1

I live in an apartment complex near a college that includes gigabit internet hardline and wifi for all residents (service provided by MyCampusNet). The problem is that they firewall everyone's connection so that no incoming requests can get through, and they don't offer port forwarding. They also won't let me install another internet provider into my apartment unit.

I'd like to be able to remote into my computer at home from campus, as well as run an FTP server on my machine, and I'm wondering how to get around this firewall situation. Whats the best way to do this? VPN+DDNS or proxy server?

Some concerns:

  • I know I could get a VPN service, but the one I've used in the past (PIA) doesn't seem to give a unique IP that I can link up with DDNS.
  • Should I use a VPN service that issues a public IP so I can link it to DDNS? If so, does this destroy the anonymity usually associated with using VPN services? I realize this would make sense, but wanted to be sure.
  • If I did use a VPN service for this purpose, do they usually limit bandwidth? I might hit around 200 GB a month max, since I would use this to transfer home videos to my family that I am editing.
  • I would optimally want this to be compatible with common router software so I could create a network in my apartment for all my devices, and have them all use the exit node without having to be individually configured for the service.
1
  • You should remove point 4 from your list of questions as it is, in effect, a product or service recommendation.
    – davidgo
    Apr 8, 2017 at 23:12

2 Answers 2

0

For what you are trying to do, yes, you should get a VPN which gives you your own public IP address - I'm not sure the usual players would. You could, as an alternative, get a cheap virtual server with its own static IP and set that up as a VPN service.

From a performance point of view, a VPN "close to you" (as in cable distance) will perform best.

If you use a common VPN protocol like OpenVPN, you should be able to configure a flexible router (like dd-wrt) to connect through the VPN. In fact, you could set it up that your remote devices could also connect through it, and ensure all traffic between the 2 points is encrypted.

Using a VPN in this manner will partially compromise the privacy aspect of it. It will largely get around local ISP spying, but you will still be uniquely identifiable based on IP - the IP where the VPN hits the wider Internet. The advantages of a VPN service over something you set up could be a 1:many relationship - this, without access to logs will obfusicate the user of the vpn service to some degree.

0

Another solution would be to use a remote control software at home which connects to the vendor's external server - the firewall can't block outbound connections. You would then connect from anywhere else to the vendor's server, authenticate yourself and they would then link both sessions. A file transfer service is included in the remote control software.

Beware that the privacy of your data depends on the loyalty of the vendor. Apart from that this scheme is used widely throughout as the software not only is working perfectly but is free for private use.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .