My Expat Network Review 2021
My Expat Network is a highly-priced VPN costing $5.49/month for a 24-month subscription with only 120 servers in 12 countries. In our tests, it failed to unblock US Netflix & BBC iPlayer. The service only offers basic security features with no USP of its own. It earned a rating of 2.5/5.0.
- Updated: April 5, 2021
- 0 User Reviews
- Osama Tahir
| Based in | Hong Kong [SAFE] |
| Price | $4.99/mo |
| Servers | 120 (12 Countries) |
| Logs | Keeps some logs |
| Multi Login | 5 Devices |
| Refund | 30 Days |
| Recommended | No |
| Website | My-Expat-Network.com |
My Expat Network (MEN), a Hong Kong-based VPN service that claims to specialize in unblocking streaming services. For this My Expat Network review, I evaluated its various features and found the VPN to fall short in many respects.
For instance, it has a network of 120 servers in only 12 countries which is outstandingly small compared to ExpressVPN and Surfshark. Moreover, the logging policy doesn’t inspire confidence, nor does it work for unblocking US Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
The good features of the service include decent speeds and customer support. However, considering that the provider is quite highly-priced, I don’t recommend this VPN.
My Expat Network has earned a rating of 2.5/5.0.
My Rating Criteria
- Jurisdiction – Where is My Expat Network located?
- Security – Is My Expat Network VPN safe?
- Leaks – Does My Expat leak IP, DNS, WebRTC?
- Servers – Is My Expat Network VPN P2P compatible?
- Speed – How fast is My Expat Network?
- Streaming – Does My Expat Network support Netflix?
- Compatibility – How many devices do My Expat support?
- Pricing – How much is My Expat Network?
- Trustworthiness – Trustpilot Rating, Reddit Reviews & Support
Jurisdiction – Where is My Expat Network located?
My Expat Network or MEN is based in the safe jurisdiction of Hong Kong. This country has good privacy laws and is not a part of the surveillance apparatus of Five Eyes. Owing to this fact, you can use the service without worrying about it being a honeypot.
Security – Is My Expat Network VPN safe?
My Expat Network VPN is sufficiently a safe VPN. It implements AES-256, which is the strongest you can currently get in the VPN industry.
The tunneling protocols vary depending on the device you are using this VPN on. For Windows and Mac, My Expat Network uses the OpenVPN protocol. For iOS, it uses IKEv2, which is a fast and highly secure protocol for mobile phones.
However, the Android app uses L2TP, which is almost an obsolete protocol and not as secure as OpenVPN or IKEv2.
My Expat Network Kill Switch Feature
This VPN is not the most advanced out there as far as security features are concerned. Other than encryption and VPN protocols, which are necessary components of any VPN, it only offers a Kill Switch for taking care of accidental privacy leaks.
So, there isn’t much beyond the Kill Switch in terms of extra features, but I’m glad to see this feature’s inclusion in a VPN that mostly focuses on streaming.
Does My Expat Network keep logs?
My Expat Network likely stores some personally identifiable information in logs. The provider explicitly mentions that it doesn’t log the following information:
This implies that the provider does store users’ IP addresses, timestamps, and other information that may be used to identify your identity online. However, this is only an implication and not a certainty since there is no explicit mention of what they are storing through our VPN usage.
Nonetheless, I’m not fully assured about their logging policy, and neither should you.
Leaks – Does My Expat leak IP, DNS, WebRTC?
My Expat Network has no IP, DNS, or WebRTC leak problem. I tested these on ipleak.net. Here are the results:
IP Leak Test:
The VPN has no problem at all with IP leaks:
DNS Leak Test:
It came clear in the DNS leak test as well:
WebRTC Leak Test:
It has no WebRTC leak issues either:
Servers – Is My Expat Network VPN P2P compatible?
As far as its server network goes, My Expat Network (MEN) only offers 120 servers in 12 countries. Clearly, this is a pretty small network. The provider needs to expand this network further if it wants to compete with ExpressVPN and NordVPN – services with extensive server coverage.
My Expat Network supports torrents on the Netherlands servers only. That’s better than no support at all, but it’s clear that p2p services are not a priority for this VPN.
Does My Expat Network work in China?
My Expat Network is not very reliable for China. The service is equipped with stealth technology for all its servers. Since Chinese censorship technologies can’t be beaten through traditional VPN protocols, stealth and obfuscation mechanisms are the only hope for ensuring VPN functionality within the country.
