AVG Secure VPN Review: Simple And Effective VPN That Does The Job 

We take a deeper look at one of our best VPNs of 2018.

Anyone who has used some sort of antivirus or Internet Security product in the last 15 years will have heard of AVG. In fact, AVG has been one of the consistently excellent names in the antivirus and security game since 1991. Most people will be aware of them via their free antivirus products.

But AVG does more than just protect from malware these days.  

AVG Secure VPN is an effective, straightforward, and simple to use VPN service that is well worth considering if you are after something that just works, and don’t want to spend ages mucking about with a variety of settings and masses of setup time.

What is a VPN? 

Simply put, a VPN is a Virtual Private Network, and they’ve been around for years. In basic terms, it hides or ‘masks’ your IP address (the address that lets you access the internet) allowing you to access on-line content by placing you ‘virtually’ somewhere else in the world, and at the same time hiding your real location. 

In short, using a VPN is a way of encrypting and scrambling your internet traffic is such a way that it’s impossible to decipher or see while the data travels around the internet.  

The benefit is that who you are and what you are doing is shielded from your Internet Service Provider, governments, advertisers, and everyone else such as hackers and scammers. There are also a range of other reasons why you should be using a VPN, from improved internet speeds to bypassing regional content blocks while you’re abroad.

Why pay for a VPN? 

While yes, there are free VPNs out there, they can be laggy, slow, unreliable, and it’s also at times unsure if your connection is indeed being protected or not. Furthermore, you can’t always trust free VPNs to have your best interests at heart. After all, if the service is free, you can be sure they are making money out of it somewhere, and the chances are it’s either through intrusive advertising or from selling your ‘encrypted’ and personal data. 

So is it worth paying for a good VPN? We think so.

How do you choose a VPN? 

That’s a freaking good question. There are a lot of VPN providers out there. You will no doubt of heard of many of them. There are a whole range of VPNs on FileHippo for you to choose from, and the number of them can seem daunting if you don’t really know what you’re looking for.

AVG Secure VPN is at its core, a VPN designed for individuals who want something that works effectively, is easy to understand, easy to use, and has an intuitive and simple to use interface. AVG Secure VPN ticks all those boxes. Basically, if you can use a keyboard and mouse you can use AVG Secure VPN successfully. 

There are no confusing settings and the software uses the same financial grade encryption used by banks and multinational corporations, which is reassuring. 

Almost every VPN does have some effect on your internet bandwidth or speed. AVG is no exception to this rule. However, all things considered, our office testing found the performance of Secure VPN to be fast with very little slow-down. One caveat to that statement was when we tried to connect through the South American servers, but then they are based on the other side of the world and in a different hemisphere to us, so perhaps that’s not surprising. All things considered however, there was only minimal impact on download speeds.

Netflix, Hula, and the BBC 

AVG Secure VPN also worked well Netflix, Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, HBO GO, and Google, which is always something of a litmus test when it comes to VPNs. Sadly, the BBC iPlayer didn’t work, but the BBC are notorious for working overtime to block VPN access. 

Mr Worldwide 

While AVG Secure VPN doesn’t have the same number of servers around the world as some of its competitors, it has them in all the usual suspect places: America; Chicago, Dallas, New York etc. Europe; UK, Germany, Spain, France, etc, and also there are servers in Australia, Asia, India, Japan, Middle East and so on. AVG has pretty much most of the world covered. Obviously if you happen to reside or be travelling outside of the listed locations given by AVG, you may want to consider another provider, but if you don’t or aren’t, you should be fine.

How do I know AVG aren’t recording everything I do online?  

AVG has a no data logging policy, and independent tests by third parties have proved that they don’t actively monitor user activity.

That said, AVG also say that if they do receive a complaint about misuse they will investigate it. In this case, that’s probably going to be a Government agency of some sort, so, you know…just don’t be doing stuff you’re not supposed to be doing. Similar to most VPN providers, AVG make a point about the distribution of pirated content, so you shouldn’t use a VPN to try and become the next Kim Dotcom.

Pricing 

We found pricing for AVG Secure VPN to be very reasonable. The yearly subscription averages out at only $3.99 a month and you can try it out completely free for 30 days without a credit card, which is somewhat unique, but nice to see.  

Conclusions 

AVG Secure VPN is a refreshingly simple VPN for the rest of us. Its main aim is to put the security of a well-guarded and enforced Virtual Private Network in the hands of the everyday person and it works. Some critics have highlighted the lack of ‘options’ as an issue, but we humbly disagree. We see that simplicity and ease of use as a distinct advantage.  Overall, AVG Secure VPN is cheap and fast VPN standalone product, that we recommend. 

You can trial and/or buy AVG Secure VPN here on Filehippo.com.

If you’re looking for even more VPN reviews, why not read our recent review on the 5 best VPNs of 2018.