by Stephan Kubrik
digitalwelt Lead Columnist for IT Security
It seems that Avira has shut down their system. Due to high number of negative reviews we are not recommending AVIRA VPN at the moment.
Top VPN Tools | Updated: November 2024
Advertisement: Sponsored ListingsPlease note that the review below is obsolete and does not reflect the quality of Avira Phantom VPN as of November 2024
More and more antivirus companies like Avira now offer very reliable and fast VPN solutions. Obviously, since they’ve been operating in the business for so long, it’s easy for these companies to offer high-quality VPN services as a VPN provider as well.
Avira Phantom VPN Benefits in a Nutshell
- No Logs Policy, Hides Your Location
- Over 1 Million Customers
- 34 Server Locations, 20 countries
- Allows P2P & BitTorrent
- Limited Free Version
- AES 256-bit Encryption
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
- Unlimited Devices & Bandwidth
- Netflix Capable
- DNS Leak Prevention & Kill Switch
Avira VPN Software proves that it works smoothly. The new product, Avira Phantom VPN, is also one of the top VPN products of 2024. Avira is so confident in the product that it even offers a 30-day money-back guarantee—something that is not common in the VPN software industry. In addition, we will also discuss below how the 2024 Avira Phantom VPN software allows access to Netflix.
Avira VPN Installation and Operation Review
Avira Phantom VPN 2024 is easy to install on both Mac and PC. Some users report problems related to the software not connecting to the already offered anonymous VPN servers after installation. However, it may be because an already installed firewall software blocked the Avira Phantom VPN software. In numerous forums and blogs the occasional emerging problem was discussed—such problems are solved in most cases within minutes. Basically, we recommend checking if other firewall software is already installed on the computer before installing Avira Phantom VPN. Almost every firewall software has the possibility in the configuration to create a so-called white-list, i.e. you have to configure the firewall software so Avira VPN isn’t blocked. If an Avira product is already in use, such as Avira Antivirus, then we don’t expect you’ll have these types of problems.
Avira VPN Speed
A few years ago, VPN tools were given a bad rap. Apparently, when running VPN software, surfing the net was much slower than surfing without VPN. However, manufacturers have made significant improvements with their new versions in 2024, including AVIRA Phantom VPN. Even with 100 Mbit/s lines, manufacturers can now provide faster surfing with VPN. However, this also depends on the VPN servers the VPN tool connects with. For example, Avira Phantom VPN has built a lot of servers worldwide that users can login to optionally. If one of the servers are too slow, users can choose other faster alternative servers. All are clearly sufficient for large downloads. Depending on the server, Avira VPN speeds up to 5.71 Mbit/s for downloading and 1.92 Mbit/s for uploading. For example, if you want to download a movie that’s 1 GB, Avira VPN takes less than 25 minutes. This is perfectly acceptable, considering that most free VPN servers usually do not offer more than 0.5 Mbps—especially since the security of free VPN servers is not guaranteed. This makes the Avira server more than 10 times faster than the usual VPN provider.
Avira VPN Software Reliability Review
When reviewing reliability we look at two things in the VPN world:
1) Connection Security
Does Avira VPN actually maintain a decent connection while downloading? The question is: If the VPN connection breaks from one second to another, would the user no longer be anonymous in the network? This can lead to major problems, especially with downloaders: If you lose the VPN connection in the middle of a download, you are completely open and unsecured. Not only are you “open” for a few seconds, but you’d be “seen” by investigators and any other sniffing organization since your IP is now traceable. However, Avira VPN software came up with a nice solution. If the VPN connection breaks down, which may happen from time to time, the entire Internet connection of your computer is also on hold. This is a special protection for the user. So whoever loses the VPN connection in the middle of the download is not reset to a normal Internet connection. The data stream breaks off completely. In this case, the user must manually exit the software or restart the VPN connection. This solution shows that Avira is not just any VPN provider, but a company with a history of Internet security. A big plus for Avira VPN.
