PacketStream offers to pay users to share their internet, but is it legit? Is it safe? How does it even work?
In this PacketStream review, we'll dive deep into all of those questions and more, sharing in-depth research, first-hand experience, and reviews, insights, and data from real PacketStream users and other sources around the web.
You'll definitely want to read through this before signing up!
Table of Contents
- Key Points ⚡
- Review Process
- What is PacketStream?
- Is It Legit?
- Who Can Join?
- Safety Inspection
- Support Quality
- How PacketStream Works
- Earning Potential
- Payment Proof
- Review and Rating Breakdown
- Ways to Earn With PacketStream
- How to Withdraw Your Earnings
- Additional Features, Tips, & Notes
- Real User Reviews
- Pros and Cons
- Is It Worth It?
- How to Get Started
- Alternatives
- Final Thoughts
Key Points ⚡
| Min. Age | 18 |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | Worldwide |
| Platform(s) | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Avg. $/month | $5 |
| Ways to Earn | Sharing bandwidth, referrals |
| Payout Options | PayPal |
| Minimum Payout | $5 |
| Payment Speed | Up to 7 days |
Review Process
This PacketStream review was first written and researched by a Reddit user in Syria who had, at the time of writing, used PacketStream for 2 months, earning $8.78 in the process.
Next, I did a bit of my own independent research into the safety, legitimacy, and reputation of PacketStream, added additional content, and finally edited everything together for this in-depth review. Enjoy!
Notice something incorrect or have something to add? Leave a comment.
What is PacketStream?
PacketStream, founded in 2018, is a peer-to-peer proxy network that allows customers to browse the web from residential IPs and allows ‘packeters' to make money by sharing their unused bandwidth.
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About the Company
- Founded: 2018.
- Name: PacketStream Inc
- Located: 506 S Spring St #13308, SMB 4609Los Angeles, CA 90013
- Founder(s): Arthur Aivazian | Ronald Bell.
- Socials: LinkedIn
- Contact details: help@packetstream.io | sales@packetstream.io
Is PacketStream Legit?
Yes, PacketStream is legit. The company has been around since 2018 and has held a good reputation so far with both their customers and packeters (i.e. bandwidth sharers). The company is transparent too; it was easy to find the founders and other key persons behind the company along with the location of headquarters. On top of that, they have a well-designed and easy-to-understand website along with detailed terms and privacy policy pages. Oh, and they pay!
Summary: As far as we can tell, and based on those we've surveyed, PacketStream is not a scam.
That said, keep on reading for more information about what PacketStream packeters have to say about the site.
Who Can Join?
- Age requirement: 18 years old.
- Country requirements: Worldwide. Earnings will vary based on location.
- Device requirements: PacketStream software is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Supported IP types include residential, mobile, cafe, school, and portable hotspot.
- Payout requirements: PayPal account.
Safety Inspection
- SSL certificate? Yes.
- Privacy policy: Here.
- Terms of use: Here.
- Personal data collected from PacketStream users:
- For account creation: username, email, password.
- For payment (may be collected): address, phone number, PayPal account info.
- Automatically collected: cookies, device information (browser version, OS, IP address)
- Do they ever share/sell user data with third-parties? From the privacy policy: “We never share your personal information with third parties for commercial purposes. We believe your user information should be kept secure and private.” This said, if you give them consent, they may share your info for marketing purposes. Aggregate, non-personal info may be shared as well.
- Can you opt out? Yes, you can opt-out of certain data sharing by not giving consent.
- Do they protect user data? Yes. From their privacy policy: “PacketStream takes reasonable measures, both physically and digitally, to protect your personal information in an effort to prevent loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.”
- Can you delete your account and data? Yes. Contact help@packetstream.io. You can also uninstall the PacketStream software at any time to remove yourself from the network.
Is PacketStream Safe?
In terms of privacy and protecting your personal information and the data on your computer, PacketStream seems safe. They don't ask for much information from users, and they mention multiple times in their privacy policy and terms of service how they keep your info secure.
But, the main functionality behind PacketStream is getting paid to share your bandwidth. This essentially means turning your home internet into a proxy — you'll be letting PacketStream customers use your internet/IP address to mask their browsing activities.
For what you ask?
Well, according to PacketStream, customers use the network to do things like access region-blocked content, verify content, compare prices, do social media marketing, and more.
While these use-cases generally seem safe, just as with Honeygain and other sites that pay you to share bandwidth, it's hard to tell exactly who is using your internet and what it's being used for. It seems like anyone with money can gain access to the network.
Example: PacketStream advertises its services on BlackHatWorld, which, while being a legitimate and helpful internet marketing forum, is also home to some folks who use tactics (e.g. social media botting) that go against other sites' ToS.
Because of this, sharing your internet on the PacketStream network could get your IP blacklisted from things like social media sites, survey sites, streaming sites, etc. (you can check your IP status here). It could also cause you to see more captchas when searching the web.
And, even if PacketStream regularly bans users who use the network for shady activities, by then, the damage could already be done.
