I hope I’m not breaking any rules here so if I am just let me know and I’ll take it down but I thought everyone should be made aware of this.
Last week I was using Team Viewer like a lot of us do to monitor SGP from inside the house. I happened to us a different inside computer because I was monitoring two instances of SGP and my normal laptop for this was outside on the 2nd rig.
I got a popup window from TV telling me that I was using it as a professional and would be banned if I did not disconnect immediately.
Long Story Short I called them and explained that I was only using it for what we do and I am not a professional. They told me that the new rules say that you cannot connect using more than two computers anymore and that when we do that their server will eventually pick it up and send out that message.
I was told that I could write a letter and plead my case but that there were no promises that my license would be reactivated and that it would take more than 2 weeks to get an answer.
They told me that I was now banned and that if I wanted to use the software that night (regardless of the fact that I was not doing anything wrong) that I would have to purchase a license to the tune of $680.00 dollars payable in one lump sum. They do not accept monthly billing.
I argued for 30 minutes with them to no avail. They told me that they were changing the rules and that they will be monitoring all of the people using the free side of the program and doing the same thing to them. I asked them why they had the free portion and was told that it is only for trying out the software and not for long time use.
However, they will keep letting people use it if you only use it on your home network and do not use more than 2 computers at one time.
It made absolutely no sense and I had to find another option.
I got the same problem with Teamviewer about 6 months ago. I made the “appeal” that the say one can do, and I tried to convince them that my use was purely non-professional. After >1 month I got an answer saying it was not accepted. So Teamviewer is a dead end for me.
My remote observatory is connected to the internet through a 4G mobile router, so I cannot use remote desktop (RDP) solutions when I am not at the obsy, as my router doesn’t have a fix IP. Only solutions like Teamviewer can establish a connection. I have used Anydesk for about 6 months and it works really well. I find it smoother than Teamviewer. Honsetly I think I would stick with Anydesk even if Teamviewer got re-activated.
If you are on the same local network as your astro computer, then you can also use RDP solutions. This is what I do if I am at my observatory. As I don’t have a windows PRO version I have used the Remote Utilities solution. You need to install and configure their Host application on the astro computer and then the Viewer on the computer you want to connect from. With the viewer you need to register it to get the free licence. Have a look here: Windows | Remote Utilities
There are other solutions as the people above mentioned, I’m sure you’ll find a suitable solution!
mikael, you can have software to route your dynamic ip to a static one. Some are free, I remember one I used to use years ago called no-ip.com might want to check into that as a backup solution.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. This is such a great forum.
I’m sorry it happened to you as well Mikael but it is comforting to know that I’m not nuts and other people are dealing with this. I told the Manager when he called me back a few days later begging me to buy a license that the whole notion of the free application is dishonest and they need to shore up their marketing strategy.
I even told him that if I bought the license then I would be one of hundreds that is paying for a service that everyone else is getting for free. Makes no sense.
He agreed and doubled down that the free version is only for trying the software out for 3 months and then you must purchase it. He said that they have not focused on the free version but are starting to.
I promised to let him know that I would put the word out to all the Astrophotographers and that his company is being very short sided on how large that group really is.
I’ll try Anydesk this evening and put all of this behind me.
Again thanks to everyone on the SgPro Forum for helping me.
entilza, actually it is not a question of having a dynamic vs. static IP. Most 4G internet providers don’t let you connect directly to the internet via a public IP adress, at least not in Europe. Your mobile connection is to a local network of the mobile 4G internet provider, much the same way that in your house you connect to your local 192.168… network of your router. So you don’t have a public IP (dynamic or static), you only have a private IP of a local network that is not exposed to the rest of internet. Check this with your phone for instance. Go to any website that gives you the IP number of your device, and you’ll see that it is not a public IP. If you google you’ll find a lot of frustrated people who discover this when they buy a 4G router, including me!
entilza, yes you are right, connecting to a VPN would the perfect solution. I have a new router at home that has a VPN integrated into it, so I’m looking into the possibility to have my remote obsy computer connecting automatically to my home router VPN. Then my remote computer would be part of my home network. I’ve tested a commercial VPN service, but found it slow. Anyway, this is a problem specific to 4G mobile routers. But I guess this can be useful for people to know before considering such a router, which clearly is interesting in places where one might not have a fixed line connection to the obsy.
Hey forgive me if I am not up on all the IT talk going on but I’m paying an extra rate for a Static IP address. Am I reading this right to assume that even though I’m paying and getting a static address that in some instances I’m not getting what I’m paying for or maybe I’m wasting money.
The only reason that I requested a static address is because I’m running a video camera system on my house and I need to be able to hit that recorder off site and not worry about the IP address being changed by the provider.
I also was a TV “commercial usage” suspect about two weeks ago.
I uninstalled TV on my 3 computers used for imaging and went to TightVNC.
Very happy! Do not miss TV at all! No pesky changing PWD to remember each night!
Only quirk is that it seems I have to have the display on the imaging machine active, i.e., I can not close the imaging laptop completely and have the display go off. No biggie. I turn the display down in brightness and use a pencil eraser to ensure the laptop lid does not close completely.
It’s always a pain having to change software but this has actually been a good change for me.
S’long, TV, it was a good ride but I’ll not miss you one bit!
Just a heads up…that app is now deprecated, and Google directs you to remotedesktop.google.com, which is internet only, no provision for LAN connections.
Sean,
You don’t need a static IP if you are using TeamViewer or Anydesk, they connect through a server. But if you want to connect to your ip camera, then you need that static IP. The alternative would be to use some DNS service, like www.noip.com, but I believe they are all paying services. So then it is all about pricing…
Yet another alternative is to have a computer always running at home, connect to it via Anydesk and then connect to your web camera through that computer. That is what I do.
Teamviewer can be setup with a permanent password so having to check for changing passwords isn’t an issue.
You can turn of the lid button in power settings on the pc, it will probably turn of the screen, but not make the computer go to sleep etc.