pCloud Adds European Server
pCloud, one of the best cloud storage services out there, announced yesterday that it would be adding a second server location for customers to store data in. Until now, pCloud users could only store data in the U.S. (in Dallas, Texas). This new location is in the European Union (in Luxembourg, to be exact; not Switzerland, where pCloud is headquartered).
Currently, only new users will be able to pick the European location as it’s a choice you make when starting a new account. However, the marketing director for pCloud, Andrey Yanakov, has confirmed that existing users will have the option to switch to the new server at some point in July 2020 (next month).
In the future, users should be able to move their files between the two locations. This means that for now, once you make your choice, it remains set. You also won’t be able to split your storage across locations; your files are kept either in the States or in Europe, so you can’t divvy them up.
Advantages for Users
Looking at the comments below our pCloud review, having a EU server was high on the wish list for more than a few pCloud users. The main concern seemed to be how safe files were in the U.S. for people not signed up to pCloud Crypto (though speed issues are mentioned, as well).
Though technically any files on the Texas server should be protected by the Swiss-US Privacy Shield, we don’t blame people for being a tad nervous about keeping files in the Land of the Brave, what with all the privacy violations and all. A EU location means EU laws, so files should be more private by default.
As for speeds, we expect that pCloud users in the EU should see a bump, though we doubt it will be particularly noticeable, as the service already booked some seriously good upload and download times. However, more is always better, so we look forward to putting it through its paces again soon.
Final Thoughts
The addition of a pCloud server in the EU should put some minds at ease among the more privacy-conscious storage shoppers, and boosting speeds is never a bad thing. Whether it puts pCloud ahead of Sync.com in our rankings remains to be seen, but it’s a nice extra feature.
What do you think of pCloud adding a server in Luxembourg? Good idea or bad? Let us know in the comments below and, as always, thank you for reading.
Fergus is the former chief editor and resident curmudgeon of CommQueR.com. Though he no longer steers the team, he's stuck around to write investigations and news stories (and to annoy newer team members with tall tales). You can contact him at fergus [at] commquer.com if you've got a hot lead; anything else will likely get ignored.