Accessing router via remote software on a tablet?

I'm thinking of setting up a PC / laptop / tablet for an elderly relative to access the internet at their place (no internet service athe the moment) - mainly for Youtube to be kept entertained etc.

I want to be able to sometimes remote in to sort issues, such as navigation, apply updates, show things online shopping etc. I understand I can do this with Teamviewer.

They're pretty comfortable with plugging / unplugging the ethernet cable to the PC / laptop next to the TV if they want to go online and detach when they want to be offline. I guess if they went with a tablet, they'll just have to connect via wifi - in which case, the router's wifi will need to be on 24/7?

If the PC / laptop's connected by ethernet, I assume I can log into the router to switch wifi on & off when remoted in, but I guess this isn't an option on a tablet?

Silly question, but I just want to gain an understanding.

I would just keep it as simple and not do the remote since they will think that anyone can just log in. Today's news introduces the Chicken Little effect. If they have issues they will usually wait until you physically show.

My Dad lived quite some distance away in a care home and used a laptop.

I set TeamViewer up in 'Host Mode' on it (so it was always available) and, instead of the usual random password, used a fixed, long and very secure static password that only I knew.

It worked perfectly for us for many, many years.

bro67 said:

I would just keep it as simple and not do the remote since they will think that anyone can just log in. Today's news introduces the Chicken Little effect. If they have issues they will usually wait until you physically show.

Thanks - I appreciate your advice. I have however demonstrated that only when I'm on the phone with them that they provide me with a session number and PW to gain access. Not grant permission at all other times.

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RickC said:

My Dad lived quite some distance away in a care home and used a laptop.

I set TeamViewer up in 'Host Mode' on it (so it was always available) and, instead of the usual random password, used a fixed, long and very secure static password that only I knew.

It worked perfectly for us for many, many years.

I'll bear this in mind in future.

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Samuria said:

You would have to use TeamViewer to login to pc then get access to the router most routers you can setup remote access but it's safer via pc

Thanks - so my thoughts on having a PC/laptop connected by ethernet to the router at their property is the safest and sensible option?

I suppose I can remote into a tablet, but that'll mean them having to have wifi on at all times? Also means they may forget to disconnect from wifi / internet, whereas plugging / unplugging a cable is more tangible?

TenneR said:

I have however demonstrated that only when I'm on the phone with them that they provide me with a session number and PW to gain access. Not grant permission at all other times.

I did it slightly differently, but only because my Dad was going through early-onset dementia and I sometimes couldn't talk him through what he needed to do his end. I ended up using TeamViewer in 'Host Mode', i.e. the service was set to start automatically with Windows.

However, I changed the service from 'automatic' to 'manual' and provided a desktop shortcut (with keyboard shortcut of Windows key + T) to start TeamViewer. The shortcut actually ran an AutoHotkey script that started the TeamViewer service running at his end. The script waited in the background for the TeamViewer process to end (by me or him exiting) then monitored the desktop for the process which popped up TeamViewer's 'Thank you for playing fair' dialog and closed it so he didn't accidentally choose the 'Buy license' option.

At my end I had another AutoHotkey script which ran TeamViewer and passed my dad's connection ID (which didn't change) and static password as 'start' parameters so I didn't have to remember either of them. (Actually, I had two scripts, one for 'normal' mode and the other to run the session in 'File Transfer' mode. Have a look at this Command line parameters article for more info.)

TenneR said:

Thanks - so my thoughts on having a PC/laptop connected by ethernet to the router at their property is the safest and sensible option?

Ethernet is simple; it's basically either physically connected or it's not. Wi-Fi is great for ease-of-use, depending on signal strength, but there are more factors at play thus more potential hiccups... none of which are good if you live any distance away.

My Dad's router was in his lounge; he was bed-ridden two rooms away. Signal strength was poor at the best of times and, weirdly, dropped out when care staff came to attend to him. It took me a while to realise that 2 care staff in between the router and laptop were enough to absorb enough signal strength to cause drop-outs... not to mention them microwaving meals and hot drinks plus using some weird personal walkie-talkie system (on the same 2.4GHz frequency band as Wi-Fi) between themselves and the main office. In terms of Wi-Fi it was a disaster at first... so I ended up using an Ethernet-over-Power ('Powerline' EoP) base unit connected to the router and a short ethernet cable to his laptop from the EoP slave unit in the mains socket closest to his laptop. After a bit of testing I realised that using the EoP slave unit as a Wi-Fi repeater was not only sufficient but mostly reliable, so retired the ethernet cable.

TenneR said:

I suppose I can remote into a tablet...

Have you tried that with TeamViewer? I found laptop-to-iPad mostly unusable in terms of my remote spatial control of his iPad. However, that was about 4-5 years ago so no doubt it has improved a lot since then. I never tried with an Android tablet... my Dad just couldn't get his head round the disconnected utilities and much preferred 'Siri' automation of what he wanted to do. We didn't have a tablet running Windows then but I think that would be ideal for use with TeamViewer... if only an older person's eyes can deal with the screen res./touch screen combo.

The thing is... it worked for my Dad and I for many, many years and prevented the necessity of me making a 2-4 hour round trip depending on traffic.

I note that TeamViewer now enforces an account sign-on for outbound connections which it never, ever used to... so be aware of that.

Hope this helps...

