teamviewer vs splashtop

[speedlever]

I have yet to figure out how to gain remote access via Splashtop. Been trying to figure out how to do port forwarding with my Linksys router. Looks easy enough, but I just haven't sorted it out yet.

Have you checked out th 2wire instructions I wrote? Not the same router but I would think the procedures are similar.

Nope. Linky please?

I'm running Tomato firmware on my WRT54G router. It has port forwarding, but I don't know what info it's looking for. The instructions for Splashtop say to link the internet IP to the 3 ports. I can easily see what IP has been assigned my router, but I have no clue how to "link" that IP to those 3 ports.

From browsing how to do this, it appears to be a common issue for users trying to get access outside their LAN.

 

[epb]

Nope. Linky please?.

http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-apps/16059-splashtop-remote-2wire-how.html

 

[speedlever]

Quick summary: working strictly within a LAN (IE, not outside the LAN to a remote computer) I find both Teamview and Splashtop very responsive. They each have their idiosyncrasies as to dealing with screen navigation from the iPad. One thing I do NOT like about TV is the residual screen left on the host when the session is complete:

While I have nothing to hide, I don't necessarily want to leave a note that I've been working on a host computer either.

I have now installed Teamview host on a remote PC (via LMI/free) and I have access to the remote computer from my iPad. At this point, I'd have to say that I find working with LMI/free much easier than via the iPad and TV. Of course having a 19" monitor over the 1024x768 iPad display helps a lot. Still, in a pinch, I could work with TV to remotely fix a problem.

I have not yet succeeded in establishing remote connections via Splashtop. I simply don't know what info is needed in the router settings to enable port forwarding. I have the WAN IP and know the ports, but have no idea what Tomato is looking for. (my test remote computer is also running Tomato on a WRT54GS router).

 

[speedlever]

Nope. Linky please?.

http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-apps/16059-splashtop-remote-2wire-how.html

Oops. Had too many things going at once and meant to reply to this first.

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, it doesn't bear any resemblance to what my Tomato firmware is requesting in the Port Forwarding section (see above image).

I don't know what Tomato wants for the src address... the WAN IP? Or for the internal address.. the Gateway? or the static IP?

 

[KekszNET]

proto: TCP
ext ports: 6783
int ports: 6783
int address: IP of your "Splashtop server", like 192.168.1.2 (inside the LAN!)
description: Splashtop

[Add]



Than you need to test it, please go to http://www.whatsmyip.org/ for checking your ISPs IP, than add that on the client at the Ipad, with the password (better to have one, for security reasons), and start the server application on the "Splashtop server", connect to it...

 

[speedlever]

I've had discussions with LMI CS about the problems using Safari and LMI/free. I get the impression that Safari on the iPad is the problem. But I don't know enough about the Ipad/apple to know if it's strictly a Safari issue or what. If so, I could just try another browser and see if my LMI/free works.

What I ran into with LMI/free on Safari is that screen refreshes are glacial. Almost unusable, at least remotely. On my LAN, it's not bad at all. But if I go outside my LAN to a remote host, a screen refresh takes about 70 seconds. But once it's up, it's great. Pinch zoom works and screen navigation and single finger scrolling are much more natural to me. ST is closest with the 3 finger scroll. TV is last due to issues related below.

On LMI, if I touch the screen and slide left to right, my screen slides left to right. The same goes for Splashtop with the 3 finger touch. However on Teamviewer, the same finger action is reversed with the image sliding opposite to my finger movement, as if I'm dragging a slider bar at the bottom of the screen. That's backwards to me, but I suppose I could get used to it. Still, I really don't like that residual screen TV leaves on exit. TV is coming up last in my list of preferences with the exception of the fact I can easily get it to work remotely.

Thinking that Safari might be the issue with LMI, I bought iCabMobile but found similar remote screen refresh slowness too. Locally, I'd get a screen refresh in 5 seconds or so... remotely, I typically see 60 seconds or more... pretty much the same as Safari. Ugh.

Here's my quick and dirty summary as of this writing. I had no intention of including LMI due to cost, but I have to say that I really like the way LMI works.

