Can I run my own server at home and not need an ISP?

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Kristeen

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Please forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I'd like to run a server at home to connect to the internet and not pay an ISP every month. I understand some networking and have a background with computer software. I am a quick learner.

Is this possible?
 
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Hi, what do you mean by "not pay an ISP every month?"

You don't need any special treatment from ISP to run your server.
Simply buy a domain and rent a server.

If you're skilled and have resources you can host your server at home but this is not easy and your server PC will need to be constantly online.
 
I mean, I'd like to run a server at home that connects to the internet, and cancel my account with Xfinity. I don't want to have to pay an ISP for internet service. Do I need an ISP to connect to the internet?

It's what I would ultimately like to do, run a server at home. And if I did, I would not need an ISP, correct?
 
Do I need an ISP to connect to the internet?
Click to expand...

yes, or you use your neighbors wifi. Or you start your own ISP.

A server is simply a computer that has a static IP address. I'll give you an example: I'm hosting a website called blunix.com. This website runs on a server with the cloud provider hetzner.de. They have a datacenter somewhere in germany with lots of servers - these are basically just flat computers, not much different from your laptop or workstation. They just don't have a screen and you connect to them remotely using the command line.

You can have a server at home, and you can use a old laptop or workstation and just start calling it a server. When you get a router from your ISP, this router has a public IP address. YOu can setup someting like port forwarding to host a website on your server.

But long story short, in order for anything to be connected to / reachable from the internet, like a server, you need someone to attach you to the internet - thats what the ISP does.

You do not get around paying your ISP, unless you use your neighbors wifi or start your own ISP (which is WAY more expensive than just paying an existing ISP).

So a server does not magically connect you to the internet, its just a computer without a screen that is connected to the internet.
 
Well its not billions. Millions maybe. 6 figures should do too I think. Depends on the country I suppose. I never tried but I know a guy who did in the 90s. I assume its still possible, but I mentioned it more as a joke ;)
 
blunix said:
Well its not billions. Millions maybe. 6 figures should do too I think. Depends on the country I suppose.
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I don't think it depends on country, even if you become ISP you would still need to cooperate with other ISP's or countries to connect to their infrastructure.

The only alternative is to create an internet infrastructure that is independent of current internet.
Some countries like China and Russia consider(ed) to create it, but even for them it's a big cake to eat lol
 
Nah mate, there are small countries. I'm pretty sure you can start your own ISP. When I founded blunix 10y ago I had an employee who worked in that field before and wanted to do it. So can't be that hard.

But I personally have no idea about it.
 
I see, thanks everyone. So what are the benefits of running your own server at home?
 
It depends on your audience.

If you only want to see stuff from your local home network, then no.
If you want to have a public server that anyone can see, then yes.

Starting your ISP isn't as easy as it used to be. The technology is easy.
The permits and legal permissions from ISPs that already own everything is the difficult part.

A lot of large corporations have internal servers that only employees can see.
 
So what are the benefits of running your own server at home?
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  • Depending on what hardware ressources you need, it might be cheaper. If you want one CPU and 2 gb ram it starts at about 5 usd. Renting one with a cloud provider has MUCH faster internet connection though.
  • Running illegal tor sites is commonly done "at home" for whatever reason
  • You have direct access to the hardware and can fix it if it breaks
  • You don't have to trust a cloud provider to maintain the security of the box

I can't really find good reasons...

I'm hosting a few raspberry pi's at home. I can turn on and off the grass water system for my garden remotely xD but thats because I'm a nerd, not because it makes sense xD

Some people host minecraft servers at home because its free when you already have the hardware. But then the connection usually isn't great.

And so on. Long story short its better to rent a server with a cloud provider.
 
A lot of large corporations have internal servers that only employees can see.
Click to expand...

those commonly are still internet accessible via a VPN. They are behind some kind of commercial crappy firewall / vpn gateway / whatever.
 
blunix said:
I'm hosting a few raspberry pi's at home. I can turn on and off the grass water system for my garden remotely xD but thats because I'm a nerd, not because it makes sense xD
Click to expand...
That's pretty cool actually. Perhaps running a home security system that can be accessed remotely would be a good reason to host at home? But that could probably be done renting a server as well though, I guess.
 
Kristeen said:
So did this used to be possible?
Click to expand...

I myself started one many years ago in the dial up modem days.
I'm sure there is probably a few areas here in the US where broadband internet is not available, but
it's getting harder and harder to find, and even if you did start an ISP there, I suspect your client base
would be pretty small.

Some people use satellite, but it's not as regulated. They don't control the cable based ISPs.
 
Kristeen said:
That's pretty cool actually. Perhaps running a home security system that can be accessed remotely would be a good reason to host at home? But that could probably be done renting a server as well though, I guess.
Click to expand...
yes, I actually have that too x) Its an old laptop thats attached to the security cameras.

There are finished buyable solutions that just stream your cams to the cloud, but you need pretty nifty internet for this.
 
Kristeen said:
Please forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I'd like to run a server at home to connect to the internet and not pay an ISP every month. I understand some networking and have a background with computer software. I am a quick learner.

Is this possible?
Click to expand...
not going to work. You can have a server but that does not mean internet, it is simply a place to store files. Your ISP is "Internet Service Provider" you have to have a connection to the outside world and communication to have internet. Server and ISP are very different things. Sort of like having a car and roads to drive on. You can have a car but it does not mean you have roads. You will still have to pay taxes to have roads and that is how computers work also. You can have a server (which as I said is mostly just a storage area) but that does not give you internet. You MUST have a service so you will not get away from an ISP. I do not care what you set up, it is not available on internet and does not provide internet until you have an ISP provide the communication.
 
Kristeen said:
I see, thanks everyone. So what are the benefits of running your own server at home?
Click to expand...
The benefits are that all the services I host have no terms and conditions for me. It's just me, at my own risk, and the software providers. Even if the software gets discontinued, those platforms are interoperable enough to be able to change the way I host them (e.g.: from Castopod or Write Freely or Ghost to Wordpress)

I run my own server (a relatively inexpensive Intel Core i3 running Docker on Ubuntu Server) at home where I host the following:
  • My mastodon instance
  • My castopod podcast
  • A blog on Ghost
  • A blog on Write Freely
  • My Nextcloud service
  • A budgeting application (Actual Budget)
  • A FreshRSS instance to manage my subscriptions
  • My link / article preservation vault, linkwarden
And I am beginning to think on hosting an XMPP node.
 
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Kristeen said:
I see, thanks everyone. So what are the benefits of running your own server at home?
Click to expand...
Direct physical access to the hardware for maintenance.

It is worth pointing out that ordinary ISPs also have ISPs which connect them to the Internet, unless you are Google and basically own the Internet. The Internet is a massive global computer network. It's really just about getting connected to it somehow, somewhere. AT&T also owns a lot of the Internet infrastructure. Each company probably sees one or more other companies as their ISP, unless they are some huge tech company like AT&T or Google. The Internet can probably be broken down into a small handful of huge tech companies that connect with each other to provide service to everyone else.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell
 
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