TenneR said:

Thanks - so my thoughts on having a PC/laptop connected by ethernet to the router at their property is the safest and sensible option?

I suppose I can remote into a tablet, but that'll mean them having to have wifi on at all times? Also means they may forget to disconnect from wifi / internet, whereas plugging / unplugging a cable is more tangible?

Question1: Why do you feel the need to have them turn router WiFi on and off? I have never heard of anyone turning their router WiFi on only when needed and off all other times. I have never really heard of anyone unplugging ethernet cords when not in use either, though.

Question 2: If you decide to remotely manage the router - how are you going to know what it's internet IP address is?

RickC said:

I did it slightly differently, but only because my Dad was going through early-onset dementia and I sometimes couldn't talk him through what he needed to do his end. I ended up using TeamViewer in 'Host Mode', i.e. the service was set to start automatically with Windows.

However, I changed the service from 'automatic' to 'manual' and provided a desktop shortcut (with keyboard shortcut of Windows key + T) to start TeamViewer. The shortcut actually ran an AutoHotkey script that started the TeamViewer service running at his end. The script waited in the background for the TeamViewer process to end (by me or him exiting) then monitored the desktop for the process which popped up TeamViewer's 'Thank you for playing fair' dialog and closed it so he didn't accidentally choose the 'Buy license' option.

At my end I had another AutoHotkey script which ran TeamViewer and passed my dad's connection ID (which didn't change) and static password as 'start' parameters so I didn't have to remember either of them. (Actually, I had two scripts, one for 'normal' mode and the other to run the session in 'File Transfer' mode. Have a look at this Command line parameters article for more info.)



Ethernet is simple; it's basically either physically connected or it's not. Wi-Fi is great for ease-of-use, depending on signal strength, but there are more factors at play thus more potential hiccups... none of which are good if you live any distance away.

My Dad's router was in his lounge; he was bed-ridden two rooms away. Signal strength was poor at the best of times and, weirdly, dropped out when care staff came to attend to him. It took me a while to realise that 2 care staff in between the router and laptop were enough to absorb enough signal strength to cause drop-outs... not to mention them microwaving meals and hot drinks plus using some weird personal walkie-talkie system (on the same 2.4GHz frequency band as Wi-Fi) between themselves and the main office. In terms of Wi-Fi it was a disaster at first... so I ended up using an Ethernet-over-Power ('Powerline' EoP) base unit connected to the router and a short ethernet cable to his laptop from the EoP slave unit in the mains socket closest to his laptop. After a bit of testing I realised that using the EoP slave unit as a Wi-Fi repeater was not only sufficient but mostly reliable, so retired the ethernet cable.



Have you tried that with TeamViewer? I found laptop-to-iPad mostly unusable in terms of my remote spatial control of his iPad. However, that was about 4-5 years ago so no doubt it has improved a lot since then. I never tried with an Android tablet... my Dad just couldn't get his head round the disconnected utilities and much preferred 'Siri' automation of what he wanted to do. We didn't have a tablet running Windows then but I think that would be ideal for use with TeamViewer... if only an older person's eyes can deal with the screen res./touch screen combo.

The thing is... it worked for my Dad and I for many, many years and prevented the necessity of me making a 2-4 hour round trip depending on traffic.

I note that TeamViewer now enforces an account sign-on for outbound connections which it never, ever used to... so be aware of that.

Hope this helps...

Thanks RickC - really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences!

On the remoting in to a tablet - no, I haven't actually tried, but presumed possible and like remoting into a PC as Teamviewer supports Android.

Thanks again.

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Thanks @cereberus and @NavyLCDR

I don't intend to remotely manage the router directly.

TeamViewer is the easy way, there are other programs that are like TV as well. A quick search engine query for "TeamViewer alternatives" will yield them. I'll talk about my solution in the third paragraph below

Bear in mind it is absolutely important, I mean essentially essential, that if you use TV you need to use 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) with the TV account. I can't stress that enough. For the easy way on 2FA usage you could use Authy. I roll my own with my Keepass password manager on Windows and Linux with the KeepassOTP plug-in for 2FA. On the phone/tablet side of things I use the Apps Keepass2Android for password storage and 2FA needs as well as Aegis for 2FA as a backup. But! YOU MUST make your own backups of these. I utilize the cloud, USB storage, optical storage, external HDDs, you name it. I periodically back it all up like no tomorrow.

Now, if you're tech savvy like I am and don't like all of TV's IPs and possible shenanigans/hack attempts (I wrote about this on my website), then consider what I use. First, I use a reverse VPN/proxy of sorts called ZeroTier One. This allows me to "get in" without the need for port forwarding. Now I use TightVNC for remote viewing, and computer file transfers are possible in TightVNC, but I roll a local FTP server for that. TightVNC comes in many flavors for Windows, Linux and I do believe Mac, and there are Apps built on the protocol. I use the VNC Viewer App and the Zero Tier One App to remote in via phone/tablet.

There are others like Zero Tier as well, like Twingate. Also, Zero Tier is possible in the hardware firewall software OPNsense via a plug-in. Just some non GMO, radiated food for thought...


@RickC

Check out MoCA (Multimedia Over Coax Alliance) some time in lieu of POE...

Also, do you happen to be on the phpBB forum? Your name and "avatar" (lol) sounds/looks familiar.


This is also essential on the coax input to the house...