Hi,
About RIPE ATLAS, I already have one of their boxes and it never worked. Simply doesn't appear as online. Their support just barely gave me some tips but with no meaningful result. I need something reliable and I'm willing to pay for this service. RIPE Atlas falls in the category of 'best effort'.
RIPE Atlas probes? you just plug them intoa working network with DHCP and away they go - I'd investigate why it doesnt work - RIPE expect probe users to be technically proficient and that the networks that the probes are on arent RIPEs to debug/troubleshoot. once you have a working one iy can do tests but you then also have access to the testing system that they offer allowing you to do on-demand tests for various things from probes around the world whever you want - depending on how many points you have. I have a few million or so points :-) alan