Symlex VPN Review – A Basic VPN with Military-Grade Encryption and a Free Trial

Symlex VPN is an enthusiast-level VPN that comes straight out of Bangladesh, although it has registered offices in South Africa and the USA and significant presence in the UAE. If watching US Netflix content is your primary objective for getting a VPN, I would strongly recommend it. However, consider that the apps are pretty simple, the speeds can at times be quite poor, and you won’t get the advanced features you would usually see in top-flight VPNs such as CyberGhost VPN. However, I have reasons to believe that the VPN can be in the same echelon as the most sought-after products in this category.

The best part of the VPN is that uses robust encryption, the same mathematical models used by the American government, aside from supporting some of the best protocols including HTTP and OpenVPN. What this means for you as the end user is that your data and internet activity will be protected no matter what. It also supports torrenting and P2P sharing, so that’s just a big cherry on the top. Let’s now explore how the VPN fares in the competitive landscape and whether it’s a right fit for you.

As you already know, Symlex is a basic VPN that is ideal for students and binge watchers who don’t need all those fancy features, but would happily settle for a basic one that comes at a low cost. With its server network spanning more than 95 locations in 40 plus countries, Symlex is no match to more prominent competitors, such as Proton VPN, which has more than 1,700 server locations in 110+ countries. However, it still has its own set of advantages which you need to know about.

A Decent Server Network – Symlex’s server network is large enough for enthusiast-level users, in my opinion. Choosing from its 95 server locations, you can easily access all sorts of international content, and choose the ones that are best for streaming, browsing, or gaming. However, for gaming, I would recommend choosing CyberGhost instead, as it has dedicated gaming servers that run on 10-GBps servers. Sadly, you won’t have this option with Symlex.

Unlimited bandwidth – Symlex squares things up by offering unlimited bandwidth. As a user, you can browse, stream, and download content from the internet without facing any data restrictions or throttling. If you watch and stream a lot of content on the web, you can use its full potential, although speed is a concern, at least for some users.

Privacy and Security – Symlex uses the US military-grade AES-256 encryption to protect user data. It also offers DNS Leak Protection, which means your browsing data won’t be leaked out to anybody. It also has no-log policy, well, at least they claim. But I found that the no-log policy has not been audited by any third party, which is not the case with Proton VPN, for example, whose no-log policy has been thoroughly and duly audited by a third-party agency called Securitum.

Ad Blocking Capabilities – Symlex comes with a built-in ad blocker. Even CyberGhost didn’t have a built-in ad-blocker until a few years ago, although it’s on the higher end of the price spectrum. I would say this is a great achievement unlocked for a beginner-level VPN. For the uninitiated, the ad blocker helps users browse the internet in a safer environment. It greatly reduces the chances of stumble on malware and phishing attempts that are often hidden in pop-up ads.

Wide Compatibility – Symlex, as I found it, is compatible with all the popular operating systems, including the widely used Android, Windows, iOS, and macOS. This means you can use it on your latest Android phone and on your Apple computer, simultaneously. When it comes to simultaneous connections, the VPN supports up to 5 devices, although IPVanish is way ahead in this regard, as the US-headquartered VPN supports unlimited devices.

Headquarter	Dhaka, Bangladesh (Also South Africa and the USA)
No-log policy
Kill switch
Included # devices with 1 license	5
Server locations	95
Number of servers	180
Torrents support
Netflix support
Split tunneling
Multi-hop (VPN chaining)
Encryption type	AES-256-bit (Military-grade)
Customer support	Email, Live Chat, WhatsApp
Trial version
Money-back guarantee	30 days
Website	https://symlexvpn.com

Symlex VPN has been able to garner a blend of positive and negative reviews from users on social media sites. On Reddit, many users have recommended it for gaming and streaming in countries like Pakistan and the UAE. Of course, there are certain restrictions to use VPN in the UAE, but users who have actually used it for playing games on different servers, suggested that anybody can be in the safe zone as long as they are not using it for shady activities, but I think it’s a given. 

Many users have raved about its user-friendly interface and reliable performance, and most of them have acknowledged the fact that it’s actually a decent option for general browsing. However, some of users are skeptical about it, as the company is located in Bangladesh, a South Asian country with uncertain political and economic future. That said, the VPN has been able to earn the trust of most of its users spread worldwide.