LMI/free works on the iPad (and I'm most comfy with it) but not very well remotely. I suspect LMI Ignition will overcome my remote screen refresh issues, but for a hefty price. And that's the big negative to me about LMI/Ignition.. the cost. Note: I have only used email support from LMI, but they have been very responsive... even for the free version.

To use LMI/free, install the free version to the host computer and follow the prompts. I found that if a computer has a log in ID and password, I use that for the log in info. If it doesn't, I just make up a password (common to all my remote hosts for ease of remembering) and it just works. I log into my LMI/free account on any computer with internet access and have access to any computer I have setup (if it's turned on).

I either have to make a personal visit to a remote computer to set it up or talk a user through the process while giving them my account sign on and password. That in itself could be a negative, but if they are needing my help with computer issues, I doubt they are likely to want to use it maliciously. So I don't worry about that.

Teamviewer works well locally and remotely, but screen navigation and scrolling are more difficult imo. A big negative is the residual host window TV leaves on exit. On the plus side, they have great CS (I called them late last night) and I have no problems getting a remote host installation working.

To use TV, just install TV for iPad on the iPad, install the host version on any computer you wish to have unattended access to 24/7 and set it up per the wizard. Alternatively, install the full version to any computer you wish to use in either mode (controlled or controlling). Another alternative for the host is to set it up with a user there and you can make it a one time deal.. or a 24/7 install.

Splashtop also works well locally. But I have yet to be able to get it to work remotely, so I have nothing to add here. Screen navigation and scrolling are 2nd only to LMI. I could not find a way to call their CS for support. The big negative is the difficulty in setting up port forwarding and getting remote hosts working.

Splashtop installation was straightforward for both the iPad and the PC, just needing to get the appropriate d/l for the device. As with any other RDP software I've tried, you'll either have to make a personal visit to a remote site or talk a user through the installation process. And then there's that sneaky port forwarding issue to deal with. I'm sure it will be no big deal once I figure it out, but for now it's a mystery so I don't know how to tell a user how to fix it... yet.

Since using my iPad for remote maintenance will be secondary to using my main PC, I hate to spend the money for LMI Ignition. So if I can figure out Splashtop, I will likely use that for my occasional iPad remote desktop needs.

Update: I figured out the port forwarding issue with Splashtop. And as others have stated, it is an easy fix. However, Splashtop turns out to be unacceptable for my purposes of maintaining remote PCs due to the fact that a user has to be on the other end to log back in once a reboot has occurred. Sadly, I have to cross off Splashtop from my list. I require 24/7 unattended access.

 

[speedlever]

proto: TCP
ext ports: 6783
int ports: 6783
int address: IP of your "Splashtop server", like 192.168.1.2 (inside the LAN!)
description: Splashtop

[Add]



Than you need to test it, please go to What's My IP Address? Networking Tools & More for checking your ISPs IP, than add that on the client at the Ipad, with the password (better to have one, for security reasons), and start the server application on the "Splashtop server", connect to it...

Thanks for that. It does show my IP on the WAN side (just as I see it in my router). I also see a WAN gateway address very similar to the IP on the WAN side.

The Splashtop instructions say to link the IP with the 3 ports. Based on info I read here, that would be the WAN IP. But I don't know where or how to link them.

It appears I need to set up two connectoids for each computer that I would like to access. One for access if I'm onsite and connect to the LAN and another for when I wish to access a computer remotely.

On my test remote computer, I have entered the WAN IP on my iPad client. Still no contact, so I have more work to do on the remote computer's router and that pesky port forwarding.

Edit: for the internal address... is that the internal IP of the gateway or the static IP (which I assigned) of the device?

Gateway IP: 192.168.1.1
Device IP: 192.168.1.110 (for example)

 

[KekszNET]

Splashtop is listening local, if you start it you will see the list of "possible" connection Ips, it depends how many local networks or vmware network do you have.

But I guess it will be something like 192.168.1.110:6783
And this should be accessed from your local wifi, and if you are out of home, than you should connect to your IP given by your ISP (internet provider), which isn't starting with 192.

But to have it working you need to add on your ROUTER a port forward, like I described earlier (after your screenshot about the router settings)...

Your machines IP should be addressed here.

