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Hi there, I did the same. I founded a VPN provider[0] in my free time. It is still running, but I have at times been close to shutting it down. Most of my cod
by benedikt 11y ago
Hi there,
I did the same. I founded a VPN provider[0] in my free time. It is still running, but I have at times been close to shutting it down.
Most of my code has been open the whole time and is on github[1]. Some internal tools and the website are not on github though. I went with AGPL for license. It'll make my day if someone forks my code and founds their own provider.
I operate out of Iceland and most of my clients are Icelandic. The biggest use case for my service was ISPs in Iceland charging extra for international bandwidth. By having my servers in Icelandic datacenters, I was able to provide my customers with significantly lower prices for bandwidth, thereby lowering the cost of internet for a lot of people. Considering the huge time investment that has gone into this side project, I have not made much money from it. But knowing that I helped my internet usage more affordable is something that has made this project meaningful for me.
Since I started, lots of things have changed. Some ISPs are now offering unmetered connections (this was unheard of before). Others have lowered their prices. I have heard people attributing part of these changes to me and my company.
I have not experienced DDoS attacks like you, but I have been the subject of meetings at some regulatory boards in Iceland, as well as at the monopoly behind the submarine cables[2] connecting Iceland to the world (the source of this dual-pricing schemes). One hosting provider was forced to change their core routing shortly after I starting hosting with them, to make me unable to host there. Other providers have come under preassure from this monopoly to kick me out. Like you said, you feel like your service was real -- someone with a vested interest against it was watching me.
Some time in the near future I will shut down the service. It's just time to move on to other projects and time to recognize that it's fulfilled it's usefulness. I know I will walk away from this project with a great sense of accomplishment, I am proud and happy with the work I did.
[0]: www.lokun.is
[1]: https://www.github.com/benediktkr/lokun-record https://www.github.com/benediktkr/lokun-record
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARICE-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARICE-1
- v_ivanov 11y agoWell, your vpn had an interesting usecase(making traffic cheaper). In russia everybody just uses some free browser extensions to bypass traffic filtering :(
- benedikt 11y agoIceland is not free from censorship (and is far from the freedom of speech haven people seem to think it is). The largest ISPs in Iceland were forced to block access to The Pirate Bay and Deildu.net (icelandic torrent site). These blocks were of course hugely ineffective and at most an annoyance.
- MichaelGG 11y agoHow exactly do you save them money? If they connect from Iceland to Iceland, they haven't changed their point of origin right? So any use of overseas servers would still cost them?
- benedikt 11y agoUsually, home users would by a fiber/dsl connection which includes an unlimited amount of domestic bandwidth and a set amount of "international bandwidth", typically from 10GB to 2000GB. When exceeding this quota, users would typically be billed somewhere around $15 for each 10GB increment they went over the quota. The size (measured in GB) of the international bandwidth "addon" determined the price of the connection far more than the speed of it. By hosting my servers in Iceland, the traffic through the VPN would not count towards the "international bandwidth" of my users. And since I was hosting in datacenters, I would be paying less for the bandwidth than at a typical home connection.
- MichaelGG 11y agoAh gross, that's pretty messed up. I guess I have s romantic view of Iceland where they wouldn't let that cheesy kinda pricing to exist. Or especially that they'd fight your company. Insane.
- benedikt 11y agoIndeed. But there are also dual pricing schemes in datacenters. They don't want you to peer with RIX (Eeykjavík Internet Exchange) and charge those who do a higher price (hence forcing one hosting provider to change their routing.
- fapjacks 11y agoYou're a hero. That is an awesome idea.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]