Unlike other VPN clients, Buffered doesn’t hang around in your system tray: it’s a standalone app that you simply launch when you want to open a protected channel, and close again when you’re done.
The interface is very simple. A compact little window shows a list of 33 countries. You can simply scroll through until you find one you like the sound of, then double-click to tunnel your connection via that location.
Clicking the Connection Options button at the bottom of the list opens up some technical settings, such as allowing you to choose which port to connect on and whether to use TCP instead of UDP: most of us won’t want to tinker with these. You can also enable auto-login – which we suggest you do, or you’ll be prompted to enter your username and password every time you start up the client – and whether to connect automatically when you launch the app.
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Apart from this, there really is nothing to it. You’ll find no one-click settings for BitTorrent or Hulu, and no automatic unblockers for sites like Facebook. That doesn’t mean you can’t do everything you want, of course – it just means you have to establish the connection yourself. If you want privacy, you can connect through somewhere neutral such as Finland or Mexico, and if you want to access US video services then – you guessed it – you simply have to choose a US-based server.
In our tests, we found that Buffered wasn’t as fast as some other VPNs. Three US server locations are offered – West Coast, Midwest and East Coast – but when we chose the nearest, we found our connection roughly halved in speed, from 35Mbits/sec to 18Mbits/sec. That’s still perfectly fast enough to enjoy streaming video, but it could be a drag depending on what else you wanted to do. It may be significant that, while most other VPNs had an exit node in New York City, our GeoIP tracker detected that we were logging on from somewhere in rural Virginia. Still, it’s nicely inconspicuous.
The service itself is located in Hungary. This isn’t a country that routinely shares intelligence with the “Five Eyes” agencies, but it is an EU nation that’s likely to co-operate if called upon. And while the company claims it doesn’t log anything at all, the software lacks a “kill switch” feature, so if your VPN connection fails for any reason, Windows will fall back to your standard ISP connection, exposing any sites you’re connected to at the time. That makes Buffered an iffy choice if your privacy is paramount.
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Verdict
It’s also a relatively expensive option, at £10 per month or £74 per year. We can see the appeal of Buffered’s very simple interface, especially for advanced users who know what they’re doing and want to decide for themselves which country they want to connect through. Overall, though, there are other options that offer better performance and greater privacy for a lower price.