I Used a Temp Email on Tunnel Bear and Now I Cant Ever Use It Again
| VPN | TunnelBear |
| Based in | Canada |
| Logs | Connection logs |
| Toll | $iii.33/mo. |
| Support | Electronic mail |
| Refund | None |
| Website | TunnelBear.com |
TunnelBear is a well-known VPN service owned by the US cybersecurity company McAfee. While you often see it recommended on diverse sites, TunnelBear likewise has some noteworthy drawbacks, which nosotros'll cover below in this TunnelBear review.
On a positive annotation, it is one of the few VPNs that has undergone a 3rd-party security audit. On a negative notation, I constitute it to be wearisome, the server network is tiny, back up is limited, and it just does non work with many streaming sites, among other issues…
Read on for an honest TunnelBear VPN review.
+ Pros
- User-friendly apps and browser extensions
- Passed a third-political party audit in 2018
- Free programme (500 MB of data)
– Cons
- Irksome speeds
- Based in Canada (V Eyes)
- Limited payment options
- No refunds
- Does non work well with Linux or routers
- Small server network
- Non a good selection for Netflix or torrenting
- Limited client support
Additional research findings:
- Bought out by US cybersecurity company (McAfee)
- Does TunnelBear work in China?
- TunnelBear logging policies
At present let's examine the results.
TunnelBear Pros
Here are the pros of TunnelBear VPN:
Convenient apps and browser extensions
For this TunnelBear review, I tested out the Windows and Mac Os apps. Both of these VPN clients did fine in my tests without whatsoever major issues. Below is a screenshot of the Windows VPN client that I tested out for this review:
TunnelBear VPN offers applications for Windows, Mac Os, iOS, and Android. TunnelBear as well offers browser extensions, which we will comprehend in detail further below.
Note: TunnelBear does not provide any app for Linux and information technology is not possible to utilize this VPN with routers. This is a major drawback we'll discuss more below in the cons section.
Random connectedness problems – Another drawback I noted when testing the TunnelBear Windows customer is that it would sometimes have connection problems. This seemed to randomly occur with dissimilar servers, which resulted in the error message beneath.
This random connectedness error did non appear with every server.
TunnelBear VPN browser extensions
The TunnelBear browser extension is a lightweight encrypted proxy that yous can control from the browser window. This is geared to people wanting to use the VPN within the browser, as we noted in our Firefox VPN guide. TunnelBear offers browser extensions for:
- Chrome
- Firefox
- Opera
I tested the TunnelBear Chrome extension for this review and found it to work alright. Hither is the TunnelBear Chrome extension in activity, which yous can meet in the upper-right corner of the browser.
Many VPNs now offer browser extensions. In some cases, such as with TunnelBear, the browser extension acts as an additional proxy for the browser itself, changing the IP address and DNS requests within the browser. In other cases, such as with ExpressVPN, the browser extension just extends the VPN desktop client into the browser for easier functionality. In this case, you lot can just command the desktop VPN customer through the browser.
Nosotros talk over this topic more in our post on the best VPN for Chrome. At that place are also a few other VPNs that offering browser extensions, including VPN.air conditioning, ExpressVPN, and also NordVPN and CyberGhost.
Secure, passed tertiary-party audit
TunnelBear offers practiced information encryption using the 256-fleck AES OpenVPN for Windows, Mac Bone, and Android. The IKEv2 protocol can exist used with iOS and Windows every bit well. Both OpenVPN and IKEv2 are secure and reliable VPN protocols. Each has pros and cons.
OpenVPN is open source, but information technology requires the utilise of a third-party customer and is more CPU-intensive. IKEv2 tin can exist used natively on various devices (no app required) and runs with less CPU, but it is also non open source.
No WireGuard back up with TunnelBear
At the time of this review, TunnelBear does not support the WireGuard VPN protocol. This is a relatively new protocol that provides very fast speeds along with upgraded security and encryption over legacy protocols. If you compare WireGuard vs OpenVPN, the speeds are usually much improve with WireGuard.
Tunnelbear leak protection
TunnelBear offers a basic leak protection option which is called VigilantBear. This feature acts as a kill switch to block traffic when at that place is no active VPN connection and can be activated directly within the VPN awarding.
I ran both the Windows and Mac OS apps through a circular of VPN tests to check for leaks and problems. Everything worked well without whatsoever leaks to report.
Hither y'all can see the leak exam results when connected to a TunnelBear server in Norway:
The TunnelBear Mac Os customer also did not take whatsoever leaks in my tests.
It is important to call back to enable VigilantBear (the leak protection feature) to be protected against information leaks.
