WiTopia FAQ

WiTopia FAQ What is a VPN? Why do I need a “personal” VPN? Why should I choose WiTopia for my VPN service? Is this a remote access VPN to reach my company’s servers or my home computer? Where and when should I use my VPN service? How does the VPN work? Will it work over any type of internet connection? Is the VPN easy to set up? Do you share my information with any other company? Why are your prices so low versus your competition? What types of payment do you accept? Do you offer a monthly plan? Do you serve ads or offer a free ad-based version? Do you offer trials? Do you have a Money Back Guarantee? Does personalVPN work anywhere and everywhere? Why is a VPN better than a proxy? Why should I trust WiTopia? Do you keep logs of my activity? Can you monitor my web surfing? What can I do and not do over the service? Will my current e-mail work through the VPN? Does WiTopia offer DNS service for complete security and privacy? Who owns WiTopia? Are you a front for the government? What is your uptime? Do you have bandwidth limits, transfer limits, or censor content? Will the VPN slow my internet connection down? I have multiple computers and devices, how many accounts do I need? I have a Mac and PC and wish to use Open VPN on both, but not simultaneously – Which open VPN service should I buy? Do you offer 256-bit encryption? Can I run personalVPN on a router? What kind of support do you offer? Do you support torrents and P2P services? What Operating Systems do you support? I am in a country or location that monitors, blocks or censors the Internet – Will you service work for me? Can I use VoIP over personalVPN? Will the VPN service unblock Skype, Vonage, and other VoIP services if they are blocked in the country in which I am located? Will the VPN service work with my PS3, Xbox, Apple TV, and programs like Boxee? Where are your VPN service gateways located? Do you issue US and UK IP addresses? Do you offer alternate ports in case the usual VPN ports are blocked? What if I try it and just don’t like it? What is a VPN? A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is technology using hardware, software, or both to secure and privatize data across a network, usually the Internet, by building what techies call an “encrypted tunnel.” Data passes through this “tunnel,” protected from anyone who tries to intercept it. Even if the data is intercepted, it is hopelessly scrambled and useless to anyone without the key to decrypt it. Large businesses commonly use VPNs between offices to secure company data, and often provide individual “remote access” VPN solutions to home-based or traveling employees to protect data between them and the company’s network. You also use a VPN when you bank or shop online and see the https :// in your web browser. Unfortunately, the protection with an https:// session is temporary and limited to that specific website. With WiTopia’s VPN service, you initiate the secure encrypted tunnel from your side, so it is not dependent on the websites you visit. Your security and privacy is now maintained whether you see an https:// or not. It’s also important to note that your protection and privacy is not limited to just browsing. Our VPN service encrypts and anonymizes all your Internet data to and from our VPN gateways. This includes Skype, IM, streaming, e-mail, as well as browsing. Back to Top Why do I need a “personal” VPN? Isn’t my firewall and anti-virus enough? A pc-based firewall only protects your data on your computer, and anti-virus software only protects you from, well, viruses. Neither protects your data as it flows over your local network, at a Wi-Fi Hotspot, or through your ISP. Without a VPN, your data is completely exposed and can easily be monitored and captured. As laptops, smartphones, and wireless networks have grown more popular, a great deal more data has become a great deal more mobile. Even with your home ISP or search engines, such as Google, privacy concerns abound. It is more crucial than ever to protect your data, as well as your identity and privacy, with a VPN. For a MUCH more complete answer, see the section, Why do I need a “personal” VPN? Back to Top Why should I choose WiTopia for my VPN service? Glad you asked. Check out Why choose WiTopia for your VPN service? Back to Top Is this a remote access VPN to reach my company’s servers or my home computer? We’re not a GotomyPC or Hamachi type service. We’re providing a secure and anonymous encryption service to the Internet. It has lots of benefits , but it is not a means to link to your home computer or company’s systems. Back to Top Where and when should I use my VPN service? OpenVPN主流应用: 企业组网, 翻墙, WIFI热点加密, VoIP (Skype) 解锁, Many of our customers located in countries that block VoIP or censor the Internet use it virtually all the time. Also, those who desire added privacy while online may use it a great deal. Others might only use it at wireless Hotspots or when