Alternative to Tor Hidden services or port forwarding without public IP

We're looking for way to access PC/server/IPCam behind our home internet when port forwarding is not available. The reason we needed this is that our telco is rolling out Carrier-grade NAT and slowly taking out public IPs from home internet users. At time, we were helping a friend to troubleshoot his port forwarding issues until we discovered that the IP assigned to his modem is not a public IP. That makes it impossible to access anything behind our home router. This has happen to most of our friends, which is why we're now looking for solution as this will eventually apply to all.

I've tried Tor, and hosting my own VPN on my hosting server, but reliability and performance is unacceptable. I don't mind to pay a small monthly fee as long as I can to access PC/server/IPCam behind my home internet. Anonymity is not our concern for now.

faulty

Posted 2013-09-03T02:31:54.127

Reputation: 419

Answers

So, let me preface by saying that I have never attempted this first particular configuration myself and only know of it because it's listed as a feature of a service I use. I'm just hoping to point you in the right direction here. Frankly this seems a somewhat desperate circumstance to me, so this is worth a shot.

It might be possible to use a dynamic DNS service to access individual machines. It's listed as a feature of the FreeDNS service which I have used in the past:

Hosts even work for your LAN. If you have a LAN connected to the internet you can point hosts to private IP addresses (even private IPv6 addresses) and they will work within your network

That's from FreeDNS. I don't fully understand how that would work; I'm afraid the internal mechanics of dynamic DNS services are beyond me, I only know how to use them.

Finally, you could use a VPN - some of them offer a static IP address but there's no way you're getting that without paying. EarthVPN offers a static IP as an optional addon. It'll cost you $6.00 a month total plus some tax for the service with the static IP. I've used EarthVPN myself and they have pretty excellent performance, almost as good as using my internet directly. It's easily fast enough to do anything up to streaming video with bandwidth to spare.

Dylan

Posted 2013-09-03T02:31:54.127

Reputation: 1 333

Thanks, i think the keyword is they will work within your network meaning you can assign private address to those DDNS hostname and have them point to your LAN IP. i.e. myownserver.ddns.com => 192.168.1.1. I've read EarthVPN's FAQ and port forwarding is special case, I'll email them to find out. – faulty – 2013-09-03T02:52:09.363

I had a RT-16N running tomato. VPN is not an issue, I've even hosted my own on my private hosting, but it's too slow. Thanks again :) – faulty – 2013-09-03T03:04:09.257

EarthVPN just replied me: "Thank you for your interest.We will offer dedicated IP with port forwarding enabled soon." – faulty – 2013-09-03T08:25:38.937

If it is for a PC / Server where you can install software, I will recommend TeamViewer as it is capable of reporting back to TeamViewer server somewhere and generate a unique ID (9 digit number, and some random password) and you can connect to the machine using the ID/Password combination.

TeamViewer is a remote control / support solution, so it does need to be installed on the target (client) machine, and on the helper machine. This will allow the helper to remote connect to the machine, see the screen as if you are sitting in front of it.

This solution will not work with your IPCam of course, but if you have access to the PC where the IPCam can be accessed locally, then simply connect using TeamViewer to the PC, and access the IPCam from there.

Whether it is too slow or not.. it really highly dependent on the target and helper internet speed.

Hope this helps.

Darius

Posted 2013-09-03T02:31:54.127

Reputation: 4 817

Thanks, I'm a heavy TeamViewer user. The reason it's not suitable is that it requires an always on PC. And the VPN service only allows accessing the PC, but the network connected to it. Plus, it's remote control, instead of accessing the content directly, especially for IP Camera. I'm looking for a general solution that works for everyone affected :) – faulty – 2013-09-03T06:42:36.023

So just to clarify: You wanted to access pc/server/ipcam/etc remotely, but the target (remote host) is behind a carrier-grade-NAT and lacks a proper public IP? I guess the key point is that, due to CGN, you will never be able to host any service (you can't access anything behind CGN directly). The only way I can think of to get around this is if the remote host is reporting back to you somehow (teamviewer style). So for now, all I can suggest: Have a PC running constantly with teamviewer (although not ideal), or have VPN running from remote host modem. I don't see other way.. for now. – Darius – 2013-09-03T07:12:49.637

Yap, looks like VPN is the way, and I don't mind to pay for one. Suggestion for VPN would be nice. I wonder also if there's services targeted for this purpose specifically, since CGN will be used everywhere as IPv4 is running out. – faulty – 2013-09-03T08:12:49.617

1We should be moving to ipv6 is the real solution...

VPN that I've heard advertised a lot (on a podcast called Security Now) is ProXPN. They have a free service using OpenVPN with a speed cap (300kbps), or a paid version that does OpenVPN and PPTP (with no speed cap). I'll say try out the free version, and get their 7-days premium and see if it makes any speed difference. Also from their podcast, use the offer code SN20 (20% discount for the life of the acc) - Sorry if I sound like I'm advertising, but I'm in no way affiliated with them just providing VPN suggestion. – Darius – 2013-09-03T12:16:33.887

Though ProXPN doesn't offer port forwarding :( – faulty – 2013-09-04T01:25:45.040