Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access (PIA) is one of the top Virtual Private Networks (VPN) in the world. It is based out of Denver, Colorado and has a no frills policy. We have added it as one of our top VPN’s to recommend to our readers. We gave it a 9 out of 10 stars. It would have been 9.5 if it were not in a Five Eyes Alliance (FVEY) Country.

That is no way compromises how safe your data is from hackers and having data breaches or DNS leaks. This place has open sourced apps and takes security very seriously. They have over 35,000 servers in 91 countries. There is no reason you can’t find a server to meet your needs, even if you travel for a living.

In our reviews for VPN’s we try to hit the high spots and important information. You can get down a rabbit hole and get too detailed in reviews with all the protections users have with Private Internet Access. We have only chosen five VPN‘s to promote on Handicappers Hideaway as we want only the top of the line to recommend.

You may be wondering what in the world a online gambling review and information site is doing promoting VPN’s. Well online gambling and VPN’s go hand in hand. They always have and always will. Especially now with online sports gambling being legal in 35 States now in the US. Plus more and more of our lives are moving towards digital and online.

PIA has become the first VPN to bring back split tunneling feature to macOS. Apple’s networking framework for macOS Big Sur caused severe problems with split tunneling. This prompted VPNs to remove the feature from their macOS apps. PIA found a solution and is currently testing it. It is now available for users who are on their Beta program.

PIA offers a great deal as described below. It allows you to lock in great pricing and this gets you all they offer. You can add on anti-virus and dedicated IP addresses for a cheap monthly fee. It is hard to beat a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you go month to month, then the $11.99 plan is not that bad of a price.

Banking at Private Internet Access

PIA has a lot of ways to pay for their services. You can use traditional methods, cryptocurrency, and gift cards amongst others. Below are the cryptocurrencies that they use the most. Open yourself a Bitpay wallet, or a compatible one, and you can use over 100 coins through their services. Naturally Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Tether are some of the easiest to use and most popular.

We have partnered with Coinbase, Gemini, BTCC, and Paybis. We possibly could be adding a couple of more top rated exchanges to give our readers the best options. We know each person has a different set of needs and we are trying to accommodate. We want to give the best options available for our readers.

All of these exchanges are fully compliant Money Service Business (MSB) registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Before engaging with any cryptocurrency exchange, it’s crucial to verify its compliance status to ensure it’s registered as a MSB with FinCen.

Coinbase is the largest crypto exchange in the US and one of the largest in the world. Gemini is one of the most respected and trusted exchanges in the world and has a huge foot print in the US. BTCC is one of the oldest exchanges in existence and licensed around the globe. Paybis is one of the most respected exchanges in the world and allows you to instantly send cryptocurrency with a debit or credit card.

Private Internet Access Cares About Security

PIA is one of the oldest VPN’s around as it was founded in 2010. You feel pretty confident that it is not going anywhere. The main issue is being the in the Fives Eyes Alliance and other organizations that spy and share data. The United States is a founding member in the FVES, Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes.

The Five Eyes, or FVEY for short, is a group of countries consisting of the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Five Eyes gave rise to other alliances. The major ones are the Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes. Members of the nine eyes include the Five Eyes’ nations plus Denmark, Netherlands, France, and Norway. The Fourteen Eyes alliance consists of countries in the Nine Eyes alliance plus Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Sweden. All alliances actively share on matters of international intelligence even though their relationships may not be as tight as that of the countries in the five eyes.

These organizations developed after the Cold War started and have never ended. They were created to spy on the Soviet Union and other Communist nations. These countries were originally sourced to decrypt Soviet intelligence information. As we all know, these groups never are disbanded and continue on doing what they do.

Don’t let this scare you away though. This place has a lot to offer for anyone using their services. Plus the fact you can find servers based out of 91 different countries.

PIA recognizes the risk of being located in the US, and has implemented a “no-logs” clause in its privacy policy to ensure the privacy of its users. With this clause, PIA promises not to record how its users interact and use its services. Even if the governments want which websites you’re visiting and from which IP address. It won’t even measure your data usage.

Speed at PIA

Speed is an issue with some servers at PIA, but it is not a reason to shy away from it. It will really depend on what you are doing on the internet. The more server intensive it is, then naturally you need a faster server. With PIA the closer the servers to you, the higher the speeds. The over 35,000 servers they offer worldwide should give everyone a chance to find something that works for them.

With unlimited connections, which is outstanding, you don’t have to feel limited. Especially using traditional secure connections along with WireGuard and OpenVPN. OpenVPN is slower on many services, but it is not on PIA for some reason. You can’t go wrong with either one. Additionally, the iOS app supports the IKEv2 protocol, which is also excellent.

Private Internet Access VPN provides split tunneling. This allows users to designate which apps send data through the VPN and which send data in the clear. This is handy for high-bandwidth, low-risk activities like streaming video. A multi-hop feature also routes your traffic through two VPN servers instead of just one. PIA VPN handles this differently than other VPN services, letting you choose the proxy settings and then the second location.

PIA includes its own ad and tracker blocking tool called MACE. It is not available through the Android app. Something to do with Google’s rules that had to be followed.

Some VPN services make use of virtual locations. They appear to be servers in a specified country but may actually be located somewhere else. PIA has clearly marked which locations are virtual.

Our Recommendation

We don’t think you can go wrong choosing this server. It may make some feel insecure with the being based out of a Five Eyes Alliance nation. With their no-logs policy there is not much to worry about. They have the most extensive set of servers we have ever seen.

You can’t beat the prices either. $2 a month for 28 months is hard to beat. Especially with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

All their apps are open-source and easy to use. Very hands on and straightforward approaches. The split-tunneling is a great feature as well. This means a lot of freedom and with unlimited connections you can’t beat it. There is no reports of issues being able to use Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, MAX, Disney+ or other streaming services. This is not a problem to worry about

Give this VPN a whirl and let us know what you think in the comments. If you need anymore information we will do our best to provide the answers.