Top VPN Tools | Updated: November 2024
Advertisement: Sponsored Listings2) Data Retention
What use is an anonymous connection if the server stores the real IP of the user? Well, Avira VPN has taken extra precautions: According to Avira, their VPN servers do not store any data. Retention is a thing of the past if you go with the Avira Phantom VPN on the global data network. If the servers are somehow compromised no one will be able to track who logged into the server.
Price & Performance of Avira VPN
Avira VPN is cheaper than other VPN providers. This may be due to not many knowing that Avira is also a VPN provider. Everyone knows Avira Antivirus Software, but few have realized that Avira also provides an outstanding VPN service. Therefore, the company is currently fighting with awareness in the VPN software market. To counter this, Avira VPN has recently entered the market and announced a price war with a 12-month subscription of $7.00 per month. Thus making Avira VPN one of the cheapest in the market.
Avira VPN Technical Support
Avira has a support team you can contact on their website, but telephone availability is also guaranteed. Initially, Avira dedicated an entire web portal to problems and questions. In the web portal, users will find a help page, downloads, help videos, FAQ (Avira answers) and a blog. In addition, users can turn to Avira social media channels since they also answers questions there. Or you can just visit Avira facebook.com/avira and twitter.com/Avira and discuss your questions there. If all else fails, you can simply leave a message to Avira, for example, under the Avira Support for premium products. If you are not satisfied with that, there is the Avira phone support. However, you must already be an Avira customer because the registration email is required—only then you can take advantage of the phone support.
Avira VPN Conclusion
Made in Germany
Avira Phantom VPN is a German manufacturer and has brought a solid and reliable product to the market, which is geared toward user needs. Avira is a strong competitor, even against bigger VPN providers such as NordVPN, especially on the German market. After all, in Germany, the greatest emphasis is placed on data protection, unlike anywhere else in the world. Maybe that’s why Avira knows best how to meet demand. A German manufacturer for the American market—thus making Avira a great competitor. From this perspective, “Made in Germany” makes sense for Avira VPN. Avira is a high quality VPN product. In the next few years, however, Avira could increase the price, as the user awareness of Avira VPN is growing daily.
Suitable for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video
In addition, Avira VPN comes with a special bonus: Since it is a German manufacturer, not all VPN servers are targeted by Netflix and Hulu. As of late, Netflix has been the main threat of all VPN providers. The international and well-known VPN providers are constantly blocked. Unfortunately, some Avira VPN servers are affected, but not all. That means: Avira VPN offers a very high number of servers that you can log in to. With a few clicks you’re quickly back in a server from Avira. You can easily change the server yourself via the Avira VPN interface. So, if you want to stream U.S. films with an anonymous IP, Avira Phantom VPN 2024 is still the way to go.
Our recommendation: Do not be afraid to buy Avira at the already very low price. If you’re not sure, you can still choose the monthly subscription and test the product first, which can be terminated immediately. Of course, it’s easy to convert later to the lower price of $7.00.
Avira VPN Phantom VPN Summary
- Pricing is very affordable compared to other VPN providers.
- P2P and BitTorrenting allowed
- Unlimited devices.
- Great encryption, in fact, one of the best in the world right now
- Very few servers in barely any countries.
- Based in the U.S; for U.S. & Canada residents and doesn’t work with Netflix in the U.S.
- Can’t pay anonymously and doesn’t accept Bitcoin.
by Stephan Kubrik
digitalwelt Lead Columnist for IT Security
Stephan Kubrik is a Computer Scientist and expert on VPNs and computer viruses. Stephan has been researching for the Fraunhofer Society and has been developing software for the autonomous discovery of computer viruses and trojans using artificial intelligence.
He was previously a Research Associate at the Technical University of Cologne, studied Computer Engineering, and regularly publishes in IT magazines and journals, including the PC Magazine and digitalwelt.