Introduction Hidemyass Alternative Online
Hide My Ass! (HMA!) Is a UK-based firm, with Its claim to fame has been its massive number of subscribers — it’s more than 400 million now. This supplier has witnessed its share of controversy with respect to consumer privacy. It recently made updates service in the hopes of winning back the loyalty of its readers and redeeming itself. Hidemyass Alternative Online
We took it To get a test run to find out if it is well worth and how much it’s improved the money.
Click here to sign up for Hide My Ass! Today!
What’s a VPN?
It creates an encrypted tunnel to when you trigger a VPN Guard your information as it moves from the computer to a host controlled by the VPN. From there, your data exits onto the internet. It’s a simple idea, but one with tremendous impacts for security and your privacy.
For one thing, it prevents anybody lurking Network from monitoring or intercepting your activity. Though the airport or coffee shop Wi-Fi system looks safe (it might even be password-protected) it is not actually secure unless you’re using a VPN. For another thing, a VPN can prevent your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from gathering information about your online activities so that it could sell anonymized user information to the highest bidder.
A VPN makes it Challenging to correlate your Online activities together with your identity. Because your visitors is exiting in the VPN firm’s server, you appear to have its own IP address, effectively hiding your true site. Additionally, it compels even the most determined attacker to test and sort through all of the visitors from other users on the same VPN server to obtain what they’re after. For all these reasons, and much more, you need a VPN on your life.
Note that a VPN only encrypts your traffic till it exits through the VPN server. Provided that the website your data must be secure all the way. Also, while VPNs can provide a modicum of anonymity, a tool like the Tor system is far better at hiding your identity.
VPNs have long been used by journalists and activists To bypass censorship in countries with repressive internet policies. They are also useful if you’re looking to circumvent geographic restrictions on streaming content. A VPN can spoof your existing place, providing you with access to geographically restricted content such as BBC streaming or MLB TV. Many VPNs do not appreciate these actions (which might be in breach of terms of support or even local legislation ) and content providers like Netflix are breaking down on users who spoof their location and the VPN providers they use to do it.
There’s a good opportunity That you may have never laid hands on a VPN before. Do not worry if that’s the case! We have got an entire feature about the best way to prepare and use a VPN. Hidemyass Alternative Online
VPN Protocols
There are several ways. My Preferred method employs the OpenVPN protocol, which is known for its speed and reliability. Additionally, it is open minded, and therefore has been chosen over for possible vulnerabilities by anyone with the interest to do so.
Hide My Ass uses OpenVPN on Windows, with an older variant That supports PPTP, and L2TP, too. Additionally, there are two different versions of the macOS app that, taken together, support IPSec (IKEv1 and v2), L2TP, and PPTP. Be aware that these older versions of this program have been phased out by the developer. The iOS variant uses only IPSec, along with the Android app uses just OpenVPN.
That’s a bit of a hodgepodge, and I am frustrated that Hide My Ass doesn’t offer OpenVPN on all platforms. Nevertheless, a number of this issue is with the programs. Apple requires programmers to jump through additional hoops if they want to include OpenVPN in an app, but a lot of them are beginning to move in this direction. I’d love to view Hide My Ass do the same, across the board.
Your Privacy With Hide My Ass
With any safety product, you want to be sure that the Business behind it will be operating on your best interests. This is particularly true for VPNs, which are supposed to increase privacy and security. If a VPN business is just as nosey as your ISP, there’s not much point in using it.
When I examine VPNs, ” I read the company’s privacy policy And talk with representatives in order to better understand how your data is used and stored. In the case of Hide My Ass, the corporation ought to be commended on its clear privacy policy. It says Hide My Ass logs your username, the timestamp of connection and disconnection, the number of data transmitted, your actual IP address, and the IP address of the host you linked to. This isn’t radically different from what’s provided by other providers. In reality, it’s very like Golden Frog VyprVPN’s policy.
What is noteworthy is that Hide My Ass Will store this data for two to three months, while VyprVPN shops it for just 30 days. Other services hold even less info, or they eliminate it immediately. Hide My Ass states that it retains this data for this period of time in order to improve performance, prevent fraud, and prevent bad guys from using the VPN to send spam. The company, notably, also lists document sharing among the illegal actions it requires this information to prevent, despite the firm being fine by means of BitTorrent on certain servers.
It might be possible that this information could be used To correlate a user’s identity to particular activity on the internet, but it will probably be very difficult. In spite of this information, an audience would have to know which VPN host to watch then compare that action from Hide My Ass’s logs, and also have the ability to parse out the target’s traffic from everyone else using the same server.
The Hide My privacy policy also clearly says that it Does not track or store the actual content of your online activity. So, the support isn’t looking at your websites or the documents that you are downloading. That is great, and exactly what you want to hear from a VPN company.
