up vote 1 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I've been tasked with connecting a computer in one of our branches in the midlands to one in south wales.

We have been using windows remote desktop but find it too slow. The ADSL on the computer were connecting to is about 6Mb Download and 470Kb Upload so not majorly fast. That connection is also shared with about 10 other internet users.

I'm trying to find out if the is any remote desktopn connecting software that performs better than the microsoft remote desktop software. Or, would i be better using a KVM over IP?

I've looked into connecting the offices through BT's fiber optic but at £21k a year rental were trying to find a cheaper solution!

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Dave,

link|improve this question
Have you turned down the desktop color to 16-bit? That can speed up performance considerably. – George Stocker Jul 28 '10 at 16:40
ive even set it to 15-bit. With all other options turned off. Were employing someone who will be using this connection for the whole of there job so need it as responsive as possible. Thanks for the suggestion. – Dave Jul 28 '10 at 16:44
How about telnet? :) – John T Jul 28 '10 at 16:55
Way back in the days.... – r0ca Jul 28 '10 at 17:03
feedback

6 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

Have you checked out the advanced options of mstsc? I've connected smoothly to machines with 1m/250k connections.

Under the "Experience" tab you can choose to disable certain aspects of remote desktop. There are even presets for poor connections. I'd choose the lowest preset (56k modem) and then change color to 15 or 16-bit.

alt text

link|improve this answer
yes as above comment. But thanks for your suggestion. – Dave Jul 28 '10 at 16:46
RDP (MSTSC) is definitly the best Remote software for WAN usage. There is a lot like SMS, Novell ConsoleOne, Proxy, logmein and so on... – r0ca Jul 28 '10 at 16:50
feedback
up vote 2 down vote

In my personal experience I have found that LogMeIn service is faster/less jumpy than Windows Remote Desktop. It's at least worth a try since there is a free version.

No matter what you pick the bandwidth you have listed can be very limited depending on how much the network is stressed. You may want to consider buying a router which can reserve a specific amount of bandwidth for your remote computer.

link|improve this answer
We use LogMeIn Rescue for customer support and it works fabulously. – Shinrai Jul 28 '10 at 17:06
Yes we've decided to get a router with duel WAN and dedicate half the bandwidth to remote desktop or alternative. – Dave Jul 30 '10 at 8:04
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

You could always switch to a VNC program which also has lots of options for saving speed.

UVNC <-My preference
RealVNC
TightVNC

link|improve this answer
I will also try these, thank you. – Dave Jul 30 '10 at 8:05
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

I'd try TeamViewer.

It's fast, even when i use it from my mobile (iPhone) in a rural area with only an Edge connection.

No firewall configuration necessary, authentication is secure and on Windows there's a possibility to let it run as a service so it'll always be in the background waiting for a connection.

link|improve this answer
Thanks i will give that a try – Dave Jul 30 '10 at 8:05
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

If you don't mind paying for it, Copilot (based around VNC) is awesome on slow connections. It wont make up for dialup, but it manages to constantly feel faster than I think it should.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

You can check out TurboSupport (www.turbosupport.com). It doesn’t cost as much as LogMeIn and other solutions but faster.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.