Have you ever thought about hosting a server yourself? I've started hosting the first Simutrans game server in 2013. As time passed, more and more Simutrans players asked me to host a server for them since they had issues setting up one themselves. That's why I started to think about a "Simutrans server rental service" like you may already now it from other games.
Why not just host a Simutrans server at home myself?Running Simutrans as a server isn't hard. But configuring your network to be accessible from outside of LAN is (in most cases) a painful experience. It's not even possible with quite a lot of internet service providers since they don't provide you with a public IP or block any incoming traffic. In addition, hosting at home may be expensive too (your computer should run 24 hours a day) and you would better have to have a very fast internet connection with low latency/ping, otherwise your friends will have lags and disconnects when playing on your server.
So, what are my alternatives?You can rent a shared server in some data center. Cheap providers are renting out shared Linux servers from 5~10€/month. Data centers provide quite good network connection (starting from 100Mbit/s and very fast ping). BUT, note that good Linux knowledge is required to host a Simutrans server on a Linux server with just command-line access. Doing it without solid hosting knowledge might be a security risk. Others can easily hijack your server and use it to distribute spam and malware if you don't know how to secure your server. Do not underestimate the complexity of Linux!
I just want to play Simutrans multiplayer and don't want to become a sys admin.I agree with you on that one! That's why I thought about starting this service.
How does it work?It's really easy. All you need is to sign up for an account. You will get access to a web panel where can you upload a pakset and a map of your choice and you are ready to start. No other configuration or setup required!
Is it free?No, I'm sorry. Hosting servers costs money for me too. An excellent network connection, reliable server equipment and power is required to run a server 24/7. So I charge you a little amount of 6,90€* per month (or 5,90€* if you pay quarterly upfront) if you want to use this service.
Please tell me more!Have a look at
www.simutrans.ovh for more information about this service.
Not yet convinced?Check out
this 3 minutes video tutorial where I setup a Simutrans server using the pak64 at
Simutrans.ovh. You won't find an easier and quicker way to setup a Simutrans multiplayer game.

* prices including EU VAT.