IronSocket is a Hong Kong based VPN, Proxy and Smart DNS service provider that originally got its start in the world of anonymous browsing back in 2005 when this company launched HideMyNet.com first as a proxy service provider to help customers bypass online censors. Then they, in 2013, went through an overhaul, adding a VPN service among other enhancements. And now they are growing their business as a professional VPN, Proxy and SmartDNS service provider in industry that has already drawn a cool attention to the users.
IronSocket is an excellent provider offering users with military grade encrypted privacy and security, as well as a virtual means of accessing blocked, censored or otherwise restricted online content. Their subscribers also get a choice of protocols that they can use to hide their identity. They prioritize service to torrenters and has a selection of servers where it allows peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading. With 90+ VPN-servers in about 40 Countries, self-owned and maintained, Ironsocket offers a comprehensive reach to its users and empowers them to access blocked and restricted content on the internet while providing advantage of its working smoothly on all major operating systems and devices such as Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux etc for anonymous surfing. They continue to grow their servers, service qualities and customer base.
Pricing Plans with Remarkable Features
In this Ironsocket VPN review, I prefer to discussed about its pricing plan with features first. They offer 3 different VPN service plans: 1 Month Plan, 6 Months Plan and 1 Year Plan. They also offer a 7-day money back guarantee which may be surely useful for testing the performance of the service.
- 1 Month Plan: $6.99/month; Save 0% by purchasing 1 month plan
- 6 Months Plan: $5.99/month; Save 14% by purchasing 1 month plan
- 12 Months Plan: $4.16/month; Save 40% by purchasing 1 month plan
Remarkable Features of the Boss plan at a glance
- 90+ VPN Servers spread out across 40 countries
- Unlimited traffic, bandwidth and Server switching
- No activity logs stored in VPN servers
- World class and user-friendly VPN software / apps
- OpenVPN (UDP, TCP), L2TP and PPTP protocol
- Capable of preventing WebRTC IP & DNS Leak
- Kill-switch to block all traffics when connection drops
- 3 simultaneous Device connections allowed
- 3+ VPN and Proxy connections are included
- HTTP, SOCKS5 and DNS Proxy services included
- Selected servers are P2P Compliant for private download
- Compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and routers
- Multiple Payment Methods including Bitcoin
- A 7-day Money back policy adopted
- 24/7 email/ticket Support
Accepted Payment Methods
Ironsocket VPN accepts following payment methods for its customers to pay for their VPN services:
- Credit/Debit Cards (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express);
- PayPal;
- Bitcoin;
- Gift Card
90+ self-managed VPN Servers in 40 Countries
This provider currently has 90 VPN servers located in 40 countries across the globe to accommodate their users and their authorities have full control to them and all servers are entirely managed personally by their technical staff. Admin access to servers is not provided for any third party.
With unlimited speeds and unlimited server switches, you can connect from anywhere in the world. And they have been proven as reliable in maintaining server uptime. So there’s no need to worry about your VPN not being available. They do have servers with satisfactorily excellent speeds.
They handpick servers that live up to their high standards of security and privacy. These are perfectly access controlled, and they are the only ones that operate them — no one else. Different servers support different protocols: PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN (UDP, TCP).
Ironsocket VPN has installed their 90 VPN-servers across different locations like Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and more.
Compatible with Major Operating Systems and Devices
Ironsocket VPN has developed their VPN client apps with which you can connect to their private network with a wide range of devices including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS (iPad/iPhone), Streaming Boxes, Game Consoles, routers etc.
They support just about every device available. Enjoy multiple VPN connections and unlimited proxy connections on your PC, iPad and Android, or other device all at the same time.
Unlimited Bandwidth, Speed and Switching
IronSocket has absolutely no data caps or hidden bandwidth charges on any of their global servers. Download and upload as much as you want with complete freedom and privacy. Using a VPN in many cases can increase download speeds as well. IronSocket also allows their users to legal P2P / Torrent files on half of their servers, with no bandwidth restrictions and zero activity logs. You are also most welcome to be connected to any of their VPN servers, anytime, without restrictions. Easily switch between server locations is widely available at no additional charge. In short:-
- Unlimited Speed: No throttling Ever.