TunnelBear security audit
TunnelBear is one of the few VPN providers to undergo a third-party security audit. The audit was performed by Cure53. Here is a brief summary of the findings:
Cure53's complete report is available on their website. To summarize, they discovered 2 "critical", 5 "high", iii "medium", 7 "depression", and a few "advisory" bug – all of which were promptly fixed. The more serious vulnerabilities would have required an attacker to have directly access to the device, and be logged in as a guest. Notwithstanding, nether those circumstances it would have allowed attackers to escalate app permissions to give them root access to a device, modify executables and bypass non-strict host matching.
There have been a few other VPN services that take undergone security audits, including ExpressVPN and also NordVPN, which nosotros both discussed in the ExpressVPN vs NordVPN comparing.
Tunnel Bear audits
TunnelBear's first security inspect was completed in 2017, then they followed this up again in Oct 2018. According to their website, the plan is to do an inspect every year.
The latest audit from TunnelBear was released in January 2020. We see other VPN services that are as well undergoing security audits. This is discussed more in our TunnelBear vs NordVPN comparison.
TunnelBear free VPN plan
Another benefit with TunnelBear is the free VPN plan. Unfortunately, you are limited to only 500 MB of data. I used up all the data in near 5 minutes running through a few VPN speed tests.
Within the TunnelBear VPN app, it shows you lot the data that's remaining in the bottom-right corner. While the 500 MB may help some to go a feel for TunnelBear, information technology is really inadequate compared to some other free trial VPN services.
For example, we noted in our Windscribe review how this VPN offers x GB per month. Another example is Trust Zone VPN that offers 3 GB of information for free.
If y'all want more than data for the TunnelBear free plan, you lot tin exercise promotional tweets of TunnelBear for an extra 1 GB. Over again, this is still inadequate if you want to thoroughly test the VPN on all your devices. When y'all run out of information, you will be alerted in the app and all connections will exist blocked.
With costless VPN services, y'all tin can expect these types of restrictions. So now let'south look at the regular prices.
TunnelBear prices
In terms of pricing, TunnelBear is in the heart of the road. It is certainly not the cheapest VPN, but it's also not extremely expensive. Here are the electric current prices of TunnelBear VPN.
To get the best prices on TunnelBear, you will need to commit to iii years, which is quite a long time. This is besides a drawback nosotros noted in the NordVPN review: the all-time deals only come with a longer subscription.
I'chiliad not aware of any VPN coupons or discounts that TunnelBear is offering. And I exercise not believe they offer any VPN Blackness Friday deals, similar many other services do.
Now let's take a look at the cons of TunnelBear VPN.
Cons of TunnelBear
TunnelBear tedious speeds
I major drawback with TunnelBear VPN is the wearisome speeds.
For this updated TunnelBear review, I ran speed tests with servers around the world. All tests were conducted in our US lab on a 500 Mbps internet connection, using the official TunnelBear desktop apps.
Here was the TunnelBear server in the United States, giving me download speeds of only 52 Mbps.
Considering my baseline speed of 500 Mbps, this is a actually tedious speed test event. Many VPNs can get over 200 Mbps on nigh servers.
Next I tested the TunnelBear server in Canada, with speeds of only 43 Mbps.
This is even slower than our previous examination result. If yous are looking for the best VPN for Canada with fast and consistent speeds, this is not information technology.
I previously ran tests with TunnelBear servers in Europe. Again, the results were non great.
Hither was the TunnelBear server in the United Kingdom at only v Mbps.
Based on all of my tests, TunnelBear is not a fast VPN.
Comparison with NordVPN and the WireGuard protocol
For comparison, beneath is a speed test result from NordVPN with the WireGuard protocol at 445 Mbps.
NordVPN with the WireGuard protocol is the fastest VPN we have tested. Tunnelbear can't come shut to these speeds, specially since information technology does not support WireGuard.
Cheque out NordVPN with WireGuard here >>
Based in Canada (Five Eyes)
TunnelBear is a VPN based in Canada. Every bit we explained before, Canada is not a good privacy jurisdiction and is a member of the Five Eyes alliance. This means that Canada collects and surveillance information with other countries, such every bit the United states, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
TunnelBear's privacy policy explains how personal data is protected nether Canadian privacy laws. This is somewhat ironic, as Canada does not have a great record when information technology comes to privacy. Canadian authorities also prosecute people for pocket-sized copyright violations (similar to the US). From the TunnelBear privacy policy:
TunnelBear is a global visitor. Although our concrete servers are located in many dissimilar countries around the world, TunnelBear does not shop Personal Data exterior of Canada'southward physical borders. By using our services, y'all authorize TunnelBear to use your information co-ordinate to Canada'south laws, regardless of which country you lot are located in.