Before, some VPN companies monetized users by Injecting ads in their web traffic. Hide My Ass states that it doesn’t do that, and goes much farther. A business representative explained to me the company does not gain from user data in any way.
The actual place of a VPN company also matters, as it Can notify what protections are given to customers. Hide My Ass gets its company headquarters in London, also works under the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales. The UK at large does have data retention laws. That is not perfect. Many VPN services operate in countries without compulsory data retention laws, or in ones which have privacy protections for customers. Hidemyass Alternative Online
I don’t believe It’s possible to make a determination About a company’s benefits based on its place. It is very important to understand the policies and laws at work in a company with this kind of intimate access. I encourage readers to think about this advice, and pick a VPN service by which they can feel comfortable.
Servers and Server Places
A Vital differentiator between VPN providers is the amount of Servers that are Available and their distribution. A great deal of servers means you’re more likely to find. For its own part, Hide My Ass has a very commendable 876 servers in its disposal. Nevertheless, Private Internet Access, NordVPN, and TorGuard VPN have over 3,000 servers apiece. Those are my benchmarks for robustness from the VPN server class.
Geographic distribution of these servers is quite important. Lots of places means more to pick from for spoofing functions, but also ensures that no matter will always be a local server for the performance. Hide My Ass has a very impressive 286 server places across some 220 countries. It’s easily the broadest record among the VPN providers I have reviewed.
The list of server locations offered by Hide My Ass is noteworthy since places often ignored by VPN companies are covered by it. It’s, for example, numerous server locations . It also maintains servers in China, Russia, and Turkey, that have net policies that are particularly repressive.
Some consumers May Be concerned about a company’s Usage of virtual servers. These are servers which make a single server effectively operate as servers that are many. Virtual servers can also be configured to act as if they are in 1 country when they’re in another, which is an issue if you are worried about where your information is traveling.
A company representative told me that a 225 of the 286 server places are all servers. Only 61 of the server places are hardware, and 450 of Hide My Ass’s 876 servers are all virtual. That is far beyond services. NordVPN TunnelBear, IPVanish, and TorGuard use physical infrastructure.
A business representative explained that bulk of the Company’s physical server infrastructure is located in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Miami, New York, Prague, Seattle, and Singapore. This doesn’t really jibe with what Hide My Ass lists on its own site. I’d like to see future versions of Hide My Ass be clearer about when you are linked to a virtual server.
Installation and interface
Obtaining Started with Hide My Ass! Is super easy and the updated programs are very user-friendly. You’ll be given a license key, once you sign up for your own account. You can use this or your credentials (username and password) to log into any program. With the aim of this inspection, we’ve tested the Windows client as well as the iOS app. Hidemyass Alternative Online
Desktop
Once you’ve Launched the and logged in, you’ll be greeted with the Success! screen. Simply click Got It! To get the app’s screen. Here you have three choices for modes: Instant Mode and Freedom Mode.
In Immediate Mode, you can click on the arrow And you’ll be connected to the fastest server for your site.
In Location mode, you can choose that You link to. Click on Change Location to view your alternatives. There is a drop-down list which enables you to select servers based on different criteria. All will show you an country listing. Clicking on the arrow will show you special locations within that country.
Speedy Access shows you a list Connected to, in addition to some recommended choices. Streaming will provide you a choice of two servers suitable for unblocking popular streaming services like Netflix, one at the US and one in the UK.
Peer to Peer shows You all servers that allow filesharing. Finally, there’s the Favorites option; to mark a server as a favorite, on the heart can click to the right of the server name.
Going back To the main screen, the one alternative here’s Freedom Mode, which is targeted at users who wish to bypass censorship. This mode will link you to a host in the nearest state that’s deemed to be free of censorship.
You can Get into the Settings by clicking on the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner of the main screen and choosing Preferences. Here, you will find three tabs: General, Network Security, and Kill Change. From the Generalscreen, you may change your startup options, like beginning when your pc turn on or when the program starts.
You also Have. You can uncheck the box, if you want to conceal your recent history.
Next, We have the Network Security screen in which you can choose settings for wifi protection. You can also turn on the IP shuffle feature making it more difficult for somebody to detect your location by periodically changing your IP address. One more option in this display lets you use TCP with OpenVPN. This is only recommended if UDP is blocked or throttled. TCP is more stable, but UDP is typically faster.
The Last tab will be the Kill tab, so that it works for many programs, where you are able to toggle on this feature. You decide whether or not to apply it to people and could add single software.
This Is a program that is fairly robust and it is definitely both aesthetically pleasing and searchable.
Mobile
Many Suppliers will have a mobile app that’s unrecognizable compared to the desktop version. However, HMA! Has streamlined its product, and the iOS app looks almost like the Windows version.
