Best VNC program or service for IT professional

[sethbest]

I looked around for information on this topic, but my searches were flooded with personal users and their needs. I would simply like to hear some opinions on the best remote access route for a small IT firm.

I have been in business in my area for four years, but have always shied away from remote access since I pick up a lot of clients who have horror stories about their previous IT firms that would bill a small office for a dozen or so hours of unseen remote access work a month with obscure justifications. Now though I have had several clients requesting remote access, and it would save me some transit time.

I was considering something like UltraVNC, which allows for free business use. I would not be opposed to getting a paid program if there are some solid benefits. In that regard would a remote access service like teamviewer provide any benefits? Any pitfalls I should watch out for when choosing?

Thanks.

 

[Rickyaliasgar]

What I suggest is to have on premise remote support appliance installed such as RHUB appliances. It is easy to use and has no hassle of monthly payments as compared to hosted services.

 

[sllewe]

EDIT: I just realized I responded to a bump of an old post, I'll leave it here just in case...oops.

I worked for a couple of years at a Managed Services Provider (albiet bigger) and our primary customer was Small Businesses.

Ultra VNC is an ok option. It will work. But it will require more configuration to get things running smoothly. And because no IT infrastructure is alike, each of your clients networks will need to be tweaked differently to get UltraVNC to work (different firewalls, security standards, etc)

We used LogMeIn (Both Free and Paid) as well as LMI Rescue. Free and Paid are so similar, many of our unmanaged (AKA cheaper) clients would have "LMI Free" on them and we would rarely run into issues. It allows you to centrally manage all of your clients with in a web portal, and to setup, just run the Agent and be done with it. Or you could put the Agent on their server and RDP from that. Paid is great as well, as you get file transfer support, which can be useful in a pinch. And rescue is great when you pick up extra business, or a client has a PC that you have not had an opportunity to install the Agent on. (Join.me is a free alternative to LMI Rescue)

I could go on and on, but that is my quick opinion of Remote Access tools.

 

[sethbest]

Ricky, thanks for the info. Those are pretty interesting, I've not seen them before. A bit out of my price range for offices on service contracts of only 150-200 a month, I would spend a whole years fees on each office. It's good to know about the option though.
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Spade, you hit the nail on the head. I have been messing around with Ultra VNC but every setup takes a while, and often if I miss a firewall rule it will stop working right when I need it.

I had no idea logmein was free for comercial use. I'll have to give it a try.

I really like teamviewer, and if I get enough clients I would consider their pay once premium version, but $750 takes some thinking about first.

I'm surprised more people didn't chime in but I'm glad to get some feedback.
Thanks again.