I have been using AirVPN for over 3 months now so I thought why not make a short tutorial about it. When I was looking for a VPN, my other choices were Mullvad, NordVPN and ProtonVPN. What I like about AirVPN is that you can buy 3 months plan at an affordable price. With other VPNs you can buy a month but at a higher price and to get the price per month that they advertise, you need a 1 or 2 year plan. When you need time to test it or just can't afford a 1 year plan upfront, AirVPN offers a 3 months plan at a good price/month.
Disclaimer: even though I provide an affiliate link that you can use if you want to support the blog, this article is not sponsored so they did not contacted me. It's just my own thoughts and personal experience.
Contents
- How to choose a VPN
- About AirVPN
- Creating an account
- Buy a subscription
- The VPN client
- Client Area
- Port Forwarding
- Testing if it works
How to choose a VPN
With so many VPNs out there, which one to choose? First, don't use a free VPN. You know that saying: "If you are not paying for the product, you are the product". At best they will sell your data, at worst they could steal your credentials. There are of course exceptions to this, such as ProtonVPN that have a free plan with some limitations but they make money with the paid plans. Here, I am referring to sketchy no-name free VPNs that are probably run by some hackers and I wouldn't be surprise if more free VPNs will flood the market hoping that someone from UK will use them to bypass the silly restrictions.
Ideally a VPN should have high download/upload speeds, low latency especially for gamers, have no logs, running servers on RAM and not on a permanent storage device, have servers in many countries, have audits conducted by independent third-party companies to verify their claims, have affordable prices, support P2P and port forwarding, capability of bypassing geo-restrictions for streaming providers.
About AirVPN
AirVPN is based in Italy. According to them they are "An OpenVPN and WireGuard based VPN operated by activists in defense of net neutrality, privacy and against censorship".
- No monitoring nor logging of your online activities. AirVPN runs its servers on RAM, which means that no data is stored on hard drives, enhancing privacy and security. This setup helps ensure that user data is not retained after a session ends.
- No personal information required. When you open an account, you are not forced to enter any personal data, not even a real e-mail address.
- Supports P2P and port forwarding.
- No traffic limit.
- Five simultaneous connections per account.
- Optional block lists protecting you from ads, adware, trackers and malicious sources.
Split tunneling per app is not supported by the Eddie client but it can be done based on IP or domain. For some this might be a limitation, but some say that from an OPSEC point of view it is better to route the whole traffic through VPN. For me personally this is not an issue.
Here are some links that goes more in-depth about the team behind.
Here is a review from a reddit user that points out some interesting aspects that I wasn't aware of:
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AirVPN develops and releases only free and open source software. In my opinion this is essential in this field.
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they run and support a lot of Tor nodes, including Tor exit nodes
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they kept supporting WikiLeaks even during the "smear" and "character assassination" campaigns plotted by USA/UK/Sweden agencies
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they support Xnet project aimed to European schools to offer privacy aware, free and open source alternatives to Google and Microsoft online services
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they were and are early supporters of PeerTube and Mastodon
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they don't pay for reviews and they don't pay ransoms to improve negative comments/reviews
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AirVPN/comments/13fhoa0/my_very_personal_airvpn_review/.
What I cannot confirm
I don't use any streaming providers such as Netflix so I cannot say if they block AirVPN servers or not. Also I cannot test if it works in China.
The VPN and Eddie client was tested on Linux Mint so I don't know how it performs on Windows. But in my opinion if you are on Windows 11, using a VPN is like locking a door with the thief inside. Encryption doesn't help if data is collected prior encryption.
Creating an account
First step is to create an account if you don't have one. A real email is not necessarily needed so you can put any string of characters but that is a bit risky in case you forget the password or you need support from them.
"Real e-mail address is NOT mandatory, you can enter a random string. Please note: entering a non-existing e-mail address will prevent you from resetting your password (if needed) and receving courtesy and support e-mails".
Another option would be a Proton email that you only access through Tor.
