My end to ISP fustration: openvpn with a VPS

[Gadi Cohen]

Some of you may recall my occasional rants about ISPs in Israel.  I'm
quite a demanding user, and need good speeds and good access.  Until now
I've been jumping around between BezeqInt and Netvision.  On some days
I'm perfectly happy with either, on other days, I'm ready to tear my
hear out.  Today I completely lost it when Netvision decided to *block*
outgoing traffic on port 587 (mail submission port that's meant to be
safe from transparent proxies, etc) - or at least to my server.  Then of
course just terrible speeds (6k/sec international???) at random times,
etc, etc.

Anyway, I do go on.  I think I might have finally found a solution,
albeit a bit expensive when you consider that it should be completely
unnecessary, but it might be worth it for me to save on the ridiculous
amounts of frustration that have plagued me over the years.

I set up a VPS (virtual private server, i.e. your own linux system
running as a virtual machine, with root access) in Israel.  I found one
for $29/mo, but I didn't look around too much since this is a 1 month
experiment for me.  Of course being local, speeds to the box are
excellent.  I then installed an openvpn server and enabled IP forwarding
with NAT.

There's an openvpn module for Network Manager, so this integrated very
easily.  I now have a little golden lock over my 4 blue bars of wifi
reception, and all my traffic is now being routed (encrypted) through
that box.  Obviously this is also great for when using public-wifi, etc,
which besides being insecure may have a lot of ports blocked (secure
mail, etc).  Maybe now I can listen to internet radio with the wifi at
ben gurion airport :)

Anyway, things are VERY smooth right now, and I'm going to give things a
trial run for a month and then make the final call.  Just thought I'd
post about my experiences so far and see if anyone has any interesting
feedback :)  BTW, how much is an upgrade to the "gamer" packages which
are apparently much more reliable?

-- 
Gadi Cohen aka Kinslayer <dragon at wastelands.net> www.wastelands.net
Freelance admin/coding/design HABONIM DROR linux/fantasy enthusiast
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