Just to give you a 3rd option, you could sign-up for a VPS and use that as a VPN endpoint. You would create a ‘tunnel’ from your ‘network’ to the VPS which allows traffic to be routed in. You would still be reliant on this ‘cloud service’ but at least you would own it.
1 Like
They make mobile routers which are used to provide home internet service using LTE. These would not have the limiting factor of no inbound connections.
1 Like
Yes you read my mind, this is what I’m planning. I can get a droplet for $4/m or a UK VPS for £1.20/m and I’m thinking to try Pangolin on it. Seems a better option than Tailscale both because I own it and could easily replicate it elsewhere, and because I think Pangolin has more features.
That’s interesting, another thing to learn about, thanks.
I’ve really enjoyed this procesd and haven’t done anything yet! 
EDIT:
I had in fact already bought a 4/5G router but not got it out of the packaging yet, so your comment is interesting. I’m not sure it solves the problems though. Presumably upstream is still CGNAT and also likely to involve port blocking?
The issue with CGNAT is that the mobile network performs the Network Address Translation and hence it would need to set-up the port forwarding from the public IP to the IP you are assigned. They won't do this as CGNAT is designed to allow them to share a public IP between customers by limiting the number of ports a customer can use.
Which UK Provider are you with?
If the SIM is set for CGNAT then moving it to an LTE router won't make a difference. Most providers offer different plans for use with LTE routers and these plans operate without CGNAT.
The carrier is O2 (Giffgaff) but I can switch in a month any time. I did look for suitable options but they were all expensive. Cable was ridiculous too here (few providers), so best fixed IP was nearly £40/m for DSL.
For testing I just bought a really cheap deal which starts at £3 rising to £8 for 50GB/m which users the Vodafone network (Lebara). That will be more than enough in the medium term, adding £2 amount for VPS makes <£10/m.
I don’t have 5G coverage and not likely to here.
I see 1 year unlimited data SIMs are attractive if I need more, but they mostly say “5G data” or some “4G data” which I find confusing. Presumably they all apply to 4G, but I’m not paying £80 to find out!