Private Internet Access - chance to get it before the price goes up

[Jason]

PIA is the VPN service that I use. I got an email from them that their prices are going to be increasing for new subscriptions on or after March 18, 2019.

Their new prices will be:

   
• $10 (up from $7/month) for a month-to-month subscription
• $72 for 1-year subscription (up from $40)
• $84 for 2-year plan (up from $70).

I'm mentioning this to members that might have been interested in PIA to get it before the price goes up. I don't own any stock in PIA but their service works great for the most part.

They are also increasing the number of simultaneous clients to 10 (up from 5).

[fox]

I am thinking about this. Is there any downside to using this VPN in terms of slowing down communication? Can it be used on the road, e.g., to connect to an unsecure connection in a hotel or café?

[Jason]

I am thinking about this. Is there any downside to using this VPN in terms of slowing down communication?

Some of the VPN servers can be slow or have higher latency but generally, no. But you can check their servers, even use built-in bandwidth tests here. Choose a country, then a server location, and then click on 'Run test'. Ideally, you want to use a server geographically close to your location (unless you are trying to mask it better) but sometimes it can be better to use one further away as there may be less people connected to it or it has more bandwidth overall.

Can it be used on the road, e.g., to connect to an unsecure connection in a hotel or café?

Yes, this is one of the best uses for it because it hides the websites you visit and encrypts login information which is particularly important with sites that don't use SSL over public wireless connections. Even if the site does have SSL, without a VPN, people on the same network can see your traffic on unsecured networks.

[fox]

Well, I went and bought it before the price went up, but never got the activation message from them. I sent the company a message and never heard back from them. Three days later I went to Paypal (whom I used to pay for this) and made an inquiry. Within 5 minutes I get a message that my money has been refunded. I just checked PIA's website and the price has now gone up. I'm glad it is working for you, Jason, but their communication is very poor; they don't even provide a phone number. I'm not inclined to deal with them again.

[Jason]

Did you get my email about how your Trent email server was bouncing messages? Might be related.

[fox]

I guess I'll never know, but I checked my spam folder and there was nothing there from PIA. Usually when there's a problem with the university server, I get a bunch of message once it's fixed. Meanwhile, I'm trying out the free Windscribe service.

[Jason]

I don't mean that it went into the spam folder, I mean the server actually rejecting messages. The email that I sent to your gmail account showed the error message. I don't know if you even ended up getting the original email. The message I received saying it was bounced suggested it wasn't delivered and wasn't going to be.

In any case, sorry it didn't work out for you.

[Jason]

When you said that you made an inquiry to Paypal, was the inquiry asking for a refund or just what happened? Because I'm thinking if they sent you login information and it bounced, the only thing they could do would be to give you a refund as they would assume the email address was given in error.

Also, did I understand correctly that this was after waiting three days for a reply to your email query to them? Or was it a longer period?

[fox]

I paid through Paypal. I emailed the PIA company the day I ordered the service when I didn't receive an activation message. These usually come within minutes of ordering something. I waited three days, and when I still didn't get anything, I emailed Paypal what I thought was a query, not a request for a refund. I got two notices, the first with a case number and a message indicating that they sent the message to the PIA company. This was followed two minutes later with a "case denied" message, reason being that my money was refunded.

As for your other message, I have no way of knowing if the university server rejected their message. I would have thought that if this was the case, I would have heard back from PIA, but I never did. I don't know if you ever needed to contact them about something, but I'm not impressed with a company that doesn't respond in three days and doesn't provide a telephone contact number.

[Jason]

As for your other message, I have no way of knowing if the university server rejected their message. I would have thought that if this was the case, I would have heard back from PIA, but I never did.

And how would they have contacted you when your server was bouncing email?

[fox]

And how would they have contacted you when your server was bouncing email?

Because when this happens (which is rare), it's only temporary.