Would you be interested in this? VPN plug & play device

[VPN.SH]

Hey vpsBoard ,

So I'm working alongside a company at the moment who are trying to gauge what sort of interest there would be in this plug & play VPN device.

The process is fairly simple. You plug the device into your router using an ethernet cable, and a power source (can be powered via micro-USB), and then simply connect your devices to the SSID of the plug & play device, and you're good to go. Some small initial setup may be required, however it'd be extremely simple and wouldn't require any serious level of expertise. This is aimed to be easy enough to be configured by non-technical users.

This is roughly what the device will look like:



It's looking like the pricing will be around the $70 mark, which will include one years worth of VPN service. After this time, you'd have the choice of whether or not to renew your VPN service.

Is this something you'd be interested in? If so, are there any suggestions you'd like to be considered?

If you're not interested, is there anything specific that puts you off?

I'll hopefully have more news regarding this over the next couple of months.

Thanks,

Liam

 

[drmike]

Looks like an infamous Chinese piece of hardware kicked about in Crowd funded projects.

$70 = $72   / 12 months of service = $6 per month.

In order to sustain that, unlimited or large allocation on BW and plenty of locations that actually work for that year.

Need a warning about throughput probably also, as CPU in such probably won't be too great on throughput.

Hardware is < 1GHZ, ARM.... limited spec.   < $24.

$48 remaining = $4 VPN income per month.    Sustainable.  Not bad.

Depending on other uses of the gear at the same time, I may buy one just to support someone in the community (even though been critical of past mishandling of customers).

It's a good approach.  

 

[VPN.SH]

Looks like an infamous Chinese piece of hardware kicked about in Crowd funded projects.

$70 = $72   / 12 months of service = $6 per month.

In order to sustain that, unlimited or large allocation on BW and plenty of locations that actually work for that year.

Need a warning about throughput probably also, as CPU in such probably won't be too great on throughput.

Hardware is < 1GHZ, ARM.... limited spec.   < $24.

$48 remaining = $4 VPN income per month.    Sustainable.  Not bad.

Depending on other uses of the gear at the same time, I may buy one just to support someone in the community (even though been critical of past mishandling of customers).

It's a good approach.  

Glad to hear that you see this as a good approach. To clarify, it's looking like this will be with each client on their own dedicated IP. We may be able to offer multiple locations at an additional cost, however initially it's looking like it'll be a case of the user selecting one location (from a selection of North America - both coasts, EU, Australia) and getting a dedicated IP in that location.

There may be a possibility of switching locations, however it's likely that a limit on how frequent the changes can be made will be put in place.

I assume you thought this would be with multiple locations - given that it's likely to be one location, with a dedicated IP rather than shared - does this alter your view?

Thanks,


Liam

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Reminds me of the WiFi dongle I got off of Alibaba.

Overall, I don't see any reason why not. My biggest concern though would be the ability to change the configs, because lets say I'm moving or something.

Maybe an ability to edit the configs a bit for more "advanced" users?

 

[VPN.SH]

Reminds me of the WiFi dongle I got off of Alibaba.


Overall, I don't see any reason why not. My biggest concern though would be the ability to change the configs, because lets say I'm moving or something.


Maybe an ability to edit the configs a bit for more "advanced" users?

Editing the configuration will be a possibility, as obviously if somebody wishes to use a different VPN service after their first year then this needs to be an option

 

[Munzy]

What type of vpn?

 

[VPN.SH]

What type of vpn?

It'd be using OpenVPN.

 

[drmike]

Glad to hear that you see this as a good approach. To clarify, it's looking like this will be with each client on their own dedicated IP. We may be able to offer multiple locations at an additional cost, however initially it's looking like it'll be a case of the user selecting one location (from a selection of North America - both coasts, EU, Australia) and getting a dedicated IP in that location.

There may be a possibility of switching locations, however it's likely that a limit on how frequent the changes can be made will be put in place.

I assume you thought this would be with multiple locations - given that it's likely to be one location, with a dedicated IP rather than shared - does this alter your view?

Thanks,


Liam

The dedicated IP people either will love or hate.  Should be an option in my mind up to the customer which they want (public pool IP or dedicated).

The hardware, just make sure it's reusable / open.   I hate future useless gear and avoid buying locked stuff where I can.

Good luck with this, I think it's interesting and solves barrier some folks have about hurdles in VPN configs... Others like me, like to string up devices like that for different projects

 

[VPN.SH]

The dedicated IP people either will love or hate.  Should be an option in my mind up to the customer which they want (public pool IP or dedicated).

The hardware, just make sure it's reusable / open.   I hate future useless gear and avoid buying locked stuff where I can.

Good luck with this, I think it's interesting and solves barrier some folks have about hurdles in VPN configs... Others like me, like to string up devices like that for different projects

That may potentially be an option. I'll have to take a look at the specifics, but offering both could be a possibility.

The hardware will certainly be open and reusable.

Thanks, it should be an interesting project, and could prove to be helpful for those who have devices that don't play nicely with VPN's (Chromecast, some smartphones), as well as those who feel that setting up a VPN may be a little daunting (so generally speaking, less technically-minded users).

I'll keep updates in here as things progress.