PrePaidGSM.net Forum (Archived) - View Single Post - Looking for a computer geek to help me find a decent proxy

PhotoJim · 09-07-2009, 16:43

Let me explain proxying to you and it will probably make a lot more sense.

A proxy lets you connect to Internet services from somewhere other than where you actually are. Think of it as a relay.

So let's say you want to appear you're in the UK, for example to watch BBC streaming video. You can use a proxy located in the UK to allow you to appear you're in the UK. Essentially, that UK machine gets the content for you, and forwards it to you.

If your UK friends have running machines and happen to be running Linux or BSD and are prepared to give you a shell account (i.e. text login access), you can connect to their machine using ssh (Linux or MacOS) or PuTTy (Windows), and if you configure it appropriately it will allow you to forward proxy requests. You can then configure your web browser (e.g. by using FoxyProxy on Firefox) to forward some or all requests to that proxy.

If you do that you will be using some of your friend's bandwidth. Whether you use too much depends on how much bandwidth their provider lets them use, and how much you use while proxying.

Watching streaming video occasionally will not eat up a lot of bandwidth.

So here is what would work, although there are other possibilities.

You need:
- a UK friend
- who has a machine running 24/7
- that uses BSD or Linux (Mac OS X is a form of BSD so it will work too)
- that has an ssh server running (most Linux & BSD servers do, I think you have to enable it on OS X)
- and the friend has to give you a login account
- and his ISP has to give him a static IP address that doesn't change (or you have to learn how to work around dynamic IPs using services like dyndns.org; I have static IPs so I don't have to do this).

If you can get all that to line up, you're good to go.

If not, get yourself an inexpensive UK VPS (Virtual Private Server). Essentially you are buying a little Linux machine (a virtual one running on a machine running many). This will give you a Linux environment in the UK and you can run whatever you want. You only need to run an ssh server to let yourself do what you want to do.

You can find cheap VPSes via sites like Low End Box Hosting Websites on Bare Minimum VPS/Dedicated Servers.

I'm not sure which provider my friend is using, but I can ask if it's helpful. It's based in London. He pays about 4 pounds a month for it I think.

	(#8)
PhotoJim (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 389 Join Date: 10 Dec 2006 Location: Regina, SK, CA Country:	09-07-2009, 16:43 Let me explain proxying to you and it will probably make a lot more sense. A proxy lets you connect to Internet services from somewhere other than where you actually are. Think of it as a relay. So let's say you want to appear you're in the UK, for example to watch BBC streaming video. You can use a proxy located in the UK to allow you to appear you're in the UK. Essentially, that UK machine gets the content for you, and forwards it to you. If your UK friends have running machines and happen to be running Linux or BSD and are prepared to give you a shell account (i.e. text login access), you can connect to their machine using ssh (Linux or MacOS) or PuTTy (Windows), and if you configure it appropriately it will allow you to forward proxy requests. You can then configure your web browser (e.g. by using FoxyProxy on Firefox) to forward some or all requests to that proxy. If you do that you will be using some of your friend's bandwidth. Whether you use too much depends on how much bandwidth their provider lets them use, and how much you use while proxying. Watching streaming video occasionally will not eat up a lot of bandwidth. So here is what would work, although there are other possibilities. You need: - a UK friend - who has a machine running 24/7 - that uses BSD or Linux (Mac OS X is a form of BSD so it will work too) - that has an ssh server running (most Linux & BSD servers do, I think you have to enable it on OS X) - and the friend has to give you a login account - and his ISP has to give him a static IP address that doesn't change (or you have to learn how to work around dynamic IPs using services like dyndns.org; I have static IPs so I don't have to do this). If you can get all that to line up, you're good to go. If not, get yourself an inexpensive UK VPS (Virtual Private Server). Essentially you are buying a little Linux machine (a virtual one running on a machine running many). This will give you a Linux environment in the UK and you can run whatever you want. You only need to run an ssh server to let yourself do what you want to do. You can find cheap VPSes via sites like Low End Box Hosting Websites on Bare Minimum VPS/Dedicated Servers. I'm not sure which provider my friend is using, but I can ask if it's helpful. It's based in London. He pays about 4 pounds a month for it I think. CA: SaskTel, Wind postpaid; Rogers, Bell postpaid iPad flex plans; US: T-Mobile postpaid data, prepaid voice; PureTalk (AT&T MVNO) prepaid voice/data; AT&T prepaid iPad plan Hardware: Too much but notably iPhone 5, iPad Mini Retina LTE, Moto G LTE (N.A. version), iPhone 4. All unlocked.