Deeper Connect Pico Review – Decentralized VPN & Gateway

Update: As of July 2022

It has been several months since I received this product (I had backed their Kickstarter project). I have been using it ever since. So far, no issues with it. The ad blocking feature is my favorite. It blocks almost all web ads. But the Youtube ad blocking feature sucks. You need a separate youtube mobile app for this to work and the app is horrible.

Some sites do not work, one example is semrush.com. It did work after I routed semrush site through Asia. Sometimes, google services lag. For example, google analytics throws ‘please try again’ message but works properly when refreshed a couple of times. I have also noticed that youtube videos sometimes buffer which is annoying. For this reason, I am downgrading my ratings to 3.9/5.

If you are planning to get it, please have a backup modem router functioning alongside. I have two Wifi connections. One with the default AT&T modem + router and one with Deeper pico + Meshforce router. If I face any issues with Deeper’s Wifi, I can easily switch to the other network and get my job done.

Internet speed is unaffected, DPN is good but needs more people involved in the network for optimal functionality. I have it turned off for now. Multi-routing works fine. Free crypto tokens/mining thing does not work unless you put some massive initial deposit in their system and wait for a fixed period of time to start mining.

I am going to write an in-depth review sometime. Super busy with other stuff at the moment.

Prior Content

I have been following Deeper Network for a while now and every time they come up with a new product, I get really excited to know the features. It is because their products are unique and very innovative. Their network devices solve some of the biggest problems of your internet. Free lifetime VPN, hardware security gateway, ad blocking, free crypto tokens and whatnot.

Today, we are going to have a look at Deeper Connect Pico which is their latest release, Connect Mini being the previous one. In this article, we are going to look at the mind-blowing features of Connect Pico, why you need it and why I am buying one for myself.

Features of Deeper Connect Pico

Although this gadget has a ton of features, I am only picking a few that blew me away. For a full list of features, please check this page, also check out their previous product to compare and contrast with this one.

Decentralized VPN aka DPN

Most of us know VPN right? If not, it is Virtual Private Network that tends to privatize your internet connection. There are hundreds of VPN software, web apps, mobile apps and hardware, some of them are free while some charge a lot of money every month.

Unlike VPN, DPN is decentralized. Meaning, there is no one server through which your data is passed. Instead, the user information is stored/transmitted through personal devices (such as phones and laptops) and this network has 20000+ nodes in it. This makes it very very difficult to be tracked by bad people!

Moreover, it is FREE. There is a one-time fee that you pay to get this device, but once that’s done, you don’t pay anything monthly, everything is free for life. This feature really struck me. Why pay $10 a month for VPN when you have a more secure hardware-based encryption which costs $0 per month.

There are a couple more advantages, I am embedding this comparison image which I got from the product campaign page.

A to Z info on DPN, check this guide

Multi-Routing

Unlike VPN where you tunnel your traffic through one location, Deeper connect pico let’s you route your traffic through multiple locations. Based on the optimal route and effeciency, the system automatically routes your data through multiple locations.

For example, you are watching YouTube, Netflix and browsing Google. Deeper connect pico may route YouTube data packets via US server, Netflix via UK and Google via Singapore. You don’t have to worry about it since the device automatically chooses the best route.

If you don’t like this service, you can also choose only one location/country setting. The device has a setting panel which you might need an hour to navigate through, not because it’s difficult but because there are so many options.

Ad-Blocker

This blew my mind away. Till now all I knew was to use an adblocker app or browser extension to block YouTube and website ads.

But with pico, you can block every ad, including YouTube ads, not just for your device but for all the devices connected to your wifi. How cool is that? This means, no ad blocker plugin is needed for anyone on your network. If this feature works as advertised, it’ll be huge. No YouTube premium needed, no ad free subscriptions required? Wow!

Plug and Play – No Configuration Required

Deeper connect pico requires no configuration to start. You just hook it up to your modem and hook the other end to your router (if you have one). You can also connect to your devices via Ethernet.

Also, Deeper is selling a wifi adapter that works with pico. So, if you don’t have a wifi router, you can buy this adapter and establish a wifi network right from your pico.

Free Crypto Tokens for Bandwidth Sharing

This is something new to me but as I saw, deeper is a decentralized system, so the bandwidth routing happens via other people on the network. So, if you decide to share your bandwidth, you can earn their crypto token. There are a few YouTube videos about this, I recommend you watch them.

Why I’m buying this?

After knowing the features of deeper connect pico, I want to buy one for myself not only because I want to try decentralized VPN once but also have a physical device that can handle my internet traffic, security while having useful features like ad-blocking, multi routing, etc.

Deeper network is a reputable company, they have had a successful project already which I saw during CES 2020. This makes me comfortable backing their product although there could be delays in product delivery. I’m eager to get my hands on pico and write an in-depth review and add some use cases.