Turbo VPN is a popular name for sure, as it has a whopping 300 million downloads with lots of engagements in the review section. The reviews are a mixed bag. It is 2024 we are talking about, and Turbo has been in the market for quite some time.
We should see whether is Turbo VPN trustworthy? for our readers who came here to take a call based on a comprehensive analysis. Are our readers all agog about the quality of a VPN or a free product is their immediate priority?
we will be unraveling all information about Turbo VPN for both segments to help them make an informed decision.
Let’s check how Turbo renders itself in each area through this detailed turbo VPN review:
- Performance
- Security and privacy
- User impression
- Extra features (If any)
- Pricing and refund policy
- Support Service
- Pros and cons for final suggestion
Is Turbo VPN Trustworthy?
Let’s find out whether turbo VPN is trustworthy or not??? By analyzing all of its important points we have mentioned above:
Performance Of Turbo VPN
Performance of a VPN means everything it does, starting from its speed retaining capabilities to the common torrenting feature, which draws most users to use VPNs. Let us stride across each section to witness the scenario here.
Speed Provided By Turbo VPN
We all know that using a VPN costs our internet speed. But there should be a cap. Otherwise, the VPN is outright pathetic. Now, this can be subjective if there are other features that you can trade for your speeds.
But up to 20% speed loss can be an acceptable limit. Beyond that, it won’t be of any use because what is the point in using a VPN if you can’t use the internet at all. Turbo VPN doesn’t deliver justice to its name. It is not at all “Turbo” as in delivering good speeds.
When we checked the VPN in the US and the European countries servers like England, Netherlands we were disappointed by the results. Turbo VPN plummeted way below the acceptable threshold. Speed test results can be different for everyone, but the average speed drop percentage won’t be that much.
We found the drop from 12% to up to 95% in some cases, which is alarming for users like me, who rely on VPNs to download torrents and stream content from foreign country libraries. UK region displayed a hideous 50% drop, whereas Netherlands server did pretty decent. Sadly, when we tried US servers, we got both shocked and disappointed with around 90% drop most of the time.
Server numbers and locations Of Turbo VPN
Turbo VPN’s website advertises to offer 21,000 servers in 45+ countries. But here is the catch. When we tested it, we found only 26 to 50 locations by and large. The picture gets worse if you go to try out the countries.
45+ is a far-fetched story. You would find around 11 countries, including India, U.S, Japan, UK, Germany, etc. If you prefer a city-wise choice, only the US will come to your rescue. So if our readers are looking for a wide range of server numbers, they are advised to look elsewhere.
Is Netflix Streaming Possible With Turbo VPN?
Streaming services these days don’t like VPN software, so most VPNs get blocked by Netflix and other streaming platforms. Since we paid for premium VPN services, we can’t tolerate these excuses.
Turbo VPN has some dedicated streaming servers, but those who opted for the VIP plan can reap the benefits. Considering you have a VIP plan, you won’t be facing many issues regarding access to multiple servers of popular streaming services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, etc.
If you are using the free variant of Turbo VPN, there is bad news for you. Almost none of the servers won’t respond in that case, as we found out in our testing.
So by now, it must be clear that the VIP plan of Turbo VPN is a decent option for streaming. It is except, there are other options under the similar price bracket offering a better streaming experience. Readers must note that with Turbo VPN, we faced server uptime issues and not-up-to-mark support service.
Is Torrenting Possible With Turbo VPN?
Putting all features aside, when it comes to torrenting, Turbo VPN didn’t do justice with our least expectation that we would somehow torrent contents if the streaming experience is so limited. Why so? We found this warning before we could try to use BitTorrent.
The warning says that using BitTorrent can lead to the banning of your account permanently. What is left there to say now?
Also, we were going to dissuade you anyway. We were shocked to see the shoddy privacy features and logging risks packed with the Turbo VPN. We are going to discuss this more in the privacy section.
Is Turbo VPN Excel At Providing Security and Privacy?
Choosing a VPN isn’t easy. We rely on it for the protection of our most sensitive information. Our account details, personal data can easily be misused by any unscrupulous or nefarious parties.
Let’s see which key areas we should focus on to validate our safety with the VPN and how Turbo VPN stands in these sections.
Jurisdiction And Background Of Turbo VPN
Turbo VPN has its roots in Singapore, as you may find on paper, but here is something more. Turbo VPN does have links to China. We can say it for sure, as the developer of Turbo VPN, “Innovative Connecting” has a Chinese national as its director.
His name is Danian Chen, maker of Wi-Fi Master Key. As per Forbes, this man has been one of the most influential young leaders in China. It should be all clear to you by now.
Singapore is a member nation of the 14-Eyes intelligence group, notorious for surveillance from influential western territories.
Users will find that Turbo VPN won’t work in China. This fact indicates the possibility of the VPN’s close ties with the Chinese government.
Does Turbo VPN Have a Logging policy?
Well, which VPN won’t showcase as a no-logs service provider? They all do almost. Turbo VPN does too.
Now, does the reality check prove any different?
The privacy policy of Turbo VPN is ambiguous, illegible for people with slightly troubled eyesight as the font size is too small. The reason, as we found out, is the declaration of logging lots of user data.
