Been going a year strong and have had catastrophic network failure now 3 times where I had to fly home wipe setup and start over. I started with Wireguard (which works for 2 months then speeds drop to 200kbps ) , I switched to an Astrorelay on my second trip back which worked for about 3 months before I lost connection completely. Now I have came back online using tailscale , my question is though what backup options are you all using ? I was thinking of setting up Mullvad VPN which would hopefully not cause issues with my job or do you all think that is bad idea ? Also any general tips on how to prepare for issues when you are away from server (in another country) I thought about buying smart plugs for reset and will look into remote access
Also never had an issue nor have my clients who I’ve helped with their Wireguard servers. One of them uses a UPS for power loss scenarios.
As someone else said, it’s a good idea to have backup servers, not just at the same location but at another house for physical diversity (helps with things like power outages). I have a Tailscale exit node that also uses a custom DERP relay server that I host on the same Raspberry Pi so it never uses public DERP servers for slower speeds. Then I have another one at a different house as well.
It almost sounds like you’re getting throttled by a local ISP for VPN traffic. Do you recall what area/country it was?
I have been traveling full-time for years and have never had to go home due to a VPN issue.
I use three physical routers at three sites in my home country, along with multiple cloud VPS systems running as VPN servers. They all support multiple VPN services, allowing me to use various VPN protocols on multiple ports. This includes Wireguard, OpenVPN, SoftEther, and Outline, as sometimes one or more protocols or ports are blocked at hotels, Airbnbs, or public spaces with WiFi.
For my remote routers running on GL iNet hardware, I have them reboot daily using cron, as slow memory leaks can eventually hang these routers.
I travel with a GL AR750S and two GL USB150 routers, as GL iNet routers are not easily replaced in many of the countries I visit.
Many of my clients have 2 GL routers acting as servers back in their home country. One of their house, one at a friend or family.
I’ll setup each with Wireguard and Zerotier since you can have the servers listening on both concurrently without conflicts. Then we configure their client router to work with each server, so they have 2 VPN protocol options at 2 separate locations. 4 total options they can switch between with a few button clicks on the travel router.
For the extra paranoid, they also travel with a backup travel router also configured to do the same, so they can hot swap if something happens to their travel hardware.
I use wireguard back to my home as my main VPN, I do have a secondary VPN services similar to PIA, Nord or Mullvad in case it goes down. If you are having these kinds of issues I would suggest taking a deeper look at your server setups. I might also suggest having two in home VPNs, one on whatever main device you have and another on a little raspberry pi as a backup.
To your Mullvad question, does your employer know you are out of the country?
I’m using a Firewalla for my home network VPN server. It’s pretty rock solid. Using my GL-Inet as the travel router
So I home I’m using ubiquiti routers and glinet when traveling.
I have a Linux server running openVPN
Then I have WireGuard on my router and then also use the built in “teleport” on the router as well.
I’ve never had one go down, ever…but I have 3 choices on 2 machines to pick from though. Zero issues!
Zerotier exit node at home, backup ZT exit node in a free Oracle cloud VM; I had no backup on my 1st trip but had no issues, I’ll use this setup on the next one,
I just got a Glinet, so I’ll try Tailscale soon as another backup option. An extra physical exit node at a family ember’s home would be good too.
brume 2 and beryl ax work great
Interesting to know that you can setup your own relay server.
However. If you happen to be working in one of the listed countries with public relay server here: DERP servers · Tailscale Docs
Is the speed compared to a custom one at home that significant?
I don’t necessarily use a GL.iNet device, but can second RemoteToHome-io. I have multiple Wireguard nodes at home, multiple nodes at family member locations in the same city, and one abroad. All nodes that support (some don’t if they are FreshTomato firmware-flashed routers) a concurrent installation of Zerotier will have it as a backup or management connection on the same network as a VM on my main laptop. A handful of times over the years I’ve had to troubleshoot a down Wireguard connection via the Zerotier network. Also make sure all devices include a scheduled reboot, I reboot mine once a week overnight.
I’ve been throttled to 6-7 Mbps up/down very often when using public relay servers. It’s not good.
+1 on weekly scheduled reboots.
That‘s indeed not good. Especially when your client has to connect to company’s VPN with Tailscale solution
Exactly. It’s not a show stopper. I’ve used it and been able to do MS Teams calls and all my work just fine before. But that’s why it’s a backup, and my primary is Wireguard
Though of course I don’t get routed through public relay servers since I have my own.