To get a more concrete understanding of what the regular users think about the VPN, I turned to sites like G2 and Trustpilot as these sites accept reviews from verified users only, most of whom are professionals or are into some sort of business.

Mirajul, who represents a mid-market company, wrote on G2 that he has been using it for two years and counting. He listed the pros and cons of the VPN in a more structured way and I was able to find what he likes and dislikes about the VPN. For example, this user expressed approval for the no-log policy that Symlex offers, its kill switch and the strong encryption standard that it follows.

Another user on Trustpilot, Mukesh, stated that the VPN doesn’t work effectively on MTN Irancell network, which is the largest telecommunications network in Iran. Although the company responded that they will resolve the issue soon, it shows that the VPN’s performance is not the same across all the server locations. Users in general are concerned about its speed.

I decided to check the VPN’s speed and performance to see how it performs across different servers. Initially, without the VPN, I got a download speed of 104.93 Mbps and an upload speed of 63.26 Mbps. In addition to that, the low ping of 9 ms indicates that the baseline connection is quite stable and high-quality. With this benchmark already set, I went on to switch servers.

However, when I first connected to Chicago-1 server, which is recommended for Netflix streaming, the download speed drastically dropped to as low as 8.82 Mbps and the upload speed to 1.70 Mbps. The ping also went up to 350 ms, which indicates that the latency is quite high, and this might result in less optimal performance. This suggests that this server is not ideal for online gaming and Netflix streaming, just the opposite to how the company brands it.

The London-9 (special) server yielded a slightly better result, although the download speed rose up to a meagre 13.50 Mbps and the download speed to 3.08 Mbps. The ping stood at 255 ms, which was still high, and I won’t recommend it for video conferencing or interactive gaming.

Quite disappointed with the performance of the first two servers, I wanted to check how the VPN performs in less popular regions, such as Chinese Taipei. To my astonishment, the Taipei server, which is the closest server to Chinese mainland you can access, performed quite better than the other two. The download speed reached 21.91 Mbps, and the download speed soared to 3.19 Mbps. Not great, but I would this one at least reached closer to the benchmark I set.

However, all the severs I tested yielded below-average download and upload speeds, and the latency was also considerably high in all of them. Although performance, especially download and upload speeds, is impacted in almost all the VPNs, as data is routed through remote servers, the extent of the degradation I experienced was huge.

Feature	Symlex VPN	CyberGhost VPN	IPVanish VPN	Proton VPN
Headquarters	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bucharest, Romania	United States	Switzerland
No-Log Policy		independently audited	independently audited	independently audited
Kill Switch			(system-wide)
Number of Devices Supported with 1 License	5	7	Unlimited	10
Server Locations (Number of Countries)	95	90+	75+	67+
Number of Servers	148+	9700+	2000+	1700+
Torrents Support			Yes (all servers)
Netflix Support			Yes (mainly US)
Encryption Type	AES-256-bit	AES-256-bit	AES-256-bit	AES-256-bit
Customer Support	Live Chat, Email, WhatsApp	24/7 Live Chat	24/7 Live Chat	Email, Support Tickets
Trial Version		45-day money-back guarantee	30-day money-back guarantee	Free tier, 30-day money-back guarantee
Split Tunnelling		Yes (only on Android)		Yes (only on Windows and Android)
Multi-Hop

While Symlex as a low-cost VPN option offers a lot to students and general internet users, the trade-off between speed and security is significant. While it comes with all the features of some of the more expensive competitor products, such as Netflix support, AES-256-bit encryption, different protocols, torrent support, multi-hop, and split tunneling, its awfully slow speed could be a matter of concern for users who are focused on streaming and gaming.

It can only connect 5 devices simultaneously, which means it’s not really a great option for business users. I would recommend IPVanish to those users instead. However, if you are an individual user, and privacy, not speed, is your primary concern, you might find it a good value for money.

Symlex VPN Review

• 1Pros&Cons
• 2Why Symlex VPN?
• 3Features table
• 4Users' sentiment
• 5Feedback on review sites
• 6Speed tests
• 7Symlex VPN vs top competitors
• 8Conclusion