I built TunnelBuddy (tunnnelbuddy.net) just for this. I am the same: citizen of one country and resident of another. I have multiple friends and family where I am from. I get them to open tunnelbuddy (nobody needs to sign up), to share a one-off password (like TeamViewer) and I get to access the internet as if I was at their place.
Underneath, it uses WebRTC (the same tech as Google Meet). It is free to use, I just built to fix this problem that I have... I am quite surprised expats only get by using a traditional VPN whose IPs are known by online services...
Hosting your VPN is a fair bit of work. Plus, you need residential IP too which you don't really have if you host on any Cloud Provider. I had the same issue and decided to build TunnelBuddy.net so that a friend can share their internet connection with me or vice versa. It is entirely P2P and requires no sign up, no credit card. You download the app, share a code and that's it. It is like TeamViewer, but instead of sharing your screen you share your Internet Connection.
- With a TURN/relay, you’re introducing a single, purpose-built box that:
- sees all the tunnel metadata for many users (IP pairs, timing, volume),
- is easy to log at or subpoena/compel,
- and becomes a natural central chokepoint if someone wants to block the system.
- Without that relay, your traffic still crosses random ISPs/routers, but:
- those hops are *generic Internet infrastructure*, not “the TunnelBuddy relay”,
- there’s no extra entity whose whole job is to see everyone’s flows.
I ended up building something in this space recently (TunnelBuddy – https://www.tunnelbuddy.net I’m the author) that lets you use a friend’s machine as an exit node over WebRTC.
One of the design decisions I made was P2P or nothing: there’s a small signalling service, but no TURN/relay servers. If the peers can’t establish a direct connection, the tunnel just doesn’t come up.
The trade-off is fewer successful connections in weird NAT setups, but in return you know your traffic never transits a third-party relay – it goes straight from your client to your friend’s endpoint.
Underneath, it uses WebRTC (the same tech as Google Meet). It is free to use, I just built to fix this problem that I have... I am quite surprised expats only get by using a traditional VPN whose IPs are known by online services...