Keepyourhomeip.com full review - is it worth it?

VPN
1

I hope this comes across as a balanced review that can help someone.

I bought KYHIP’s middle, more expensive package, which should be “upgraded”. I have 100 mbps internet at home and 500 mbps internet abroad. I went through set up, probably 20 emails, and 7 follow up sessions of various issues, primarily a 80-90% loss in speed. So…I mean like 6-20 mpbs. Trust me, we did everything. Tech support people were very nice, very helpful, but just could not deliver.

I have no networking background and to this day, still don’t fully understand the technical details of how this all works. Having said that…

After setting up option 2 from the wiki, in about 10 minutes for a total of $80 plus a couple bucks a month, I was forced to use that for about 6 months. It was my backup plan to KYHIP, and thank goodness I did - it saved me. Now I have just finished setting up option 3 on my own (kyhip is a paid version of option 3). I spent about $180 and set it up in about 40 min with no tech background whatsoever. I’m now abroad and have tested that set up and it works so much better than kyhip - probably because I have much better equipment, which I paid much less money for comparatively.

So yes, in total I’ve spent probably $700+ across 3 major atempts trying to get this worked out - that’s why I’m writing this, so you don’t have to do the same.

You can see this older post of mine where some of the initial story came out and I was withholding full judgment until I really knew what they are all about.

I’m not saying KYHIP is totally out to scam you, but I am saying the only way they make money is by selling you really cheap, old, bad equipment and charge you WAY more than they should for the service and completley overplay the “we are the tech people and take care of it all for you” value proposition for their insane upcharge. Don’t do it.

I needed speeds fast enought for video conferences, but even if you are ok with a slow speed, still don’t do it - you can get the same basic connection for much, much cheaper.

I don’t know if they pay for reviews, as I’ve seen several people on reddit say its working great for them, but I just don’t think I buy it. And if this post gets any sort of traction, no doubt there will be comments like “I’ve been using it for a while and it’s been great, I’ve never had any issues with it”. I don’t know guys, I guess I could be wrong, but I just don’t think its true anymore. I have nothing to gain from this review other than trying to save others from my painful fate.

In summary, don’t fall for the marketing on the website or (possibly) fake reviews. Do a little research here on reddit, and set it all up in less than an hour yourself. You will be way better off.

I tried outlining exactly what I did in detail, but it kept getting flagged. So for now - I guess this is just a heads up about KYHIP - don’t do it, set it up yourself.

EDIT: some have requested help doing this on your own.

https://i.imgur.com/RQpoUiE.png

That’s what I did. At the end of it all, you want to connect to a network outside of your house with your travel router, and check to make sure that your current IP address (while not being home) is in fact your home’s IP address. If it is, it means you’ve done everything correctly. You can now take your travel router with you, connect to any other router with it, and have the same IP you would have at home.

2

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3

Okay, so these services are basically pointless. My company installs software on my MBP that uses “Location Services” to determine location.

That feature looks at the surrounding access points and then uses a database of SSID’s/locations to figure out where you are.

4

Hi u/smoreofnothing22,

Neb here, co-founder and lead network engineer at KeepYourHomeIP (IPlumVPN B.V.).

I’ve carefully reviewed your posts and wanted to ensure you that we are committed to resolving the difficulties you’ve encountered.

It seems unlikely that our equipment is the root cause of the issue.

Speed-related problems can often arise from a few common sources:

  1. Limited Home Upload Speed: It’s essential to understand that when you access your server remotely, the data is transmitted through your home’s upload bandwidth. The download speed is not the limiting factor here.
  2. Nested VPNs: In certain instances, routing another VPN through the Wireguard tunnel can cause issues, especially when certain protocols and settings are involved
  3. ISP Congestion: Congested peering or suboptimal routing between Internet providers at home and at the remote location can sometimes cause low throughput. This is unfortunately beyond our control.

I encourage you to reach out to us once more at [email protected]. You may reference this Reddit post in your communication, or simply mention that your initial ticket was closed without a satisfactory resolution.

We’re here to help and look forward to getting to the bottom of this issue for you.