An important thing to note is that at this moment AirVPN doesn't serve Italian residents, and that is not because they don't want to but because of a new law in Italy. You can read more about it here: https://airvpn.org/forums/topic/57256-termination-of-service-in-italy/. Given the circumstances I believe AirVPN took the right decision in the matter. It reminds me of how Apple removed encryption for UK users after the UK government asked them to put a backdoor without anyone knowing. Better to have no encryption and know about it instead of having a false sense of security.
Buy a subscription
A subscription can be purchased at https://airvpn.org/buy for three days, one month, three months, six months, one year, two years or three years. The longer the period the lower the price per month. The link is a refferal link so you can use it to support this blog.
There are many payment options which also includes Bitcoin, Litecoin, Doge and Monero. From what I know Monero is the most secure (compared to Bitcoin).
The VPN client
One could install OpenVPN or WireGuard clients and use AirVPN to generate a configuration file, but this is for more advanced users. The easiest way is to use their VPN client called Eddie that can be downloaded here. The other option is the AirVPN Suite that doesn't have GUI. A forum post about this can be found at https://airvpn.org/forums/topic/56754-linux-help-with-installation/. For Eddie you need Mono framework to be installed on Linux. Can't remember if it will be installed automatically. Some reviews say that the GUI is old style but for me that doesn't matter since you are not going to be using the app much anyway apart from connecting, disconnecting and changing the server.
Overview
After installing the Eddie client you can login using the username/email and password in the Overview section.
Initially you will see "Activate Network Lock" which I recommend. When Network Lock is enabled, even when the VPN is not connected, all network traffic will be stopped. This prevents exposing your real IP in case the AirVPN server goes down. When Eddie client is closed the network lock will be removed by design. So make sure to first start Eddie then other apps that require a VPN.
One way to connect the VPN is to use the "Connect to a recommended server" option. Another way is using the Servers tab.
Sometimes it happened that the web browser was slow loading elements and the solution was to select another server.
When the VPN is connected, in the Overview will be displayed your IPv4 and IPv6 that the VPN will assign to you, connection time, server name and country where you are currently connected.
Servers
Under Servers tab is a list of available AirVPN servers that can be sorted by score, country, latency. Scoring rule can be changed below to be based on speed or latency. Sometimes latency is more important. Is nice that they show the load for each server and number of users connected. I prefer to choose the ones with lower latency and below 80% load. From what I read, most servers are located in Netherlands because is cheaper for them and also because of better privacy laws.
If you are torrenting and you are not sure if a movie is in the public domain, it is recommended to change servers every few hours.
To connect to a server, just double click it. The right click will display some options that are visible in the right-hand side. Yeah, they don't have a popup tooltip but you can see a description when you right click on an entry. The arrow icon will connect to the selected server, the green check mark I believe will add it to favorites so when the Show All is unchecked, only the servers with a green mark will show up. The red X will remove it from the list and the button below it will reset the above two choices. The icon with tree dots will generate a configuration file but I have never used it.
Countries
This tab provides an overview of the number of servers and users in each country and also the load.
Stats
This could be really helpful for more advanced users. Among other it shows real IP, server IP that you connect to, the exit IP, the VPN config file that can be viewed by double clicking the specific entry, profile, data and application paths.
Logs
In the Logs section you will find logs obviously, but something worth mentioning is the rescue button that will create a system report, useful if you need support from AirVPN. There is a GUI bug that display lines when the generated text is scrolled.
Settings
Now let's explore the Settings menu accessible using the button above the version information near the i (info).
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| Eddie - General settings |
Check "Connect at startup" to automatically connect to a server when the application is launched. On Linux you need to add Eddie to the Startup Applications. I also added a 10s delay to ensure the network manager is up and running. Make sure to also check "Activate Network Lock at startup" if you are using the Network Lock.
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| Eddie - UI settings |
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| Eddie - Protocols settings |
The Protocols settings allows the user to select the VPN type - WireGuard or OpenVPN, the protocol can be UDP, TCP, OpenVPN over SSH, OpenVPN over SSL and the port. To use a configuration in the list, simply select it, click save and reconnect to the server. Uncheck the "Automatic" option if you prefer to use a specific configuration.