- Unlimited Bandwidth: No bandwidth restrictions or download caps.
- Unlimited Server Switching: Switch between locations at no additional charge.
Worldclass and Easy-to-use Secure VPN Client Software / Apps
In this Ironsocket VPN review, I’ll depict an overview of the security and privacy level of their VPN client software in detail.
Ironsocket VPN, with their dedicated team composed of talented and expert IT security personnel, has been able to develop an incredibly simple but at the same time innovative, impressive, competitive and very powerful VPN client software that has, with great features, one of the most secured and end-to-end encryption technologies in the industry to ensure the most up-to-date, high performing and feature-rich security service. They have developed this vpn software to defeat censorship, protect your personal identity and prevent tracking you while surfing. The reasons why I said this client software world class and competitive are as below-
Software includes multiple Protocols to ensure your Internet Privacy
Their powerful VPN software is built by their experts to establish a secured and encrypted VPN connection between your computer and their quality VPN server networks. All in-and-outgoing connections is anonymized and no third-party can see your real IP address and geolocation.
For ensuring utmost online privacy and security in any situation, Ironsocket VPN offers the following compatible VPN protocols that work with your different Operating Systems and Devices: OpenVPN (UDP/TCP), L2TP, and PPTP.
With up to AES-256 RSA 4096-bit encryption, their VPN service encrypts your connection and masks your IP address giving you the possibility to browse anonymously on the web and access geo-restricted sites. Their virtual private network adds a new virtual network interface to your computer that forwards all traffic to a remote VPN server. When the connection is established, an IP address is assigned for the duration of the connection to your device which will become your new IP address on the Internet. When you access the Internet, data flows through the virtual network interface over the Internet to their servers and is then sent to its final destination, creating a secure and private tunnel.
Capability to hide IP assigned to your local ISP
I have performed multiple tests to know about much capable Ironsocket VPN is of hiding my real IP address assigned by my local ISP and found it supremely OK. Below I have, for example, shown an image of a test result performed at renowned IP tracker website myiplocation.org . See the image below-
The above image shows USA IP address 104.244.153.49 which was perfectly altered by Ironsocket VPN and my real IP address assigned by my local ISP is absolutely invisible there. Perfect performance.
Capability to prevent DNS Leak
You should know that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is able to read and monitor what you do on the internet by storing file-logs and records in their servers about your whole internet activities.
When connected to a VPN, a user automatically connects with VPN’s DNS server instead of ISP’s DNS. This way, the ISP doesn’t know which domain you are accessing or what website you are visiting. But, in rare cases it can happen that your system will revert back to your ISP’s DNS server, exposing your online activities to your ISP. So ‘DNS leak protection’ feature has been invented by VPN providers to mask your local ISP’s eye to let them not see and record your internet activity at all. To do this Ironsocket VPN added ‘DNS Leak Protection’ option in their VPN software.
I am very delighted to report that I performed multiple DNS leak tests at different DNS leak tracker websites and they gave the common results of No DNS Leak.
Capability to prevent WebRTC IP Leak
Reports from some users have brought to light a Internet security hole first in VPN industry that might reveal your local IP address to websites / web-browsers through ‘WebRTC’. The ‘RTC’ in WebRTC stands for Real-Time-Communication, and the API directory is used for voice calls, video chats, and p2p file sharing. This WebRTC was originally developed to aid certain types of connections between browsers without the need for an additional plugin. But today’s most remarkable worrying subject in VPN industry has been WebRTC that could be used to discover your local IP address assigned to your local ISP, even under the presence of a VPN connection.
So, does Ironsocket VPN client software have the capability to protect your local IP address from being leaked through WebRTC?
To get this answer, I have performed tests on this issue using OpenVPN (TCP) protocols (without any WebRTC IP leak controller extension) at following renowned and reliable WebRTC-IP-Leak-Tracer-Websites ipleak.net , diafygi.github.io/webrtc-ips, www.perfect-privacy.com/webrtc-leaktest and browserleaks.com/webrtc, . I am very delighted to state that Ironsocket VPN perfectly passed the tests and No WebRTC IP leak were detected, at all, during those tests. I have shown below here 4 images of my test results got from the above links. The results show a common IP address 25.0.7.2 as WebRTC Local (Private) IP address which is assigned to Ironsocket VPN; not assigned to my local ISP. So, my Local IP address is not leaked through WebRTC technology while using Ironsocket VPN.
