You basically get a raw linux box with SSH or something like that, and you should set up everything yourself as you want. You also usually get some kind of snapshot access, so you can revert and save changes to the VM.
If you are a Linux newbie, there’s going to be a learning curve and you may not want to invest the time.
WireGuard will become part of the Linux 5.xxx kernel in the very near future (Ubuntu Disco) and we are now testing business based Kubernetes Clusters looping the GFW of China.with over 60 servers worldwide.
(Please excuse that little douchie thing there, yes, we’re serious about this stuff.)
But:
If you really want an easy & affordable way to set up WireGuard within minutes, try TorGuard. You can find 50% off yearly promo deals just by Googling.and they have an excellent set of WireGuard servers: The UK, NYC, and Singapore. And, they use those same exact DigitalOcean droplets (for basically half the price.)
I’m an expat American, and personally use TorGuard for their OpenConnect based Dedicated IP plan to watch US based Netflix from outside of the USA, and it has been flawless for years. If you use that 50% off promo on signup for your basic VPN package, you can get 50% off the Dedicated IP as well. (No, I don’t work for them, heh.)
At any rate, for ease of setup and cost, you might want to take a look. https://torguard.net/
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Nah, guys, I’m expert at this stuff; what’d I’d meant was I’d expected to have them send me something akin to an ssh-able console-style port/IP combination, and a username/PW that gets me a bare slice that I could throw Ubuntu on or the like.
I see now there’s some “getting started” materials in the first E-mail, I’ll get around to it soon.
… damn, and like that, my machine is up and running, I just need to configure the server! Serious thanks, @unlo!
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So, everything set up nicely (despite forgetting I need to set net.ipv4.ip_forward=1, which had me head-scratching for a minute), and having excellent bandwidth in both directions (something my WG server doesn’t have at home). I did find the fly in the ointment, though- DO’s IP blocks are trapped by Hulu/NF/HBO as proxies, so I can’t use them for that (my primary expected use-case was a high-speed VPN for watching video services when I travel abroad w/o having to overload the 35 mbit upload of my home connection).
Either way, I’m going to continue to use the service for non-video needs, but too bad about the IP blocks being targeted; it would have been perfect otherwise!
Do you mean that self hosted WG servers at home can be detected by video streaming services?
Is there a way to fix this?
if the VPN isn’t needed for streaming you can turn off VPN for their domains FYI
@alzhao No, they can’t detect mine, as it looks like I’m streaming from home. It’s just that my bandwidth is limited and I run multiple servers off the same box that would be doing the VPN, so I wanted to use DO (and the greatly increased outbound bandwidth) to VPN for streaming services, too. I’ll still use it for other stuff, just not streaming the Big Three sites.
@unlo Yeah, but streaming when I’m abroad is like 80% of my use-case (that and being able to view the Comcast App when I’m not at home).
Same here. But I don’t need the security for streaming at a hotel. I’m already behind the router. VPN for all my sensitive stuff. They can attempt to sniff my stream data all they want. In on a 90 day pw schedule anyway. Hulu doesnt care about my WG tho. Netflix does.
Thinking about your response a bit more, I’m wondering how hard it would be to install and host a box with Netflix and VPN just like at home. And avoid the issue completely…
But who would be the ISP? Hell, I don’t need gigabit Ethernet, but that was the only way i could get the big upload. Unfortunately I’m in an area (despite living in the heart of the Silicon Valley) where the local cable company is the only one with good speeds; 20 miles up the road a friend of mine has symmetrical 1Gbps fiber at his home … Oh, if only 
Netflix has thousands of IP range blocks. Virtually every VPS in the world included, DO was one of the first identified as sharing…
There are still a few datacenter IP address ranges in the US that do work, yeah, but those have become rare and a well guarded secret. (M5, heh.)
A Gli router Wireguard server setup at your home/office in the US works perfectly fine for Netflix, however, the NoIP dynamics and ISP throttling conditions can make it basically too choppy or slow to use outside of the USA. Especially if someone is using your home network, (or you are on COX cable or dynamic ATT).
My overall experience is that an OpenConnect based VPN service actually works better for streaming Netflix anyway. Very close to the same speeds with none of the radius auth server access hierarchies that still need to be addressed server side with WG.
I can watch Netflix from Shenzhen 24/7 without issue. But not by using Wireguard, and not from the office server in LA either. Very soon, but not just yet.
If you are just doing Web/FTP/VPN(WIREGUARD or OC)/SS servers, or just doing NETCAT transfers, by all means DO, Vultr, or Linode popups. (Or, basically any other cheap but good localized VPS server bed these days.
But for Netflix?
Nope.
I think you’re right- when I was in India a few weeks ago, while the overall speeds to the US were pretty good (using DSL Reports Speed Test) I’d still get choppy service when using my WG VPN to watch US streaming services- maybe it’s because the UDP packets WG uses would be the first to be dropped on congestion? I have an OpenVPN server running too (with UDP and TCP connection methods available) and didn’t think about trying those.
Remember too that NF/Amazon/<probably others> have CDNs in many countries; I could get 4K on Amazon Prime in India, and I’d assumed it was because the route was all inside the country. But when you say “very soon”, do you mean there’s changes to WG coming, or something you’ll be able to do on your end?