Liberty Shield VPN (does anyone else think that sounds like a 1940’s comic book superhero?) is a U.K.-based VPN provider that markets itself as safe, secure, and super fast. To quote singing legend Meatloaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad.”
In this review, I’ll provide a look at the provider’s global server network, as well as its ability to provide unblocking of geo-blocked content.
I’ll also investigate how well it protects your online activities from prying eyes and tell you what kind of connection speed hit you might expect to take.
In addition, I’ll tell you which of your devices can benefit from Liberty’s Shield, and what, if any, extra protection the provider offers.
I’ll deliver my verdict as to whether or not I think Liberty Shield is worth a try, and I’ll also let you know if I think that there are better VPN alternatives out there, such as my #1 VPN choice, NordVPN.
Is Liberty Shield VPN Right for You?
Liberty Shield provides basic VPN protection, offering little in the way of extra features to provide additional online security and privacy. While the provider offers reliable geo-blocked content access, its limited global server network doesn’t allow viewers to get as much as they could out of their video streaming subscriptions.
The provider delivers rather slow connection speeds, and its native app support is limited to the top mobile and desktop device platforms. VPN Router support is limited to the model the provider itself sells, with no options for other router brands.
In addition to a 30-day money-back guarantee, the provider also offers a 48-hour free trial before your credit card is charged.
While Liberty Shield is an acceptable VPN service, there are much better options out there. NordVPN is both the overall best VPN on the market, as well as a budget-priced choice.
NordVPN offers optimal access to geo-blocked content via its impressive global server network and offers optimal online protection for users of numerous devices, including various routers and web browsers. They offer a no-questions-asked, 30-day money-back guarantee.
My Verdict
Liberty Shield offers good online protection, but its advantages really stop there. I will note upfront that the provider does offer users a valid router-based option that includes a VPN router that is ready to go out of the box. But, if you’re looking for more than the basics, keep walking, there’s nothing to see here.
The provider’s global server network struggles to warrant the label “global,” as it has servers based in a mere 8 countries around the globe, and other than options for the U.S. and Canada, it is definitely Euro-centric.
While the provider turned out to offer reliable unblocking power for geo-blocked streaming services, its minuscule server network prevents viewers from getting all they could from their streaming subscriptions.
The provider has all of the major device platforms covered, but its support stops there. While the provider offers router support, it is limited to support for the VPN routers that it sells. No manual setup instructions are offered for other routers.
While Liberty Shield connections are protected using military-grade encryption, the protection appears to stop there. The provider’s apps do not include any options for enabling a kill switch, DNS leak prevention, or ad and tracker blocking, nor malware and phishing protection. If you’re looking for protection “extras,” Liberty Shield is not the provider for you.
All of this adds up to basic online protection, and better protection can be had for a lower price. Optimal online security and privacy is possible with a provider like NordVPN.
| OVERALL RANK: | 3/5 |
| Speed: | 2.5/5 |
| Tested Speed: | 24.18 Mbps average download speed (independently tested) |
| Streaming Support: | HD and below |
| Streaming Score: | 3.5/5 |
| Unblocks Netflix?: | Yes |
| U.S. Streaming Services Supported: | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon |
| U.K. Streaming Services Supported: | Netflix, Amazon, BBC iPlayer |
| Security Score: | 3/5 |
| Privacy Rating: | 4/5 |
| Supports Torrenting: | Yes, on all servers |
| Value for the Money: | 3/5 |
| Money-Back Guarantee: | 48-hour free trial. 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| Website: | LibertyShield.com |
Pros:
- Offers pre-configured routers
- Unblocks Netflix and other streamers
- Good native app support
Cons:
- Servers in only 8 countries
- Connection speeds are sl-o-o-o-w
- No online protection “extras”
Features of Liberty Shield
Liberty Shield offers 6 subscription options, which include 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year subscription lengths.