Once you’re You’ll get to the display, which is the same as the main screen in the background program. Here you can Pick from Immediate Mode, Location Mode, or Freedom Mode.
Click here to sign up for Hide My Ass! Today!
The Only real difference is that when you select Location Mode, your choices are presented in another manner. You have three tabs: Countries, Cities, and Favorites, but missing are Quick Access, and the additional options found from the desktop such as Streaming, Peer to Peer.
To Access the streaming servers from the program, you’ll have to go to the Cities listing and find the Liberty Island server beneath US, New York. The UK Town server can also be found on this listing for access to BBC iPlayer and UK Netflix.
Moving on, The settings to the app can be retrieved by clicking the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner of the display and selecting Settings. There you have two choices: Connection Rules and privacy.
In The Link Rules segment, it is possible to adjust wifi security settings and choose whether to auto reconnect when wifi or cellular connections are interrupted.
The Personal privacy department has One option: Share usage data with third parties for analytics, which is your permission to”allow app and device usage information to be shared with third parties for analytics.” Bear in mind that this is permitted by default so it might be among the things that you want to turn off.
Overall, This is a slick and intuitive program, but many users may be missing additional features such as a kill button and also the choice to switch protocols.
Servers and performance
The Hide My Ass! Network includes more than 850 servers. A number of them are virtual servers, but a customer service representative was not able to tell us how many. Hidemyass Alternative Online
As we Discussed previously, HMA offers several options for selecting the right server, including different modes and the ability to mark servers as favorites. Are marked using a P2P emblem.
We analyzed Servers in the UK and the usa for functionality of surfing, streaming, and downloading. Aside from there being an obvious slowdown in page load times when attached with a UK server, overall, when browsing, there were no substantial issues. This isn’t unusual for distant remote servers (the evaluations were carried out in Toronto, Canada), but could be frustrating, particularly for users with slow internet speeds.
We did not See any lag or streaming whilst streaming 1080p using any of the test servers and were able to play online games with no issues.
HideMyAss! and Netflix
Hide My Ass! unblocks Netflix! But do not expect to simply link to some Server and proceed. We had no chance when we tested random servers with US Netflix using the desktop client. But if you choose the Streaming choice in the dropdown inside Location Mode, then you will see two options: a US host (USA, New York, Liberty Island) and a UK server (UK, Donkey Town). Note that in the program, you will need to obtain these inside the Cities list in Location Mode.
Connecting Into the US server gave us access to Netflix with no issue. Linking to the UK one allowed entry to BBC iPlayer in Addition to UK Netflix. Many providers just focus on providing US Netflix accessibility, so it’s refreshing to see one which strives to provide access to the UK library also. What is more, BBC iPlayer is breaking down on VPN use, so the ability to unblock this support is a nice perk.
If you’re Looking for Amazon Prime Video, you may need to go elsewhere. HMA! Is having difficulty unblocking this service at this time and a customer care representative informed us that there isn’t any estimated time for when it might be functioning.
HideMyAss! in China?
Hide My Ass! Doesn’t work reliably in China. It used to, but HMA! Answers in service forums have suggested that the support will function for some users. You could try your luck, but should you need a China VPN, you’d best look elsewhere.
HideMyAss! Speed test functionality
For any VPN That can be used with our test procedures, we run. We utilize a Canadian test server to connect to VPN servers in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Australia, the US, and Germany. For every place, we download a test file (50MB in size) from a US server. This is done four times per day. The typical download rate for each test is listed along with the information is displayed.
You can see From the Simple chart below how HMA! Compares to the other VPN services we’ve been testing. While it doesn’t have the fastest speeds, it is close to the front of the package when it comes to median speeds.
You can see that the spread in results isn’t as tight as a number of the additional evaluation VPNs, by clicking on the Detailed tab. This usually means when it comes to speeds that you might see some inconsistency.
It’s Important to note that these tests are not definitive and may only serve as a general indication of the functionality you might see. The internet’s volatility adds a significant variable of randomness. What is more, you see possibly smaller or larger disagreements, and wait times with a slow connection. Hidemyass Alternative Online
Customer service
If you need Any aid while establishing or using the support, HMA! Includes a few options for you to select from. Clicking the Help tab you’ll find a Getting Started section and also a Knowledge Base. These each house posts associated with setting up, troubleshooting, and general queries. There’s a crossover so you may want to research both before seeking other options.
Additionally, You’ll find. This can be segregated into different subjects; while some are active some appear to be out of date. Below that, there are some general FAQs.
If you don’t Find what you’re searching for, or you simply need a fast response, you can click on the live chat button. The service is prompt and educated, and representatives were able to quickly solve. At one stage, a representative was not able to answer some safety questions and advised he would escalate the problem as an email request. This was responded to in under two hours that’s quite fast for an email reply.
