Celo is an Australian-based VPN service that was launched in 2014. Celo is a latin word which means to “hide” or “conceal”; in the sense of the word, Celo is a VPN service that hides/encrypts your IP address (i.e; data traffic) whenever you are connected to the internet to secure your data and help you bypass any geo-restrictions on the web. In this review, we will dissect the pros and cons of Celo VPN.
Pricing
Celo VPN offers a premium subscription that includes: unlimited bandwidth, DDoS protection, SOCKS5 proxy, OpenVPN (TCP/UDP), L2TP/IPsec, SSTP (Windows OS Only), 5 simultaneous connections, IPv6 support, ad/malware blocker and an obfuscated SSH tunnel port forwarding. Users can subscribe in 4 different ways; monthly ($7 per month), quarterly ($18 at $6 per month), semi-annually ($35 at $5.83 per month) and annually ($66 at $5.50 per month).
Free Trial and Refund Policy
Celo VPN gives a 2-day fully unlocked free trial. A lot of VPN services impose certain restrictions to their free trials, however, with Celo VPN you get to enjoy full access to all features for 2 days which is fair enough to test the service and form an unbiased opinion about the VPN service.
As for refunds, a 10-day money -back guarantee is offered. This means you can get your money back within the first 10 days of purchase of you are not satisfied with the service.
Payment Methods
Celo VPN makes it easier for its users to pay via several different payment methods. Major credit cards, such as: Visa and Mastercard are accepted. Users can also pay through PayPal or Payza. In addition, Celo accepts anonymous payments such as Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies which we encourage for better anonymity.
Privacy Policy
Despite being based in Australia, Celo VPN does not keep metadata logs, which means that your online activities are encrypted and not monitored as stated on their website:
“At CELO.net, we take privacy very seriously, therefore we do not keep any user activity logs on any of our servers for security and privacy purposes.”
On the other hand, some information is kept, such as: connection logs. Other contact information and payment details are stored, however, users can use fake names, valid email addresses and have the option to pay anonymously in order to maintain their security and anonymity online.
Celo VPN Features
In this section, we will discuss the different features provided by Celo VPN, including: levels of encryption, bandwidth, servers, compatibility with other platforms and overall performance. Scroll down for more details.
Security
Celo VPN relies on 256-bit AES encryption which is considered as a top grade level of encryption to safeguard your personal data and sensitive information from cyber threats and malicious activities whenever you go online. Moreover, it supports multiple tunneling protocols, such as: OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec and SSTP (on Windows). We noticed that PPTP is not supported by Celo VPN as it is no longer considered a safe protocol. To further strengthen its security measures, Celo VPN is packed to the grills with some impressive security tools, such as:
*Two-factor authentication system: acting as an extra security layer when you are logging into your account.
*DDoS protection: to protect you from DDoS attacks.
* Ad/malware blocker (built-in): blocks ads and malware menaces.
* SOCKS5 Proxy.
*IPv6 leak protection.
*DNS leak protection.
Servers and Bandwidth
Although Celo VPN has a small network of servers (21 servers), they are strategically distributed across 13 major locations, such as: United States, Australia, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland, Romania, South Korea, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Russia, Germany and France.
In this way, you will be able to bypass geo-restrictions to unblock any restricted web content and stream services, like: Netflix, Hulu, Sky Sports, Pandora, BBC iPlayer, etc.
As for bandwidth, Celo offers unlimited bandwidth on all plans without throttling.
Compatibility
We were impressed to find that Celo is compatible with all platforms, including: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS and Android. It is also compatible with NAS – Synology and Qnap as well as the following routers: DDWRT, Tomato, Asus; which makes it excellent for gaming and streaming. The reason behind Celo’s cross-platform support is that is does not have its own software client. It rather runs on an external free OpenVPN client. Mobile users may find it challenging to use Celo VPN due to the lack of a VPN software client, but they can always refer to the Knowledgebase section to be able to properly configure Celo on their mobile device.
Customer Support
In addition to an extensive Knowledgebase section, live chat support is also available. We had a chat with the support team and they were very responsive, informative and friendly.
Conclusion
Celo VPN is definitely worth trying. They offer a lot of attractive and highly secure features at affordable prices. Even though a kill switch is currently not present, but the VPN is packed with excellent security tools, like: IPv6 leak protection, DNS leak protection, ad/malware blocker, DDoS protection and a two-factor authentication. In addition, Celo is compatible with all platforms to be used on many devices and routers.
