Ask Slashdot: VPN Service For a Deployed US Navy Ship? 349
shinjikun34 writes "I am currently stationed on a U.S. Navy ship deployed in a country with restrictive internet policies. We are currently in the process of setting up an entertainment internet connection for the crew to use in their downtime. I suggested (and was thereby tasked with finding) a VPN service that would support 100 to 500 devices, have an end point inside the continental United States, be reasonably priced, and secure/trustworthy. Something that is safe to use for banking and other financial affairs. Ideally, it would be fast enough to support several VoIP calls (Skype, Google Voice, etc) along side online gaming, with possible movie/music streaming. It will need an end point in the U.S. to allow for use of Google Books, Netflix, Hulu, and other services that restrict access based on region. I, in all honesty, have no idea where to begin searching, and I ask the good folks of Slashdot to aid me in my quest. One of the main requirements I was given is that the company has to be trustworthy. And it has to be a company — computer in someone's closet hosting a VPN isn't acceptable to the Navy. What services would Slashdot recommend? (I understand that our connection without a VN probably won't be able to handle the described load, but I would prefer a VN service that offers capacity above our need. That way when T/S'ing the connection, the VPN can be at least partially ruled out.)"
Re:WTF (Score:5, Funny)
You would prefer they asked the Geek Squad?
I always use vpn.al-qaeda.net (Score:1, Funny)
You imperialist murderers.
Re:Pair (Score:2, Funny)
%s/Pittsburg/Pittsburgh/g
Re:The end point should be run by the military (Score:5, Funny)
What ever happened to taking turns dressing up as women and having dances?
Re:The end point should be run by the military (Score:5, Funny)
Likely you've never left CONUS for any length of your life at all.
Amusing. I was born and live in the UK.
I think that's outside "CONUS" as far as I remember? I mean, we have universal healthcare and everything.
Re:What the... (Score:2, Funny)
OK I'm not American (I'm Australian), but this whole post elicits a massive "WTF" from me.
If this is a Navy ship, belonging to the world's most powerful military and run and administered by a branch of the US Government, then surely:
a) if this kind of usage of the connection is permitted, the Navy (or other government entity) would have its own infrastructure you could use for this...
Yes, they do have their own. It's called NIPRNET, which is pretty much exactly what the OP is requesting to have in the first place (trusted network and endpoints in the US, and a connection to the internet).
The problem here is that they're on a ship, and likely not trusting in any other 3rd party network providers, are probably relying on satellite shots to connect to their networks, which puts a nice big fat 500ms delay in the path, which would choke streaming an animated gif to 500 users, let alone VoIP or movie streams. On top of all this, you have the fact that all official communications are of course, monitored, and all of the cool shit is filtered.
Therefore, it shouldn't come as any surprise that what the OP actually wants to know here is how the hell to get a POP back in the US to get around the "restrictive" filters put in place by the local (and likely fast) ISP he's currently stealing a connection from so he can stream good ol' American HD porn from a network fast enough to provide it, proxied through a country free enough to allow it.
Re:The end point should be run by the military (Score:5, Funny)