The Golden Frog team continues to grow the VyprVPN network with new VPN servers in fifteen locations.  The latest expansion gives VyprVPN members access to servers in over 60 countries around the world.  Multiple endpoints in the United States and Australia give members access to over 200,000 IP addresses across 70 server locations. You can connect from any of the VyprVPN desktop or mobile apps.

I’ll give you a brief introduction to the Golden Frog’s VPN service.  VyprVPN is one of the only tier-1 providers in the world.  That means they manage their own network.  This gives them a speed and cost advantage over most services.  They offer unlimited access to VPN servers in over 60 countries around the world.  Here’s a list of the countries in which VyprVPN hosts servers:

• Europe – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine
• North America – Canada, Mexico, United States
• Oceania – Australia, Marshall Islands, New Zealand
• Central America – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama
• South America – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay
• Asia – Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
• Middle East – Bahrain, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.

VyprVPN offers members a number of other advantages.  Those who subscribe to any of their VPN plans can access the service using OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP protocols.  The Golden Frog team also developed their own Chameleon protocol which was designed to help those in areas like China connect to the service.  They include Chameleon and NAT firewall for additional protection to those who sign up for Pro and Premier.

Let’s take a look at the VyprVPN pricing plans:

• VyprVPN Premier (up to 5 connections, Chameleon, NAT firewall) from $7.50 a month
• VyprVPN Pro (up to 3 connections, Chameleon, NAT firewall) from $6.25 a month
• VyprVPN Basic (up to 2 connections) from $5.00 a month

Once you sign up for access the next step is downloading the client software.  VyprVPN has custom client software for Windows and Mac.  Along with mobile apps for iOS and Android.  They also support a number of DD-WRT routers which will help protect your entire home network with a single VPN account.

You can visit VPNSP.com to learn more about VPN services.  Follow us @VPNSP for the latest news and deals.

Friday marks the official start of the 2016 Olympic Games.  Gisele Bündchen will be leading the way in what is anticipated to be the sexiest opening ceremony in history.  This weekend will bring the first Olympic medals in swimming, diving, cycling, archery, fencing, weightlifting, and more.  Whether you’re in Rio for the Games or excited to watch all the action from abroad, a good VPN can help protect your privacy and open worldwide coverage.  One of our favorites, IPVanish is offering a Secure Summer promotion during the Rio Games.

What is a VPN and how does it work?

A lot of people think of corporate networks when the term VPN is mentioned.  While work is one place for secure communications you can protect your privacy all the time.  VPN services like IPVanish and StrongVPN offer you the same protection at home and on the road.  A good VPN helps protect your privacy through encryption.  They also help users by giving them an IP address in another country.  This opens up more streaming media.

Watch Olympics coverage from around the world

During the 2012 Summer Games in London we saw a lot of interest in VPN as Olympics fans from around the world wanted to access BBC coverage.  The catch was that the BBC blocks access from outside the United Kingdom.  They do so by detecting the users IP address.  By using a VPN service you can connect to a server in the UK and access BBC coverage.  The same is true for other countries around the world.

We should mention that some networks require more than just an IP address in that region.  For example NBC blocks their live coverage (NBC Live Extra) and requires US cable and satellite customers to login to access coverage.  Other networks like the BBC are simply geo restricted which a VPN will help you get around.

Protect Your Privacy while in Rio for the Olympics

Those who are traveling to Brazil to cheer on their countries athletes need a VPN.  It’s no surprise that security is a top concern in Rio.  That includes both physical and online.  If you’d like to keep your web browsing and social networking activities away from prying eyes while traveling then we suggest you use a VPN at all times.  That applies to your laptop, tablets and cell phone.  All are open to being tracked.

Whether your watching from home or traveling to the Games in Rio we wish your country the best of luck.

July 20, 2016 update – IPVanish just launched 23 new servers, bringing their total to over 500.  The additions over the last couple weeks include 10 servers in the UK, 10 servers in Australia, and 3 servers in New Zealand.  They now have over 500 servers in 60+ countries around the world.  Where would you like to see them go next?  Read below and share your suggestions to help IPVanish decide where to launch the next group of servers.

The IPVanish team is hard at work innovating the popular VPN service.  We’ll have more exciting news to share in the weeks to come.  In the meantime, their team is looking to once again expand the IPVanish network.  This time around they are asking for feedback on the server locations users would like to see added to the network.  Head on over to their server expansion post to recommend future server locations.  Not a member yet?  You can enjoy unlimited access to the IPVanish network from just $4.54 a month.

