When you live or are traveling in Asia, having a good VPN is necessary to be able to browse the internet without restrictions and securely. Many Asian countries have put restrictions on internet use, with China being the most obvious example (although not the only one), as many website are blocked, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Security is also important in Asia (although not only in Asia), as it is not rare for third parties to obtain sensitive information (such as bank accounts, contact information, etc.) when you are browsing the web, particularly on public networks.
This article is a review of a VPN that I have been using since 2012, StrongVPN, that has remained a reliable option during all of the time I have spent in China.
However, in the past few years, many other VPNs have appeared. Click here to see best ones we are currently recommending..
Strong VPN’s features
- Money-back guarantee: 30 days.
- Free trial: No.
- Monthly plan: 10 USD per month.
- Annual plan: From 5.83 USD (per month).
- Server count: 650+.
- Countries with servers: 20.
- Desktop applications: Windows, Mac.
- Mobile applications: Android, iOS.
- Simultaneous connections: 5 Simultaneous connections.
- Customer support: 24/7/365.
- Encryption protocols: L2TP, SSTP, OpenVPN, IPSec and IKEv2.
- VPN location changes: Unlimited.
- Supported languages: English.
The advantages of StrongVPN
- It works: As I said before, I have used it for a long time in China and it has always been a reliable option to get past the Great Firewall.
- Speed: I have tried a lot of VPNs and I have to admit that StrongVPN is one of the fastest I have used.
- Stability: Once you are connected, it is rare for your connection to cut out (a common problem with many VPNs).
- After-sale service: If you have any questions or problems, they offer 24 hour technical assistance.
- Servers with dynamic IPs : Currently many websites and countries can detect the use of VPNs through IP addresses, have servers with dynamic IPs can help you avoid that your connection is detected and therefore blocked.
- Doesn’t offer additional options: Although in the recent times StrongVPN has made an effort to offer equivalent services than other VPNs with similar prices (simultaneous connections or unlimited server changes), it still doesn’t offer additional options that others offer that sometimes maight be necessary. Such as NEAT firewall, dedicated IPs, Kill Switch, stealth encryption, obfuscated servers, among others.
The disadvantages of StrongVPN
What plan to choose
Since it offers a 30-day money back guarantee, in my opinion you do not need to opt for the monthly plan (much more expensive).
How to optimize your connection
Optimizing my connection with StrongVPN
When you are at the place from which you are going to connect most frequently, go to the StrongVPN webpage, input your email and password, and enter the Customer Area.
After that, go to VPN Accounts –> VPN Accounts Summary and click on Speed Tests. Click on Start Ping test all (this will take a while), select the server that shows the smallest number and at the bottom of the page, click on Change Location (see the photo below for more details).
Optimizing my connection with StrongVPN
Been using ExpressVpn for a couple of years without any problems aside from occasional slow connection speed. However, for the past few months, I was not able to connect to it on any of my iOS devices without turning them off first. And I would have do this every time I need to use Expressvpn and this means numerous times a day. I contacted Expressvpn support and was told this is an iOS issue, nothing to do with them. I wonder does anyone else had this issue. Also, I just signed up Vyprvpn’s 3 day trial but discovered that I can’t contact live chat without vpn being on. That’s useless to me when my vpn is down and can’t contact support for immediate solution.
I hope the problem is solved, but I can’t do much about this issue. You can try other VPNs, having an alternative VPN is always good for long term stays in China