 

[speedlever]

Ok. I finally figured out what I needed to do and now Splashtop Remote works wonderfully! Thanks all for the help.

Let me post my fix for anyone else who may be having issues figuring this out.

You do *not* need both a local and a remote connectoid as I first thought. Once you get the ports forwarded and the WAN IP properly listed, Splashtop will connect right away. Once I figured that out, I deleted my local connection.

Note: As a matter of convention, I normally assign static IPs to any device that will be around the house for a while. I let transient devices have the dynamic IPs I leave open on my router. I think port forwarding will pretty much require a static IP too. Or so it would appear to me since you have to list the LAN IP of the computer in the port forwarding section. If that IP changes from time to time, I think you'll lose the Splashtop connection. When I ran a test by changing the LAN IP in the port forwarding section, Splashtop reported the connection lost. So use static IPs for your computers is my suggestion. I'm not sure what to do in the event your router software won't allow static IPs as the OEM Linksys software on the WRT series initially did. Maybe Linksys has corrected that now.

I found that I had to set this up in two places. My router firmware (Tomato 1.28 on a Linksys WRT 54G v3) has a port forwarding feature. Unfortunately, I didn't know what information needed to be plugged into the various boxes and further, I didn't know where I was supposed to put my WAN IP. The Splashtop instructions merely say: "Link (associate) the ports with the home PC's IP address."
Splashtop Remote : How do I connect to my home PC from outside of home?

That's pretty cryptic.

Here's what I had to do:
1) I went to the port forwarding feature of my firmware and plugged in the port range (6783-6785) in the EXT ports box, plugged in the static LAN IP I assigned my PC (in another router page), and typed in splashtop in the remarks box. I left the Src address blank and the Int Port box blank and typed in my LAN IP address in the Int address box. The WAN IP is not needed in the port forwarding setup on the router. You need that info for the client software on the iPad.

2) Then I looked at the WAN IP address of my PC (available on my router firmware or at one of the what's my IP sites) and used that info in the client software on the iPad.

When you crank up Splashtop Remote on the iPad, it brings you to the screen that shows your computers that are available. If yours is not there, use the + button to add it. Type in the name of choice and then use the WAN IP for the IP address and press done. That should be all you need to do.

I hope someone will read this thoroughly and correct any errors I've made in my process or assumptions.

 

[speedlever]

Update: after further experience with Splashtop and having received some responses from Splashtop CS on a couple of questions I had, I have to reconsider using Splashtop as a iPad backup to Logmein/free on the PC.

My usage of RD software is to maintain a base of family PCs (from XP to Vista to Win7) that are spread out geographically. It didn't register with me that I would have to go into each remote router and set up port forwarding in order to establish a connection from my iPad. I must be a little slow.

That is impractical since I have not setup the wireless routers in a number of the places and most of the users are set up on dynamic IPs. This does not seem to be a limitation with either TeamViewer or Logmein Ignition.

Another issue I've run into with Splashtop is that on a remote PC that I work with (and my first test remote), I cannot get access to the PC when the PC (XP/home) has been rebooted and sits at the welcome screen awaiting a user to log in. Once logged in, the red X goes away and I can access the remote host with Splashtop. But I have to use Logmein to log onto the remote PC before I can use Splashtop.. which pretty much negates the benefit of Splashtop.

I'm ready to toss Splashtop out and just consider it a learning experience. Now I either have to accept the limitations of Teamviewer or pay up for Ignition... or consider another option, as yet undetermined.

Any suggestions? Have I overlooked something in the process that would allow me to re-consider Splashtop?

One other benefit of Teamviewer (that I liked) was the onscreen controls at the bottom of the screen. Splashtop, best I could determine, has no user controls other than gestures and I have to click the iPad's end button to quit the session. But that awful play fair screen TeamViewer leaves on the host computer still is a giant negative for me.

 

[donka]

Update: after further experience with Splashtop and having received some responses from Splashtop CS on a couple of questions I had, I have to reconsider using Splashtop as a iPad backup to Logmein/free on the PC.

My usage of RD software is to maintain a base of family PCs (from XP to Vista to Win7) that are spread out geographically. It didn't register with me that I would have to go into each remote router and set up port forwarding in order to establish a connection from my iPad. I must be a little slow.

