Partner-Ready VPN Connectivity at Scale: How TextNow Uses VyOS to Build Flexible Messaging Interconnects

“VyOS’s open-source nature allows us to use custom scripts for VPN management, overcoming the rigidity of other providers. I have recommended it to colleagues due to its flexibility and growing feature set.”
— Scott Krzyzowski, Sr. Site Reliability Engineer, TextNow

Customer Overview

TextNow is a pioneer in providing free wireless service and mobile app-based communication. To maintain its global messaging ecosystem, TextNow requires robust, secure network connectivity with a diverse array of messaging partners. VyOS underpins this layer, bringing up IPsec VPN tunnels, supporting on-prem deployments, and handling NAT as part of the standard partner interconnect toolkit.

Challenge

TextNow’s connectivity model depends on predictable, secure tunnels to multiple messaging partners. That sounds simple until you deal with real-world partner variability. The team faced three recurring pain points:

Lack of Customization: Difficulty in implementing bespoke failover logic and specialized routing scripts.
Partner Compatibility: The need to accommodate varying protocols and requirements from a wide range of messaging partner companies.
Operational Rigidity: Proprietary hardware prevented the team from looking under the hood to optimize performance or automate management via custom scripts.

Why VyOS

VyOS won because it behaved like infrastructure, not a locked appliance. The deciding factors were:

Open-Source Flexibility: The ability to run custom scripts directly on the OS to manage VPN states and automate failover.
Protocol Support: Comprehensive API support and configuration management tools enable seamless integration with CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code.
Proven Reliability: A stable platform that could handle critical messaging traffic without the 'vendor lock-in' tax.
Expert Support: Access to a responsive support team that provided technical guidance during the initial architectural setup.

Implementation

TextNow deployed VyOS to initiate VPN connectivity with messaging partners and to support on-prem scenarios using IPsec VPN and NAT. To make operations smoother and reduce manual intervention, they extended VyOS with custom scripts that:

Manage VPN lifecycle tasks (bring-up, monitoring, and handling tunnel behavior consistently)
Support failover workflows so connectivity stays resilient when conditions change
Standardize repeatable partner onboarding while still allowing per-partner adjustments

This approach let them keep a stable core configuration, while layering automation where their environment demanded it.

Results

With VyOS in place, TextNow improved control and adaptability across partner networking:

Faster accommodation of partner requirements: through flexible protocol and configuration options
More resilient VPN operations: with scripted handling and failover logic
Less dependency on vendor limitations: and more ability to solve edge cases internally
Smoother setup: with effective support during implementation

Operational and Cost Impact

VyOS gave TextNow a more operator-friendly model:

Transparent configuration and troubleshooting
The ability to extend behavior safely with scripting
A platform that supports customization without turning exceptions into vendor escalations

In short: fewer dead ends, more control.