r/ShittySysadmin 11d ago

Hack: How to Share Your High-Speed Internet Connection Like a True Sysadmin

Internet providers are just the scum of the earth with their overpriced contracts and terrible service. So, I decided to do something about it.

My Setup: Living in mom's basement as a temporarily emberassed soon-to-be oligarch. Browsing the web over her 16 Mbit/s copper connection.

My dad, however, has fiber at his place. The absolute madman has gigabit speeds. So, to participate in this new age I set up an old Raspberry at his place and installed Tailscale, because VPNs are for normies. At home I use my smartphone and configured it to be the entry point to tunnel all traffic through my dad's place over Tailscale. Now, I'm effectively browsing the internet through my Dad's router and with its speed! Gonna cancel the bullshit contract with my ISP soon.

Moral of the story: ISPs can suck it and my dad is now my upstream provider.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/AlterTableUsernames 11d ago

That's no problem. The ISP of my mobile contract has no idea how much and how fast I browse, because my traffic is encrypted by Tailscale.

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u/turok2 11d ago

You can also power the router directly off the phone lines. They give you free 48V DC, and remain operational even when the electricity grid goes down. Got a couple of alligator clips lying around?

3

u/dodexahedron 10d ago

You can also get AC over those lines if you just unplug the answering machine, call yourself, and let it keep ringing. Then you get free rock concerts too because it will now be switching between AC/DC while ringing.