Something to consider when using WireGuard that is considered less secure in terms of privacy than OpenVPN.
"Another privacy concern is that WireGuard stores users' real IP addresses on the VPN server indefinitely. During a VPN session, it's inevitable that our servers know the user's real IP address (to redirect traffic), this happens also with OpenVPN. The different issue here is that WireGuard keeps this data even if the session is closed. In AirVPN servers, if no handshake has occurred within 180 seconds, the peer is removed and reapplied. Doing so removes the real IP address from server memory". Source: https://airvpn.org/faq/wireguard/.
UDP vs TCP
The following is from AirVPN:
"UDP is a connectionless protocol, so during the handshake it is not always possible to do an effective error correction. As a result, when there's high ping or low quality line during the OpenVPN login, the handshake may fail, although you could see no significant problem after (if) the connection is established.
TCP is capable of handling these problems".
"In general, you should always try an UDP connection if your ISP allows it and you don't experience any problem during the handshake. However, TCP is mandatory if you need a proxy to reach the Internet. VPN over TOR connections require a TCP connection".
I recommend reading the complete notes here: https://airvpn.org/faq/software_protocols/.
OpenVPN over SSL
"Deep Packet Inspection lets your ISP recognize the you are using an OpenVPN connection. Adding an additional SSL to connect OpenVPN over SSL is useful in all cases in which you wish to have all the security and features of OpenVPN, while at the same time you don't want to let your ISP know that you're using OpenVPN, at the price of a performance hit".
OpenVPN over SSH
Same as SSL but using SSH.
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| Eddie - DNS settings |
"It's not mandatory to use our DNS server, but it's recommended to enjoy our Geolocation Routing service and avoid DNS blocks/DNS poisoning by your provider".
Client Area
The client area can be used to administer your account. You can check when the subscription is going to expire, do port forwarding, enable DNS filters, see connected devices and more.
Port Forwarding
Nowadays most ISP put clients behind a CGNAT that makes port forwarding impossible. CGNAT (Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation) is an IP address translation technique used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to allow multiple users to share the same public IPv4 address. So even if you forward a port in your router it will still be blocked by CGNAT. There are other types of solutions to this, such as Cloudflare Tunnel but the simplest is to use a VPN.
With AirVPN, port forwarding can be done in the client area -> ports.
You can add a single port or a range of ports. Up to 5 ports can be used and are available for all servers. Port number must be between 2048 and 65534 and not taken by other users. If you leave the input box empty, an available port will be automatically selected.
"You can also link a port to a specific device if you use multiple devices. In order to do so, select the proper device label on the "Device" combo box. If you select "All Devices", the port will be forwarded for all of your devices".
"You can map a remotely forwarded port to a different local port: this is useful for a variety of cases, for example when your service listens to a hard-coded port lower than 2048 or when the port is already reserved".
Source: https://airvpn.org/faq/port_forwarding/.
The DDNS (Dynamic DNS) is a great feature to have but I haven't tested it yet.
If you need port forwarding for a torrent client or eMule check the notes here: https://airvpn.org/faq/p2p/. Basically don't forward these ports on your router. Use one port for both TCP and UDP. Disable "Use random ports" and UPnP on the torrent client.
Selecting network interface on qBittorrent
When using qBittorrent or other similar torrent client with a VPN, make sure you select the proper network interface. In qBittorrent this is located under Settings -> Advanced.
When WireGuard is used the network interface name is Eddie whereas when OpenVPN is used the interface name will be tun0.
Testing if it works
Using ipleak.net you should now test your public IP and check for any DNS leak. Even if you are behind a VPN but your system still uses the DNS provided by your ISP, your ISP will still know what sites you are visiting and if you are torrenting. Make sure you are using AirVPN DNS. Another tool for testing for DNS leak is dnsleaktest.com. Make sure to bookmark them and test it from time to time.
ipleak.net also has a torrent address detection where you add a magnet link and see what IP other torrent clients will see.
Finally there is https://airvpn.org/faqs/ with answers to most common questions. If you found this useful you can support this blog by using this refferal link airvpn.org.
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