Switch VPN Review

The internet has become a ubiquitous thing in our everyday life. Some of us can't even imagine what it's like to live without it. Unfortunately, there are people out there that saw on the internet the opportunity to collect and misused our personal data without our consent.  

To protect our privacy without sacrificing all the good things that the internet has to offer, we use a VPN service. Each year, there's a huge wave of people who decided to use VPN as a means to truly regain their freedom on the internet. And with it comes numerous companies that want to capitalize on that demands. 

Every company starts pretty much the same but they end up in a vastly different place. Some of them become leaders in the industry, while others remain in relatively the same place. Now we are going to look at one of those small VPN company and decide whether or not their service is in any way shape or form lacking compare to the big boys in the industry. Read our review of SwitchVPN if you still need more information after reading this review.

SwitchVPN was an Indian-based VPN company founded by a man named Charu Sharma. In 2015, for some unknown reasons, they decided to move out of India and relocate their headquarters to the USA. They also doing business now under a parent company called CS Systems Inc. 

Switch VPN doesn't make it easy for us to find out anything about them. There's not even an "About" page on their official website. I have to dig around the internet just to find that little information that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. For a company that champions security for its customers, they are surprisingly lacking in transparency. 

Another thing that they are lacking in is growth. They didn't put the total number of customers on their official website, so the only metrics that I could use to gauge their popularity is their Google Playstore page. Since Switch VPN uploaded its android client to the play store in August 2015, it has been downloaded by more than 10000 users with an average rating of 3.3 stars from 80+ customers.  

For the sake of comparison, Surfshark VPN was founded in 2018 and now (by the way, I write this article in 2020) they have more than one million downloads with an average rating of 4.1 stars.  

As you can see, Switch VPN has a problem expanding its business. Hopefully, the subsequent sections would shed a light on what might be the problems.  

• Anonymity. Switch VPN will mask your IP address and makes it look like you accessing the internet from somewhere else. To enhance your data even further, they also implement a strict zero-logs-policy which means they won't record your activities while you are connected to their network.  

• Absolute security. Switch VPN uses a 256-bit AES encryption method that has been the military standard for quite some time now. On top of that, they also use the kill switch protocol that would automatically suspend your internet connection so there won't be any unintentional data being shared.

• Absolute protection. Following the standard of the industry, Switch VPN utilize OpenVPN protocol to secure their network. They also have other protocols available that you can freely change whenever you want, such as SSTP, IPSec, etc. In addition to that, Switch VPN also has DNS and IPv6 leaks prevention in place.  

• Decent Accessibility. Switch VPN has more than 250 servers scattered around 43 locations around the world. It's not a bad number per se but for their price point, that amount of servers is underwhelming, to say the least. On a brighter note, their services are available to most major platforms, like Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux. They also allowed up to six devices to connect simultaneously.

• Decent speed and unlimited bandwidth. While SwitchVPN has an unlimited bandwidth policy, the speed is rather mediocre. On its own, the speed is quite decent. You won't certainly feel any different if all you do is browsing and reading articles. But when it comes to demanding tasks like streaming and downloading, then you'll feel it's lack of steam especially when compares to its more popular competitors.  

• Affordable pricing plans. Switch VPN has two kinds of pricing based on the length of your subscription, monthly, or annually. They have two categories for each plan, premium, and families. The difference between them is the connection of the simultaneous device, three for the premium, and six for the families. The monthly price for the premium is USD6.99 per month while the families plan costs USD9.99 per month. The annual price for the premium is USD3.99 per month while the families plan costs USD5.99 per month. 

• Free trials and money-back. Other than a 30-day money-back guaranteed, Switch VPN also has a three-day trial period for as little as USD1. 

• Ease-of-use. Switch VPN client has a clean and minimalistic design aesthetic that not only makes it easy to use but also quite pleasant to look at. Its straightforward user interface also easy to understand and navigate. 

• Decent support. Switch VPN has an FAQ section on its official website but the content is more sparse than I'd like it to be. Other than that, you could also contact them via live chat, email, and contact form on their website.   

• Unblocked Geo-restricted contents. You can watch geo-restricted content, like Netflix shows, all you want with Switch VPN but keep in mind that the speed issue that I mentioned earlier would decrease the qualities of your videos. 

• P2P support. Switch VPN allowed torrenting through its network. It may not have dedicated servers for P2P activities but the fact that they allowed VPN is always a good thing.  

The biggest concern I have over Switch VPN its origin country, the USA. Usually, a VPN company would choose a country with strong privacy laws for its base of operation, like Panama or British Virgin Island to name a few.  

The USA has a very bad reputation when it comes to personal privacy. From the fact that they are a member of the Five Eyes Alliance who shares intelligence with its member countries, to the revelation that its national intelligence agency spy on its own citizens, and finally to one of its biggest tech company, namely Facebook, earn profits through the monetization of its users' personal information. 

To set up a base on a country like that and pride yourself as a security company is simply naive, for the lack of a better term. To be fair, SwitchVPN said that they have a strict zero-logs-policy in place and their privacy policy also confirms the same thing. But it is still worrisome, isn't it? 

We talk about SwitchVPN having a problem growing its business early on in the article and I think I know why now. It is a mediocre VPN provider. They don't have a major issue that would cause me to outright dismiss them. What they do have is a series of shortcomings that piling up on top of one another.  

From its mediocre performance to its country of origin, all of it makes me think twice about using their services much less recommend it to any body else.  

If all you want is an affordable VPN, you're better off with a company like Surfshark VPN that I mentioned before. Not only they are superior in any way shape or form to Switch VPN, but they are also inexpensive. Their most popular plan costs only USD2.49 per month. How cool is that? 

There is a reason why Switch VPN remains a relatively small company despite having been in the industry since 2015 and it is because they deserve it. If you truly want the best VPN with a friendly cost, then use Surfshark VPN instead.