Can I use Remote Desktop via two different ISP's?

michael_knight

I have the usual "my father is having pc issues, and need to solve it problem" My Dad is still on Dial up and I was wondering if I could use remote desktop to log into his pc but then I thought that ISP's use private IP addresses. Any thoughts on how to remotely connect to his machine?

Ahriakin

He should have a public IP. Go to www.whatismyip.com, get his pub address, get yours, add your pub. IP to his Firewall's trusted list and then try to connect (just remember to remove the Firewall rule when done.

dynamik

Shouldn't he have his dad do an ipconfig instead? If the ISP is doing NAT and assigning the dial-up users private IPs, websites such as www.whatismyip.com will still display the public IP that the ISP is using, but that won't necessarily be his IP, correct?

If they are doing that, you may still be able to do something similar by having him request remote assistance. That might make it through NAT. If they are assigning him a public IP address (I believe that was the common practice last I used dial-up), then I agree with the above answer 100%.

mog27

Forget about worrying about NAT and opening ports. Use Hamachi: https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp?lang=en

Very easy to set up and use, very secure and you dont have to worry about NAT or ports.

SWM

I have the same problem with my dad.

I put winvnc on his computer, created a desktop shortcut to www.whatismyip.com on his desktop. When he gets stuck, I ask him to click on the shortcut and tell me his external ip. I then connect to his pc and can work remotley.

All works with one phone call. Easy

Netstudent

mog27 wrote:

Forget about worrying about NAT and opening ports. Use Hamachi: https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp?lang=en

Very easy to set up and use, very secure and you dont have to worry about NAT or ports.

I like the sound of that. NAT and port fwd'ing can be a pain in the arse.

If you use a VNC variant, you may want to look into an encryption plug-in. Just about every script kiddie knows to scan on 5900 and 5901.

Kasor

Oha. never look into the LogMeIn... interesting.. Thanks

dynamik

Hamachi is a great program (now sold to Logmein). Here's a good podcast that introduces it: http://twit.tv/sn18

KGhaleon

I've had a copy of Hamachi on my desktop for a while, but never actually used it. Will it still work with the latest one?

Pash

dynamik wrote:

Shouldn't he have his dad do an ipconfig instead? If the ISP is doing NAT and assigning the dial-up users private IPs, websites such as www.whatismyip.com will still display the public IP that the ISP is using, but that won't necessarily be his IP, correct?

If they are doing that, you may still be able to do something similar by having him request remote assistance. That might make it through NAT. If they are assigning him a public IP address (I believe that was the common practice last I used dial-up), then I agree with the above answer 100%.

As a dial up provider it is likely they will provide a different public IP address each time he connects to the ISP's dialup network.

Hamachi/Logmeon is pretty damn good, havent used it for a while but was handy when I did use it

JDMurray

Pash wrote:

Hamachi/Logmeon is pretty damn good, havent used it for a while but was handy when I did use it

Yes, I really like LogMeIn. The free version has enough functionality to make it quite useful.