The provider also offers two VPN + router package deals that offer either a “lite” router that offers only 2.4 GHz – 802.11b/g/n wireless and a “pro” router that offers both 2.4 GHz – 802.11b/g/n and 5 GHz – 802.11a/n/ac wireless. In addition to a 1-year VPN + router package, both routers are available separately with a two-week trial VPN subscription.
The provider offers reliable if unspectacular device support, offering options for the macOS, Windows, Android, Android TV, Amazon Fire, and iOS device platforms. While the provider does support routers, its support is limited to the routers that it sells. No browser extensions are to be found.
The provider allows up to 3 simultaneous devices to connect on a single account.
While the provider uses government-grade encryption, it doesn’t offer switches in its apps to enable kill switch protection, auo-reconnect, or any other “extras” like ad and tracker blocking or malware and phishing protection, like CyberGhost does.
Liberty Shield has 44 VPN and proxy server farms based in 8 countries. This means your access to geo-blocked content around the world will be severely limited, so you won’t be getting as much value out of your streaming subscriptions as you would with a VPN that offers comprehensive global server coverage, like NordVPN.
The provider allows P2P BitTorrenting on their network, as they say they do not block any online activity.
The provider offers a support ticket tracking system and a searchable FAQ/knowledge base. While live chat is available, if you click it, you are informed that live chat is for sales questions only.
Streaming
Arguably, one of the most popular uses for a VPN service is to access geo-blocked content from around the globe. If this is one of the reasons you want to subscribe to a VPN, then it’s important to subscribe to a reliable provider that offers access to as many streaming services as possible.
It’s true that in the early days of both the streaming and VPN industries it was simple to unblock streaming content from anywhere by using just about any VPN service. However, Netflix and other services caught on to this little trick and began blocking IP addresses that VPN services provide.
While this means that many VPN providers simply gave up on offering access to geo-blocked content. Instead, they concentrate on offering online security and privacy, some providers are still willing to do what they can to keep the lines to geo-blocked content open.
Liberty Shield promotes itself as a way to access geo-blocked streaming services, including Hulu, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and many other services.
While the VPN provider does indeed provide reliable access to these services, its slow internet connection speeds and small global server network don’t provide optimal access to all that your streaming subscriptions can offer.
While the provider’s U.S.-, U.K.- and Spain-based servers all offered reliable access to Netflix, there was some buffering, and U.S. and U.K. playback was limited to 480 playback. (Spain provided 720 HD streams.)
Meanwhile, the U.S. servers also offered steady access to both Amazon Prime Video and Hulu. The Spanish servers also accessed Amazon Prime Video content quite reliably. The U.K. servers also offered good access to Amazon Prime Video, as well as BBC iPlayer content.
Security and Privacy
Liberty Shield provides good online security, but offers next to nothing in the way of additional security and privacy “bells and whistles” like what CyberGhost and many other VPN services offer.
The provider protects your connection using government-grade encryption, but the in-app protection stops there. The only options in both the macOS and Windows VPN apps are the ability to sign in when you start the app, connect to the VPN on sign in, and hide the app when you make a connection. That’s it.
As for privacy policies & protections, Liberty Shield says it does not collect or log traffic data or browsing activity from individual users connected to their VPN. Unfortunately for cryptocurrency fans, only credit cards and PayPal are accepted for subscription payments.
The provider is based in the United Kingdom, which is a member of the “5 eyes” alliance. This means that the country works with the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to collect and analyze their citizens’ activities, which include both offline and online activities.
Connection Speeds
Although Liberty Shield’s protected connections do provide enough VPN speed for most online activities, their speeds are less than impressive.
During my testing sessions, my unprotected gigabit fiber connection delivered an average download speed of 376.66 Mbps to my Mac.
I connected to 3 different VPN servers (in the U.S., U.K., and Spain) at 3 different times of day and came up with a protected connection speed of 24.18 Mbps on average. Never did I see speeds over 37 Mbps. Upload speeds took a bigger hit than that.