That is impractical since I have not setup the wireless routers in a number of the places and most of the users are set up on dynamic IPs. This does not seem to be a limitation with either TeamViewer or Logmein Ignition.

Another issue I've run into with Splashtop is that on a remote PC that I work with (and my first test remote), I cannot get access to the PC when the PC (XP/home) has been rebooted and sits at the welcome screen awaiting a user to log in. Once logged in, the red X goes away and I can access the remote host with Splashtop. But I have to use Logmein to log onto the remote PC before I can use Splashtop.. which pretty much negates the benefit of Splashtop.

I'm ready to toss Splashtop out and just consider it a learning experience. Now I either have to accept the limitations of Teamviewer or pay up for Ignition... or consider another option, as yet undetermined.

Any suggestions? Have I overlooked something in the process that would allow me to re-consider Splashtop?

One other benefit of Teamviewer (that I liked) was the onscreen controls at the bottom of the screen. Splashtop, best I could determine, has no user controls other than gestures and I have to click the iPad's end button to quit the session. But that awful play fair screen TeamViewer leaves on the host computer still is a giant negative for me.

LogmeIn & TeamViewer both 'call home' to each Vendor's servers which facilitate the remote connection process. Splashtop on the other hand does not do this and works autonomously in the same way VNC does. The issue with this is you need to manually configure the connection as you have found to allow the connection. With this in mind, I would consider TeamViewer a more realistic alternative.

 

[speedlever]

LogmeIn & TeamViewer both 'call home' to each Vendor's servers which facilitate the remote connection process. Splashtop on the other hand does not do this and works autonomously in the same way VNC does. The issue with this is you need to manually configure the connection as you have found to allow the connection. With this in mind, I would consider TeamViewer a more realistic alternative.

Agreed donka. I have a request in with TV to see if there's an option to turn off the exit screen left behind on the host when the session is ended. And to see if there's an option to change how the screen pans on the iPad.

For a local setup, Splashtop works great. But it really falls short when deployed remotely. At least in my brief experience with it.

 

[speedlever]

I'm curious if those of you who favor Splashtop use it in the fashion I described... maintaining remote PCs? If so, I'd like to know your trick of how to log onto that remote PC.

I asked Splashtop about it and here is their response, "Splashtop Remote needs user to log in first after computer boot."

If there's no user at the remote (host) end, then that remote maintenance session has come to an end. That is unacceptable to me as I like to do system maintenance at times the user is most likely not using the system... late at night or early morning.

So unless I'm missing something, Splashtop is totally unacceptable as a remote desktop program for purposes of maintaining remote PCs.

I can see in my OP that I was not clear about that requirement. My apologies.

 

[donka]

I'm curious if those of you who favor Splashtop use it in the fashion I described... maintaining remote PCs? If so, I'd like to know your trick of how to log onto that remote PC.

I asked Splashtop about it and here is their response, "Splashtop Remote needs user to log in first after computer boot."

If there's no user at the remote (host) end, then that remote maintenance session has come to an end. That is unacceptable to me as I like to do system maintenance at times the user is most likely not using the system... late at night or early morning.

So unless I'm missing something, Splashtop is totally unacceptable as a remote desktop program for purposes of maintaining remote PCs.

I can see in my OP that I was not clear about that requirement. My apologies.

I'm confused by this. I only use Splashtop for running my poker clients but I don't need to do anything on my laptop to allow the connection, I just fire up Splashtop on my iPad and connect to my Laptop from the application - no user involvement on the laptop at all.

 

[speedlever]

For my purposes of doing remote PC maintenance, there are times when the PC has to be rebooted before continuing the process. When a PC boots to the welcome screen (where you log onto the PC) it will sit there until someone logs in. If the remote PC boots right to the desktop, Splashtop should be fine. But I have a number of remote PCs that require login to get to the desktop.

Splashtop shows a red x (no connection) to the remote PC until someone logs onto the PC. Then the red X goes away and Splashtop has access to the remote PC.

Logmein and Teamviewer do not suffer from this limitation... which absolutely kills Splashtop for me.