Buffered is relatively new to the VPN space, but they are already starting to set themselves apart from the crowd. Buffered was launched in 2014 by a group of VPN enthusiasts living in Budapest. The company was founded by a Hungarian, an American, and an Englishman. They saw first hand how hard it was to ensure their privacy online and access the content they were use to enjoying from outside their home countries. Rather than sit on the sidelines, the group decided to launch their own VPN service.
Buffered VPN Plans and Discounts
Buffered offers a single plan with unlimited access to their network of VPN servers around the world. You can sign up for monthly, 6-month, or annual terms. The billing cycle will determine how much you pay for the service. As you can see below their unlimited plan starts at $12.99 a month. They offer deep discounts on 6-month and annual sign ups.
The team at Buffered is currently running a promotion with up to 36% off annual sign ups. To take advantage of the offer simply visit their Buffered Special page and sign up for a year of VPN service. You can enjoy a full year of unlimited VPN access for just $8.25 a month with the discount.
Sign Up Process and Payment Options
Once you select a plan term (month, 6-month, annual) the sign up process is simple. You will enter in your email address and choose a username and password. From there you can select between PayPal and credit card. The personal information necessary to complete the sign up process is based on which payment option you choose. PayPal simply requires a first and last name, while credit card payments also require your billing address.
Buffered Free Trial
The Buffered team understands that new users need some time to test the service. In response they offer all new members a 30 day money back guarantee. In order to request a refund you must stay under 100 sessions and 10 GB of bandwidth usage. If you exceed either condition you will not be able to ask for a refund. This seems fair though since 100 sessions and up to 10 GB of data usage will give you ample time to test their service. As with any VPN, we suggest you connect to different server locations and try the service on multiple devices including desktop, mobile, and perhaps even your router.
Key VPN Service Features
Let’s take a look at some of the main reasons to use Buffered VPN:
- Avoid Geo-Restrictions – access content as if you would if you were sitting in the desired country. Watch your favorite content as a local of any country with a VPN server.
- Protect Your Privacy – this is what a VPN is all about. Buffered will help you protect your online privacy and ensure that your ISP doesn’t spy on your activities.
- Growing Network – Buffered has a moderate sized network and continues to add server locations on a regular basis.
- VPN Clients – easy to use VPN apps for Windows and Mac.
VPN Server Locations
The Buffered team manages a network of VPN servers in 28 countries. They have two server locations strategically located on the east and west coast of the United States. Otherwise, you will find one server location per country. Let’s take a closer look at the locations that Buffered currently hosts servers:
- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.
Security and Privacy
Buffered supports OpenVPN connections. They do not offer PPTP, L2TP, or other protocols. The trade off is compatibility. Taking their approach ensures members a higher level of security and privacy protection at all times. Buffered uses 128-bit Blowfish encryption to secure your connection.
The other side of privacy is the information logged by the VPN provider. Buffered advertises on their homepage that they do not log your user activities. That’s right in line with their terms of use. You can expect Buffered to log the duration of your connection and the amount of data transmitted.
Customer Support
Buffered offers a number of ways for customers to find answers to questions. You can start by referring to the FAQ and knowledgebase section of their website. They have a wide range of set up guides to help you configure the service. If you still have questions you can reach out to their support through the contact form on their site.
Buffered Speed and Reliability
Performance is always an important factor in choosing a VPN provider. You can expect the added level of encryption to slow down your connection some. This is an area where some VPNs really stand out. We’re happy to share that Buffered performed very well in our speed tests. We went with the default which is OpenVPN (UDP) connections.
- Buffered US speed test – we connected to a server in Virginia and were able to achieve 60.28 Mbps download and 4.18 Mbps upload speeds.
- Buffered Canada speed test – connecting to a server near Toronto gave us a download speed of 61.07 Mbps and 4.07 Mbps upload.
- Buffered UK speed test – connecting across the pond to a server in London gave us a speed of 39.87 Mbps download and 4.04 Mbps upload.
VPN Client Software and Compatibility
Buffered has developed a VPN client for Windows and Mac OS X users. You will find that their software is very simple to use. You can easily switch between server locations with the click of a button. It’s also very simple to switch between server locations. In addition to their custom client, Buffered has set up guides for iOS, Android, and DD-WRT routers.
Buffered Windows client in action
The new Buffered VPN client has been tested to support Windows 7, 8, and 10. They have an older client for those who still run Windows XP or Vista. Though you might want to consider upgrading since the older operating systems are no longer supported by Microsoft. The Buffered software is very straight forward and easy to use. Here’s a quick summary of features:
- Quick connect – single click on any server to immediately connect. You can disconnect just as easily.
- Serer locations – you can select from any server location. They are listed in alphabetical order. You can also set favorites.
- App settings – switch port numbers, TCP over UDP, store your login data for 30 days, and auto connect to your last used location.
You can expect a similar look and feel from the Mac client. It supports Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, and Mountain Lion. Buffered does not have custom software for mobile devices. Instead they have set up guides to help you configure the open source OpenVPN client on both iOS and Android devices. They also have a guide to configure a DD-WRT router to run through the service. This will help protect your entire network with a single account.
Conclusion
Considering that Buffered is relatively new to the VPN space, the service has a lot to offer. Their team has gained the experience necessary to provide users with a fast, reliable service. They have pushed through the early hurdles and are starting to show just how much they have to offer those who need privacy protection and the ability to unblock geo restrictions.
We enjoyed testing Buffered and were impressed by how simple their new client makes connecting and disconnecting to the service. You can easily connect to any server location with a single click. The only downside is that they don’t have custom apps for mobile but they do offer setup guides and support for using iOS and Android.
Buffered VPN is priced at the higher end of the narket. However, you can save quite a bit by signing up for a year of service. You can enjoy a full year of unlimited VPN from just $8.25 a month. Buffered offers a 30 day money back guarantee which gives you plenty of time to test the service. Try it out and let us know what you think.