traveling. Again, for a MUCH more complete answer, please visit, Why do I need a “personal” VPN? Back to Top How does the VPN work? When you activate your personalVPN, it instantaneously builds an encrypted tunnel through your Internet connection from wherever you are to one of our Secure Internet Gateways. All Internet data between you and WiTopia is now encrypted. Nobody can break the encryption, including your ISP. We also assign you a temporary and random WiTopia private IP address behind our gateway. Your “public” address will be that of whatever server of ours you are connected to for that session. This private IP cannot be traced by anyone through our server nor can anyone find your real IP address or location. You now cannot be sniffed, snooped, or spied on by anyone on your local network or across the Internet to our gateway. Once your data reaches our Secure Internet Gateway, we decrypt the data (we must so that your intended party can make sense of it), and send it to its destination. This last part is safe because it would be virtually impossible to “sniff” data between a secure data center over an actual Internet backbone link. It just doesn’t happen. “Sniffing” and “spying” occur over local networks because it is so very easy to do –much easier than trying to break into a guarded bunker-type data center with biometric scanners and such. When we receive the data from your destination server, we re-encrypt it and send it to you through the encrypted tunnel so no one can intercept it. Sound complicated? It only takes milliseconds. You shouldn’t even notice it’s happening. Back to Top Will it work over any type of Internet connection? Yes. The VPN services should work over any Internet connection. Wired, Wi-Fi, and other wireless technologies should all support the VPN tunnel. We do recommend a broadband connection for best performance. Back to Top Is the VPN easy to set up? Is it all done online? Yes. After purchase, you should be up and running within a few minutes. Although VPNs are complex applications, we’ve invested a great deal of time and money into developing a completely online setup process for our PPTP and openVPN-based VPN services. No additional software or hardware is required. And, if we may say so, this will be a far better experience than you’ll receive from other companies where you’ll often receive more of a “do it yourself” kit designed for computer experts. Back to Top Do you share my information with any other company? No. Absolutely not. Back to Top Why are your prices so low versus your competition? Am I missing something? 核心竞争力: 启动期零利润, 规模效应(中国用户大于2万,@70USD/y), 积极早期推广, No. There are no hidden fees or limits and we skimp on nothing. Although we can only theorize on the pricing strategy or cost structure of our competition, here are some thoughts. We’re not greedy and are in it for the long haul. We’re not trying to maximize profit per transaction, but with economies of scale and continued customer loyalty we see increasing returns over time. That was the plan from the beginning. We made an upfront investment to build WiTopia and continually reinvest revenues to sustain its expansion. We recoup that investment as the business grows and customers renew year after year. We were a first mover in this market. Having innovated the idea of a “personal” VPN, we were able to secure a large customer base before imitators came on the scene. This gave us financial stability right off the bat so we don’t need to gouge you to keep the lights on. Our customers help us grow. Because of our repeatable and scalable design and infrastructure , we can support growth with ease and things tend not to break. This lowers operating costs and makes for happy customers. Happy customers not only renew year after year, but they tell their friends and colleagues about us so we don’t have to spend much on marketing. We don’t owe anyone dollars or explanations. Instead of taking on investors, or business debt, we funded WiTopia from personal cash and assets. Exactly what they tell you not to do in business school, right? Nevertheless, we don’t owe investors explanations or returns on their investment. We put our money where our mouth is and believe the low-price, long-term strategy is the correct one. Back to Top What types of payment do you accept? We use Authorize.Net and PayPal to process all major credit cards, checks, and, of course, PayPal itself. Back to Top Do you offer a monthly plan? 唯一收费策略为年度收费 70, 60 40 USD/y We don’t right now. We’re thinking about it, but we just went with the extremely low annual price with an unconditional 30 Day Money Back Guarantee. Back to Top Do you serve ads or offer a free ad-based version? We do not allow ads on the service. That would put us in the advertising business, not the privacy and security business. In our opinion that would be a conflict of interest. The VPN services we know of that adopt an advertising-based model usually have data transfer limits and are likely more focused on selling ads than customers’ privacy and security. Be sure to check their policies concerning privacy and use of your information and we’re sure you’ll agree ad-based VPN services are not the bargain some might think. Back to Top Do you offer trials? 