 What's up internet? One of my best tech surprises of 2021 was the DeeperConnect Pico. This relatively unknown company that was making the bold claim that this small portable dongle could serve as your VPN for life. All you had to do was pay for the hardware one time and you were set for life. And you know, I was a bit skeptical but it actually worked. Fast forward to 2023 and DeeperConnect is about to launch the air, the successor to the DeeperConnect Pico. And through the form, DeeperConnect is making some bold claims for the air. It is all of the decentralized VPN functionality of the Pico but it also comes with more robust ad blocking. And the air also supposedly blocks web ad and even adds in YouTube. The air is supposed to be able to get you cheaper prices on online purchases such as hotel bookings and cheaper prices for online subscription services like NBA League Pass and YouTube Premium. Bold claims again will DeeperConnect be able to deliver just like they were able to in 2021. Before we find out, you should know that DeeperConnect did send us this item for review. We got to keep it after the review period and DeeperConnect suggested some features which we should look into for this video. That being said, I am honestly very impressed again with the air just like I was two years ago with the Pico. Now let's do the boring stuff last. So what is a VPN? Why do you need it? Why are a lot of people using it? All of that, let's save for the end and let's get to the fun stuff first. So just number one, are you subscribed to a streaming service but you can't get all of their content because it is geolock or some content is only available to people in certain countries. Well with the air, you can spoof your location. It makes it appear that you are accessing the internet from a different place. For example, here I'm accessing my Netflix account here in the Philippines but through the air, Netflix thinks that I'm in the States. So I'm seeing the top 10 shows in the States as well as exclusive content which is only available to subscribers in the US. This geo spoofing trick is also how the air is able to get you cheaper prices because the prices of certain online subscriptions or even sometimes different bookings changes depending on what country you're in. So if you're in India for some reason, so if you're in Pinasca, the NBA League pass per month is around 500 pesos. But if the NBA thinks you're in India, it will be only 219 rupees. You're able to get the Indian price wherever you are in the world through the geo spoofing feature of the air. The same applies to YouTube premium or really any other subscription service where there is a price difference based on region. More fun stuff, surfing the web without being bombarded by ads. So the air does have a built in ad blocker and you can see it working here. Usually if you go to CNN, their pages are really ad heavy. But when I'm surfing through the air, you can see that this page has zero ads. This also extends to YouTube, although you do have to jump through certain hoops, change some settings, sometimes install some certificates before you can block in video ads on YouTube. Since the air spoofs your location, your online activities can't be traced back to you in real life. Everyone who's connected to the internet has a number assigned to them called their IP address and that is usually how your online activities can be traced back to you. The air though spoofs your IP address or more exactly provides a different IP address from your real one. Here I am surfing from the Philippines, but then the air can make it look like I'm surfing from California. Completely different IP address from the real one. So if you don't like the idea of being tracked and moreover, what you're doing online, you don't want to link to your in real life persona or your in real life location, then that air is a super easy way to do that and that's really its core function. This is the VPN. So lots of people, especially business people, people interested in their privacy, pay a lot to different services a monthly fee whereby they log on to that service and that service does what the air does. It spoofs your location, gives you a different IP address. The problem is that in centralized service, first of all, all of your data are stored with that central server, that central location, that VPN. Your credit card details, your actual details of what you're doing online, plus there is some slowdown depending if you buy pass all of that hassle with the air. There is no monthly fee. There is no central server. Your activities are masked through the hardware, which also doesn't know anything about you. So step up your air in terms of privacy, but more importantly also in terms of price. Now, I know this all sounds complicated and you might be worried how easy is the air to use. The interface has gotten better from what I remember from my time with the Pico. You access the interface just like you would your router by typing in an IP address through your browser. Not as scary as it sounds and when you get to the UI, there are already smart features automatically enabled. For example, the functions I mentioned about NBA League Pass thinking that you're in India, you can set those on a per app level. So if you want Netflix things here in the States, you can set it to the States. If you want NBA League Pass things here in India, you can set that and you're using the same internet connection, but different apps can think that you're in different places Do you need the exclusive content from the US? Set your app to the US. Do you need the better price of a different location? Set it to that location. So there is a smart app feature enabled or you can also do a blanket command where all of your traffic looks like it stems from just one location, one country. The web ad blocking stuff is straightforward. For YouTube, there will be some settings that you will need to change on your device as well as maybe install a certificate. So to get the full range of what the air offers, you will need to be a little technically savvy. But for the basic features such as the decentralized VPN and location spoofing per app, those are relatively straightforward. If you're not too techy, you can probably at least find someone techy enough within your household that can do that. Now, the air itself is more streamlined than the Pico I got, more Wi-Fi ready out of the box. So you can use it on a per device basis. For example, like on your laptop, you plug it into your laptop, you log on to its UI and teach it the Wi-Fi password. Just log on to the hot spot that you need and put in the proper password and then connect to the deeper connect and then you get all the functionalities of the air. But it can also serve as a Wi-Fi repeater. So for example, plug it into your battery pack. As long as it can connect to the Wi-Fi in your area, then multiple devices will be able to connect to the air, making it perfect for groups that need to work together or even just for one person that has multiple devices. The air can handle multiple devices without any slowdown in internet delivery. If it's slow, that's the main internet, wherever the Wi-Fi comes from. Now, this small guy does do a lot of work and it does get quite hot. I'm a little worried about the internals over the long term. Although to be fair, my Pico has been doing quite well. And this is one of the things that I was impressed with in 2021, which carries on to 2023. And when you hear about the features list, you think it's a scam, but then when you get it, you're pleasantly relieved and surprised to be honest, at least in my case, that everything works. So the air continues my good experience with deeper connect, which started with the Pico. I think they have their core functionality locked down. What I would really like to see are more UI improvements because it can get a little hairy for the non-technical user to set everything up. On the other hand, I do appreciate that all of this ad blocking and figuring out what traffic is going on and what rules to apply to that traffic can be tricky because of course the other companies, everyone trying to serve you ads, aren't an arms race to ensure that you see those ads. So the nature of the technology by itself can make it a little complicated. So the last trick that deeper connect needs to do is to make it super simple. I don't know if it's possible, but they have done a good job already at this level of making it straightforward to users with at least a minimum tech background. Getting subscription services for cheaper prices, if you like, being anonymous online because you know, research and other things like business, privacy, all of those things are important, so much cost efficient if you just go with the deeper connect air compared to paying a monthly service for a VPN that sometimes has a worse performance. Thanks for watching. Thanks for watching and maybe one of these days, we'll see you at the shop.