Once in the race for the best VPN services, VPNArea has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth, with users taking to Reddit to voice their concerns.
Even for VPNs, this is strange, especially from a once-respected provider. We normally hear about closings pretty early, but this came out of the blue. I even had to hesitate when I first saw the reports.
VPNArea dead? from r/VPN
Unfortunately, it seems to be true. VPNArea either closed its doors without telling anyone or suffered the most brutal downturn I have ever seen in the industry.
One user stated: “I'm preparing for the worst. Their entire online presence is down, website, servers and all. I'll give them another 24 hours before continuing. It's a shame as I've been with them since 'Al least in 2018 and I have never had any problems until now.
To check for myself, I used WaybackMachine to check when you last logged in to the VPNArea website. Surprisingly, it was last modified on May 29, but Is It Down Or Just Me shows that you can't access the site at all, and no amount of tweaking or geo-hopping on my part can get it back – the site just times out. times out due to host error.
Normally that suggests that the servers are down. But, the site servers and VPN servers are down at the same time – that's a warning sign.
VPNArea's last tweet was about Eid on June 15, and just a day before, it was marketing its services to businesses. There is a disturbing irony in the use of the word “trust” here. If you're thinking about using a business VPN, don't be fooled.
Why businesses trust VPNArea for security 🏢🛡️Protect your company's confidential information with VPNArea. Our robust VPN solutions are designed for businesses, #BusinessVPN #EnterpriseSecurity #VPNArea pic.twitter.com/EGawQzOmvZJune 14, 2024
Alternatives to VPNArea
If you're one of the unlucky souls who was using VPNArea, or if you narrowly dodged the bullet, don't get burned. Use a trusted and tested VPN service from one of the best providers out there. It doesn't have to be expensive, even the best cheap VPN is better and cheaper than VPNArea, or at least wasI guess.
What happens next?
The bottom line is that people are rightly angry. They have paid for a service that seems to no longer exist. Some are even considering joining legally.
Meanwhile, we still haven't seen anything from VPNArea, not even a tweet (or whatever we call a post on your X feed nowadays).
Only time will tell, but this could be as damaging to the VPN industry as it is confusing and frustrating for VPNArea customers.