IPVanish already has server locations around the world.  They now host over 500+ servers in 60+ countries around the globe.  Members have access to over 40,000 IP addresses.  That’s more than enough since they use shared IP’s for better privacy.  IPVanish has the fastest network in North America and Europe.  Let’s take a look at the list of countries and regions in which IPVanish has server locations:

• Africa – Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia
• Asia – China, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey
• Europe – Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom
• North America – Canada, Mexico, United States
• Oceania/Australia – Australia, New Zealand
• South/Central America – Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama

The IPVanish network has several server locations in the United States:

• United States server locations – Ashburn, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Jose, Seattle, Trenton

A large and expanding network is just one of many extras IPVanish has to offer new and existing members.  They are a top tier provider meaning they mange their own network.  That gives them a speed advantage over other services.  IPVanish has custom VPN software for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.  That includes the latest Windows 10, Mac OS X El Capitan and iOS 9.  They keep on top of the latest operating system updates.  The service offers two simultaneous connections per account and a 7 day money back guarantee.

If you haven’t had a chance to use IPVanish yet then I suggest you give them a try.  You can sign up for unlimited VPN access during our current IPVanish promotion from just $4.54 a month.  You can visit vpnsp.com to learn more about VPN services and follow us @VPNSP for the latest news and deals.

April 2016 update: VyprVPN has partnered with Digital Ocean to offer a promotion.  New members can save 25% off VyprVPN + VyprVPN Server and receive 2 months of Digital Ocean access for free.  This is a great opportunity for businesses.  The promotion will give you plenty of time to build and test your own VPN server following their instructions.  Visit the VyprVPN Server promo page for more details.

The team at Golden Frog is bringing a new twist to the personal VPN space.  You can now manage your own VyprVPN Server.  What does that mean?  It means you can manage your own VPN server in the cloud and access it through your VyprVPN client.  They provide everything you need to set up your VPN server on DigitalOcean, Amazon Web Services, or Virtual Box.  The new feature just launched in beta.  VyprVPN Server is currently available for free to members with Pro, Premier, and Business accounts.

The VyprVPN network consists of 700+ servers in nearly 50 countries so members already have access to server locations around the world.  The latest addition gives you total control over your own VPN server.  You can place it at the location of your choosing.  The only limitation is the availability of server resources from DigitalOcean, AWS, or Virtual Box.  I recommend you give DigitalOcean a try.  You can expect to pay around $10 a month to host your own server.  You will want a server with at least 1 GB of memory.  From there you can use the VyprVPN client for Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android to connect from anywhere.

Once again, the VyprVPN Server feature is currently in beta.  Customers who subscribe to their Pro and Premier accounts can host one server free of charge.  Business customers can host as many servers as they want.  You will be able to connect with the VyprVPN client using either OpenVPN or Chameleon protocol.  Beta testers are encouraged to provide feedback in their forum.  You can even track the progress and find out what features the team is currently working on by visiting the VyprVPN Server roadmap page.

For those who aren’t currently members we’re excited to share a promotion.  The VyprVPN team is kindly offering our visitors 25% off in addition to 2 free months of Digital Ocean.  That means you can sign up for a year of VyprVPN Pro for just $6.25 a month and host your own server location through DigitalOcean.  Give the new feature a try and let us know what you think @VPNSP.

According to an article first posted by SlickVPN and referenced by Lifehacker, some VPN providers are faking server locations.  They are specifically advertising servers in locations that differ from the physical location of the servers.  According to Reddit the IP address in question belongs to PureVPN.  This presents the question of whether or not you can trust your VPN service.  In this case you would be connecting to a server in the United States when you think you are connecting to a server in New Zealand.  If you’re sole goal is to unblock geo restrictions the performance may be impacted but it would still work.  However, if you are relying on PureVPN for a secure connection in New Zealand, the “virtual server location” could pose a big problem.

PureVPN was the example used in the article, but how many VPN providers are faking server locations?  Before writing this post we thought about reaching out to some VPNs and confirming that they don’t use this practice to inflate server locations.  That didn’t seem like enough.  To be sure we will start testing the server locations to find out whether or not any other companies are taking this approach.  The process of running traceroutes and pings on a wide range of VPN services will take some time.  If you run into any other VPNs that aren’t being honest about their server locations please let us know the provider and server locations in question.

What actions are we taking?  For starters we will be testing a number of popular services including PureVPN.  The question becomes whether the New Zealand server is an isolated incident or if “vurtial server locations” are common in the industry.  In the case of the PureVPN server mentioned in the article, they could be replacing a server in New Zealand.  That would be the best case scenario.  They could also have a number of server locations that are virtual “fake” in terms of the physical location of the servers.  We’re testing to find out which scenario is true and will update VPNSP accordingly.  Please test your own VPN and share the results.  This will help everyone figure out which VPNs are faking server locations.  Feel free to reach out to us @VPNSP with any questions or to share your own testing results.