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Accessing geo-blocked content, bypassing locked websites, and just preserving your anonymity are some of the many excellent features of using a VPN, which is short for Virtual Protocol Network. In today’s technologically advanced era, everyone knows about VPNs and their surging popularity over the years. This is a reason why you’ll find many free-to-use VPNs on the internet that can be used without paying for anything.
However, you’ll also find that these usually come with limited functionality and are almost always known to mess up here and there. Some low-quality ones even run the risk of exposing your real IP address instead of hiding it. Therefore, you should invest in a paid VPN that knows how to get the job done. There are loads of premium-grade VPN services on the interweb, but not all of them are worth the time and money.
One VPN that comes from a very well-reputed brand known to be an industry veteran is Avast SecureLine VPN. The developer of this VPN service is Avast, and you might already be familiar with Avast Antivirus from your previous purchases on a Windows PC. Therefore, in this review, let’s see whether Avast has done a similarly good job with their VPN offering and whether this product is worth the money or not. We’ll be sure to talk about important parameters of the review to the best of your understanding.
Without wasting any further time, let’s dive right into this review.
What is Avast SecureLine VPN?
Avast SecureLine VPN
Avast SecureLine VPN is software that lives up to its eponymous role. It’s a VPN product that does the job of concealing your IP address from anyone who could potentially cause a threat to your privacy while browsing online and using the internet. It operates by hiding your real IP address with a shared virtual one that isn’t your real IP address. When that happens, your online profile is protected from ill-intent people who can hack your computer by accurately tracing your ID address.
However, the function of Avast SecureLine VPN is two-fold. First, it privatizes your internet connection by giving you a pseudo IP address to work with and protects your internet with
Now, onwards to its cost. This VPN service by Avast doesn’t come for free. You have to pay a fee to get it on your Windows PC. Its base plan costs about $5 per month, so you’ll have to pay about $60 a year that way. However, if you want to get Avast SecureLine VPN to work across ten devices, you’ll have to go for an upgrade and purchase the bumped-up version, which costs $14.99 per month and $179.99 on an annual basis.
However, the best part is that you can grab Avast SecureLine VPN for a significantly discounted price at the moment. The developers currently have the product on a New Year sale that will expire by the end of January. According to the discount applied through this sale, you can get the base plan of the VPN for $4.60 per month and the upgraded plan for $4.20 per month or $100.80 for two years. The latter cost will be billed instantly, so be aware of that.
Now that you know what Avast SecureLine VPN is all about basically, let’s see what level of features it is packing. We’ll be sure to discuss all of the features that allow this software to stand out from the rest of the competition. Although be warned that after rigorous testing, Avast SecureLIne VPN is a disappointing lackluster in terms of comprising advanced-grade features.
Best features of Avast SecureLine VPN
One-click privacy protection
SecureLine VPN by Avast has some solid foundational principles. It employs the technology of OpenSSL and OpenVPN, both of which are world-renowned protocols that grant users open-source, high-end protection and privacy. As mentioned earlier, it also utilizes 256-bit AES encryption that locks in your connection and keeps cybercriminals away from your essentials.
In addition to this functionality, you’ve got DNS leak protection that stows away your actual IP address and gives you a single IP address instead to work with that’s shared. Moreover, Avast does not log your activity or keep tabs on what you visit or do on your computer. Now, we named this subtitle “One-click privacy protection” because Avast SecureLine VPN does all this with just a single click of the mouse.
That is to say; the software interface is very well designed for beginners to understand. It does not complicate things by cluttering a lot of complex processes. Instead, it just has a mainly single visible toggle that you can switch on for the VPN service to start connecting.
Bypass content restrictions
Privacy protection settings
There are many different types of streaming services full of entertaining television shows. However, some of them are not easily accessible and are geo-blocked, which means that it’s restricted from being accessed based on the location you’re residing in. The best example of this case is HBO Max which is UK’s most famous television show streaming application. The only downside is that the service is available in the UK and nowhere else.
Therefore, if you’re outside the United Kingdom, you cannot watch anything on HBO Max as it is geo-blocked. This is precisely where the Avast SecureLine VPN comes in. It might interest you to know that the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts documentary movie was released on the 1st of January this month. To watch it, we had to get a VPN as well, and we used none other than Avast SecureLine VPN to do the job for us.
As expected, we were able to stream what we wanted with the help of this VPN, given its numerous data server locations spread out across the world. An added benefit of using a VPN is getting access to deals and discounts geo-blocked previously.
