Launched in 2007 by Anunson Limited, 12VPN is a Hong Kong-based VPN service provider that focuses on providing secure and encrypted VPN connection to not only surf the web privately and anonymously, but mainly to unblock regionally restricted content around the world. We have decided to take 12VPN for a spin using a Premium account access to write our review and see what makes this VPN so special. Scroll down for more details.
Pricing
12VPN keeps it simple and straightforward to meet everyone’s needs. All plans are all-inclusive where users can subscribe to a 3-month plan for $9.99, 6-month plan for $8.99 or 12-month plan for $5.99. All plans come with unlimited data and blazing speeds up to 1000Mbps.
Payment Methods
We were happy to find that 12VPN accepts anonymous payments, such as: Bitcoin. On the other hand, regular payments are also accepted, such as: Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Unionpay, Tenpay and WeChat. It is always recommended to use anonymous payment methods for extra security and anonymity.
Refund
Users can enjoy a 14-day 100% money-back guarantee to get full refund in case you find the service unsatisfactory.
“We offer a 14-day money back guarantee. If you changed your mind within this period, please contact us at support@12vpn.com and we’ll arrange a refund promptly. No questions asked.”
Privacy Policy
We would advise 12VPN to include a thorough privacy policy section that includes all necessary information for VPN users, such as logging policy, information sharing, cookies usage, third parties, etc. We must admit that we were somehow disappointed to find no such information mentioned on their website which would seem rather suspicious to VPN users. On the other hand, in an interview with “Best Reviews”, it is mentioned that the company does not keep activity logs for its users, however, some information is kept for few days, like: log in & log out data as well as errors.
“We record login and logout data and keep this for 30 days. We also record VPN related errors and keep this for 24-48 hours for troubleshooting purposes. We don’t advertise our minimal logging because we believe it provides a false sense of anonymity. With systems like Prism in place it’s trivial for government agencies to correlate VPN connections to regular connections that exit a VPN,” says Jenny Yang, Customer Support at Anuson Limited.
The Website
Basic and simple. We did not love it, but it is not bad. The website is easy to navigate, however, not very user-friendly. It took us more time than expected to get the information we needed about the service. The F.A.Q section needs some improvements to include more information and the company definitely needs to include a transparent privacy policy page about how they run their VPN service.
The Client
We logged in using Premium account credentials and downloaded 12VPN’s client for Windows following the instructions mentioned on their “Setup” section. Like everything else with 12VPN, the software client is very basic. It took longer time to download than other VPN clients we previously reviews and it is bigger in size compared to the very basic and unimpressive interface. Our advice: follow the instructions step-by-step to avoid any pickles. We noticed that 12VPN does not include a kill switch, DNS leak protection or an IPv6 leak protection which makes it not ideal for sophisticated VPN users, but it would do just fine with beginners and casual users.
On the other hand, we must admit that we like the overall performance of 12VPN. We did not face any interruptions or sudden disconnections as we did with other leading VPN services. It is pretty solid and reliable.
12VPN Features
In this section, we will explore the different features provided by 12VPN for you to decide if this VPN provider meets your needs.
Security & Encryption
12VPN uses a variety of encryption levels to support more than one tunneling protocol for different purposes. This is a very good approach to give VPN users more options to decide what suits them best. The website also explains what each protocol does and what it works best for. For example, the company uses 128-bit encryption for IPsec and PPTP protocols, 128-bit or 256-bit encryption for OpenVPN and 1024-bit encryption for SSL keys. Other protocols, such as: IKev2 and SSTP are also supported. With the exception to PPTP and IPsec, the tunneling protocols supported are considered to be very secure and fast.
Servers & Bandwidth
12VPN has its servers located in 9 important locations, including: USA, CANADA, UK, JAPAN, SPAIN, SINGAPORE, FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, NETHERLANDS, HONG KONG, ISRAEL, SWEDEN, GERMANY and TURKEY. Though the company may not have a massive network of servers like ExpressVPN or IPVanish, but the servers are very strategically placed to help VPN users access popular regional restricted content (Netflix, Dazn, Pandora, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, etc.) and bypass as many geo-restrictions as possible.
As for bandwidth, 12VPN offers unlimited bandwidth for all plans and does not throttle connection speed. This means that users can enjoy online streaming, gaming and downloads without any worry.
Compatibility
12VPN offers cross-platform support to provide compatibility with a wide range of operating systems and devices, such as: Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, Ubuntu, Linux. The VPN software can run on desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, Roku devices, playstation and gaming consoles, Boxee box, Apple TV, Windows phones as well as routers, like: Tomato, Asus, DD-WRT, Linksys, pfSense, and Buffalo.
NAT Firewall
NAT firewall is supported by default.
Simultaneous Connections
Unlimited. Users can connect their 12VPN with more than one device and if they encounter any conflicts, they can connect to different servers on multiple devices.
P2P & Torrenting
Unfortunately, 12VPN does not permit torrenting or P2P file sharing to maintain their speed and avoid any throttling issues.
Customer Support
Live chat support is not available. However, you can reach the support team through an e-mail ticketing system.
Conclusion
12VPN may not be a flashy or a spectacularly sophisticated service. However, they do provide a solid performance with the options they offer. We like their pricing system and 14-day money-back guarantee refund system. We also like the levels of encryption offered as well as the stability of the connection and platform compatibility. We did not like the website as we found it lacking important information like their VPN privacy policy. We also were disappointed that the software clients do not include neither a kill switch, DNS leak protection nor IPv6 leak protection. All in all, 12VPN is more suitable for casual VPN users, but we wouldn’t recommend it for sophisticated or advanced users.
