PIA – Private Internet Access – Test 2024

Private Internet Access™ provides access to approximately 25,000 VPN servers in 84 different countries. The company is based in the USA and is operated by London Media Trust, Inc (a British company), which has since been bought by Kape technologies. (CyberGhost VPN, ExpressVPN, Zenmate, vpnmentor.com). VPN PIA is thus a sister company of VPN rating sites. 

The Private Internet Access client software installs smoothly and easily, and the OpenVPN GUI can be used. The software also offers PPTP use and has the corresponding control instrument. The software is compatible with all common operating systems, such as Windows or Mac OSX. For VPN use, PIA-privateinternetaccess relies on a system of shared IP addresses.

This makes it practically impossible for third parties to spy on Internet activities. The VPN provider also offers the option of using two simultaneous connections. Open VPN enables multi-hop, which in turn guarantees the greatest possible anonymity.

All packages offer bandwidth and access without limit, as well as access to all available VPN servers, of course, at a really low price. Up to 5 devices can be used simultaneously per user account. 30 day money back guarantee to test!

Payment methods

Paypal, VISA, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, Amazon, Google, Bitcoin, CashU, Liberty Reserve, OKPay.
PIA-privateinternetaccess was the first VPN provider to accept Bitcoin.

Private Internet Access™ offers different protocols for use: PPTP, L2TP/IPSec and OpenVPN, whereby the OpenVPN protocol is recommended. With PPTP and L2TP/IPSec, devices such as routers, Apple iOS, Android or Boxee can also be used.

PIA VPN operates its own VPN servers in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Romania, Germany, Sweden, France, Hong Kong and several other countries.

In the USA there are 7 locations which also have the advantage of being able to guarantee the lowest latency times for the users, but generally, this depends of course on the own location, but with the selection, a fast location can certainly be found. In total, VPN servers are available in 84 countries, which covers the most important countries, but other VPN services offer significantly more choices.

Data security is of course an important aspect when choosing a VPN service, and the multi-hop procedure (a connection can be routed via up to 4 VPN locations) gives Private Internet Access™ a very significant and important advantage.

Although the transmission speed suffers somewhat because the path of the connection is extended accordingly, it is practically impossible to find the actual user of an IP address. This is a clear plus in anonymity that until now was only offered by the VPN service Perfect Privacy VPN. However, this cascading connection variant can only be used with the access software provided for Microsoft Windows!

PIA-privateinternetaccess uses encryption standards (128-bit and 256-bit AES) and VPN protocols (OpenVPN and WireGuard).

PIA VPN has had an independent audit conducted by Deloitte to ensure that our server network and management systems are in full compliance with our No Logs Policy.

Streaming with OIA is mainly interesting for UK and US content because the German video portals are largely not supported and simply block PIA. Therefore, anyone who wants to use PIA-privateinternetaccess while travelling to watch TV at home will not be happy.

Smooth streaming

The apps work with all major streaming services, so you can access more content anywhere in the world than ever before. In addition, Private Internet Access is one of the few VPNs that support P2P file sharing on all servers.

According to its own information, PrivateInternetAccess does not record any user data, which also applies to data traffic or the duration of use. This should support privacy and anonymity well, but the provider is based in the USA, which is why US authorities can probably also gain access to user data.

Of course, you should not use a VPN for illegal activities on the internet. Private Internet Access” is also important and the user conditions leave no doubt about this. At this point, the provider applies Zero tolerance. PrivateInternetAccess.com states that it will cooperate with the authorities in the event of illegal use. Therefore, one cannot always expect 100% protection of one’s own identity.

Furthermore, they reserve the right to block, close or delete user accounts in case of abuse or excessive use. This passage corresponds to that of many other internet providers. However, it remains unclear whether and in which cases this right is actually exercised. Probably one would have to be very out of the ordinary, especially as far as usage is concerned, to really become conspicuous here.

On routers, VPN PIA offers all the support for OpenVPN client routers, but also shows that you cannot use the service permanently without load balancing and with servers that are sometimes not very stable.

The rather long latency times are not much fun when playing online. Although the service otherwise offers good speed, the latency times have proven to be too high even after weeks of testing.

Unfortunately, PIA-privateinternetaccess has no obfuscation, i.e. no technical possibility to circumvent VPN blocks as is usual in China or other countries. In addition, the streaming of German content is not the provider’s strong point.

PIA-privateinternetaccess promises round-the-clock service for its customers. This makes it one of the best and most customer-friendly VPN providers in the field.  The company’s employees are also convincing in terms of support with the highest level of professionalism. Enquiries were processed and answered quickly and competently.

In addition, the website provides additional helpful information in the support area. Many questions can already be answered. If you still cannot solve your problem, you can use the contact form to send an e-mail to the support team.