Massive server variety
Data centers in SecureLine VPN
Avast SecureLine VPN features more than 700 servers for you to connect to. This massive number is spread across the globe in more than 34 countries. You’ll find 16 different servers to connect to in the USA only. If there’s certain content in a specific country that’s geo-blocked, you can form a connection with that country and gain access to the content quickly.
Certified by Apple
Avast SecureLine VPN is also endorsed by a well-established tech giant who everyone knows in the industry—Apple. The SecureLine VPN edition that can be downloaded and used for iOS and macOS comprises IPsec policy protocol. These versions of the VPN are catered especially toward Apple’s product for better performance and utmost stability, so that’s a very desirable plus.
Protection from scammy hotspots
OpenVPN
Sitting in a public place is all fun and games until you discover a Wi-Fi network with no password protection or encryption. Then, your mind rushes you to connect to it and enjoy all that free volume. However, diving in could prove to be very risky for individuals, as you never know what that free hotspot is in actuality.
However, this is yet another area where Avast SecureLine VPN excels. It protects you from those hotspots and wireless connections that will try to scam you and trick you into giving up all your private data, passwords, and other essential information.
Whether you’re waiting for your flight at an airport, spending your time in a coffee shop, or reading a book in a library, it’s always for the best to connect to public Wi-Fi connections in a secure manner. Avast SecureLine VPN can help you do that reliably and protect you from becoming a victim of cybercrimes.
Avast SecureLine VPN in-depth review
Now that you are aware of the best features of Avast SecureLine VPN, let’s get straight to its in-depth review. We will be dividing this into multiple sections for the purpose in question, so you can also find it easier to assess the VPN in accordance with your requirements. The first one is speed.
Speed
In terms of speed, Avast SecureLine VPN takes little time and effort to connect to the data servers. In our testing, the software was able to find a connection within 6 seconds and that’s basically giving us not a lot to complain about. The boot-up speed of the application, however, depends on a number of other factors, so we won’t be counting that in here.
Let’s get more in detail now. Whenever you get connected to a VPN, your download speeds and upload speeds are reduced. For instance, if you have a stable internet connection of 100 MB/s of download speed and 50 MB/s of upload speed, both of these speeds will be decreased by a certain amount, depending on the VPN you have. In most cases, the speed reduction is quite a lot, almost down to 50-60%. This is simply because of the necessary encryption steps that a VPN takes in order to ensure anonymity.
As for Avast SecureLine VPN, we found out in our testing that the download speed of our internet connection after forming a secure connection was brought down by somewhere around 45-55%. That’s pretty workable, so we’re fairly impressed here. However, if we are to focus on the upload speeds, the results were a bit disappointing. Our internet’s upload speed came down to about 75% and that’s quite a lot.
Coming back to the positive side, the Avast SecureLine VPN actually brought good results for our latency. Prior to the connection, our ping was about 100 milliseconds. After connecting to Avast SecureLine VPN, the latency came down to 50 milliseconds, almost halving the aforementioned number in our favor.
At the end of the day, however, Avast SecureLine VPN isn’t the best in the business in terms of speed, but it’s definitely a good one due to the workable download speed reduction and appreciable latency results. The upload speed can be compromised if you’re not into frequent uploads, but if your work revolves around the latter mostly, you might need to consider more options. In general, we fare the speed of the Avast SuecureLine VPN to be above bang average.
Interface
The interface of Avast SecureLine VPN is nothing but straightforward, as we’ve iterated earlier. It’s well-designed and doesn’t stuff together different parameters to confuse users, especially ones who have just started out. There will be a sizable toggle within the main graphical user interface of Avast SecureLine VPN. Upon clicking on it, the program will start looking for data centers quickly. Once it does, it will notify you that your browsing is now secure.
Other than that, there will be an option under the “Optimal location” section that will let you connect to the data center of your choice. As for the overall design of Avast SecureLine VPN, it’s decorated with dark colors and looks quite sleek during usage. Therefore, it’s surely an eye-pleaser and not boring, monotonous, or anything like that.
Compatibility
Avast SecureLine VPN scores great compatibility numbers on our behalf. It’s not only available as a standalone application on Windows PCs but it can also be downloaded and used on mobile operating systems like Android and iOS. Last but not least, Avast SecureLine VPN is also available for macOS, which is Apple’s very own desktop operating system.
That’s pretty great and all, but the only thing that this VPN is missing out on is compatibility for Linux. Unfortunately, Avast SecureLine is incompatible with Linux desktops at the moment, but perhaps the developers might look into bringing support for it in the future. Other than that, the software covers every other major operating system in the books, so if you are a casual user, you should be good for the most part.
