HideMyAss! Pro VPN

Ass not hidden.

Another stalwart of the VPN scene, HideMyAss has an absurdly high monthly rate, but a much more reasonable annual rate. For that you get access to one of the most extensive VPN networks around, with servers in nearly every country that has internet access.

It also has the most advanced client application we’ve seen. There are lots of tools available here not seen on other services. The highlight is the automatic server recommendation system. When we tried to connect to the primary Los Angeles server, we were told that a different server has a lower usage right now and were asked if we’d like to connect (we did for the speed tests). There are also tools like random and periodic IP address switching and a conditional ‘kill-switch’ style tool that prevents certain applications from working if the VPN is down.

Unfortunately, even with the server recommendation system, the service did not do well in our speed test and streaming from Amazon and UK services were ridden with pauses, stuttering and buffering. You’ll likely have to switch several times to find a server with enough bandwidth to sustain solid video streams. Speedtest. net is your friend here.

It also did not do at all well in our tests against Netflix and Hulu. Both failed, and it doesn’t seem that HMA is working to rectify the situation. Live chat couldn’t help. Amazon did work, but both it and UK services were so slow speeds it almost didn’t matter; you’re going to struggle to watch anything.

Given the slow speeds, high monthly cost and inability to stream from major services, HideMyAss is not recommended. It does have a great app, but a great app is useless if the service isn’t up to snuff.