Norton Secure VPN Review | TechSwitch

Many safety distributors now supply a VPN service – Avast’s SecureLine, Kaspersky’s Secure Connection, Avira’s PhantomVPN – and Norton Secure VPN (the product previously referred to as Norton WiFi Privacy) is Symantec’s entry into this discipline.We had been to see how the service in contrast with the specialist competitors, however Symantec’s web site did not make any actual effort to inform us. There’s no point out of the community dimension, the place its servers are, supported protocols, or something past the truth that there are apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.After putting in the shopper, we discovered Secure VPN affords a good selection of 29 international locations masking North America and Europe, with different areas together with Australia, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.The service makes use of the speedy and safe OpenVPN protocol, but it surely does not present separate OpenVPN configuration recordsdata or setup tutorials which could mean you can manually arrange the VPN on different platforms (recreation consoles, sensible TVs and so forth.)Prices begin at $26 (£20) for a one 12 months, one system license, rising to $52 (£40) on renewal. Covering 5 gadgets prices a extra affordable $39 (£30) for 12 months one, $78 (£60) on renewal, and a ten system license is $78 (£60) initially, $91 (£70) on renewal.That appears to be like costly, to make use of. Avast’s SecureLine will cowl a single cell system for $19.50 (£15) a 12 months, whereas Private Internet Access expenses an annual $40 (£30.77) to cowl as much as 5 gadgets. But it is nonetheless cheaper than some – ExpressVPN asks $100 (£77) to cowl three gadgets for one 12 months – and also you should not essentially be delay by the value alone.There’s no free product or trial to mean you can consider the service, sadly, however you do get an unusually beneficiant sixty-day money-back assure. Well, that is the thought, anyway – the precise guidelines range relying on the place and the way you purchase the product. The greatest recommendation right here is to rigorously learn the small print.Privacy and loggingThe Secure VPN web site claims the service offers a “no-log virtual private network that doesn’t track or store your activity.” That’s an excellent begin, though there is not any extra element on the entrance web page.A ‘What is a no-log VPN?’ help article vaguely states that the service ‘collects subscriber info for communication functions, cell system knowledge, and combination bandwidth utilization’, though it ‘doesn’t log details about the place you go on the web.’Norton’s Privacy Policy provides extra element. The cell system knowledge consists of ‘system identify, sort, OS model, and language’, apparently, whereas the service additionally information ‘non permanent utilization knowledge to help with debugging an issue with the service.’This nonetheless appears very unclear, to us. Does the service actually solely file knowledge for cell gadgets, and never desktops? Are these the one gadgets logged, or does that ‘together with’ imply there is likely to be others? What ‘non permanent utilization knowledge’ is recorded, and the way non permanent is it?Even when the coverage guidelines one thing out, it nonetheless leaves us uncertain. The assertion that ‘Symantec doesn’t retailer the person’s originating IP deal with when related to Norton Secure VPN and subsequently Symantec can not determine people’ appears definitive, as an example, but it surely does not inform us that the vacation spot IP deal with is not saved, and so cannot rule out a level of session logging.We suspect this lack of readability is not all the way down to Symantec making an attempt to cover something underhand. Like most non-specialist suppliers, the corporate is simply assuming its prospects aren’t that involved in regards to the high quality technical particulars, and so they’ve not made any actual efforts to spell out precisely what is going on on. Still, if Symantec needs to compete with the massive VPN names, they will must do higher than this, and we hope they will get extra particular in future.AppsAfter signing up for Norton Secure VPN, a Welcome e mail provided a Getting Started hyperlink to search out and set up the service. Except, nicely, it did not, with a Device Not Supported message telling us ‘Norton doesn’t run on this Windows working system.’ What, Windows 10?!Fortunately, the post-signup net web page additionally provided us a Getting Started hyperlink, and this one labored accurately, providing us an opportunity to obtain a shopper for this system, or use one other.The shopper interface has loads of visible attraction. Your present location and connection standing are highlighted on a small map, there’s sensible use of coloration to emphasise key info, and even a complete VPN novice will instantly work out what they should do.Unfortunately, there’s additionally a extra technical design subject. The app is drawn to seem like a daily utility window, but it surely is not. You cannot click on and drag on the title bar to maneuver the window, as an example, and when you click on on anything, it disappears. You get used to this, but it surely’s nonetheless an annoyance, and it is exhausting to think about any good purpose why the developer applied it that manner.There are only a few options. You should select areas from a single alphabetically-sorted record of nations, with no approach to filter or search the record, no possibility to decide on areas inside international locations, and no indication of server load, ping time or some other manner that can assist you make the only option.There’s a usability drawback, too, in that the primary tab does not present the at the moment chosen location. That does not matter while you’re related because it’s displayed on the map, however while you’re offline, it is a completely different story. You should both keep in mind which location you used final time, otherwise you’ll