30天试用期,无异议全额退款 We used to when we started out, but don’t anymore. And it’s not that we’ve grown cocky with success. Unfortunately, trials invite spammers and other assorted “bad guys” to dirty up the service. Trials sound like a good idea to inexperienced VPN companies, but we consider them gimmicky and they aren’t good for our existing customers or us. If you find that our VPN service doesn’t fit your needs for any reason, we will refund your money, in full, in the first 30 days after purchase. Back to Top Do you have a Money Back Guarantee? Yes! As mentioned, we’ll unconditionally refund 100% of your money within 30 days of purchase. We may ask you why so we ensure it is not some easily correctable configuration change or some misunderstanding, but we don’t require you to give us a reason. Back to Top Does personalVPN work anywhere and everywhere? It should. We’ve had isolated cases where the PPTP VPN service has been blocked, but the openVPN-based SSL service (especially with the alternate port option locked and loaded) should get through most any force field. Back to Top Why is a VPN better than a proxy? 强调OpenVPN相对于代理的功能优势 A VPN encrypts all data (Surfing, IM, FTP, etc.) to and from your computer where a proxy typically only encrypts http (WWW) traffic . VPNs also tend to be much faster and more reliable. To be fair, although limited in function, a commercial proxy, from a reputable company, may be fine for certain things. Unfortunately, many try the free anonymous web proxy route. These can be set up (and shared) by literally anyone. Yes, anyone — criminals, hackers, child pornographers, well-meaning geeks who are running it over their Grandma’s cable connection. You just don’t know. Utopian “fight the power” visions aside, using anonymous proxies means you may be pumping your passwords and personal data through a server setup by a couple enterprising 13-year-old hackers in Estonia. Which may work out fine for you…but it probably won’t. Back to Top Why should I trust WiTopia? 核心竞争力: 私人运营, 求利为目的,专注单一产品, 自我期许, 竞争压力 Versus our imitators, we could brag about our team’s extensive experience with IP networking, data security, and managed services since 1995. Actually, some were in it long before that. Way before ISPs turned into “phone companies.” We could claim we’re smarter than most and have engineers so smart they’re rumored to speak Klingon in three dialects. That would all be true and it’s not just our mothers saying that. The bottom line is, compared to your Internet provider, a hotspot/network owner, or even a government, we have a vested interest in vigorously maintaining your data security and privacy . After all, that is what you pay us to do. Not to be too capitalistic or simplistic about it, but that really is quite an incentive. This is how we earn our livelihoods. We don’t sell ads. We don’t have side jobs. This is it . You pay us money and we do everything we can to provide you the best service and protection possible. If we don’t do it well, or somehow betrayed your trust, we’d guess you’d go elsewhere in an Internet minute. Knowing that, we will strive to earn your trust every single day and, hopefully, year after year. Back to Top Do you keep logs of my activity? Can you monitor my web surfing? 日志政策 We are not set up in any way to view an individual customer’s activity, nor do we monitor, capture, or store logs that are directly attributable to any individual customer. Some indirect data, and the other bits that are cached during the regular course of running an Internet business, are regularly destroyed, mostly during our weekly maintenance windows. In fact, we only keep this minimal and temporary “trailing log” of indirect data in case we learn a user is violating the terms of use, e.g. spamming, committing crimes using the service, etc. In that specific case, we will report this to our abuse team, determine the guilty party through a laborious matching process, terminate their service, and take further action, if necessary. Back to Top What can I do and not do over the service? We’d say simply, please don’t commit any crimes or cause harm to anyone using the VPN , but the lawyer-approved version is here . Back to Top Will my current e-mail work through the VPN? Yes. We offer a zero-configuration SMTP relay at no additional charge in case your current mail provider refuses to carry your e-mail while the VPN is connected. Back to Top ISP-supplied DNS (Domain Name Service) can cause privacy, performance, and blocking issues. Does WiTopia offer DNS service for complete security and privacy? Yes. For best security and performance, especially in blocked countries, it