We were not given a reason to explain this, which is particularly frustrating given how common it is for VPN services to definitively state their server and IP address count. We were repeatedly told that server information was “information that cannot be disclosed to customers.” McAfee refused to inform us about how many individual VPN servers and IP addresses there are and whether these servers are physical or virtual.
These services will be faster, safer, and include servers near you.Ĭoverage is truly abysmal in other areas, with Brazil being the only South American option and no servers in Africa. If you live in any of these locations, we recommend choosing a VPN specifically for Australia or your particular country. Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore count one server each. Though small in size, McAfee Safe Connect has servers in the most popular countries.Ĭoverage is particularly concentrated in Western Europe and North America, with the US, Canada, the UK, France, Spain, and Germany all included.Īsia and Oceania are poorly represented, with just 4 server locations between them. At that point, the 30-day refund guarantee comes into play. When you buy McAfee VPN, you’ll be automatically enrolled in the free trial, and you’ll be billed on the last day of the trial window. McAfee VPN Free Trial and Money-back Guaranteeīoth the monthly and the annual Safe Connect plans come with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money back guarantee. In comparison, the most highly-rated free VPNs offer up to 10GB of monthly data. However, the free tier only allows a very restrictive 250MB of data consumption each month. The company also states that the support options of live chat and telephone are exclusive to paid subscribers, but we also found this to be false. We were able to connect to all 23 of Safe Connect’s servers, ranging from France to Singapore. The McAfee support pages claim that the free plan only allows a VPN connection to your nearest server, but this is not true. You don’t have to enter any email address or submit payment details to download and use the free software.
If you try McAfee Safe Connect VPN, you can take advantage of the free plan. This law grants the US government the ability to seize a VPN user’s information if that information has been retained. More worrying, though, is the Stored Communications Act (SCA). On top of this, McAfee is subject to the intrusive legal policies of the US, such as the infamous PRISM surveillance program, which allows the US government to surveil online communications from US-based technology companies. The US is part of the Five-Eyes intelligence alliance, meaning it shares surveillance data with the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The US is a downright awful location to base a VPN service. As such, McAfee’s jurisdiction really could not be much worse. Like its parent company, McAfee Safe Connect is based in the US, within Silicon Valley. McAfee LLC also owns TunnelBear VPN (see our review), which it acquired in 2018. McAfee Safe Connect is owned by McAfee LLC, the cyber security juggernaut. There are an abundance of VPN services who protect their users and run their business without engaging in such intrusive data collection. McAfee claims that this information is required “to help protect” users and “to run business”. Peculiarly, McAfee Safe Connect shares its privacy policy with the broader McAfee cybersecurity product and the policy does not mention the Safe Connect VPN anywhere.Īfter we contacted McAfee, a representative did indeed confirm that Safe Connect is governed by the same rules and standards as all other McAfee products. McAfee also provides this information to other companies owned by McAfee, third-party advertisers, and “service providers who perform services for us.” Even then, the data is still kept for 30 days. McAfee retains this information indefinitely, only removing it in the event of an account deletion. Excerpt from McAfee Safe Connect Privacy Policy.
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