should click on the Virtual Location tab first.The Settings menu is sparse. You can have the shopper launch together with Windows, and optionally connect with your nearest server, however that is it. There’s no capability to alter protocol, modify connection settings, have the shopper mechanically join while you entry insecure networks, or any of the opposite choices you will generally discover elsewhere.The solely bonus function we may discover was easy tracker blocking. This has some worth because it’s applied because the connection degree, so will work on all of your browsers and software program, with out the necessity to set up browser extensions. But it has no configuration choices past ‘on/ off’, and you will get way more energy and options by utilizing one thing like uBlock Origin.The shopper has no signal of a customized kill change, however our exams recommended that OpenVPN covers the fundamentals. When we tried manually closing the OpenVPN.exe course of, our web entry was blocked for a short interval, the service reconnected and our earlier IP was restored.We noticed an uncommon technical contact in Secure VPN’s OpenVPN configuration. While different shoppers strive to connect with a single server, in a particular manner (by way of TCP or UDP, for instance), Secure VPN is far smarter. Its configuration file can retry connections utilizing greater than 30 strategies, which embrace altering server, port and utilizing TCP or UDP.This is fascinating, however we’re undecided how sensible it’s. Connecting may take a really very long time if the shopper has to cycle by a number of of those, and it means you possibly can by no means be fairly certain which server, port or connection sort it’s going to be utilizing. But then often you will get related first time, and when you’re in a rustic which tries to dam VPNs, having the shopper strive a number of settings offers you a greater probability of getting on-line.Mobile VPN apps are typically very completely different to the desktop variations, and Norton’s Android app has a direct benefit over the Windows construct: there is a 7-day trial.Aside from that, although, the app fundamentals are a lot the identical. It mechanically connects on launch; you are ready to decide on a brand new location from a easy record, and there is not any Favorites system or some other approach to pace up discovering and reconnecting to particular servers.We did discover one bonus, and it is a helpful one for a cell app: it could actually mechanically connect with the VPN while you entry an insecure community. It’s a small function, however value having, because it means you do not have to recollect to show the system on your self.EfficiencyNorton Secure VPN does not present uncooked OpenVPN configuration recordsdata, which suggests we weren’t ready to make use of our automated efficiency testing instruments. Instead, we switched again to our older method of manually logging in to particular person areas, then checking obtain speeds with Fast.com, SpeedTest.web and TestMy.web.Local connections to our nearest UK server had been wonderful, with downloads persistently reaching 60-66Mbps. Nearby European international locations had been little completely different at 50-65Mbps, suggesting these figures had been restricted by our 75Mbps take a look at connection slightly than Norton’s personal community. If your connection is quicker, you might nicely see higher speeds.US efficiency was additionally above common at 45-65Mbps. There’s no possibility to decide on cities, although, so outcomes will range relying in your location.More distant areas did not all the time fare as nicely – Australia was slightly disappointing at 15 to 25Mbps, Mexico managed 8 to 18Mbps – however even these can be completely satisfactory for a lot of functions.NetflixWhile some VPNs make massive claims about how they will bypass all geoblocking and get you entry to any web site you want, Norton Secure VPN barely mentions this in any respect, past a common declare that it permits you entry to your favourite web sites ‘wherever you go, simply as when you’re at house.’This does not imply the service is brief on unblocking energy, although. We related to the UK server and had been in a position to stream BBC iPlayer content material with none points or problems.Switching to the US acquired us prompt entry to US-only YouTube content material, one other welcome success.Norton Secure VPN even allowed us to view US Netflix, one of many best challenges in content material unblocking. We would suggest testing this your self – Secure VPN may assign you a number of IPs and we won’t be certain they will all get you in – however we had no issues, and that is an excellent begin.HelpIf you run into issues with Norton Secure VPN then you possibly can head off to the help web site, however we might suggest you retain your expectations low. There are a small variety of FAQs, principally very brief on element, and when you’ve any VPN expertise we suspect you possibly can produce higher content material in a day.The chances are high you will contact the help workforce direct, then. Especially as Norton makes it really easy, with 24/7 reside chat and cellphone choices.The outcomes you will get are, nicely, variable. In our expertise, Norton’s entrance line help brokers aren’t VPN specialists. They can reply fundamental product spec and setup questions, however ask them to diagnose something extra sophisticated and also you may run into bother. That does not essentially imply you will be left alone – they will escalate main points to extra educated workers, and use distant entry to see precisely what is going on on – however we expect you will typically get higher help from a specialist VPN supplier.Final verdictIf your VPN wants are easy then Norton Secure VPN’s stripped-back interface may attraction, and when you’ve just one system to guard, it is cheaper than some. Experts will probably be pissed off by the dearth of options, although, and there are a lot better VPNs round.