Bottom line? PacketStream is safe to use in terms of privacy, but a bit sketchy in terms of keeping your IP address in good standing.
Support Quality
Here's what our reviewer said:
“PacketStream support was honestly very frustrating. They took about 7 days to reply back to me. It does not make sense for how slow they were as you cannot have many people asking for support as the app is not hard to use and is actually pretty easy to set up and earn from.
Anyhow, I asked about the best location for this site, in which they replied was the UK as they had many clients requesting that location. So that was helpful to know.”
How PacketStream Works
PacketStream works by connecting packeters (those who are sharing their unused bandwidth) with customers (those who want to purchase bandwidth to access the internet from another IP).
People are willing to pay to access the internet from your IP address for multiple reasons:
- Accessing region-blocked content (e.g. Netflix)
- Browsing more privately
- Comparing prices by location
- and many more
As a user, when you share your unused bandwidth with the PacketStream network and someone actively uses your connection, you get paid. PacketStream measures the amount of bandwidth shared and credits your account accordingly.
PacketStream sells the bandwidth you share for $1 per GB of bandwidth. You get paid $0.10/GB, so Packetstream profits $0.90 per GB of bandwidth for facilitating the connection.
Once you reach $5 on your account (i.e. 50 GB of bandwidth sold), you'll be able to cash out to Paypal.
PacketStream Earning Potential
Although PacketStream pays you $0.10/GB of bandwidth shared, you only get paid when a customer is actively using your connection. For that reason, earning potential can vary a ton between users.
In fact, there are 4 factors that will affect your earnings:
- Location – Some locations have more demand than others. For example, users in the UK may earn more than users in Australia. This varies constantly.
- # of IP addresses – Your earnings are largely determined by how many devices you have connected to different IP addresses. The general rule is that the more unique IPs you have on PacketStream, the more you will earn.
- Network speed and ping – Best performance will be seen on networks with speeds of 50Mbps or more and ping of less than 50ms.
- The amount of time you have the software on – This one's pretty self-explanatory. If the software isn't active, you aren't sharing bandwidth, which means you aren't earning!
PacketStream earning potential stats: We've interviewed 1 PacketStream user who reported an average earning potential of $5/month.
Payment Proof
PacketStream Review and Rating Breakdown
- Earning Potential
- Payout Options
- Payout Minimum
- Payout Speed
- Accessibility
- Support
- Usability
- Safety
Overall
Summary
PacketStream legitimately pays you to share your unused internet, but don't expect to earn much — this is a very easy passive income source to set up. Also, beware that sharing your internet on the PacketStream network may get your IP address blacklisted from certain online services. Proceed with caution!
2 Ways to Earn Money With PacketStream
1. Selling Bandwidth
This is of course the main way to earn on PacketStream — by passively selling your unused bandwidth to the network. All you have to do is set the software up and you'll start earning.
You can expect to earn around $1-$40 per month selling your bandwidth.
Tip: Try to keep the PacketStream software running as often as possible. Connecting your device directly to your router is also a good idea.
2. Referrals
When you share PacketStream with friends, PacketStream pays you a referral commission of 20% of everything they earn.
How to Withdraw Your Earnings
Paypal is the only payout option on PacketStream. The minimum payout amount is $5 and you can request a payout through the PacketStream software or on the web dashboard.
There is a 3% processing fee that will be deducted from your balance when you withdraw and PayPal may subtract additional fees depending on your Paypal account-type and country.
The payout takes between 1 and 7 days to process.
Additional Features, Tips, and Notes
- Watch out for inactivity – Long periods of inactivity could get your account terminated.
- PayPal – You can only use your PayPal account on a single PacketStream account.
PacketStream Reviews From Users
Here are some 2021 reviews of PacketStream from our own efforts surveying users and Trustpilot:
Maher (4/5)
- From: Saudi Arabia
- Age: 18
- User for: 2 months
- Total earned: $8.78
- Avg. $/month: $5
- Time to first withdrawal: 1 month
PacketStream is an awesome website. You get money for doing practically nothing, which is a great beermoney website, especially since it could pay as high as $40 a month. Overall myself getting $5 on my PayPal in the first month was a great feeling, even though it is a really small amount of money, it is still a really nice thing because it is all done passively. I honestly think this is the best beermoney website out there as it is not time-consuming whatsoever!
I would very much recommend this app to everyone who has a laptop and an internet connection as this is the easiest way I've personally ever made money. I mean it literally could be your beer money as it makes you money for free and could be a good addition to your spending needs. Anyways if you have a great network speed and ping and live in a good location you should definitely try this app out.
Anthony Burdick (5/5)
- From: United States
- Avg. $/month: $20
I received my PacketStream cashout to PayPal in less than an hour after [the] request. About to cashout once again! Running on 3 crypto mining computer rigs using NiceHash, on 24/7 and averaging $5 a week in PacketStream, living in the US also. Not bad for just turning on a computer, [the] app even starts itself. I will be accruing these funds to buy Steam games. Install it, forget about it and check back in a week or two. Now I would like to start on the referral bonus by referring people!