is a good idea to use DNS servers that are not controlled by your ISP. Other available DNS servers may work fine, but we recommend that customers use ours. This will usually happen automatically when you connect or you can manually set them to make sure. Back to Top Who owns WiTopia? Are you a front for the government? Sorry, but we’ve actually been asked that. I suppose it also begs the question “which government?” since we do business all over the world. All joking aside, WiTopia is completely privately owned by its founders and employees, none of whom work for, or are in collusion with, any government. Back to Top I used another VPN service that had repeated outages. What is your uptime? Other than our scheduled one-hour maintenance window every Saturday at 6:00 PM ET (2200-2300 GMT), which usually lasts a few minutes in reality, we’ve had no more than 9 hours cumulative unplanned downtime since we brought systems online in early 2003. Back to Top Do you have bandwidth limits, transfer limits, or censor content? 价格政策不涉及流量 No. There are no bandwidth or transfer limits and we censor no content with the exception of sites that are repeatedly known for offering illegal content. We closely monitor and ensure we keep plenty of bandwidth and server capacity in reserve for peak load times. That being said, if we detect abusive usage patterns, e.g. you’re trying to run a phone company over the VPN, we reserve the right to be unpleasant about that. Still, in years of offering VPN services, we have never limited anyone. Back to Top Will the VPN slow my Internet connection down? Any VPN or security application can slow performance, but it depends on a great many factors which can vary second to second and with each website you visit. Some users actually experience a speed increase when using the VPN service. Overall, due to the encryption and distance, you will likely see a slowdown in download speed, but it shouldn’t be too noticeable in any practical terms. And, due to how the VPN “optimizes” traffic you can usually rely on an increase in upload speed, which can improve the performance of applications such as VoIP. If you feel the VPN is slowing your connection abnormally, please consult Support immediately for troubleshooting. Back to Top I have multiple computers and devices, how many accounts do I need? You’re welcome to load your VPN on other computers and devices that you own. We even allow two of those devices to be simultaneously connected as we realize you may need that sometimes. Still, it is a “personal” VPN so if you really need to simultaneously send/receive data over the VPN network from more than two computers/devices, contact sales@witopia.net and they’ll see if you qualify for special pricing. Back to Top I have a Mac and a PC and wish to use openVPN on both, but not simultaneously. Since you have customized Window and Mac openVPN installers, which openVPN service should I buy? We recommend that you choose the product for the machine you use most to take advantage of our automated process and then follow instructions on the Support Wiki to set up openVPN on your computer with the different OS. Back to Top Do you offer 256-bit encryption? Yes. We offer true 256-bit encryption servers for our openVPN customers. Still, despite some speculation to the contrary, properly deployed 128-bit encryption cannot be broken with modern computing power. Mathematically, it would literally take thousands, if not millions, of years. Nevertheless, if you are being pursued by extraterrestrials, the NSA, or it just makes you feel better, we’re happy to provide it at no additional charge. Back to Top Can I run personalVPN on a router? To clear up any possible misunderstanding, you can, of course, run it *through* a router, but not *on* a router. personalVPN is priced and supported as an individual end-user service. Therefore, running the VPN account on a router, instead of a computer or other end-user device is prohibited. If you desire a pre-configured and fully-supported VPN router solution, take a look at our CloakBox in Products and Services . Back to Top What kind of support do you offer? 客服平台: LiveChat (新加坡Zopim), 电邮,博客, 维基, 论坛 All customers enjoy unlimited online support 365 days a year. Any e-mail sent to support@witopia.net auto-generates a trouble ticket for tracking and is instantly assigned to a human support agent for resolution. We also have a comprehensive Support section complete with a gigantic Wiki filled with all sorts of solutions and tips for your VPN service. We understand that online chat or phone support would seem to be better, but our e-mail trouble ticketing system gives us the opportunity to capture, track, and resolve support issues more effectively and also keep our prices lower. We don’t believe you will be dissatisfied with the responsiveness. We take it very seriously. Lastly, we are continually investing in automation and our installers to ensure that support