Security and privacy
Hide My Ass! Is based in the UK, so it’s subject to data retention legislation. The UK is also a Five Eyes (and Fourteen Eyes) country, which means it’s part of an alliance which allows tracking by outside governments. Plus, it is home to the Charter which imposes regulations of the Snooper.
For many Data retention legislation in their home country are not really a problem. This is because they operate using a real policy that is no-logs whereby they don’t keep any traffic or connection logs. They can’t be tied to an individual user if they do keep connection logs.
Unfortunately, HMA! Isn’t one of those VPNs and contains a privacy policy that many users will find off-putting. For one, while you can anticipate that your IP address will be logged, along with timestamps and the number of data used. This is a large no-no for VPNs in general. Though an IP address is considered to be personally identifiable information, the truth is that this information can and has been used to trace the activity of individuals. IP addresses have been used to help find and convict offenders. We are pro-privacy while we certainly don’t condone criminal activities, and this policy simply doesn’t cut it. Hidemyass Alternative Online
Moreover, Hide My Ass! Telephones the VPN IP address Connected into a session. Here is the IP address when you visit it, that a website operator can see and document. Since the actual and VPN IP addresses are logged, involving the VPN and finish website logs, it might be possible to piece together all of a user’s online activity. You may have seen news of a 2011 FBI situation involving HMA! Where it handed over logs that were used to track a hacker that is LulzSec down. Clearly, this can be a black marker for privacy.
1 way to Make this less of a problem and to possibly confuse matters a little would be to take advantage of the IP address shuffle feature. This transforms out your IP address to get another one, when enabled in the Network Security screen of the desktop app. It wouldn’t cause you to squint but could put in a layer of obfuscation.
Privacy Issues aside, on the security front, Hide My Ass! Fares well. It uses 256-bit AES encryption, which is considered military-grade. This is in combination with 4096-bit RSA keys and perfect forward secrecy. It uses exactly the OpenVPN protocol UDP by default, however you can switch to TCP inside the desktop client. PPTP, L2TP, IPSec are available, depending on what app you’re using.
The desktop versions boast an Integrated kill button which can be tailored To work for particular apps. A kill button will kill the connection should the VPN link drop for some reason. This feature isn’t available in the mobile apps
A live chat Customer service representative informed us that there is not any DNS leak security. However, a different firm representative assured us that there is in fact DNS and IPv6 leak protection, but no WebRTC escape security. Indeed, when we tested the support for escapes, we didn’t observe any DNS leak issues other than leaks. HMA! Whereas ones will be preferable from a privacy perspective, does use public DNS servers.
One handy Feature that Hide My Ass! Offers is automatic wifi security, which can be customized in the in the Network Security section of the client or the Connection Rules tab of the app that is mobile configurations.
Characteristics and pricing
Hide My Ass! Offers one product with prices you sign up for. It’s definitely not one of the providers available, which could be an immediate turnoff for some users. A 12-month planwill set you back $6.99 a month, which is higher than the average price for a similar duration. What is more, a great deal of VPN suppliers that are top will offer a protracted plan; for instance, a two- or three-year term with steeper discounts. Hidemyass Alternative Online
If You’re not ready to sign up to get a term just yet, HMA! Does provide a turn-key program for $7.99 per month or you can cover a monthly basis for $11.99 a month. These rates are a bit above average if you compare to competitors.
Payment Choices include major credit cards, PayPal, and UnionPay. Unfortunately other along with bitcoin cryptocurrencies aren’t viable payment methods. There’s a generous 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can have your payment refunded, if you are not entirely satisfied with the support.
So what do You get for your money? Hide My Ass! Has a community of over 850 servers in over 180 countries. Some are devoted to accessing streaming sites and specific servers allow P2P filesharing (read: torrenting). All plans have unlimited bandwidth and you can join up to five devices concurrently. Programs are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. The VPN may be configured using some routers and Linux. Pre-configured routers can be found as an alternative.
From a Security standpoint, HMA! Provides strong encryption, perfect forward secrecy, automatic wifi protection, and the desktop apps include a kill switch. However, the logging coverage issues which plagued the service from the past remain, so privacy is still an issue.
Wrap-up
For the most part, HMA! Offers a support. It’s speeds, unlimited bandwidth, and an adequate network of servers. It’s in a position to unblock streaming services such as Netflix UK, Netflix US, and BBC iPlayer. Plus, it offers powerful security programs, and customer care.
On the Surface, it seems like HMA! Would be a good option for torrenters, without a information Caps and some servers suitable for P2P. However, the problems with the privacy Coverage are a concern in addition to any other privacy-conscious users. Really, this is the only major turn-off for this Provider, but it is a big one. Other concerns include the inability to operate Reliably in also the hefty price tag along with China. Hidemyass Alternative Online
Click here to sign up for Hide My Ass! Today!