What any user expects from a program is its ease of functioning and no complex interfaces. TunnelBear VPN has both of these and is hence a good software. The free edition of TunnelBear gives you a cap on the amount of data you use, so you may not prefer it over SpotFlux or SecurityKISS. This post checks out TunnelBear VPN to know how it stands.
TunnelBear VPN review
Easy Installation – No Crapware
Installation is easy. When it asked for installing Microsoft .Net, I thought I will have to reboot, but it wasn’t necessary. I got the VPN working without any reboot; neither did the installer ask for a reboot. I did not find any crapware embedded as is the case with most free programs. Probably, the builders of TunnelBear are sure that people using their product, will upgrade to paid versions. The simple and easy usage plus the protection it offers might want some to go for full versions if their needs are much.
Tracking Protection
Tunnel Bear too, like Spotflux and SecurityKISS, creates a virtual network adapter, which it uses to route the traffic to its servers in the US, UK, Germany, France and a couple of other countries. When you use the VPN, first a secure channel using OpenSSL session is created from your computer to the servers that you choose from the program interface. Then you can browse anonymously as the Bear blocks all tracking companies. That means you might find the share buttons disabled or invisible on most of the sites. In that case, if you wish to share, you have to do it manually by copy-pasting the URLs.
Handling of Dropped Connections
By default, the handling of dropped connections is ON. You can be sure that dropped connections won’t give away your location etc. details when the Vigilant mode is on.
The trick TunnelBear employs to protect you from exposure when your connection or TunnelBear’s encryption is dropped, is to re-route the packages so that your local still stays safe. In some cases, it simply blocks the data until the connection is restored. This is a good feature and helps you stay private even if your connection drops or the Bear needs to reconnect.
The Cons of Free Version
First of all, you get only 500 MB for a month. That is, you can use TunnelBear VPN until you have not reached 500 MB of data transfer. That is too less for people who are into watching videos and especially those, who use VPNs to view videos that have been blocked in certain countries. 500 MB is quickly exhausted except for those who are into simple browsing and sending emails anonymously.
But you can increase your monthly quota by 1GB after you exhausted the 500 MB per month scheme. All you have to do is to tweet to TunnelBear VPN handle and ask for an additional 1 GB.
Other than the monthly cap, I do not see any other problem with this free VPN software. SecurityKISS offers 300MB per day cap while Spotflux shows ads on the main interface.
TunnelBear VPN – Verdict & Download link
You can download the free version of TunnelBear VPN from its home page. It is good for people whose Internet needs are limited and need an easy-to-use VPN. But for unlimited usage, you will have to either upgrade or switch to SpotFlux or some other Internet Privacy Products mentioned on The Windows Club.
