Nice offer, but where’s the catch?
Cross-connect fees to the IX?
This is awesome! As someone who runs a hobbyist BGP network for learning and research this is a fantastic offer! Is it just a matter of reaching out via the contact form and reference this post?
Is the colo only for the router or other things with it? My gut feeling says just the router but I’ve seen people on Discord floating around the term “full rack” which I highly doubt is being given out for free for other things besides the router
I run my routers in VMs on servers, and they handle routing tables just fine. What’s the reason for needing a “real” router?
What’s the catch on the free colo? Sounds too goo to be true 
I have IPv4/IPv6 assets from ARIN, and a /48 tunnel from HE.net through my own ASN/IPv6 space; our upstreams are adding IPv6 this year and we’re working on making our little network IPv6-native in every spot we can.
* You aren’t already in the Fremont 2 data center running BGP.
Does this apply to existing people in FMT2 that were not running BGP previously?
I was already in FMT2 but not running BGP yet. I decided to go ahead and get the ASN and IP space and get BGP going. I do plan on connecting to FCIX and completing that task. I believe the current rack is 15A @ 120v without redundant.
Who do we contact for the colo?
Mike, any chance you have a solution for those who can’t abide putting equipment in the U.S.? (Don’t ask = don’t get)
It wasn’t really their choice. Their content providers demanded this. So they had the option: no tunnel users or no content from certain “creators”.
Btw: in my network I just block the v6-route to Netflix so I don’t have to disable the tunnel if someone wants to watch.
In what locations do the networks you worked for get IP Transit and who do they get it from?
(Just checking if anybody gets service off island and what the ecosystem is like.)
We include a singlemode fiber cross connect to an exchange for free.
Hmmm, catch… perhaps it’s that you have to already have your own ASN and address space, which means you are already paying ARIN, RIPE, APNIC, LACNIC, or AfriNIC your annual membership dues.
The goal of doing this is to help legitimate network operators that want to run IPv6 BGP either commercially or for personal projects. We had to stop the free IPv6 BGP tunnels due to abuse by people who were never our target audience. For people that are legitimate network operators this offer is different and better in some ways. It also raises the bar a bit.
Also, who should I contact if I’m interested?
It’s a full 42U cabinet, with A&B (primary and redundant) 20 amp 208 volt power. You can install your router and any servers you want in it. Keep your total load less than 80% of 20 amps total between the primary and redundant electrical circuit. It’s an empty cabinet, you have to provide all your own gear. There are several requirements you have to satisfy to qualify for this deal. The typical Internet user doesn’t run BGP etc, and is not a network operator. If you are already running IPv6 and BGP and have your own ASN and address space, you are exceptional, go you!
It’s to raise the bar so that we are mostly getting actual network operators and people willing to get network equipment so they can connect to other networks. See my post above.
Our colos are in the USA.
At least in the RIPE zone, you can pretty easily get a sponsored ASN + PI v6 space for ~ 100 EUR a year, or ASN with PA space for 20 euros – I got some recently hoping to use it with an HE BGP tunnel. As cool as free colo is, legitimate commercial and personal projects don’t always come with ARIN fees that make 10 GbE routers seem cheap 
Ah, I do run a dual stack network with my ASN, but im sure most networks are more complex than mine haha.
Works for me though :D. Glad to see HE is offering this!
We could probably get some name brand routers down there, one of the reasons we like to use Linux is we’re developing some tools like looking glasses, and other things that analyze and publish data on the routing tables for our NOC; with the hopes to eventually publish our works under the AGPL. Not sure if you guys would be willing to make an exception for something like that so that we’d have a little more control over the systems. Also looking at tools to visualize RPKI and some other things as well to ultimately help assist in the deployment of those technologies on the Internet. We’d like to eventually publish a carrier-grade Linux distro worthy of being dubbed a Network Operating System by ISPs; no more license fees for updates, no more unpatched routers, no more years until the next big thing is implemented.
I wish that wasn’t the case…
Still, that’s a decent offer - I’m happy to see HE make it in the first place.
At least in the RIPE zone, you can pretty easily get a sponsored ASN + PI v6 space for ~ 100 EUR a year, or ASN with PA space for 20 euros – I got some recently hoping to use it with an HE BGP tunnel. As cool as free colo is, legitimate commercial and personal projects don’t always come with ARIN fees that make 10 GbE routers seem cheap
also for that, you can e.g. contact us btw.
Where are you finding an asn + pa for 20 EUR lmao