Joe (1/5)
- From: Germany
I [thought] this was a great app for passive income. Oh how I was wrong, not to mention the fact it takes ages to get money, you will get IP banned… AVOID THIS SCAM
Inareous (5/5)
- From: Malaysia
I recently did my 1st PacketStream cashed out, it was awesome! Just have to signup for an account, install the app on your desktop/laptop, let it run, and collect cash, EASY!
Thank you PacketStream 🙂
Rui Qiang (5/5)
- From: United States
I really received my first payout! It took about a day but I did receive it. It seems this app gives you more return than others when [sharing] the same amount of data with them. And the [withdrawal] limit is only $5 which is a plus. I will continue to use it.
Ace Jay (4/5)
- From: Jamaica
It's a pretty ok app it doesn't slow down my computer it's a great app for a person to earn [pocket] change only thing over time I got slower results
PacketStream Pros and Cons
The Good
- Almost completely passive income – You will have to run the software and monitor it once in a while, but that's about it.
- Easy to use
- Referral program
- Low $5 payout requirement
The Bad
- Slow and small earnings – Most will earn $0.10-$0.20/day or less.
- Potentially unsafe and could harm your IP address reputation – Read the safety section above for more information.
- Very unpredictable earnings – Depending on your setup and the demand for internet in your location, you could be earning good money or barely anything. This is largely out of your control.
- The software can be super glitchy and takes a long time to load
- Only pays via PayPal – Good option, but more would be better.
Is PacketStream Worth It?
If you're looking to earn some easy passive income and you're not worried about your IP address getting blacklisted from certain sites/services, PacketStream is worth trying. Even if you're only earning $5/month, the fact it's effortless income is pretty nice.
That said, if you use survey sites, GPT sites, or similar, and/or you don't want to risk getting blacklisted from other online services, I'd pass on PacketStream, or monitor it very closely if you do use it.
How to Get Started
Getting started on PacketStream is easy and can be done in 3 steps:
Step 1: Create an account
You can sign up to become a PacketStream packeter by going here and clicking the “Earn Money” option.
Step 2: Download the software
Once logged into your account, head over to the “download” area of your dashboard to install the PacketStream app. This is what enables you to start sharing bandwidth on the network.
Step 3: Start earning
Log into your account on the software to complete the software setup.
Now the software should be running and you should seeing traffic being shared/earnings being added to your account. To keep earning, keep the software open. If you restart your pc/laptop, make sure you reopen the software.
Once you reach the minimum of $5 on your account you can withdraw your earnings. Good luck!
PacketStream Alternatives
Here are the current PacketStream alternatives we've reviewed:
If you're looking for other ways to make money with as little effort as possible, check out this list of passive income sources.
For more opportunities and ideas for earning extra cash online, check out these guides:
- Micro job sites – Full list of sites offering paid tasks and other small jobs.
- Paid survey sites – Full list of the top paid survey sites.
- Paid web testing and app testing – Full list of sites that pay you to test other websites and apps (no experience required).
- GPT (Get Paid To) Sites – Ultimate list of sites that will pay you to do a variety of tasks.
- Focus groups – These offer some high payouts for easy work but they're infrequent. Try Respondent.io or User Interviews.
- Ways to make extra money – Tons of other ideas on how to make extra cash on the side!
- Ways for teens to make money – List of online and in-person money-making opportunities for anyone 13 years and up!
Want to work from home full-time? Read my guide on how to start working from home.
Final Thoughts
PacketStream is a legit money-making opportunity that allows you to get paid semi-passively for sharing your internet. But, it doesn't come without risk. Be sure to do your due diligence before getting started and if you notice any funny business while using the PacketStream software, cut your losses.
- Have you used PacketStream before? Please click here to leave your own short PacketStream review in the comments. Thanks – it helps a lot.
- Have questions or feedback? Leave a comment.
got up went to pc looked at dashboard got a white screen so tried going to website and got black screen i contacted them and found out i had been ip banned for apparently not being a residential ip which i was a residential ip address and was told there was nothing they could do as it was a third party that deals with that and that was where they left it no other options they took all the bandwidth and didnt pay just got banned my advice is avoid at all cost nothing but a scam from a very dodgy company
They ban you just before you have enough to cash out.
Scammers.
Unfortunately they appear to be fraudulent. If you read their terms of service nowhere does it state that you can’t run more than one instance, and if you have the bandwidth available why wouldn’t you. They will let you run it like that until you make enough money that they ban your account to prevent paying out.
Look for other options.
Same as me. Accused me of cheating, abusing their system. Kept my funds and no email response, fraudulent company.
Saben como se instala en Linux ?
Hi, for Linux, there are instructions in the PacketStream dashboard (Go to Download -> Click the “Looking for Mac or Linux app?” link in bottom right -> follow those instructions).
Hey I’ve been checking you content from a long time and really the way you write with all in-depth information. There is a lot to learn from you and the packetstream thing I’m going to try that. Keep it up 👍
Thanks Aman! Let me know how PacketStream works out for you.