11 votes

Is having a business line worth it?

Does anyone have a business subscriber Internet connection? Is it worth it?

I just spoke with my ISP, and for an extra $40/mo I can get a static IP address with 100mbps that I can host my own website on. I have a virtualization server, and I've been thinking about hosting my own hobby-scale website for a while. I haven't had any luck finding rack hosting space that I'd feel comfortable using so I'm thinking about just going rogue, and operating solo. If I had a static IP address with a pipe that would allow me to host then all I'd need to do is stand up a server, register a domain, and point it at my IP address.

Other than the typical security risks, what do I need to worry about? Would the experience be worth it?

18 comments

  1. [5]
    Deimos
    Link
    Why don't you just rent a small VPS for $5-10/month, and worry about expanding to something more powerful if it ever becomes necessary? There's really not much benefit to hosting from your own PC,...

    Why don't you just rent a small VPS for $5-10/month, and worry about expanding to something more powerful if it ever becomes necessary? There's really not much benefit to hosting from your own PC, and it may not even be allowed, even on a business plan.

    5 votes
    1. [4]
      Somebody
      Link Parent
      Because I want full control of the server on every level. I looked at a few hosting providers, and none of them offer full open, full control, of the server. The next best thing would be renting...

      Because I want full control of the server on every level. I looked at a few hosting providers, and none of them offer full open, full control, of the server. The next best thing would be renting rack space in a server farm, but I haven't had any luck finding a company I'd want to work with.

      EDIT: And I've checked with my ISP about hosting a website on a business line. They're fine with it.

      1. [3]
        Deimos
        Link Parent
        I'm not sure what you mean by that. Renting a VPS (or even a dedicated server) gives you total control, to the point where you install whatever OS you want, with full root access to install and...

        I'm not sure what you mean by that. Renting a VPS (or even a dedicated server) gives you total control, to the point where you install whatever OS you want, with full root access to install and configure whatever you want. There's not much more control you can have, outside of needing to be able to do something with the physical box.

        2 votes
        1. [2]
          Somebody
          Link Parent
          I'm wanting to be able to stand up new virtual machines whenever I want, and use <host>.<domain>.<tld> addressing without a major hassle. I know some registrars will let you register unlimited...

          I'm wanting to be able to stand up new virtual machines whenever I want, and use <host>.<domain>.<tld> addressing without a major hassle. I know some registrars will let you register unlimited subdomains, and I'd like to take advantage of that.

          Right now I'm hosting sites on a private Dell R710 virtualization machine, and I run my own DNS server. But it's only accessible via VPN or on my local network. I have a lot of subdomains set up, and I'd like to do something similar on the public Internet. For example, I have www.home.network, mail.home.network, git.home.network, etc. I'd like to be able to do that with publicly accessible websites which means I need hosting, a static IP, and a proper domain.

          1. Weldawadyathink
            Link Parent
            You can do that with just a domain. Setup a dynamic DNS service to update your IP when it changes and point a wildcard domain to it. Setup a reverse proxy on your home server and you are good. If...

            You can do that with just a domain. Setup a dynamic DNS service to update your IP when it changes and point a wildcard domain to it. Setup a reverse proxy on your home server and you are good. If you want to keep your firewall completely closed, you can do the same with a docker droplet or any other vps. If you really want to run a bunch of vms and can't use docker, you can rent a bare metal server from ovh, so you start, or kimsufi for way cheaper than a business line for home.

  2. [3]
    meghan
    Link
    100mbps is available on home internet too, but having a static IP would be nice. As far has website hosting, it depends on what kind of site. If it's static (just HTML/CSS/JS) I'd go with...

    100mbps is available on home internet too, but having a static IP would be nice. As far has website hosting, it depends on what kind of site. If it's static (just HTML/CSS/JS) I'd go with https://www.netlify.com/

    Otherwise, go for it :D

    2 votes
    1. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. Somebody
        Link Parent
        The improved reliability alone might make the cost worth it. That's a half-statement. I work from home, and really eat bandwidth during the 9-5. On top of that I have a computer savvy senior...

        The improved reliability alone might make the cost worth it.

        That's a half-statement. I work from home, and really eat bandwidth during the 9-5. On top of that I have a computer savvy senior citizen parent living with me, and a girlfriend that's streaming constantly.

        Have you ever dealt with a household of people fussing at you about not being able to stream bullshit because the modem needs to be power cycled? Imagine that happening while a paying customer is waiting on you to fix a server.

    2. Somebody
      Link Parent
      I'm mainly wanting to use it as a dev space. I have a Dell R710 virtualization server under my desk that I've been playing with for a while. Right now, I have a whole bunch of cool sites set up,...

      I'm mainly wanting to use it as a dev space. I have a Dell R710 virtualization server under my desk that I've been playing with for a while. Right now, I have a whole bunch of cool sites set up, but they're only available locally. I want something that I can expose to the public, but my ISP won't let me host on a residential subscriber line.

  3. spit-evil-olive-tips
    Link
    I have friends who run their home internet on Comcast Business, and swear by it. AFAIK they're not actually hosting anything locally, they just prefer it because the support is so much better than...