As a Canada VPN service, TunnelBear abides by all Canadian laws.
Every bit noted in the ExpressVPN vs TunnelBear comparison, there are many other VPNs located in privacy-friendly jurisdictions to consider.
Express payment options
When attempting to purchase a subscription to run some tests for this TunnelBear review, I noticed a problem. The only supported payment method is with a credit card. On the pricing page, withal, they claim to support Bitcoin with the official Bitcoin logo. At that place's also a "Jars of Honey" option to exist funny, I guess.
When y'all get to actually buy a subscription, there is no option to pay with Bitcoin. There's non even an option to pay with PayPal, which is very foreign. Virtually every VPN service supports PayPal payments and/or Bitcoin – but non TunnelBear.
This means y'all are forced to utilise a credit card and alsoprovide your real name. This also makes it harder for you to get your coin back if there'south a dispute, as PayPal generally favors the heir-apparent.
This leads us to some other major drawback with TunnelBear…
TunnelBear has no refunds
If y'all read through the Terms of Service, you run across that TunnelBear does not offering whatever refunds. They specifically land:
All amounts paid are non-refundable.
Ouch. TunnelBear is probably the only widely-recognized VPN with a no refund policy. If y'all want a full 30 day refund window, bank check out Surfshark or ExpressVPN or NordVPN.
Given the extremely curt trial period (500 MB of data does not last long) and their stance on refunds, there is definitely more risk to signing up with TunnelBear. If yous aren't happy with TunnelBear after y'all purchase a subscription, in that location's piddling you tin can practice.
Express back up for Linux, routers, and other devices
If you are a Linux user, your options are pretty express with TunnelBear. They even state on their website,
Nosotros do provide instructions for using TunnelBear on Linux, nevertheless, we only provide limited support for that platform.
While they do take a mail from 2022 on how to use TunnelBear with Linux, information technology is certainly non the all-time VPN for this endeavor. Fortunately, this is ameliorate than some VPNs. For example, in our AVG VPN review, nosotros noted they do non support Linux at all. For more options, bank check out these best VPNs for Linux instead.
Additionally, Tunnelbear does not have whatever native app for the Amazon Firestick or Burn down Idiot box. This is another reason it's non a good VPN for streaming. Check out these VPNs for Firestick instead.
TunnelBear does not piece of work with routers
Nearly every VPN I have reviewed here on Restore Privacy supports routers. While some offer a defended router app (discussed in the ExpressVPN review), nearly others support diverse router firmware with OpenVPN configuration files. And this is easy to do if yous simply make the OpenVPN configuration files available to your users and guide them through the installation steps.
TunnelBear, however, does not practise this. Instead, they say,
TunnelBear does non provide configurations to be used on modems/routers.
That is pretty surprising to say the least — but that's not all. There are many other devices that TunnelBear does not support:
TunnelBear is non supported for Kindle/eReaders, Windows mobile devices, Apple/Android TV, or gaming systems.
Non looking good. And here you tin can see the official stance on the TunnelBear website:
Nosotros have a guide on using a VPN with Apple Tv set. Unfortunately, it is not very easy considering Apple TV does not support VPN apps straight. Instead, you volition need to employ a VPN on a router. But even with this pick, TunnelBear still won't work.
If you lot want to apply a VPN on these types of devices, we'd recommend because one of the bigger providers, such every bit NordVPN or Surfshark.
Small server network
Some other drawback with TunnelBear is that it has a very limited (small-scale) server network. At the time of this TunnelBear review, there are only 23 server locations to cull from.
This problem is particularly noticeable if you lot need a VPN for United states of america or Canada with numerous server locations.
With nearly every VPN I've tested, there are numerous server locations in the United States and Canada to choose from. TunnelBear, however, does not give you any choices and you tin just connect to "United States" in the VPN customer.
Therefore, for the entire North American continent, TunnelBear users have only three server locations to choose from:
- Canada
- United states of america
- Mexico
Based on my tests, it appears the The states server is located in California. The Canada server seems to exist in Toronto.
Two other VPNs offering more server locations are IPVanish and NordVPN.
Non practiced for Netflix or torrenting
Is TunnelBear a good VPN for Netflix?
Reply: No
I tried accessing US Netflix with the TunnelBear server in the Usa. Simply I found that TunnelBear does not work with Netflix and returned the infamous proxy error with the US server.
Fortunately, there are many other Netflix VPN services to consider.
Netflix is not the only problematic surface area when information technology comes to streaming. We likewise found Tunnelbear to exist blocked when trying to stream Amazon Prime. Check out our guide on the all-time VPNs for Amazon Prime for alternatives.
