Le VPN Обзор

Le VPN is a fast VPN service that is designed to run as streamlined and as out-of-sight as possible, with a minimalist user interface, a wide selection of servers to choose from, and promises of high-speed anonymity online. While it does live up to many of its promises, most notably on the raw speed and variety of countries to choose from, it’s not perfect – especially when it comes to streaming. We tested and reviewed the service, so read on to see our findings and if it’s right for you.

Getting setup with Le VPN is amazingly easy. You can pay for the service in a variety of ways, including Bitcoin, for an anonymous setup. It also works well on a variety of platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. Whichever payment method or OS you opt for though, once you’ve signed up, you download the client and install it like any other. Then just login with your provided information and hit the connect button. You’ll automatically be connected to the most obvious server for your location.

That’s all you need to know about Le VPN if you want to use it as a basic VPN service, with your IP anonymized online. If you want to go a little further and select individual countries, you’ll have to delve through the somewhat unattractive user interface. It’s only a small point, but every country’s flag is heavily pixelated and text looks a little blurry in some parts of the UI.

If you want to pick one you have to dive into its various categories which are portrayed in compact lists in a small window, with no ability to drag it into a larger format for ease of use. There are also no grouped listings for torrent servers or streaming optimized servers. In fact, unless you want to watch content on an Italian service, you’ll find the options there are rather limited.

There were no US or UK-based streaming servers when we tested Le VPN. Although the SmartDNS service Le VPN offers does make it possible on occasion to access services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, that’s not guaranteed and it’s locked away in the website’s client area, making it far from easy to access.

You also can’t choose another server while connected to one. You have to disconnect first. That makes server-hopping a bit longwinded compared to most other VPN services.

Even with those low speeds, we were still able to perform basic tasks like web surfing, email, and even streaming video on sites like YouTube and CNN when connected to US-based servers without too much trouble.

Gaming saw occasional random stutters, which in high stake games was problematic. We also found websites and YouTube videos could sometimes take an oddly long time to load.

Le VPN is a Hong Kong VPN service, so it’s outside of most jurisdictions for Western governments. However, Hong Kong has been known to cooperate with international enforcement agencies in the past – one very notable example is the Kim Dotcom and MegaUpload case.

Le VPN does make a point of storing no activity logs, so they don’t monitor or store records of the sites you visit. They do store some logs though, including the IP you use to connect to the service and timestamps of when you connect and disconnect. That type of information has been used by law enforcement in the past, and even handed over from Hong Kong-based VPNs to US-based authorities, so take Le VPN’s «no log» policy with a grain of salt.

Le VPN’s terms of use do state that if legally obliged to provide information to law enforcement, it will. It also notes (quite clearly) that it will provide your identity to law enforcement if you’re found using any form of malware or performing a DDOS attack using Le VPN’s services.

• Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): Le VPN employs AES 256-bit encryption on all of its clients, making it almost impossible that anyone could steal your information or browsing data while you’re using Le VPN.
• No logs policy: Le VPN doesn’t store any logs, which means you can’t be identified by your online traffic. There’s also no history of what you’ve done while using the VPN connection.
• Reconnection block: Although not enabled by default, there is the option to block your internet connection when reconnecting to Le VPN’s servers. That’s to prevent any sudden outages from revealing your identity.
• DNS leak protection: You’ll only ever use DNS servers operated by Le VPN. This is useful for privacy but did appear to slow down our connection to certain game servers.

This isn’t the most extensive selection of security features – we would have liked to have seen the option for a double VPN connection – but it’s robust.

Torrenting isn’t supported by every company out there but Le VPN firmly throws its hat in with P2P file-sharers around the world and provides servers optimized for file sharing. They are in a limited number, however, with only five servers offered at the time of writing, and only two of them were marked for torrenting: Luxembourg and Czech Republic.

Payment options are some of the most varied we’ve ever seen, with standard credit card and PayPal offered right alongside Bitcoin, OpenBucks, CashU, Boleto, and Oxxo, among others. 

One of our favorite VPN services in recent years has been NordVPN, so how does Le VPN measure up to it? Nord is by far the more expensive of the two services if you just pay for a single month, making Le VPN much more accessible. However, that’s where Le VPN’s advantages stop because Nord offers more servers, a more attractive and intuitive client, and the option of double VPN for added security. Le VPN isn’t far behind in every respect, but it’s definitely the weaker of the two VPN services.