Previous posts shared a 10+ year old airport with a first month price of $0.15,
supporting over 70 countries, including nodes in Bangladesh, Philippines, Egypt, and the UK,
allowing you to get Premium/Premium+ low-cost Blue V memberships,
low-cost ChatGPT Plus, ChatGPT Pro, and ChatGPT Team subscriptions,
and enabling UK mobile number portability from GiffGaff to other UK numbers.
However, many comments requested self-built VPNs that are cheaper than existing tutorials, likely for AI training and social media operations, or simply for learning purposes. This led to this tutorial.
The tutorial consists of three steps and takes about 10 minutes.
Step 1: Register and purchase a NAT instance.
Common NAT instances include Uzuma, Unicorn (Dujiao Jing), and Lazy Cat Cloud. Here we use Unicorn as an example, available at https://fuckip.me/zh.
Before purchasing an instance, top up your balance. Only deposit what you need, as balances are strictly for platform service consumption and cannot be withdrawn or refunded to the original payment channel.
Create a new instance - Select Region - Asia - Singapore. Many people in Singapore use Chinese, making it good for AI training.
Select the self-operated Singapore NAT #3, choose the Basic plan at $0.30/month (approx. 2 RMB).
Instance configuration:
1 CPU, 128M RAM, 1G Disk, 900M Network Peak, 1000G Traffic
Select Debian as the OS, custom password recommended.
The IP is native. Quality is average but better than typical airport IPs.
Since it's a NAT instance, common ports are not open. You must set up port forwarding; the external port is the one you access.
After setting up port forwarding, you can enter the NAT server setup. Use a shell client; here we demonstrate using the official Web Shell. Step 1 complete.
Step 2: Install 3x-ui.
The automatic system is Debian 13.6, with BBR acceleration enabled.
First, clean the system environment and install dependencies,
then install version V2.9.4, as we are setting up a single-node VPN.
After installation, check the panel path and address in settings.
Copy the panel address, change the port to the external port, and this is the real accessible panel address.
Set the panel to start on boot, then restart the panel, followed by setting the panel username and password.
Once the account and password are set, exit the script menu. Step 2 complete.
Step 3: Configure 3x-ui.
After logging into the panel, first modify the panel URL root path; restart the panel for changes to take effect.
Then add our VPN node.
After adding the node, copy the node address to your VPN client. Remember to change the port to the previously configured external port.
Step 3 complete. Now you have your own VPN for just $2/month, with a fixed IP that is cleaner than airports, essential for AI training and social media operations.
All code for the NAT instance is in the comments section of this post; you can copy and paste directly.
Actually, if budget allows, I recommend buying a standard cloud server instead, preferably with direct connections to all three major networks, as the speed experience is significantly better.
As usual,
If you have questions, please leave a comment. I will reply promptly.
If you succeed, please also leave a comment. This not only validates this tutorial but also helps other users reference it.
If this tutorial helped you, please follow and share it with those who need it. Thank you.
