Solo VPN Review

Solo VPN is a mobile VPN product, designed for Android and iOS operating systems. While it is native to mobile, you can use it on Windows or macOS if you use an Android emulator. There are several on the market, but BlueStacks is one of the best. At this time, a Hong Kong company called “Solo VPN & NCleaner & Radio” owns and operates the service. Some of the other apps they have are NCleaner and a radio app. The Google Play Store lists the VPN with over 10 million downloads with a 4.4-star rating. There is a website linked from the app entry in the Google Play Store. However, all that it has to offer is a privacy policy and terms of usage statements.

As we make our way through our Solo VPN Review, we’ll go over the important things you need to know about the service. Additionally, we will test the speed, test for DNS leaks, and see if SoloVPN will unblock Netflix. We are going to test the free version. There is a paid version of the product as well. The free VPN app is ad supported. Keep in mind that depending on your goals, a free VPN may not be the best option for you.

Want to compare Solo VPN to our top recommended VPN services? Here are some of the best alternatives. Each VPN offers 30 days risk-free to test the service.

Rank	VPN Service	Rating	Server Locations	Visit
1		9.8	160
2		9.4	87
3		9.2	95

Solo VPN Pricing and Payment Options

While the service is free, they also offer an ad-free version. As you can see in the image, they offer the ad-free version of Solo VPN through Google Pay. Additionally, you can find the same payment structure if you are using an iOS device. To get the premium version of the service, the cost is $0.99 a month. However, it seems to be there only to give you an ad-free experience. There is no access to more server locations or faster connections.

About the Company, Solo VPN & NCleaner & Radio

This company, Solo VPN & NCleaner & Radio, has been around since 2016. Even though they have other products, they named their company after their first three tools. The company states that they do not collect specific information in their privacy policy. They are located in Hong Kong, so you are under the country’s jurisdiction.

Where are the VPN Servers?

The answer to this is interesting. Instead of listing all the servers, even the full ones, they only show the ones that are not full. They claim there are servers located in more than 30 countries. However, at the time of writing, we only see 8 countries listed in the app. We wish they would show their full network on the app or list the locations somewhere. If more appear, we will put them on this list. However, we have not seen more than eight at one time. Currently, these are the ones available. Keep in mind that there are times when no servers are available.

• United States
• Japan
• Hong Kong
• South Korea
• Indonesia
• Thailand
• Ukraine
• Vietnam

Solo VPN App in Action

There are no features to speak of with Solo VPN, and it has a straight forward app. Once you download the Android app, you get the first screen. Where you see the word auto, you can select one of the servers available. You can either let the app connect to the recommended server using the “AUTO” option or select a country. Then, you just tap connect. Solo VPN can be slow to connect and browsing will sometimes just creep along. The ads can also be annoying. That is one of the trade-offs with a free product. Keep in mind that Solo VPN does not support simultaneous connections with multiple devices.

Is Solo VPN Secure?

Unfortunately, there is no way to answer this question. They have a general lack of any information that would be helpful. They do not list any network protocols or mention the encryption levels. While we are glad that the company is not located in one of the 14 Eyes countries, it still gives us pause that Hong Kong is ultimately under the control of the Chinese government. We prefer to have more concrete information to answer this one.

DNS Leak Test

One of the biggest questions with any VPN is how it performs? Even if it is free or inexpensive, a VPN is useless if it does not do what its supposed to do. That said, the DNS leaks are the first thing we test for, and Solo VPN failed. You will quickly notice how painfully slow Solo VPN is. We had an issue even getting the results to display when using WiFi, so we had to switch to data. In this image, Solo VPN showed our IP address. That is a big problem if you are trying to keep yourself safe.

Speed Test

Tracking performance is another key to seeing how VPNs stack up. We tested several locations as you can see below. The first image is without the VPN, connected to a speed test server in Chicago. The next image is with Solo VPN, connected to a US server. The third is a VPN server in Canada, and the fourth is one in Japan. Even though the speed was not great on the Canadian server, it was far faster than the abysmal results we got from the US and Japanese VPN servers. These results make the VPN unusable for streaming in the US.

• Internet connection without VPN – 457 Mbps – Tested to Chicago, Illinois
• US (unknown city) – 0.26 Mbps download, 1.22 Mbps upload – More than 99.9% speed loss
• Canada – 65.7 Mbps download, 18.7 Mbps upload – 85% speed loss
• Japan – 1.20 Mbps download, 0.16 Mbps upload – 99.8% speed loss

Netflix and BBC iPlayer Test

We tested Netflix by using Solo VPN and we were not able to get it to work. Although our browser showed we were in Canada, we still were not able to access Netflix content. That means Solo VPN failed our Netflix test. Additionally, we typically check BBC iPlayer. As there is not a UK server listed in the Android app, both tests were failures.

Customer Service

Customer service consists of a simple email that you can reach the development team with. However, there is no time frame on how long it will take them to get back to you. If you plan on using this VPN, keep in mind that contacting them will be difficult and you may not get an answer back in a timely manner.

Conclusion

Not surprisingly, there are many improvements that have to be made for Solo VPN to measure up to the standards and the quality we are used to seeing. They advertise the VPN as a one-step proxy. That said, it failed our DNS leak test. We are not sure why this VPN is rated as highly as it is. If your goal is to unblock content from other areas, this one misses the mark completely. Now, we will look at some of the other improvements it needs to make. The only good point was that it is a free service, albeit it with annoying ads.

Improvements

• Show transparency with server locations, busy or not, to show the entire network
• Provide servers in more locations
• Fix DNS leak issues
• Increase speeds by adding more servers to each location
• Relocate service to a more privacy-friendly location
• Resolve streaming access issues
• Add privacy features like a VPN kill switch
• Provide better customer service
• Reveal the protocols and encryption used
• Get no-logs claim independently audited

From the lack of support to the Hong Kong jurisdiction, this service is a bad idea. It does not work as advertised, does not seem to get around geo-restrictions, and we would be very nervous using it to protect our privacy. If you have thought about using Solo VPN, there are much better providers on the market, but very few that are worse.