We haven’t tested MEN in China, but the fact that it offers stealth servers suggests that the service may work in China.
Speed – How fast is My Expat Network?
My Expat Network offers average speeds. Testing the service on a 30 Mbps connection using speedtest.net, I measure its performance to determine its speed.
First, I connected to the US server. This one worked the fastest, giving 18.35 Mbps in download:
The UK server dropped down in speed, reaching only 14.37 Mbps.
Finally, the German server managed to hit the 13.29 Mbps mark.
Overall, My Expat Network offers average speeds. Not too slow, but there’s certainly room for improvement.
Streaming – Does My Expat Network support Netflix?
Unfortunately, despite claiming to be a streaming-specialist service, My Expat Network does not unblock Netflix. I failed to get it to work with US Netflix, which was quite disappointing.
So if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock different Netflix regions, this is not a VPN you can count on.
Other Streaming Services
Trying My Expat Network for BBC iPlayer, I was also disappointed to see that it failed to work with the British streaming service.
Nonetheless, there are many other streaming services out there that MEN is probably good for, but as far as Netflix and BBC iPlayer are concerned, it is not a reliable service for these platforms.
Compatibility – How many devices do My Expat support?
My Expat Network supports up to 5 connections at once. The provider offers apps for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. It is also compatible with Linux and Amazon Fire TV.
My Expat Network Desktop Apps
For desktops, MEN only offers bare-bone tray apps with fundamental designs. It might take a little bit of getting used to if you haven’t used tray apps before, but you should get the hang of it soon enough.
The settings and menus are hard of any use since MEN is pretty limited in features and doesn’t really offer much. You’ll mostly find yourself using the server selection screen only.
My Expat Network Mobile Apps
My Expat Network’s smartphone apps for iOS and Android are much more visually appealing like decent mobile apps usually tend to be. The main screen allows you to choose your preferred server.
The Android version supports stealth servers, but this feature is lacking in the iOS app. As for app ratings, My Expat Network has only a 2.8-star rating on Google Play Store and a 2.0-star rating on the iTunes store.
Pricing – How much is My Expat Network?
My Expat Network is exorbitantly priced. Seriously, because it is a very basic VPN with hardly anything on offer, other VPNs don’t already offer a much cheaper rate.
If you want a plan with 5 simultaneous connections and all 12 server locations, the pricing structure of MEN is:
All plans offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can purchase the VPN with credit cards and PayPal:
Trustworthiness – Trustpilot Rating, Reddit Reviews & Support
My Expat Network has an average reputation overall on Trustpilot. The provider has a rating of 3.6/5.0. But this is based on only 19 reviews since that’s the total sum of users that bothered to comment and rate this VPN.
My Expat Network Reddit Review
I found no relevant discussions around MEN on Reddit.
Customer support
My Expat Network offers troubleshooting and installation guides to assist users. Also, you can directly reach the support team – which is available 24/7 – through emails.
The VPN also offers remote-installation support. If you don’t want to install the VPN yourself, you can request the customer support team, and they’ll do it for you remotely.
Overall, My Expat Network has decent customer support, though the lack of live chat is a little unimpressive.
Comparison between ExpressVPN and My Expat Network
If you wish to differentiate between these two VPNs, consider reading this below-mentioned table:
| Features | ExpressVPN | My Expat Network |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.67/mo | $4.99/mo |
| Servers | 3500 in 94 Countries | 120 in 12 Countries |
| Compatibility | All Devices | Windows, macOS, Android & iOS |
| Jurisdiction | The British Virgin Islands | Hong Kong |
| Logging Policy | Zero Logs | Keeps some logs |
| Customer Support | Live Chat & Email Support | Email/Guides |
| Trustpilot Score | 4.7 | 3.6 |
| Website | ExpressVPN | My Expat Network |
Alternatives to My Expat Network
If you want to use VPNs other than My Expat Network, you should read the below-described VPN reviews first:
Do I Recommend My Expat Network?
No, I do not recommend My Expat Network. The VPN has a logging policy far from reassuring, fundamental security features, doesn’t work with Netflix or BBC iPlayer, a small server network, and is way too highly-priced for offering the bare minimum of benefits.
There are much better VPNs out there available for much more reasonable pricing than this service.
Thus, for this My Expat Network review, the service has attained a rating of 2.5/5.0 based on its different pros and cons.
If online privacy is your topmost priority rather than accessing region-blocked content, explore our popular VPN reviews guide.