Note: To increase ‘WebRTC Local IP address leak protection’ security, I recommend you to use updated Mozilla Firefox browser (and completely avoid Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, Comodo Dragon etc browsers), while being connected with VPN, for ensuring more privacy. If you add ‘Disable WebRTC’ or WebRTC Control extension to Mozilla Firefox Browser and perform the same test at the same WebRTC IP leak tracer website just mentioned above, then you’ll get more perfect result and even your Ironsocket VPN’s local (Private) IP address will be absolutely invisible.
In case you use ‘Google Chrome‘, you are recommended to add ‘WebRTC Control‘ extension to an updated Google Chrome to prevent ‘WebRTC IP Leak’ perfectly.
Capability to bypass DPI (Deep Packet Inspection)
Nowadays different websites, ISPs and Governments of different countries around the world are using DPI (Deep Pack Inspection) technology to spy on people’s online activities and control their access to the Internet. This DPI can only tell them that you are using encryption and that your packets are coming from a VPN server. And It is not a magic wand that breaks encryption. And so far, despite pretending to do exactly that, not even the NSA has ever broken a single packet with or without DPI.
I performed a test at www.doileak.com to know about how much capable Ironsocket VPN is of preventing its VPN connection from being inspected and traced by any 3rd party. I used simply OpenVPN (TCP) protocol. I am happy to say that No VPN connection was detected and traced by www.doileak.com . The result says- ‘We could not detect your connection type‘. See the image below-
If VPN connection was detected, then it would say – ‘You are connected via generic tunnel or VPN and have made …. hops. Your connection type (generic tunnel or VPN) is rather uncommon for the average internet surfer, and could suggest proxy/VPN use’.
Kill-Switch option to stop traffic whenever connection drops
Kill-switch is an innovative feature to ensure data privacy and security of all users by disabling all internet activities when the VPN disconnects. To ensure complete protection, Ironsocket VPN added this ‘Kill Switch’ feature in their VPN software in the name of ‘Enable Drop Protection’ that disconnects all your internet activities if the VPN connection drops. It means when kill-switch is enabled and the connection interrupts, the client software automatically blocks all outgoing network connections. This is an optional feature so you can switch it on if you feel the need.
VPN is here to provide security and anonymity to users. But, this tool only manages to protect the user’s privacy until it is connected. In most disconnection cases, users do not even realize that their VPN connections have stopped working. Cyber criminals and surveillance agencies stay on the lookout for these few unprotected moments to get into a system and compromise its security. Luckily, this will not be the case anymore with Ironsocket VPN users, because Ironsocket VPN has introduced the Kill Switch feature in its new Windows VPN App.
Privacy Policy
Ironsocket VPN is incorporated in Hong Kong and they are under Hong Kong jurisdiction. It is also a great news for VPN users who want offshore VPN provider. Because, Ironsocket, besides having no data retention law applicable to VPN service, lies outside the Five Eyes . It is a remarkable plus point for Ironsocket as a VPN company for privacy. They have adopted zero-activity logging privacy. To ensure the users’ privacy they accept BitCoin too from their users to pay for their services.
Privacy policy is very important part in VPN industry. Because, there is always a chance to mislead users by saying that ‘We don’t keep Logs’. Some VPNs take benefits by keeping identifiable logs for a considerable length of time while they, for marketing their products, claim they don’t keep logs and finally destroy users’ privacy and anonymity. But we are extremely happy to state that Ironsocket’s privacy policy seems very transparent than many other competitors of the industry. They are much clear about what Logs of users they keep for what purpose and how long, and what logs they don’t. They transparently state that they keep some connection logs, but not activity logs while using their services. They state-
# Upon Use of the Services, we additionally collect the following session information:
Time and date of the session connection and disconnection;
The IP address used for the session and which server was connected to; and
A numerical representation showing total bytes transferred per session;
We use this data to manage your account, to provide the Services, and to prevent fraud and abuse. This session information is retained for a limited period of time, typically 72 hours, after which it is purged from our servers.
