a strict no-logs policy.
The consumers’ personal data will not be revealed to either law enforcement agencies or hackers alike. The service collects some anonymous data for handling your service more effectively and efficiently. In addition to the no-logs policy, you would also get access to a shared VPN setup. This can be helpful in providing you an increased level of anonymity.
However, since TorGuard is located in Florida, you may perhaps be in for some sort of data sharing with the government authorities.
Which Streaming services does TorGuard support?
The prime reason one would opt for a streaming service would be to watch the streaming services. When it comes to handling the streaming services, TorGuard does come with a few limitations. On the basic plan, you may not get access to Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
When you compare it to the other competing players, the non-availability of streaming services may be something that would make it an annoying service. The service does provide you access to Netflix and iPlayer streaming, with dedicated streaming servers as an add-on. They have dedicated streaming IPs, and these servers are located in the USA, UK, and Spain. This will ensure that you will get a complete access to all your streaming content.
What about the Customer service offered by TorGuard?
The customer support is yet another factor you would want to place a powerful impact on a VPN service. The 24 X 7 live chat ability is one of the best features you would find extremely essential and important. The average wait time for the live chat is around 5 minutes.
One of the strongest factors we found quite interesting with the live chat support is that you have access to a trained professional rather than getting connected to a generic bot which provides you generic responses alone. You also have access to a dedicated call center and a ticket support system.
The availability of a huge collection of installation guides on the website. The FAQ section is one of the strongest factors you would find a great option ever. Then there is a well-designed blog for all your requirements for each of your general or specific questions.
We will definitely rate the customer service quality of TorGuard a great option. You can be assured of a great degree of professional performance when it comes to the high-quality customer service.
The Server Locations
TorGuard provides you access to more than 3000 servers across more than 55 countries. That would mean you can be assured of getting a server placed across almost every location. You can even get access to eight simultaneous connections.
Since the servers are located in more than 50 different countries, you will have access to any of the blocked content across practically any location. No matter where you are located, you will have access to a server nearby. The TorGuard VPN servers are located around the Americas, Asia, and Europe. You would also get access to a good deal of servers located in Asia, which includes India and the Middle East. However, there are no servers located in the African region.
Is TorGuard a great option for Torrenting?
TorGuard was actually designed for the torrenting community and hence the name. It even has offered several features to make sure that you have access to a high-end support for Torrenting. A secure torrenting has been a core part of the TorGuard VPN service.
TorGuard supports P2P file sharing on all the servers on its network. TorGuard is compatible with a wide range of toorenting clients, includingBitTorrent, uTorrent, Vuze, qBittorrent, and more. You would also find it providing you access to a high degree of efficiency with port forwarding functionality. It can further increase your torrenting capability. You can get access to an increased file transfer rate.
App and Extensions
One of the prime factors you would find on TorGuard Windows client is the ease of use and a simple, yet uncluttered interface. The list of Pro features offered on Torguard can definitely prove to be something you would find a great service quality ever.
Connecting to your server would be extremely easy and simple on the Windows client. Just pick a server and hit Connect. You are good to go! The fastest VPN service takes as less as only 20 seconds, which is one of the huge advantages.
The Kill switch should be one of the plus points, which should further prove to be a great option that prevents your data from being transmitted to your ISP when the VPN connection fails or disconnects. The built-in Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC), DNS, and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) protection are a few other added advantages offered on the TorGuard VPN service.
TorGuard is also available on other platforms such as Android, iOS, OS X, and Linux. The Android app is quite minimalistic, but does not pose any issues in getting connected. The connection speed remains the same across Android and Windows clients. The Android app makes use of the OpenVPN protocol, and you have no options to change it. However, there are options to change the encryption settings.
Lack of Kill Switch on the Android app can be a negative factor. You will continue to stay connected even when the VPN service disconnects. The iOS app for TorGuard provides you access to IPsec or IKEv2 encryption. If you want to connect using the OpenVPN protocol, you would need to install an OpenVPN app from a third-party source. Once again, you will not find access to the Kill Switch on the iOS app as well.
How much does TorGuard service cost?
TorGuad offers you access to five different plans. The plans and their pricing appear to be above average. Buying a bundled plan can be a little confusing as you would not get access to the perfect plans.
As you can easily find from the image above, the biennial plan does appear to be more economical. The plan does work out to be just around $4 per month. TorGuard VPN does provide you access to several payment options that include PayPal, Credit Cards, Cryptocurrency, and a wide range of other options.
TorGuard is not the cheapest one, but they are not necessarily much expensive either. The functionality offered by the VPN service would indeed make it one of the strongest players ever. If you can add a proxy service to the platform, you would find that it is a perfect service ever and the strongest one to beat.
A Few Pros and Cons
Having checked out the prime factors of the TorGuard VPN service, let us now check out a few prime pros and cons so that we can be able to make a learned decision about what to expect to from the service.
Pros
- Affordable pricing, though not the cheapest.
- A huge number of servers spread across multiple nations around the globe
- Eight simultaneous connections
- Subscribers are customizable
Cons
- The Windows client is minimalistic
- Privacy policy is a little vague
- Streaming not perfect on the basic package
The Concluding Thoughts
Of course, TorGuard is not a perfect VPN service and does come with its own set of disadvantages. The lack of options for streaming services such as Netflix on basic plans can be a truly annoying option. However, despite those issues, we still found TorGuard VPN service an extremely reliable one on most counts.
A strong P2P support, an enhanced security, and a great deal of performance characteristics are what would make it something you would want to rely upon.
A few FAQs
What are the benefits offered by TorGuard?
The network strength offered by TorGuard definitely makes it one of the strongest players among the powerful VPN services. The number of servers and a global foot print is what would make it one of the excellent options ever. You would also find it providing you a considerably higher degree of speeds. An enhanced support for torrenting can further make it a great choice for most of your requirements.
Is TorGuard safe?
TorGuard provides you access to several VPN protocols. Some of the prime protocols you would find support for would include OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP, and IPsec, to name just a few. The stealth protection is yet another plus point we found rather interesting. The availability of the Kill switch further makes it a reliable option for almost all your requirements.
Does TorGuard provide a free option?
You will not get any free plan under the TorGuard VPN service. In fact, if you are really checking out the best VPN service quality and performance, you should never opt for a free VPN service ever. Of course, you have access to a seven-day moneyback guarantee, which should be one of the huge advantages ever, just in case you are not satisfied with the service quality of the TorGuard service for any reason.
Does TorGuard work with Netflix?
Yes, TorGuard does work with Netflix. However, if you are on a basic plan, you may find the service fails to connect or even refuse to address the geo-blocking. If you want to use unhindered access to the Netflix service, you are expected to buy a dedicated TorGuard streaming IP address for an additional monthly fee.