RackNerd’s 2025 Black Friday promotion second-tier $18.66/year plan has gained significant attention due to its doubled bandwidth (6TB/month after upgrade) and extremely high cost-performance ratio. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the US Chicago (IP: 66.225.231.153) VPS, focusing on mainland China network quality, system performance, and streaming media unlocking capabilities.
RackNerd Official Website: RackNerd – Introducing Infrastructure Stability
More Black Friday deals:
| CPU | RAM | Disk | Traffic | Price | Buy Link |
| 1 Core | 1GB | 25GB SSD | 4TB | $10.6/year | Buy Now |
| 2 Cores | 2.5GB | 45GB SSD | 6TB | $18.66/year | Buy Now |
| 3 Cores | 4GB | 65GB SSD | 13TB | $29.98/year | Buy Now |
| 5 Cores | 6GB | 100GB SSD | 20TB | $44.98/year | Buy Now |
| 6 Cores | 8GB | 150GB SSD | 40TB | $62.49/year | Buy Now |
If you want to claim the doubled traffic after purchase, simply comment your order ID on the official LET thread: LowEndTalk Official Post. If inconvenient, you can also leave a comment on relevant overseas VPS review YouTube or Bilibili videos to apply in bulk.
📋 Basic Information & Configuration
| Item | Data | Notes |
| Price | $18.66 USD/year | Black Friday promo, 6TB/month traffic doubled |
| Configuration | 2 Cores (E5-2680 v2) 2.4G RAM 45GB SSD | KVM virtualization, Debian 12 |
| Bandwidth / Traffic | 1Gbps / 6TB per month | |
| Location | Elk Grove Village, Illinois, USA | ASN: AS36352 ColoCrossing (RackNerd) |
| IP Type | Native IP | Supports BBR congestion control |
📊 System Performance & Disk I/O Test
1. CPU & Memory Performance
This plan provides 2x E5-2680 v2 cores, a common entry-level configuration.
| Test | Single-Core | Multi-Core | Rating |
| Geekbench 5 | 490 | 792 | Average. Single-core performance matches E5 characteristics, multi-core is weak due to KVM overselling. |
| SysBench CPU | 746 | 1585 | Suitable for lightweight workloads, not high-compute tasks. |
2. Disk I/O Performance
Test results show excellent SSD performance with GB-level throughput.
| Metric | 4K R/W | 64K R/W | 1M R/W |
| Total Speed | 128.69 MB/s | 1.63 GB/s | 1.60 GB/s |
| Rating | Excellent I/O, especially strong large-block performance far above average VPS in this price range. |
🌐 Ping Latency & Packet Loss
1. Mainland China Latency
| Region | Avg Latency | Rating |
| China Unicom | 223ms (best) | Stable performance |
| China Telecom | 236ms | Average |
| China Mobile | 239ms | Slightly worse |
Chicago naturally has higher latency than West Coast US nodes (140–180ms), which is expected due to geographic distance.
2. Packet Loss (Ping.pe)
| ISP | Packet Loss | Rating |
| Telecom / Unicom | 3% – 13% | Moderate to high, unstable during peak hours |
| Mobile | 0% – 6% | Better in some regions but still fluctuates |
3. International Connectivity
| Region | Latency | Rating |
| North America | 41ms | Excellent |
| Europe | 87–96ms | Very good |
| Asia (non-China) | HK 181ms, Tokyo 153ms, SG 210ms | Normal |
🗺️ Routing Analysis
➡️ Outbound Routing (China → Chicago)
- China Telecom (AS4134): Guangzhou → San Jose → NTT backbone → Chicago
- China Unicom (AS4837): Guangzhou/Shanghai → Los Angeles → GTT/Level3 → Chicago
- China Mobile (AS9808): Shanghai/HK → NTT/GTT → West Coast → Chicago
No CN2 GIA or premium optimized routes detected.
↩️ Return Routing (Chicago → China)
| ISP | Route | Description | Rating |
| Telecom | NTT → 163 | Backbone via NTT to ChinaNet | Standard route |
| Unicom | Verizon/L3 → AS4837 | Returns via West Coast into AS4837 | Normal route |
| Mobile | GTT/Arelion → CMI | Uses China Mobile backbone | Acceptable |
No premium optimized routing (CN2 / 9929 / 169 VIP) is present.
🎬 Streaming & IP Quality
1. Streaming Unlock Status
| Service | Status | Region | Method |
| Netflix | ✔ Unlocked | US | Native IP |
| YouTube | ✔ Unlocked | BR | Region mismatch but accessible |
| Amazon Prime Video | ✔ Unlocked | US | Native IP |
| TikTok | ✔ Unlocked | US | Native IP |
| Disney+ / Spotify | ❌ Not available | – | – |
Native IP enables US Netflix and Amazon Prime Video access.
2. IP Reputation
The IP is rated 39/100 (medium risk by Scamalytics) and 100 (high risk by IPQS), and may be flagged as VPN/proxy in some databases.
While it supports streaming, some strict platforms (banking, gaming, etc.) may block it.
🎯 Final Verdict & Recommendation
| Pros | Cons |
| Extremely cheap: 2C/2.5G/6TB for $18.66/year | Poor China connectivity, high latency and packet loss |
| Excellent SSD performance | High IP risk score |
| Great US/EU connectivity (<100ms) | Average CPU performance (older E5) |
| US Netflix unlock | – |
Recommended use cases:
- US/EU-facing websites or services
- High-bandwidth applications (backup/download)
- US Netflix streaming
Not recommended for:
- Mainland China-facing services
- High IP reputation-sensitive applications
NodeQuality link: https://nodequality.com/r/YMIavIBJSeEDmUYeZBwW4BwNTMmhMOwB
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