TVWhenAway VPN Review 2024 — Read This Before Buying

TV When Away was founded in 2012, in Derby England. It provides a VPN using cloud technology for prices that some would find cheap but others would find a bit pricey considering this VPN doesn’t allow torrenting and P2P file-sharing and has servers only in the UK.

TV When Away offers VPN, proxy, and SmartDNS services with just one subscription. These services are mainly used for streaming UK TV shows in HD from anywhere. It does that well, working with BBC iPlayer, Sky Go, ITV Hub, My5, and others. If you’d like a VPN that has servers in countries from around the world and not just the UK, there are plenty of secure and reliable VPNs that will offer you a number of different locations and servers.

TV When Away is compatible with the major devices and operating systems including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. This VPN is relatively fast and safe taking into consideration that it uses the OpenVPN protocol as a third-party software but there is not a lot of information available about privacy and security on their website. However, you can reach out to their customer support via the online ticketing system or via email and ask them if you have any specific questions. I contacted them through the ticketing system and got an email response 2 hours after submitting the ticket form, which is pretty prompt. Unfortunately, the answer I received wasn’t satisfactory.

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TV When Away can only work with UK TV streaming services including Netflix UK, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, Sky Go, All 4, My5, Amazon Prime Video UK, and many others.

Works With: Netflix UK, BBC iPlayer, Sky Go, ITV Hub, My5, All 4, Amazon Prime Video UK, and All Other Online UK TV Services

There aren’t many UK services that TV When Away doesn’t work with. As stated in its description of the subscription plans, they offer unlimited bandwidth and no buffering while streaming. This means you’ll be able to use it to watch your favorite UK content in lag-free HD from anywhere.

On its website, there isn’t a full and concise list of all of the streaming services that TV When Away works with, however, in the response email about gaming that you can find below, customer support says it can provide safe access to all online UK TV services.

Doesn’t Work With: Every Other Platform Outside the UK

Considering that TV When Away has servers only in the UK, it doesn’t work with platforms that are outside the UK.

TV When Away’s speed is relatively fast. According to their website, the connection speed has a lot to do with the customer’s location and internet traffic, and the speed they recommend for using their service is 2Mbps. It is also stated that, generally, downloading and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services will work just fine even if the connection speed slows down. However, there might be some slowdowns in certain locations while video streaming, especially at peak times.

Are TV When Away VPN’s Speeds Fast Enough for Gaming? Most Likely Not.

TV When Away VPN most likely can’t be used for gaming. Taking into account that they don’t have live chat support, I contacted their customer support via the online ticketing system asking them about the speed their services provide for gaming.

The customer support agent responded pretty vaguely by saying that the VPN “allows you to access all online UK TV services”. I didn’t get a straightforward yes/no answer or an explanation.

It’s a shame that this VPN isn’t good for gaming because its SmartDNS allows it to be installed on Playstation, Wii, Xbox, and other gaming devices including PS Vita, PS3, PS4, and Wii U. Nevertheless, if you want to play with friends worldwide and protect yourself against other players, you can try some of the top VPNs for safe and lag-free gaming.

TV When Away’s customer support response on gaming

TV When Away VPN has an unknown number of servers in only 1 location — the UK. It doesn’t mention the total number of servers on its website and there is no information about it anywhere on the internet. This means that it works only with Netflix UK and other UK sites. If you need a VPN that supports multiple Netflix libraries, you can take a look at the best Netflix VPNs.

However, if you want to safely access UK TV services in the best possible quality from anywhere, then TV When Away would do the job.

TV When Away VPN works by connecting to the OpenVPN protocol which means that streaming is expected to be safe and secure considering that this VPN protocol is one of the most recommended and safest protocols available.

OpenVPN very successfully encrypts and secures your online activity and it is updated regularly. On top of that, this protocol shouldn’t leak your IPv6, WebRTC and DNS but it is best to check this information on each of the servers that you’re connected to, just to make sure.

Worth mentioning here is that with one subscription TV When Away offers SmartDNS services as well. Nonetheless, on their website, there is no information disclosed about the level of encryption this VPN uses. Also, they haven’t mentioned whether they use HTTP or HTTPS as a protocol for the HTTP proxy. Last but not least, TV When Away doesn't offer either a VPN firewall or a kill switch.

TV When Away’s privacy policy is as vague and hard to find as its security policy. I found two of their websites - TV When Away’s website seems older and not updated but still similar to the newer one called When Away (without TV in front of it).

When you try to sign up on TV When Away, it says that TV When Away is now part of When Away and a link is given to redirect you to the newer When Away website. On one hand, the TV When Away website’s Terms of Service and Privacy & Cookies link can’t be found anywhere on the website. I had to google TV When Away Terms of Service for the page to show up in Google search so I can open it.

On the other hand, on WhenAway’s website, you can find their ToS at the bottom of the homepage. In When Away website’s very short ToS and Privacy & Cookies, it is stated that they don’t give or sell your personal information to third parties except if you violate some UK laws or if you violate the rules for the service they provide.

With that being said, searching the Dark Web or engaging in any kind of online piracy is definitely not recommended with this VPN. It is also mentioned that the personal information they receive through emails or through the online ticketing system will be used only for the needs of their customers’ queries related to their accounts and the services that TV When Away provides.

Last but not least, they disclose that they don’t store financial information about their customers but they keep your log files on their servers. In one of the clauses in their ToS, very vaguely they say that they store log files only to monitor the servers’ performance and to identify software bugs, potential security violations, and abusive users, not to censor or monitor their customers’ online activities. I have to mention that the ToS I found on both websites are the same. Even though this VPN should be safe, I wouldn’t use it because of the lack of information and non-transparency about it. It’d be much better and trustworthy if people could know what exactly they are paying for.

Torrenting is not allowed with TV When Away VPN. In their Terms of Service in one sentence they state that torrenting as well as P2P file-sharing are not allowed.

Does TV When Away VPN Work in China? Yes.

TV When Away allows you to connect to servers in the UK while you’re in China and pretty much anywhere else in the world. You can check the countries in which you can use this VPN by typing the country of your choice in the search bar given at the bottom of the TV When Away website’s homepage.

TV When Away’s country search bar on their website

Simultaneous Device Connections — Not Allowed

TV When Away doesn’t allow simultaneous device connections from the same account. You are allowed to use your account on as many devices as you want but only 4 device can be connected at a time.

Device Compatibility — Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and More

TV When Away VPN is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android devices, and routers. Their proxy services can be set up in Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer while the SmartDNS service can be used on PS Vita, PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox, and on the smart LG, Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony TVs.

In order to find all of their connection guides when you’re still not a user of their services, you have to google this information because it is not visible on the When Away’s website, whereas on the TV When Away website you can find a couple of guides linked in one of the FAQs. However, if you already have an account, the guides should be easier to find in the Client Control Panel.