issues are minimized in the first place. That’s the real goal. Back to Top Do you support torrents and P2P services? P2P无需OpenVPN We’re a data security and privacy (not piracy)  company first and foremost and although torrent technology has many legitimate applications, it is often used in the trading and sharing of media files with 100,000 of your closest friends. It is a fact that P2P sites are often riddled with trojans, law enforcement honeypots, Identity thieves as well as, of course, copyrighted material. We also hear regularly from customers that when they subscribed to proxy services that cater to P2P activity they were sometimes attacked through these sites. Suffice it to say that, all arguments aside, we’d be remiss as a security company to encourage use of these sites so , like most every other VPN provider, we must say that if your goal is to download or upload pirated files, meaning they contain copyrighted content without the owner’s permission, please do not do so over our network. Back to Top What Operating Systems do you support? To make sure you purchase the correct VPN solution for your needs, be sure to consult Products and Services . Nevertheless, we typically support the following for VPN services: Mac OSX — Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard Windows XP, XP 64-bit, Vista, Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 iPhone and iPod Touch iPad Windows Mobile 5 & 6 Android Symbian Linux – as long as you, yourself, have a working knowledge of it and don’t think it’s “Free Windows” Back to Top I am in a country or location that monitors, blocks, or censors the Internet. Will your service work for me? 中国大陆用户近10万 Yes. Many of our customers are in countries or locations that block Internet services such as Skype or otherwise censor or monitor Internet activity or content. The VPN service should give you full and uncensored access to the Internet. Back to Top Can I use VoIP over personalVPN? Yes. Although we can’t vouch for every VoIP service out there, we have many thousands of customers using Skype, Vonage, and many other VoIP services over the VPN. If your VoIP service requires an ATA or other external hardware, you will likely need our CloakBox VPN router. This is most useful for those who don’t wish to use pc-based VoIP but want to use their regular phones or related peripherals. Back to Top Will the VPN service unblock Skype, Vonage, and other VoIP services if they are blocked in the country in which I am located? Yes. Again, although we cannot vouch for the performance of every VoIP service out there, we have thousands of customers in blocked countries that use Skype or other major VoIP services every day over the VPN. If your VoIP service requires external hardware, such as an ATA, we would recommend taking a look at our CloakBox VPN router. Back to Top Will the VPN service work with my PS3, Xbox, Apple TV, and programs like Boxee? Yes. Now, if you need to plug in a device that does not have a VPN client, such as a PS3 or Xbox, you should look at our CloakBox VPN router. But AppleTV seems to have the ability to run the SSL VPN now so that should not require a CloakBox purchase. Contact sales@witopia.net if you have questions. Back to Top Where are your VPN service gateways located? Do you issue US and UK IP addresses? Yes, and MANY more. WiTopia currently offers VPN service and IP addresses in: AMERICAS UNITED STATES Atlanta Chicago Dallas Los Angeles New York City Metro San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC Metro ARGENTINA Buenos Aires BRAZIL Sao Paulo CANADA Toronto Vancouver MEXICO Mexico City PANAMA Panama City ASIA and AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA Sydney CHINA Hong Kong INDIA New Delhi JAPAN Tokyo MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur SINGAPORE Singapore THAILAND Bangkok VIETNAM Hanoi EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA BELGIUM Brussels CZECH REPUBLIC Prague EGYPT Cairo FINLAND Helsinki FRANCE Paris GERMANY Frankfurt IRELAND Dublin ITALY Milan LATVIA Riga NETHERLANDS Amsterdam POLAND Warsaw PORTUGAL Lisbon ROMANIA Bucharest RUSSIA Moscow SPAIN Madrid SWEDEN Stockholm TURKEY Istanbul UNITED KINGDOM London Manchester Back to Top Do you offer alternate ports in case the usual VPN ports are blocked? Yes. It is very rare that the standard openVPN or PPTP ports are blocked, but it has happened. Our personalVPN-SSL (openVPN) customers have access to alternate ports which should get around almost any blocking by a local firewall. Back to Top What if I try it and just don’t like it? No problem. As mentioned, we’ll unconditionally refund 100% of your money within 30 days of purchase. We may ask you why so we ensure it is not some easily correctable configuration change or some misunderstanding, but we don’t require you to give us a reason. Just send your order information to sales@witopia.net and request a refund and we’ll process it right away.