Borderless VPN review

Borderless VPN is a Norwegian-based provider of VPN services that primarily advertises to its Scandinavian users but can also be used by international users with no problems. It features native clients for all the major platforms but due to its small server network and lack of support for some popular geo-restricted services, you may want to consider a VPN service that performs better in these areas, if these are a deal-breaker for you.

• You can sign up for Borderless VPN here.

Price

As usual, the monthly plan is the most expensive one but still among the cheaper crowd at $7.99/month. If you decide to go for a longer commitment - say, 6 months - you’ll be paying $33 every six months (or the equivalent of $5.50/month). Increase the contract period to one year, and the price drops even further, to only $3.70/month ($44.40 billed every 12 months). 

This VPN service allows you to protect up to 5 devices at the same time. Accepted payment methods include credit cards, PayPal, and even an assortment of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and others.

Borderless VPN has a “14-day right of return by electronic order under the right of cancellation”, which gives you enough time to test the service and see if it’s the right match. It does have a trial, as well, but this isn’t free despite being advertised as such. Namely, you can get 1 day of the service for $1.

The vendor will also issue a refund for up to 1 month of service if it fails to deliver the guaranteed uptime of 98% measured over 1 month in the same geographical area. It is, however, up to the customer to contact it about this.

Alternatives

Borderless VPN surprised us with its speeds and capabilities but one fact remains - it is still far from the big industry names like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or CyberGhost, all of which can guarantee access to the likes of Netflix and BBC iPlayer, and have humongous server infrastructure. Some of these names, like Surfshark, can provide you with the same under some exceptionally low rates.

Streaming

Unblocking geographically restricted streaming services such as Netflix and BBC iPlayer is often a very difficult task for a VPN provider. Borderless VPN states that it moves to new IP addresses all the time to make sure it is unblocked but admits that it cannot guarantee it will be able to unblock the popular VOD channels in regions where they’re unavailable.

We were told, however, that all the services work for the users in Scandinavia. This is due to Borderless VPN being the preferred provider in the area as it offers Norwegian-based support with TeamViewer for the less tech-savvy users.

About the company

This VPN provider is owned by the company Borderless AS, registered in Kristiansand, Norway. The provider has servers in 14 different countries, including in Japan, Lithuania, the US, and more, most with one IP, but others with multiple servers and bigger IP pools (such as in Norway and the Netherlands). It adds more servers at a certain location if there’s enough customer demand.

Privacy and encryption

Borderless VPN has private DNS on each server and leak protection when using IPv4 stack. Torrenting is possible on all of its servers as they are all P2P-friendly. To make sure your online activities are kept private, the provider deploys IKEv2 and OpenVPN (TCP and UDP) connection protocols, along with the industry-standard AES-256 encryption. 

There’s also a built-in web filter that blocks ads, malware, and other suspicious websites, and which can be turned on in the apps.

In its rather short Privacy Policy, Borderless VPN states that it doesn’t “store any login data or bandwidth data per customer”, but that “exceptions may occur, as stated in “Terms and agreement”.” The said document is actually the classic Terms and Conditions and states that the company “writes no logs about what the user uses the service to”, which includes IP addresses, DNS requests, and bandwidth.

It does, however, reserve the right to turn on detailed logging if there’s an error in service that involves troubleshooting by the company’s employee, if there's an attack or suspected end-user or service attacks, as well as for the purposes of development or upgrading the provider’s services. According to Borderless AS, all the logs are deleted immediately when the scenario in question is over. We have no choice but to trust the company on this because there’s still to be an independent audit that would confirm these statements.

Support

Borderless VPN has some very simple and user-friendly native apps for Windows, Android, and iOS devices. It can also be enabled on Mac, Linux, and routers (Vilfo and DDWRT), with the help of configuration files, third-party software (TunnelBlick), and instructions offered on the website. There’s no separate help section on the website, however, which is quite unusual.

The vendor’s Android app has so far been installed by around 500 users and was last updated on August 26, 2019. It has been given 4.5 stars (out of 5) by 10 users. The iOS app has fared even better so far, with full 5.0 stars out of possible 5, as judged by 4 people.

Customer support is available Monday - Saturday, 08:00 - 16:00, and can be reached via a contact form on the website. Assistance is also available via Facebook, Twitter, and Teamviewer. There is a chat option on the website as well, although it isn’t live. Our experience with the customer support was pleasant, as we received speedy responses, both to our general inquiries and a refund request.

Speed and experience

We first tested the servers that are on the same continent as us. The Netherlands server delivered a very good 20.15Mbps on a 70Mbps testing connection. Germany did even better - with 31.11Mbps, although upon checking the IP address we were given, it showed it as being located in France.  

We also wanted to check how the server in the US (Seattle) would fare, considering it is much further than our physical location, and it gave us 8.17 Mbps which is still quite usable. 

Switching servers only required one click in the (rather short) server list and the app itself had no other features or options than server selection, and a connect/disconnect button.

Verdict

While Borderless VPN cannot guarantee you access to popular VOD services and its server network is still very small in comparison to the big VPN names such as ExpressVPN, there are obvious signs of growing and the team’s heart is certainly in the right place.

This primarily refers to its high download speeds, at least when it comes to the servers on the same continent. There are also advantages in the form of its extremely user-friendly native clients, support for torrenting, acceptable rates, speedy customer support, as well as the ability to maintain 5 VPN connections at the same time.

• You can sign up for Borderless VPN here.

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