ungleich-staticcms/content/u/blog/2022-01-20-to-viirb-or-not-to-viirb/contents.lr
Nico Schottelius 8c7d30d969 ++break
2022-01-20 14:14:24 +01:00

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title: To VIIRB or not to VIIRB?
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pub_date: 2022-01-20
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author: ungleich network team
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twitter_handle: ungleich
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_hidden: no
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_discoverable: no
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abstract:
A diary of our Open Source Router Journey
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body:
## Introduction
About 1.5 years ago we introduced the
[VIIRB](https://ungleich.ch/u/products/viirb-ipv6-box/) as the world's
smallest IPv6 router, enabling any IPv4 with IPv6. Seamless, real
plug'n'play. Shortly after that the VIIRB was joined
by the [VIWIB](https://ungleich.ch/u/products/viwib-wifi-ipv6-box/),
basically a two port variant of the VIIRB and soon after by the
[VIGIR](https://ungleich.ch/u/products/vigir).
About a year later
[we announced on
twitter](https://twitter.com/ungleich/status/1463937807672655878) that
we are looking at the last and final batch of VIIRBs to be sold. Today
we want to shed some light on this post and introduce you to the
future plans of IPv6 and IPv6 providing routers from ungleich.
## The requirements and development process
All our routers are running unpatched, original upstream
[OpenWrt](https://openwrt.org/) as an operating system. When we
receive the devices, they usually contain a patched vendor version
that we replace for multiple reasons:
- Sometimes the vendor version lacks IPv6 support
- Sometimes the vendor version lacks wireguard support
- We want to have the same look & feel for all devices
- We like to stay as close to upstream Open Source projects as
possible
- Upstream OpenWrt releases are much more trustworthy and easier to maintain
So when we receive a new batch of devices in the ungleich HQ in
Switzerland, the typical process is:
- Check if all devices are included
- Unpack and flash original OpenWrt
- Configure the router with IPv6/NAT64 related settings
- Verify all features work
- Pack it again, ready to be sent for an order
- On order, add the labels, accessory and have it ship out
## The pricing
The whole process for each devices take a bit of time, especially when
taken into all exceptions like defects, errors by the post or return
handling from customers when someone ordered a wrong device.
Instead of taking into account all necessary work and creating a
pricing based on this input, we asked ourselves in the beginning:
```
What is the lowest price we can offer so that we can
enable as many people as possible with IPv6?
```
This led to a bit awkward pricing, which some of our customers
noticed:
The devices themselves *including* an IPv6-VPN are actually cheaper
than the [IPv6 VPN](https://ungleich.ch/u/products/ipv6-vpn/) itself.
How does that make any sense? The short answer is: it doesn't if you
want to make any win.
We did it anyway, because **our primary goal is to bring IPv6 anywhere**.
It's a bit like [HE.net](http://he.net/) offering free IPv6 tunnels -
it does not make any win, but you do it nonetheless.
## The future of VIIRB, VIWIB and co.
At some point you have to ask yourself, does it (financially) make
sense what we do?
And the answer is "Jein" (a German combination of "Ja" + "Nein"):
* Financially it doesn't
* For supporting IPv6 deployments world wide: it does
To continue providing VIIRB and VIWIB, we have decided on two
strategies:
### Introducing the "Fair Price"
Instead of abandoning the VIIRB like we planned or our low price, we
are adding a new price for the VIIRB and VIWIB that covers all our
costs. We call this price the "Fair Price" and with that we are not
losing money on each device.
We keep the original prices up and to make the pricing more clear, we
call them now "Sponsored Price".
Obviously we encourage everyone who can to buy the devices at the fair
price, but if you can't, we will continue to sponsor IPv6 deployments.
### Adding VIIRB+VIWIB Sponsoring package
Secondly we know offer VIIRB and VIWIB sponsoring packages: If you
think what we do is a good thing and you would like to support it, we
now offer VIIRB+VIWIB sponsoring packages that cover the difference
between the selling price and the real costs for the devices, leading
to a zerosum for ungleich.
The sponsor packages work as follows:
* You select a number of VIIRB/VIWIBs you would like to sponsor
* You can opt-in to send us stickers from your organisation that we
include with the VIIRBs/VIWIBs that you sponsored
* You can opt-in to be publicly named on a IPv6 deployment sponsor list
So from today on, we offer the following sponsorship packages:
* [Sponsor 5 VIIRBs/VIWIBs](https://linksanghee) - 435 CHF
* [Sponsor 10 VIIRBs/VIWIBs](https://linksanghee) - 870 CHF
* [Sponsor 20 VIIRBs/VIWIBs](https://linksanghee) - 1740 CHF
* [Sponsor 50 VIIRBs/VIWIBs](https://linksanghee) - 4350 CHF
* [Sponsor 100 VIIRBs/VIWIBs](https://linksanghee) - 8700 CHF
We would love if you spread the word about it so that we can continue
sending the smallest IPv6 router out into the world.
## More IPv6
We hope with our continued efforts we can support more IPv6
deployments out there. In the meantime, if you want to talk more about
IPv6, feel free to join [our open IPv6.chat](https://IPv6.chat).