Non-VPN speeds in the same round averaged about 244Mbps. That's more than fast enough to torrent, game, or browse. In my tests, US servers delivered the peak speed of 176Mbps, with an average of 112Mbps. TunnelBear's speeds have steadily improved over the years as measured by other review and testing sites, though, and the US scores I recorded saw a speed loss of only 54%. It struggled to catch up to the popular NordVPN's overall 32% speed loss, and catching up to other speed-intensive VPNs such as Surfshark and ExpressVPN (which in previous tests experienced overall losses of just 27% and less than 2%, respectively) could be an even bigger problem. Speeds I recorded for TunnelBear placed it near the middle of the VPN pack. Read more: All the VPN terms you need to know

That average includes both the superfast speeds recorded for nearby servers, and the sluggish speeds recorded for the more distant servers. In the case of TunnelBear, nearly 63% of average internet speed was lost. That's one reason I'm more interested in testing the amount of speed lost (which for most VPNs is typically half or more) across both high-speed and slower connection types, and in using tools such as to even out the playing field. It doesn't offer Tor-over-VPN, it only offers split tunneling on Android, and it can't even unblock Netflix. It holds a paltry 23 server locations from which you can't manually choose your server or even a city. But it's also a Canadian business owned by US-based McAfee, so if you're looking for subpoena-proof international

And yes, like some of its competitors, it offers yearly transparency reports and has been audited independently. Sure, TunnelBear's speeds are reasonable. But when I look at TunnelBear after a year spent under the hoods of its VPN competitors, I just don't get the excitement. It was touted by Wirecutter as the New York Times' top virtual private network pick for several months through 2020, US News and World Report ranked it 6th for the year, and PC Magazine and TechRadar liked it too.

TunnelBear's gotten a lot of hype in the last couple of years.

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