Does TunnelBear work for torrenting?
In years past, we saw that TunnelBear would actively block torrents on its network. Today, however, torrenting does seem to piece of work. But don't hold your breath.
TunnelBear was very tiresome in our tests. Therefore information technology would not be a practiced VPN for torrenting due to boring file transfer speeds. And of course there are very few servers to choose from, which hinders your ability to find a fast server for torrenting nigh your location.
Recommendation: Don't use TunnelBear for torrenting.
Limited customer support
Concluding, merely not to the lowest degree, is the issue of support.
With TunnelBear, support is very limited:
- No live conversation support at all
- "Help" section takes yous to a generic page for FAQs
- No clear ways to electronic mail questions or submit help tickets
Previously, TunnelBear offered electronic mail back up. I would rate it every bit mediocre.
Today, however, there does not appear to be any obvious option to electronic mail support or submit a assistance ticket – at least for those of us with a complimentary plan. This is a major drawback, especially when you consider it in lite of the fact that they don't offer refunds.
Unfortunately, they have done a great job making it hard to find a real person who can help.
Additional research findings
Hither are some additional findings for this TunnelBear review.
Tunnelbear VPN bought by McAfee
Tunnelbear VPN is a service offered by Tunnelbear Inc. that appears to be based in Toronto, Canada. Still, in March 2018, TunnelBear VPN was purchased by McAfee, the US cybersecurity company.
This is part of the growing trend nosotros've seen of VPNs getting bought upwards by large companies. CyberGhost VPN was too acquired past a big advertising/tech conglomerate.
Since the purchase, it doesn't seem like much has changed. I could not detect whatsoever mention of McAfee on the website. Additionally, the purchase details (price) were likewise not disclosed publicly.
Does TunnelBear work in China? (Obfuscation GhostBear feature)
TunnelBear provides an obfuscation (Stealth VPN) characteristic chosen GhostBear.
This basically hides (obfuscates) your VPN traffic to protect you confronting deep packet inspection (DPI) and VPN restrictions. Obfuscation is a must-have characteristic where VPNs are getting blocked. This is often the case in restrictive countries, such as China and Saudi arabia, every bit well as with work or school networks.
The GhostBear obfuscation feature is bachelor on Windows, Mac OS, and Android. Yous can enable the GhostBear feature nether Settings > Security every bit seen below with the TunnelBear Windows client.
Tunnelbear uses Obfsproxy every bit its primary obfuscation feature.
Note: I have not heard any reports of TunnelBear working well in Red china, since the vast majority of VPNs there are getting blocked. See our guide on the best VPN for China for more than data.
TunnelBear logging policy
Unfortunately, TunnelBear is another VPN service that claims to accept a "no-logging policy" but then discloses data that is "collected" in their privacy policy.
Here is how the "no logging" policy is being marketed on the website:
At present nosotros will take a wait at the fine print.
If you read the TunnelBear privacy policy, yous find that TunnelBear "collects" (logs) the post-obit information when you use the VPN service:
- Operating system version
- TunnelBear app version
- Active for the month (1 or 0)
- Monthly bandwidth usage
You tin can read the details in the Privacy Policy hither.
Is this a large deal?
It all depends on how much privacy and security you are looking for — and what amount of data you are comfy with TunnelBear having.
There are also a few VPNs with no logs that have been verified.
TunnelBear Review Conclusion: Not Recommended
Afterward thoroughly testing TunnelBear and researching the VPN for this review, information technology does non earn loftier praise and is not recommended.
Sure, TunnelBear has gotten some good press because of its security audits, but a lot of fourth dimension has passed and the VPN market is continuously advancing. Today, it seems that TunnelBear is lagging backside other leading VPN services in many areas.
Besides, when you lot consider the cost, information technology'south definitely not what I'd consider to exist a "good bargain". At nearly $5 per month (almanac plan), yous really aren't getting much for your money:
- Deadening speeds
- No access to Netflix and other streaming sites
- No refunds
- Extremely modest server network (only one server in the US!)
- Limited client back up
TunnelBear does take some things going for it, just it also has many areas to improve before it can compete with the big players.
Alternatives to TunnelBear VPN
Click the VPN name below to read our full review – or grab the discount for the all-time savings. All three of these VPNs have a thirty day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN review [with a 68% discount coupon]
- Surfshark review
- VyprVPN review
- ExpressVPN review
Yous can also check out our guide on the All-time VPN Services for other recommendations.
If you have used TunnelBear VPN, feel costless to share your honest review (adept or bad) below.
This TunnelBear VPN review was terminal updated on November 12, 2021.
Source: https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/reviews/tunnelbear/
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