Starting from your very personal privacy settings, device info to the information related to your ISP details, email address, the location of your language, Turbo VPN collects all.
In its defense, although it declares in the policy, it doesn’t monitor your transmitted data, visited websites. It also rested its defense by saying that Turbo VPN doesn’t provide customized ads targeted to specific customers.
But, it admitted that the third-party advertisers could collect the same. In our understanding, such a double stand takes away the legitimacy of its statements and restricts us from appreciating its privacy features.
Does Turbo Use The Top-Notch Encryption?
This category is the key focus to many of you. We are going to put down the information we got from Turbo. It claims to implement the famous AES 256-bit military-grade encryption, but we found that this could be the case for only premium users.
We found no way to verify this feature but to have faith in the company statements.
Some analysts online noticed that the free plan of Turbo VPN used AES 128-CBC encryption. This information creates a cloud over our understanding of the actual encryption model Turbo VPN adopted.
There is one major missing, though. Turbo VPN doesn’t come with the Kill Switch feature, prompting our security to hang in the balance in times of a connection drop. No native DNS servers are there, so the third-party servers are holding control of your traffic online.
VPN protocols Uses Turbo VPN
Turbo VPN states on its website that it uses the OpenVPN protocol. IPSec protocol is also there.
IPSec suite bears the IKEv2, which guarantees stability on top of the protection of IPSec.
OpenVPN alone is a commendable addition, as it is open-source. It means a vast team of active developers constantly works on the loopholes and issues, making the product better with time.
WireGuard is there too. It is still new in the industry, bagging less appeal from the mass.
Another open-source protocol named OpenConnect is featured too. Readers might want to note that finding all these protocols inside the app and switching between different protocols would not be easy to find.
User Impression:
Besides all offered features, there is this one segment that lures most users to some extent. User experience, if not at the top of all features, is a spot for attention for many of us.
Because we can’t go without appreciating if the software application interface, the navigation tools, the platform supporting features give us a buttery smooth, easy-to-use experience. We, therefore, categorize this section into further sections like,
Apps and platforms:
Turbo VPN supports Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS devices.
There is no browser plugin option that is ubiquitous these days. There is no specific web page that displays server details and login credentials like we see in other VPN software.
When we tried the Windows app, we were impressed that it doesn’t need your email address or any login obligation if you are trying the free version. Free versions come with ads that will take a minimum of 5-seconds each time they pop up.
The Android app is better, in our opinion, as Android offers its kill app feature that gives you better protection than Windows and other platforms. While the free variant of the app allows unlimited access from unlimited devices, the paid plan allows up to 5-devices, which users should be wary of beforehand.
Design and Usability:
All platforms that Turbo VPN supports offer a very minimal and simple-looking interface to users. A single button to connect, disconnect, and default connection to the nearest and fastest servers is the icing on the cake.
Using the premium version will allow users to choose between different protocols. Free versions won’t show you this choice. There is one thing to note that the iOS versions don’t offer server choices to users, leaving them stuck with the default one assigned by the app.
Coming to the looks and feel, Turbo VPN has a modern-looking interface with good animation and intuitive personalization options.
Extra features, if any:
The market is filled with VPNs these days, with each one of them vying for the top position. While we tested other VPNs, we witnessed many of them providing smart enticements to the ever-growing consumers.
Be it a helpful password manager or maybe an ad blocker plugin in browsers. Most VPNs cater to the guilty pleasure of users. Sadly, Turbo VPN doesn’t indulge us with any such bonus features that can make our smile wider.
Pricing and refund policy:
Here are the pricing options. If you opt for the 2-years tariff, your monthly expense would be 4.17 USD per month. This price increases as expected, with the shorter time you opt.
Like, if you choose the 1-year plan, your monthly spending would be 5.00 USD. For a 6-months subscription, you have to pay 6.67 USD per month, and lastly, a single-month subscription would demand a whopping 11.99 USD from your pocket.
We already illustrated both free and paid plan benefits. Now the ball is in your court.
We browsed through the website’s FAQ section to know about the refund possibilities.
Here is what we found.
If users don’t cancel the subscription before the 1-week free trial ends or it happens for any other reason, Turbo VPN won’t initiate any refund. So the free trial comes with this lacuna of keeping a mental note when the free trial would end.
Does Turbo VPN Provide Good Customer Support Service?
We all want the support service to work 24/7, so we get help at any time of the day. Turbo advertises on its website that it does offer the same. But what about the reality? We reached out to all available options and got shocked.
We didn’t find any ticketing support option, let alone live chat support. Email response is also terrible, from what we found. The FAQ page doesn’t provide a detailed guide to take care of your issues when you run out of all other options.
We aren’t enough convinced to appreciate what we experienced. So we find it hard to assure our readers, excited to buy this, based on the customer support system.
Overall suggestion: Is Turbo VPN Trustworthy Or Not?
You know it. We know it as we thoroughly covered each area. But here is what appeared more concerning to us, setting aside all other matters. That is the privacy issue with its dubious origin countries where it stores all its data.
Singapore being an obedient country to the surveillance group nations, we cannot recommend our readers to place their faith in this one. The very purpose of using a VPN is compromised here, so there is no hesitation in our direct shoutout like this.
Also, Read Hola VPN Review