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Charging separately for a VPN tunnel: general rule or unabashed upsell? (e.g. Creanova, Finland)
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Charging separately for a VPN tunnel: general rule or unabashed upsell? (e.g. Creanova, Finland)

I was looking for a cheap but decent VPS to set up just behind the border of my home country (USSR) and Creanova in Finland looks and pings nicely. They offer decent Xen VPS'es from 4€/mo. and offer 10% annual discounts.

However, when I follow the link to "Step 3: Configure" I see an option to order

VPN tunnel - (20.00 EUR Monthly)

I was going to pay 4€, not 24€ monthly.

  1. Would I be able to set up a VPN on their VPS server on my own? Do you think they could forbid me to do so without paying a fee (sounds ridiculous to me, but still) or is it just an unabashed upselling on their part?

  2. As far as I understand, there are two possible scenarios I would normally use a VPN server for:
    a) set up an encrypted proxy server outside the borders of the country that does internet censorship, but doesn't (yet?) go so far as to shut off foreign internet altogether, implement "white-list" Great Chinese Firewall or ban encryption.
    b) access a closed (corporate) network that only accepts outside connections through VPN.
    First and foremost I had (a) in mind, but now I think if I could have (b) as well. How do I set up a system for such case? Say I'm in Moscow, my VPN server is in Helsinki and my server is in Amsterdam. My connection goes encrypted from Moscow to Amsterdam, but my destination server is further yet, in Amsterdam, so from the VPN endpoint onward it should go as a regular, unencrypted connection; it would be better to have it encrypted all the way, but.. then I wouldn't need a server in Helsinki, or would I?

I am somewhat familiar with Linux, command line and server administration, just confused about how encryption works in this case.

I use a home router that should support VPN for all my home devices nicely.

Comments

  • I think this is probably for a private vLAN or if you want them to install the VPN for you. At least, that's what I can gather from the context.

  • crdnlcrdnl Member

    I'm gunna side with @0xdragon on this one. If you're looking for a vpnserver softether is a nice quick setup.

  • rm_rm_ IPv6 Advocate, Veteran
    edited May 2014

    said: Would I be able to set up a VPN on their VPS server on my own?

    Yes.

    Do you think they could forbid me to do so without paying a fee

    Check their ToS.

    is it just an unabashed upselling on their part?

    Yes, probably trying to sell a "managed" service (setting up something for you).

    My suggestion would be to forget about that provider regardless of anything else, better consider https://www.torqhost.com/ in Estonia, which is even closer to you and is cheaper on some plans.

    Also if you abandon the "as close as possible" requirement, there's https://www.ultravps.eu/en/ with currently unsurpassed quality-to-price ratio in Europe as far as VPSes go.

    And of course everything is being sort of shaken up by the 5 EUR dedicated servers from http://www.kimsufi.com/fr/ , maybe consider catching stock of one of those, after all with a dedi you can do so much more than just a VPN.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    You should be able to run a ssh tunnel, very encrypted, one of the most secure of them all. As long as you have ssh, they cannot forbid it if you have root access (you should).
    If their tos forbids it, then you can risk they catch you (unlikely) and suspend the VPS, unless there are other penalties for it (hard to implement).
    Otherwise, rm_ offers a few alternatives, there are some offers as low as 3 $ a year if you are willing to use non-standard ports for IPv4 or live with IPv6 full access.

  • tomletomle Member, LIR
    edited May 2014

    Otherwise you could try vpn.sh, check their offer here on LET. Otherwise, SSH tunnel should work fine for web traffic.

    Thanked by 1VPNsh
  • Thanks for all the information, everyone!

    0xdragon, you say

    I think this is probably for a private vLAN

    How is setting up a VPN in private vLAN mode different from other... kinds of set up I might want to do? I'm new to this, but I'm determined to figure this out.

    Maounique said: You should be able to run a ssh tunnel, very encrypted, one of the most secure of them all. As long as you have ssh, they cannot forbid it if you have root access (you should).

    If I can 'just' run an ssh tunnel, and ssh is the thing that was around since ever, what are all the other protocols for? (e.g. IPsec)

    rm_, thanks for the suggestions! But why do you say to forget about Creanova, is there anything specifically bad about them or good about Torq? They are not exactly cheaper, as Creanova starts from 4€ (3.6€ semi-annually), and Torq is €7? (€5 on the front page is nowhere to be found; the closest is €5.25 when paid annually)

  • tomle said: Otherwise you could try vpn.sh

    What do they mean by "Access to 25 locations"? Do I kind of get to 'rent' 25 servers around the world?

  • @Nickolai said:
    What do they mean by "Access to 25 locations"? Do I kind of get to 'rent' 25 servers around the world?

    You choose which country/server you want your connection to go through

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    Nickolai said: What do they mean by "Access to 25 locations"? Do I kind of get to 'rent' 25 servers around the world?

    You connect your client to one of their 25 locations. They're advertising 25 as a way of saying they have a broad global network and there's likely to be a connection point near you in case latency is important.

    I haven't used vpn.sh but most VPN services provide VPN-only - i.e., you're not going to get root and admin the server, only connect your desktop/laptop/mobile/whatever's VPN client to their network.

  • rm_rm_ IPv6 Advocate, Veteran
    edited May 2014

    Nickolai said: rm_, thanks for the suggestions! But why do you say to forget about Creanova, is there anything specifically bad about them or good about Torq?

    Torqhost has a very good reputation around here, also I use them personally and after more than a year the only downside I can name is the continued lack of IPv6.

    They are not exactly cheaper, as Creanova starts from 4€ (3.6€ semi-annually), and Torq is €7? (€5 on the front page is nowhere to be found; the closest is €5.25 when paid annually)

    Regarding Torqhost being cheaper, I was referring to the 15 and 25 EUR/year plans:
    https://www.torqhost.com/virtual_private_servers/kvm
    https://www.torqhost.com/virtual_private_servers/xenpv
    If you're not an EU resident, you can also file a ticket before paying and have VAT removed, bringing those down to 12.5 EUR/year and 20.83/year respectively.

  • rm_ said: I was referring to the 15 and 25 EUR/year plans
    If you're not an EU resident, you can also file a ticket before paying and have VAT removed, bringing those down to 12.5 EUR/year and 20.83/year respectively.

    Gotcha! That's really cheap, especially considering "very good reputation". Thank you very much!

  • Nickolai said: How is setting up a VPN in private vLAN mode different from other... kinds of set up I might want to do? I'm new to this, but I'm determined to figure this out.

    Some providers will spin up a "virtual router" on another VM for you which means a proper firewall etc.

  • NickolaiNickolai Member
    edited May 2014

    If I can just run an ssh tunnel, which is secure and been around since ever, what are all the other protocols for? (e.g. IPsec)

  • Creanova offers Xen and vmware, Which is more likely to give me more bang for the buck, so to say, if I am going to run a VPN off of their virtual server?

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