While the provider delivers enough oomph for streaming video and sharing files, online gamers will want to take advantage of the provider’s 48-hour free trial to see if the provider’s inflated ping numbers can provide lag-free gaming.
The provider does not inflict data caps or bandwidth throttling on its users.
Cost
Liberty Shield offers 4 subscription lengths, offering discounts for longer subscription commitments. They also offer two VPN subscription + router options.
The provider’s 1-month option will cost the same as a large frappuccino or other fancy caffeinated drink at your favorite coffee joint. The 3-month option knocks a mere half dollar or so off your monthly charges, and the 6-month option knocks another 50 cents off. The 1-year option comes in at around a buck or so cheaper per month.
So, you don’t save much for doing the extended commitment thing.
The provider offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and also offers a 48-hour, full-featured free trial.
The provider also offers two VPN + router package deals. The first offers a “lite” 2.4 GHz – 802.11b/g/n wireless router, while the second option offers a “pro” router offering both 2.4 GHz – 802.11b/g/n and 5 GHz – 802.11a/n/ac wireless connections.
In addition to a 1-year VPN + router package, both routers are available separately for a reasonable price, with a 2-week trial VPN subscription.
You can also buy both routers with a full 12-month Liberty Shield VPN subscription for just a few pennies more than the usual 12-month subscription cost.
While the provider isn’t outrageously expensive, there are better deals out there.
If you’re looking for top-notch online security and privacy that won’t break the bank, as well as the best access to geo-blocked content, you should consider NordVPN.
A VPN Alternative
As I mentioned above, there are better alternatives to Liberty Shield for your VPN protection. The best VPN provider I can recommend is my top provider, NordVPN.
I not only recommend NordVPN to my readers, I also use NordVPN to protect my online activities from prying eyes, and have for quite a few years.
The provider does a top-notch job of keeping your online activities undercover thanks to the provider’s use of banking-grade encryption, a kill switch, DNS leak and IP leak prevention, and more. a proprietary “NordLynx” connection protocol is based on the open-source WireGuard protocol.
Privacy protection includes a strict no-server-logs-ever policy, as well as a cryptocurrency subscription payment option. Plus, all NordVPN servers are run 100% from RAM, never writing any type of data to a physical hard drive.
As for connection speeds, NordVPN delivers some of the fastest connections in the VPN industry. I use NordVPN to watch 4K and HD video streams, play fast-moving online games, and share large files on a regular basis. (It should be noted that NordVPN does restrict P2P file-sharing activity to several of its select servers.)
No matter how fast your connection speeds are, if they don’t connect to a world of content, they’re worthless. Luckily, NordVPN boasts a global server network made up of over 5,200 servers based in 60 countries around the globe. That huge network provides reliable access to geo-blocked content around the world. The provider is currently moving its entire network to an owned-and-operated model, which will block third-party contractors from accessing customers’ personal information.
No matter which device you use to travel the internet, NordVPN likely has it covered. The provider offers native app support for Android, Amazon Fire, iOS, Android TV, macOS, Linux, and Windows devices. Up to 6 devices can connect at once on the same account.
Browser extensions are also available for the Chrome and Firefox platforms. Extensive router compatibility protects all of your connected devices.
For more information about NordVPN, read my review.
Liberty Shield VPN FAQ
Is Liberty Shield VPN Any Good For Users in China?
While Liberty Shield does not offer any specific information on whether or not it works well from inside of China, some reviews have mentioned success in using it inside of China. NordVPN works even more reliably in China.
How Do I Cancel Liberty Shield?
To cancel your Liberty Shield account, log into your account on the Liberty Shield website and then click the “Cancel” button to cancel your account.
How Can I Check if Liberty Shield VPN Is Down?
Unfortunately, Liberty Shield does not have a list on their website that displays which websites are currently down. You won’t know whether a server is currently up and running until you try to connect to it.
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