Tunnelbear VPN – Review
The company is based in Canada and is a subsidiary of McAfee, from which it seems to inherit the direct and simplified approach towards users. Few technical details, therefore, a choice that will certainly alienate this service to more expert and demanding users, but could instead be a positive factor for those who need a VPN, perhaps for work reasons, but don't want to get bogged down in too many technicalities.
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Plans and prices and TunnelBear
TunnelBear's simple and direct approach is also reflected in its offer: only two plans, at fairly fixed prices over the course of the year, except for some promotional periods, from 1 or 2 years, plus a free account with a limit of 500 MB per month, great for testing the service before committing or for occasional use (e.g. quickly checking the balance card processing while connected to a public access point at an airport, hotel, or other place that offers free Wi-Fi).Tunnelbear VPN review images
Prices are lower or less in line with other companies, but a di Unlike other operators, TunnelBear does not offer the possibility of requesting a refund, except after an evaluation based on individual cases.
Unlimited Plan
1 year | $4.99/month billed once every 12 months 2 years | $4.17 per month with one-time billing Teams plan : $5.75 per month per user
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Another unusual aspect is that TunnelBear accepts payments only by card, no PayPal, or other methods and this could make those who rely heavily on anonymity turn up their noses a bit. However, as we shall see, the privacy policy and no-logs suggest that TunnelBear is still trustworthy.
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Privacy
TunnelBear, however, stands out from the competition in at least one respect: its privacy policy , in fact, is extremely comprehensive , much more even than other more popular VPNs.Information relating to the data collected abounds, with even detailed details on the various cookies used.
And the no-log policy is equally clear, where TunnelBear declares that it does not collect IP addresses, DNS searches, information on apps, services or sites used by users , consequently the company is not able to trace its users through specific actions on precise IP addresses.
The only data collected is defined as operational and includes the version of the operating system and the TunnelBear app , general activity for the month and amount of data used ati. Therefore, although some data is actually collected, these are elements useful for making the service functional and nothing more.
These positive aspects were confirmed in 2017 and 2018 by two independent audits, the results of which you can consult here .
As you can read, the report highlights some vulnerabilities, but of a slight form and, in the intervening time, the company has already taken steps to resolve them through corrective actions.
Not always a VPN company adopts such a transparent approach, therefore TunnelBear must be credited with this important merit.
Performance
Testing TunnelBear's speeds , our first and biggest regret is represented by the absence of the WireGuard protocol which, in other reviews, amazed us for the guaranteed performance even over fairly long distances.
Moving on to what TunnelBear offers, i.e. the OpenVPN protocol, we have achieved the 66 Mbps connected to the closest server, with a 75 Mbps line, not bad since we only lost 6% of the nominal speed (this in Europe). In the USA, we reached around 200 Mbps, a positive result for us, given that the value remained the same even in peak traffic hours.
Features and functions
The first aspect we evaluate are the apps and their ease of installation/configuration/use and, as we said when opening this review, TunnelBear is definitely a service aimed at more casual users, as can already be seen from the 'installation of its apps, simple and linear like few others.
The app for Windows has a large map in the center of the main window, in which the available servers are very recognizable. The interfaces won't be very comfortable to use, especially due to the lack of zoom, but overall everything is very intuitive and elementary.
There is also the Killswitch , renamed VigilantBear , which does exactly what is expected of this tool, i.e. disconnecting the system from the Internet in the event of a VPN crash.
GhostBear , then, disguises the user's activities by acting as an Obfsproxy , excellent for those who want to surf the Internet from countries they don't like VPNs and which perhaps apply very strict censorship to the network, such as China.
The few options available, however, will be quite discouraging for the so-called power users, who however are absolutely not TunnelBear's target.
In the mobile environment, the iOS and Android versions look a lot alike, with the map it works better than on Windows. On Android there is also the possibility of setting up split tunneling (SplitBear), i.e. deciding which apps will use the VPN and which the standard connection. On iOS, however, both split tunneling and the killswitch are missing, and you will also have to give up GhostBear.
In short, if you are looking for more options or more performing mobile apps, definitely look elsewhere.
Moving on to unblocking streaming, here's some bad news: TunnelBear, as it stands, fails to unblock US Netflix and Disney Plus. If you are watching streaming content from abroad, you should take a look at the best VPNs for Netflix, as it is the service that gives the Virtual Private Network services the most trouble.
No problem, however, for the use of Torrents , although the company says very little about P2P , for obvious reasons.
Finally, TunnelBear's support page offers several answers to common questions, which will be more than enough for most of people, however, if you have more specific or complex problems, you can send a message to the operators, who usually respond very competently and courteously within a few hours. Sure, a live chat would be better, but better than nothing. Email support is just as good, either way.
Verdict
TunnelBear, in some respects, might be too basic and elementary, but it's transparent and super easy to to use . If you don't have big needs, also considering a fairly reasonable pricing policy, it could be a service to consider, especially if you don't want to go crazy behind dozens and dozens of settings (and you're not interested in watching Netflix abroad).In any case, remember that there is always the possibility of creating a free account to test the service (with 500 MB of traffic per month), before eventually subscribing.
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