Best,
Neb

5

Hey OP, appreciate the full review

KYHIP keeps telling me you’re a bot or a competitor. Would be down to chat more? I’ve been working on building a similar solution and was really close to buying a premium package from KYHIP

6

Try doing it yourself. It’s pretty easy. Digital Nomad VPN Tutorial using Wireguard or Tailscale

7

Did the setup myself with glinet slate ax. Did a test also by taking the client router to my friends house and was successful in having my home ip with the VPN tunnel. But my question is, my work laptop also has a location option. Do I need to turn the location off? I think if I do turn off the location, IT security team wouldn’t like that!! Any advice ?

8

It’s quite simple to get around that. You just have to disable Wi-Fi and Location Services and use only an ethernet connection. Connect via ethernet to a travel router, and the travel router can connect via Wi-Fi (preferably ethernet as well) to the local Wi-Fi (at Airbnb, etc.)

9

I appreciate the feedback and effort to participate in the dialogue, but I have to respectfully push back on this. “It seems unlikely that our equipment is the root cause of the issue” is exactly what I heard over and over again throughout the course of probably 20+ emails and 7+ troubleshooting sessions.

But most importantly - after spending multiple hundreds of dollars on KYHIP (I paid for the upgraded package) with no success, I switched to better routers that I paid maybe 1/3 of the cost of KYHIP, and now everything works as expected with great speeds and not issues, and no change to anything you mention in your main bullet points 1,2, or 3 above. So it actually is likely that your equipment is the root cause of the issue. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory or bitter way, its just the only logical conclusion.

Are you willing publicly commit to offering a refund? As a gesture of good faith, that would go a long way for me and I’m sure many others who stumble on this thread now or years in the future. I’m abroad now and can’t immediately send back both routers, but if that’s part of the conditions for the refund, I can send them back when I eventually make it back home.

10

Because you responded, I will try your svc. I dont have a home in the US anymore, dont offer the whole svc where you provide it all?

11

Trust me brother, I’m not a bot and not a competitor. Just a normal dude who had a bad (and expensive) experience with KYHIP. Not saying everyone does, but I did and I genuinely don’t think any one needs to use their service. Review says it all.

I have not been able to return things to them becuase I’ve been here with my travel router and away from the server, but if someone from KYHIP sees this and refunds my money fully when I do return the items, I will update the review to reflect that.

The same exact thing can be accomplished with better equipment and less money. And really almost no technical skill.

12

Agreed. This was a big part of the discussion that still seemingly “stumped” them on my end. They said speeds should have been about 10-20% less than upload speed on home router, but we never came close to that.

13

That’s probably gonna be a judgement call for you. This whole approach is a question of risks and rewards, and sounds like you’ll have a decision to make. You can always do some “testing” on it. Maybe disable while still in your normal work location and see what happens, etc. Good luck either way!

14

Yes and your company, who owns the laptop and all the software on it, can just as easily reactivate WiFi, even temporarily, so that location services work.

15

Dear u/smoreofnothing22,

We adhere to strict privacy protocols, so we’re unable to discuss individual customer matters in a public forum.

Please feel free to reach out to us directly at [email protected].

We will review your ticket logs to understand what went wrong here and see what can be done.

Thanks for bringing your experience to our attention. We’re committed to improving and your feedback is greatly appreciated in this process.

Warm regards,

Neb

16

Would you do me a huge one and help me grasp the basics of how to do this myself?

17

I find it extremely unlikely someone’s work IT is going to remotely enable Wi-Fi on a random person’s machine IF it’s even possible for them to do so at all. For reference, I’ve had location services on my work laptop and work iPhone turned off for months with no issues at all.

18

For the record, KYHIP is not offering a refund. My original review stands.

Pros: continued and ongoing “willingness” to support, even if their support is not solving the issue. Again. 20+ emails and 7+ troubleshooting sessions did nothing.

Cons: Everything else. They buy the cheapest routers, charge a crazy markup, then when it doesn’t work, even with numerous calls, emails, reddit posts, etc. They ultimately do the standard “contact us for more details” and we all know what that really means. Just another way to avoid giving a refund.

I wish I could say that despite it all I could respect the company for at least giving a refund, but since they won’t, my recommendation remains the same - do not buy keepyourhomeip, it is not worth it. Do it on your own and save hundreds of dollars and lots of headaches.

19

You literally just responded to a public Reddit post to discuss OP’s individual experience. Then, as soon as he responds to your message and implores you to back up your message (which just looks like a poor attempt at PR now) you all of a sudden can’t discuss it?

This is not a good look.

20

Updated the original thread with an add on at the bottom.