IPVanish Review For Australia – Updated 2022

Despite all the news about IPVanish’s cooperation with Homeland Security, I tried to keep an open mind when doing this IPVanish review for Australia.

The service offers a smooth and seamless ability to unblock all major streaming platforms in Australia. This is further complemented by the fact that there is dedicated support for torrenting thanks to IPVanish’s SOCKS5 proxy.

IPVanish enjoys a 4.6 Trustpilot rating with 7000+ reviews marking the provider “excellent” or “good”.

A 30-day money-back guarantee offer is available on its 1-year plan, which has a 69% discount, making its total price a minimal AU$ 60.08 ($39.99) for the first year.

The VPN doesn’t limit you on the number of devices you can use in Australia. IPVanish offers unlimited simultaneous connections, so you install IPVanish VPN on as many devices as you want with a single subscription plan.

Coming onto security in Australia, IPVanish offers the top-of-the-line AES 256-bit encryption method with advanced protocols such as OpenVPN (TCP/UDP), IKEv2, IPSec, and WireGuard.

The VPN also takes care of its users 24/7 via their vigilant Live Chat, Email Support, and Phone option.

However, the provider is based in the USA which is one of the founding members of the 5, 9, and 14 Eyes Alliance Group. But the VPN ensures users that they have a strict no-logs policy which a third-party called Leviathan has also audited.

Still, users can find far safer VPN providers in Australia that won’t leave any vulnerabilities in their connection and keep them safe from any prying eyes online.

The top option in that regard would be ExpressVPN, thanks to its transparent logging policy as well as its safe location, operating out of the British Virgin Islands.

IPVanish Review For Australia – Rating Criteria

1. Jurisdiction: Where Is IPVanish Located?
2. Security: Is IPVanish A Safe Option?
3. Leaks: Are Your IP, DNS & WebRTC safe?
4. Servers: How Many Servers Does IPVanish Have?
5. Streaming: Can IPVanish Unblock Netflix?
6. Torrenting: Is IPVanish Good for Torrenting and P2P?
7. Speed: How Fast Are IPVanish Servers?
8. Compatibility: What Devices Can I Use IPVanish On?
9. User Interface & Experience: Is IPVanish Easy to Navigate On Widely-Used Devices?
10. Pricing: Is IPVanish An Affordable Option?
11. Trustworthiness: What Do Other Users Say About IPVanish?

IPVanish Review For Australia – Pros & Cons

Jurisdiction: Where Is IPVanish Located?

To tell you about the IPVanish jurisdiction and where is IPVanish based, it operates out of the United States of America, which is a red flag because of non-flexible data retention laws.

The United States is the de facto leader of the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance while also having a barrage of state and federal laws that make it extremely easy for law enforcement agencies to have oversight of all its citizens’ digital activities.

Government entities could potentially access any data your VPN service collects from you if your VPN is based in one of the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or Fourteen Eyes countries.

The worst part is the lengthy history of the US spying on its own citizens, making any anonymity promises made by the VPN provider to be highly dubious at best.

Security: Is IPVanish Safe in Australia?

Just like choosing any provider, a user should be concerned about their anonymity while using a VPN in Australia.

Is IPVanish safe? No, IPVanish cannot be considered a safe option in Australia. The fact that it is based out of the United States should immediately serve as the first major red flag. I have been willing to let go of some contentious locations in the past but the US is a different beast altogether.

1. Dubious Logging Policy in Australia

Does IPVanish keep logs? IPVanish claims that it does not keep any logs. However, in fine print on its privacy policy, it mentions that it does collect connection logs. I would say this is an absolutely false claim as they handed over complete logs on a user’s activity in a case to the Department of Homeland Security.

Furthermore, there’s no way to cross-check exactly how true is IPVanish’s claims of no logs. The service essentially expects us to just take their word for it. Given the service’s incredibly poor record in that regard, I would advise users in Australia not to take these guarantees seriously at all.

2. IPVanish Encryption & Protocols in Australia

Users can be assured that IPVanish provides in Australia the most robust and proactive encryption thanks to the standard AES-256-bit encryption.

This is further complemented owing to support for all major tunneling protocols in Australia like OpenVPN, IKEv2, IPSec, and WireGuard.

By default, the IKEv2 protocol is selected, which is a great option if you switch a lot between your ISP and mobile data. However, I recommend using the OpenVPN protocol, which is harder to crack.

You can also download the SOCKS5 web proxy, which allows users to hide their actual IP address and information in Australia.

3. IPVanish VirusTotal Test in Australia

Before a service claims to secure users’ connections in Australia, it is important that it itself be secure and safe to use and install. Hence, I conducted a virus test on the service itself using Virus Total.

Here is the result:

As users in Australia can see, the service is free from any hidden viruses or any form of files that may harm a user’s device.

Leaks: Are Your IP, DNS & WebRTC Safe in Australia?

I wanted to be sure that there were no IP or DNS leaks that would leave users vulnerable in Australia. Using ipleak.net I conducted a leak test for IPVanish review. Here’s the result of the test:

1. IP Leak Test

2. DNS Leak Test

3. WebRTC Leak Test

As users can see, there were no major leaks that should concern anyone.

Servers: How Many Servers Does IPVanish Have?

IPVanish offers all its users 2000+ servers spread across 75 countries.

While this number is not overly impressive, it should be enough for most users’ needs. Additionally, thanks to its support for torrenting and streaming, these servers should prove adequate for most tasks.

The provider boasts physical as well as virtual servers in addition to a pool of 40,000+ IP addresses that can easily bypass geo-restrictions and give you access to a lot of content across the open web.

Moreover, its really easy to choose a lightweight location server of your choice on the IPVanish app. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Open the IPVanish app, type your preferred location in the search panel or choose one from the list of servers.
2. Select a server that has the lowest “load percentage”.
3. Connect to that server.

Does IPVanish Support P2P/File Sharing in Australia?

Fans of torrenting will find the service to be tailor-made for their needs in Australia. Thanks to the service’s SOCKS5 proxy, downloading and using torrents and other forms of peer-to-peer activity is extremely easy. The proxy server also supports HTTP traffic creating further ease for users in Australia.

Does IPVanish Work in China?

Users will not be able to use the service inside China. Recent years have seen a sharp increase in how the Chinese government censors and monitors its citizens’ activities online. Hence, users have had to rely on VPNs to unblock the immense amount of blocked content.

The same is true for expats that need these VPNs to continue accessing geo-restricted local Chinese content from outside the country. Both kind of users will need to find a better alternative that can offer a working server inside China.

However, you can connect to the Hong Kong server of IPVanish as multiple Chinese websites work with a Hong Kong IP address.

To connect to an IPVanish Hong Kong server, type “Hong Kong” in the search bar and connect to the server.

Streaming: Does IPVanish Work With Netflix and Other Streaming Services in Australia?

Does IPVanish work with Netflix in Australia? Unsurprisingly, IPVanish was able to unblock AU Netflix and all other major libraries of the streaming service fairly easily. I expected this since most US-based VPN services face little to no issues in unblocking Netflix thanks to their local servers.

I performed the same test on all other major streaming sites in Australia like Prime Video, Hulu, Hotstar, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+ and the service unblocked them just as easily. If streaming is a user’s primary reason for using a VPN in Australia, IPVanish should do fine in that regard.

Here is a list of streaming sites in Australia that I was successful in unblocking after testing 40+ IPVanish server locations.