Servers
Avast SecureLine VPN features more than 700 data centers stretching out across the world in more than 36 different countries. These are okay numbers for casual users but don’t think of them too much. This is because many other competitors of this software feature more than 1,100 data servers so when you start factoring in the rivals, Avast SecureLine VPN seems kind of beaten by a mile.
Still, the fact that it comprises 16 different servers in the United States alone means that you can probably use it at a good rate for your day-to-day working. But just don’t expect anything way over the top from it.
Customer Support
You can tell a lot about a company by observing how it treats its customers. Avast, fortunately, is one of the generous brands out there in the world that do care for their subscribers. Their customer support is responsive, friendly, and knowledgeable about what they are being asked of. In addition to that, Avast SecureLine VPN provides multiple ways of contacting the customer support service center.
You can get to the company via email, live chat, and even a call if you’ve got some data plan to spare. Their response time through email is somewhere around 4-5 hours, and people who have had their run-ins with Avast have been left very satisfied with the amount of detail included in customer support replies. With all of this being said and done, it is worth noting that the proper customer support service of Avast SecureLine VPN is only provided to subscribers who have purchased the software.
If you’re on the free trial period, you won’t be able to get in touch with Avast’s live chat feature or even call them for inquiring about a free Avast product. What you can do, however, is sift through the dedicated Knowledge Base of the company and dig out answers to your questions yourself. You can also find help from elsewhere on the internet, such as forums, Reddit posts, and more.
In conclusion, Avast’s customer support is excellent, but only for those who are actively subscribed to any of their paid products. You get a number of options to contact them, as we have talked about just now, so you should be good with it for the most part.
Value
Avast SecureLine VPN does not offer monthly subscription plans and many might agree that this is the biggest downside of this software. A lot of people do not want to commit to something for that long. They might not like it wholly in the long term and this will potentially cause considerable regrets. Apart from the lack of a monthly subscription system, the annual plans of Avast SecureLine VPN are priced right. They aren’t too expensive but they aren’t too cheap either.
The whole thing will set you back for about $3.75 if you plan to purchase the 3-year program it has. However, all payments will be upfront and won’t be deducted from your account on a monthly basis. All things considered, we will give Avast SecureLine VPN 7/10 in terms of value for its speed, easy-to-use interface, and the fact that it does not require your credit card or other billing information for a free trial.
Keep on reading to catch our verdict on whether this VPN is worth the money or not.
Is Avast SecureLine VPN worth the money?
Now, let’s discuss the golden question: Is Avast SecureLine VPN worth the money or not? Our short answer is yes, but you should hear us out first entirely before jumping to a conclusion.
Avast SecureLine VPN is rapid, consistent, and a superb performer at the heart of its functionality. It gives you good speed on your internet connection and does not render the experience unworkable whenever you’re connected to it.
Our testing showed us that connecting the internet to Avast SecureLine VPN decreased the ping and got us favorable results. However, there was a significant decrease in upload and download speed.
Other than that, Avast SecureLine VPN isn’t highly advanced when it boils down to features. Instead, it likes to keep things reasonably simple, with a straightforward working mechanism.
You click on the huge toggle to turn the VPN on, and it automatically selects the best data server for you. However, you’re still free to choose the server of your preference. Still, you won’t be shown any diagnostics straight away, so you can determine whether that particular server will be giving you a good connection or not.
Enabling Avast SecureLine VPN
As for its pricing scheme, Avast SecureLine VPN does come off as narrow-minded. There’s no way to opt for a monthly plan, and the only way to get it is to subscribe to one of the service’s annual packages. This could be a long haul for many users out there who are not looking for this type of commitment.
Still, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, and there is in the case of SecureLine VPN as well. You can always opt for a 7-day free trial to check out how this VPN service works. You don’t even need a credit card or any other credentials to make that happen, other than creating a free account, of course.
That should give you a good idea to approach your decision regarding purchasing SecureLine VPN. Our answer was yes and is still is yes, but you haven’t heard the best part yet.
If you like what SecureLine VPN can do for you after checking it out in the trial period and you want to purchase it, we highly recommend doing it before the end of this month, 31st January 2022. The best course of action is to purchase the service at a discounted price.
Due to the New Year sale, there’s currently a 39%, 44%, and 50% off sale on the three different plans of Avast SecureLine that you can check out here. The plans are for one year, two years, and three years.
If you like what SecureLine VPN has to offer to you, are comfortable with its relatively scaled-down feature set, have no complaints about purchasing it for a year or more, then we believe this product is the one for you. Its speed, performance, and stability make it stand out in the competition, so we recommend going for it only if you’ve assessed your needs and wants.
1 comment
I buy avast unfortunately very limited country access