# We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We limit what information we collect to the minimum needed to provide our service, manage your account, and to protect ourselves from fraud and abuse. In a nutshell:
We DO NOT LOG or record in any manner the content you access while using our Services.
We DO NOT USE your information for purposes other than those to which you have consented.
We DO NOT SELL or trade personal information for commercial purposes. [https://ironsocket.com/privacy-policy]
# IronSocket does not monitor or log any of its user’s activities when using our services. [https://ironsocket.com/faq]
# We do not log or track any of your activities while using any of our services. [https://ironsocket.com/faq]
Refund Policy
Ironsocket VPN has adopted a 7-day refund policy for their VPN services if you aren’t completely satisfied with their service. That means If you wish to claim a refund, you can do so within 7 days following your purchase of their VPN service. However, before refunding, they will troubleshoot an issue you experience first. There may be several nuances to a VPN service configuration and they are proud to solve your issues encountered. Yet you can always require a refund (within 7 days) if you can’t use their services, meaning you can’t connect to any of their VPN servers. They state-
If you are having technical difficulties, or are unhappy with our services for any reason, please contact us. We value your business. We will strive to fix any issues and we will “make it right”.
This Refund Policy is subject to our Terms of Use.
We process refunds within 24 hours of a valid refund request. We confirm all refund requests by email at the time the refund is processed. It may take up to 30 days for any refund amount to appear in your account depending on your bank, card and payment provider.
We offer a conditional 7-day, money back guarantee for subscriptions paid for using PayPal and/or credit card payment processing services. We do NOT OFFER a money back guarantee if you purchase our services using a gift card or if you pay by Bitcoin. Should you request a refund of your subscription fee within 7 days of subscribing to our services (as confirmed by our payment records), and you purchased our services using PayPal and/or credit card payment processing services, we will refund the amount paid in full. [https://ironsocket.com/refund-policy]
Customer Support
After sales, customer support service is one of the key implementers to hold your customers; particularly, when you work in a service industry. Be that as it may, with regards to a VPN, Customer benefit gets to be something more than simply fundamental. very one of these services increases the value of the administration acquired and likely enlarge maintenance.
Ironsocket facilitates email support and FAQ & tutorials to solve customer’s problem. Their support team is available to help you 24x7x365. Contact them anytime, via Email, expert support team will come forward to solve your problems. Their support seems professional and friendly.
Remarkable Pros
- Based in Hong Kong, A Privacy friendly offshore location
- 40+ VPN Servers spread out across 40 countries
- Unlimited traffic, bandwidth and Server switching
- No activity logs stored in VPN servers
- World class and user-friendly VPN software / apps
- OpenVPN (UDP, TCP), L2TP and PPTP protocol
- Capable of preventing WebRTC IP & DNS Leak
- Kill-switch to block all traffics when connection drops
- 3 simultaneous Device connections allowed
- 3+ VPN and Proxy connections are included
- HTTP, SOCKS5 and DNS Proxy services included
- Selected servers are P2P Compliant for private download
- Compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and routers
- Multiple Payment Methods including Bitcoin
- A 7-day Money back policy adopted
- 24/7 email/ticket Support, Live Chat
Remarkable Cons
- Manual fixation required for IPv6 blocking if needed (which is very easy)
Our Take on Ironsocket VPN
In this Ironsocket VPN review, I like to say that Ironsocket VPN is, according to me, one of the best secure VPN service providers in industry. Firstly, because Ironsocket VPN perfectly ensures military grade encrypted privacy of user’s identity and other important associated information, while surfing online, by hiding local IP and geo-location from unauthorized inspection of any third party. Secondly, Ironsocket VPN is under Hong Kong jurisdiction, which is outside the risk of corrupted political territory of five eyes, which offers certain advantages especially for privacy and keeping users reasonably away from the risk of overzealous government surveillance, and also where there is no mandatory data retention law. Thirdly, any user can use their service to bypass any country’s Internet Censorship & Content Surveillance, as well as to access any Geo-Blocked Website with top notch privacy, or to watch or download any legal file or video with good speed and uptime. In this perspective, Ironsocket is definitely one of the best secure VPN service providers in industry. As a whole, I consider this VPN provider to be professional, world-class and smart.
