I want to setup a matrix instance to help increase friends and family’s privacy. Is there much value in creating my own instance?

I’m a beginner to linux and coding, but am good at following the steps on a video tutorial.

Alternatively i could get everyone to sign up on a preexisting instance + download the element app.

Thanks for sharing your opinions !

        • naspOP
          1·
          3 years ago

          “too much choice” issues XMPP has

          My one prosody server has 3 different type of clients (including iOS and android), all sending fully end to end encrypted text, video, audio to each-other. Works very well.

          In my opinion the “too much choice” is not an issue with XMPP. Remember we want to stay federated/decentralized. Choice is good.

          The real issue is people opting for convenience while sacrificing privacy. Most people avoid investing the time it takes to figure out XMPP, even if it’s just setting up a client on a preexisting server.

          I even saw that my server can talk to other XMPP servers. So technically, my family could receive messages from other users on different servers.

          Snikket: The thing about Snikket is, just like matrix, they get funding from shady sources.

    • jazzfes
      2·
      3 years ago

      I tried snikket but couldn’t get video calls to work unfortunately… Do you know of a good guide that explains how to do set up video calls?

        • jazzfes
          2·
          3 years ago

          Thanks. Do you know how to test if a phone network uses CG-NAT?

            • naspOP
              1·
              3 years ago

              Yes. Prosody/conversations video voice works on my wifi & also on wifi to mobile1. But does not work for ‘mobile1’ to ‘mobile2’ .

      • naspOP
        2·
        3 years ago

        I’m having the same calls issue with Prosody server. It’s because of NAT routers on mobile networks. Apparently need to setup a stun and turn server

    • naspOP
      2·
      3 years ago

      Appreciate your alternative here.

      Why is Matrix so resource intensive compared to XMPP ?

        • naspOP
          1·
          3 years ago

          This is exactly the conclusion I came to from reading your comments here and researching some more. I dropped matrix, and chose to go ahead with XMPP. Works great & very little overhead, even on the cheapest of servers.

    • naspOP
      1·
      3 years ago

      Thank you. I ended up doing this.

      However snikket has some shady funding.

      I went for prosody server and set my family up on conversations, blabber, and chatsecure clients. Works great for sending text, pics, videos, voice clips. All e2e encrypted !

      As a linux beginner, it was prety easy to setup (provided you have the time). Only issue is with voice/video calls. They use p2p instead of going thru sever, so can’t connect well, especially on mobile networks behind NAT. Apparently I need to setup up a stun & turn server.