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Secure connection testingīeyond the US, I tested connections to Sweden, Taiwan, Russia, Australia, and India. I did repeated tests and over and over again, the connection across the globe was faster inside the VPN than making a straight, VPN-less connection. If that cross-world connection is super-fast, then when you leave their network in India to connect to a server in, say, Hyderabad, you're only moving a short distance on the unoptimized Internet. That entire trip across the world is done through their network and using their Catapult Hydra protocol. So when you connect to Hotspot Shield's network, you're making a connection through the app running on your device to their network location in, say, India. VPNs do sometimes remove some of the hops a normal connection would take. It is important to note that our proprietary protocol is focused only on the performance of the VPN data transport, while using standard encryption with perfect forward secrecy. Many carriers such as Telefonica and KDDI also use Catapult Hydra to provide VPN services and Wi-Fi security to their customers, due to Hydra's superior performance and reliability. Here's how the company describes it:Ĭatapult Hydra is a proprietary protocol developed by AnchorFree and it is used to power Hotspot Shield and the majority of large cybersecurity companies that offer VPN services from within their apps, such as McAfee, BitDefender, Cheetah Mobile and many others. Instead, you're forced to use what Hotspot Shield calls Catapult Hydra.

You don't get a choice of protocols to use when using this product. I think the key to Hotspot Shield's performance may be its proprietary encryption protocol. Whether you're in the office or on the road, a VPN is still one of the best ways to protect yourself on the internet.īut here's the question: how is it possible, when adding all the overhead a VPN adds, to go faster using the VPN? For almost every other VPN connection I've tested thus far, the connected speed is lower.

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How is this possible?įor a few of the connections, ping speed improved along with download speed while using Hotspot Shield. If you're sending a packet across the planet, it will take longer to hear back than if you're sending a packet across town. The lag limitations here are due to actual physics. Ping speed is an indication of how quickly a response gets back after a network request is sent from your computer. Are they high enough to do the work you need to do? The real numbers you should look at are the download speed and the ping speed. After all, you're running all your packets through an entirely artificial infrastructure designed to hide your path. When you use a VPN service, it's natural for performance to drop. This is what the Hotspot Shield screen looks like before a connection is established:īaseline download speed without VPN (higher is better)ĭownload speed with VPN (higher is better) You are forced to establish a VPN connection in your local country before you're able to change to another country. In fact, that's one of the weirder behavior issues I found with Hotspot Shield. There were no settings presented before the connection was established. I'd much rather start and stop the connection when I'm ready, or at least set it up without having it do so automatically. I was a little disconcerted that as soon as the product installed, it enabled the VPN connection. Reader question, answered: If I have https, do I need a VPN?.NordVPN review: Revamping security practices, but still useful.

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The best free VPNs: Why they don't exist.What is a VPN and how does it work? Your guide to internet privacy and security.The best VPN services: Safe and fast don't come free.The fastest VPNs: NordVPN, Hotspot Shield, and ExpressVPN compared.

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How to install and set up a VPN on iOS, Mac, Windows, and Android.

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Finally, last year, ZDNet uncovered a flaw in the company's software that exposed users. Then, in 2017, a privacy group accused the company of spying on user traffic, an accusation the company flatly denies but which did cause damage to the company's reputation. In 2016, they picked up some positive coverage based on founder David Gorodyansky's comments about protecting user privacy. In an email, their CEO insisted they were the fastest VPN and had more downloads than any other VPN provider, yet they have a simplistic app, a relatively high price, and fewer simultaneous connections than some of their competitors.

From their marketing and promotion, they seemed more flash than substance. Hotspot Shield surprised me - in a good way.

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Supported platforms: iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows.The name Hotspot Shield perfectly encapsulates the biggest value for most people in a VPN, shielding you while accessing a Wi-Fi hotspot.

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