    I have friends who run their home internet on Comcast Business, and swear by it. AFAIK they're not actually hosting anything locally, they just prefer it because the support is so much better than residential Comcast (which is, of course, a very low bar to clear).

    You can definitely host a website without a static IP - you just need a dynamic DNS provider. I use the free tier of afraid.org for this and have been very happy with it. You may run afoul of your residential ISP's ToS by doing this, and they may enforce those rules.

    Depending on what you're thinking of hosting and how resource-intensive it is, you could get away with a single VM on AWS or one of the low-cost hosting providers (I use Vultr; Linode and DigitalOcean are also quite popular for this). That could potentially VPN back to your house (which is also doable with dynamic DNS) and proxy or tunnel connections if you want to host the heavy lifting at home.

    tl;dr - if I were in your shoes, I'd consider $40/mo for the increased speed (if 100mbps is significantly better than what you've got now) and support level, but not necessarily for website hosting.

    2 votes
  4. [2]
    mozz
    Link
    I've been running a server out of my residential internet connection for a few years now. I use ddclient to solve the dynamic IP address problem and it works perfectly. You don't need to sign up...

    I've been running a server out of my residential internet connection for a few years now. I use ddclient to solve the dynamic IP address problem and it works perfectly. You don't need to sign up or anything, you just install it and point it at your domain provider. I've never had a problem with bandwidth, with the caveat that I'm running a hobby server that doesn't get more than a few dozen visitors daily.

    I know people will try to push you towards VPS hosting because it's so cheap and easy. But there's something intrinsically satisfying and fun about hosting your own server and being totally in control. It turns out a commercial pipe and 100% uptime doesn't really matter for most hobby projects anyways. I definitely recommend trying it out for experience.

    2 votes
    1. Somebody
      Link Parent
      This is for a hobby scale server, but my ISP won't let me host without a business subscriber line.

      This is for a hobby scale server, but my ISP won't let me host without a business subscriber line.

  5. [4]
    dblohm7
    Link
    For me that only advantage is that I always get a live human to yell at when I call my ISP for support. YMMV.

    For me that only advantage is that I always get a live human to yell at when I call my ISP for support. YMMV.

    2 votes
    1. [2]
      Somebody
      Link Parent
      Honestly, that might be worth the extra money alone.

      Honestly, that might be worth the extra money alone.

      2 votes
      1. dblohm7
        Link Parent
        It definitely is for me!

        It definitely is for me!

    2. paulfromatlanta
      Link Parent
      That's what I've found - better support and its easier to train employees to remote access,

      That's what I've found - better support and its easier to train employees to remote access,

  6. tomf
    Link
    For the cost difference of shifting to business internet, you can get pretty great service from a hosting provider. If nothing else, give something like DigitalOcean a swing. Any client (including...

    For the cost difference of shifting to business internet, you can get pretty great service from a hosting provider. If nothing else, give something like DigitalOcean a swing. Any client (including myself) can get you a promo code for $50 for the first month.

    Their old promo was better -- but its still good for a quick trial run. Get a free domain with https://freenom.com for testing, too.

    @Deimos and @Tindall really have it right, though. You have full control over your VPS outside of physically swapping out hardware.

    If this is for your blogging system, I'd also suggest giving it some proper hosting for the demo. It'll give people a realistic idea re: performance on their own VPS (if you're offering a self-hosted option.) And if you end up in a situation where you get a top spot on HN, Tildes, ProductHunt or whatever, you can scale it up instead of your home connection buckling without any real options other than starting fresh with a VPS provider.

    For my projects (very small, but important) the main reason I opted for a data-center hosted server is that residential power is not nearly as reliable as a data centers. Even with a really great UPS, it just won't cover you like a provider. The only real benefit to hosting at home is the added business support -- but in reality, for the money, that's an unbelievable expense for the few times you'll ever need them (especially being technical.)

    tldr; the benefits of a proper VPS completely outweigh the few minor benefits of hosting at home. This may not have been the case 15 years ago, but they're cheap and offer a far wider range of scaling options.

    quick edit: you can still do your basic dev at home, but ultimately keep your public facing work on a VPS. Let someone else do their hosting job so you can focus on the real work instead of worrying about bandwidth, etc. Think of all of the pho you can enjoy each month with the savings :)

    2 votes
  7. [2]
    babypuncher
    Link
    Static IPs aren't really necessary anymore. My registrar offers a free dynamic DNS service through dnsomatic, and configuring it with my router was pretty easy (I run DD-WRT).

    Static IPs aren't really necessary anymore. My registrar offers a free dynamic DNS service through dnsomatic, and configuring it with my router was pretty easy (I run DD-WRT).

    1 vote
    1. Somebody
      Link Parent
      I'm aware of that, but my ISP won't let me host a website on a residential subscriber line. I get away with hosting a VPN server by flying under the radar, but they've locked me down due to past...

      I'm aware of that, but my ISP won't let me host a website on a residential subscriber line. I get away with hosting a VPN server by flying under the radar, but they've locked me down due to past issues I've had. Mainly computers getting infected with malware, and sending spam emails.