Back To My Mac: Anyone get it to work over the internet?

soundhoundsoundhound
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I can't. It works fine on my home network, an apple extreme and several expresses. But over the net it doesn't work at all. I've tried both from work, and also by logging on to my neighbor's airport network. in both cases, the icon for my home iMac disappears.



I downloaded the guide from the Apple site for BTMM and followed the instructions, but nothing seems to work.



Anybody have any luck with this? thanks!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    toxotestoxotes Posts: 102member
    Yeah... yippee, it works when all the computers are in your house. I've also had no luck over the internet from anywhere to anywhere (i've tried various combinations between home, work, my mom's house, and school). I keep reading things about incompatible routers and ports that need to be opened, etc., etc., etc. I've even tried opening ports on my mom's router per instructions in their help page but that didn't work either. I'm hoping that 10.5.3 will help since the release notes say they made improvements to BTMM but haven't had a chance to try it again since upgrading.
  • Reply 2 of 14
    naftalimnaftalim Posts: 25member
    I got it to work over the internet the few times that I tried. It may not work in WiFi offered in some coffee shops, I forget the exact reason, it depends on the router, some kind of UPnP implementation issue. Apple is aware of this issue, so I assume some fix is coming



    Also, you need a good strong signal where you are at to get it working properly.







    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Soundhound View Post


    I can't. It works fine on my home network, an apple extreme and several expresses. But over the net it doesn't work at all. I've tried both from work, and also by logging on to my neighbor's airport network. in both cases, the icon for my home iMac disappears.



    I downloaded the guide from the Apple site for BTMM and followed the instructions, but nothing seems to work.



    Anybody have any luck with this? thanks!



  • Reply 3 of 14
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    I've tried it from several dozen different hotels since it became available. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

    This leads me to believe that the problem lies with the WiFi station/node ... NOT with my computer. I have no idea if it's because of blocked ports or signal strength or whatever... But I haven't made any configuration changes on MY computers, yet sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    soundhoundsoundhound Posts: 134member
    Sounds to me like Apple hasn't got this working right yet. Crap. I wonder when they'll get it fixed.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    mikep123mikep123 Posts: 31member
    No problems here. I usually connect from work using my AT&T/Cingular wireless card with my MBP but it also works when I'm at another person's house and I'm using their wireless network. I haven't turned off/on any ports, firewall settings, etc. - just the basic enabling of "Back to my Mac" on both machines. I can't swear to it but I think it has been working since 10.5.1. I remember when Leopard came out there were issues with it and Apple fixed it shortly after. Whenever that fix was made is when it started working for me.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    admactaniumadmactanium Posts: 812member
    just had an opportunity to try it out one recent business travels and weekend getaway. it's worked beautifully in two hotels and a business wireless network. i can connect to it as a remote volume as for screen sharing. it works quite well for me now.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    kedakeda Posts: 722member
    BtM has never worked for me or anyone I know. I've read Apple's docs, but still no success. For those of you who have had success, will you tell us more about your set-up? Any special settings on the network, etc?



    I would love for this service to work. It would have been very helpful at times.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Keda View Post


    BtM has never worked for me or anyone I know. I've read Apple's docs, but still no success. For those of you who have had success, will you tell us more about your set-up? Any special settings on the network, etc?



    I would love for this service to work. It would have been very helpful at times.



    My home router (airport extreme-n) is setup however it came out of the box (except for name).

    It gets to the internet through a cablemodem.



    On the road... some WiFi stations work, some don't... i really think it has something to do with how things are set up at those WiFi routers. Some apparently have certain security set-ups that don't allow B2M to work for some reason.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member
    it all has to do with the "third party" routers or other network hardware that is in use at the hotel or wifi hotspot you are trying to linkup from, not just your home network alone. not all equipment works for BTMM, especially older stuff. there is a link from the BTMM page on the Apple website to a support page that discusses this in detail:



    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1304



    took less than a minute to locate this page ...
  • Reply 10 of 14
    kedakeda Posts: 722member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Alfiejr View Post


    it all has to do with the "third party" routers or other network hardware that is in use at the hotel or wifi hotspot you are trying to linkup from, not just your home network alone. not all equipment works for BTMM, especially older stuff. there is a link from the BTMM page on the Apple website to a support page that discusses this in detail:



    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1304



    took less than a minute to locate this page ...



    Some problems might be explained by old equipment, but I've tried BTMM from a hotels, hot spots, clients' offices, and a friend's house on an Apple-equipped network. None of these have worked. I have verified that my base station is set to use the right settings (from Apple's site).



    If BTMM requires the perfect storm of "correct" hardware and configurations, then it will be hard to ever make it work from the networks of other people/companies.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    toxotestoxotes Posts: 102member
    Update: I'm at my mom's house in Winnipeg and BTMM now works from my 10.5.3 laptop to my 10.5.3 iMac at home. Yippee! She has a Netgear router and I had already configured it months ago to open the ports that BTMM uses. I have a Time Capsule at home and didn't do any custom config there. So 10.5.3 made the difference for me.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    naftalimnaftalim Posts: 25member
    Good stuff. Mine is intermittant as well, works sometimes others not. Most people however don't know which ports and how to open them for BTMM. I don't.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by toxotes View Post


    Update: I'm at my mom's house in Winnipeg and BTMM now works from my 10.5.3 laptop to my 10.5.3 iMac at home. Yippee! She has a Netgear router and I had already configured it months ago to open the ports that BTMM uses. I have a Time Capsule at home and didn't do any custom config there. So 10.5.3 made the difference for me.



  • Reply 13 of 14
    toxotestoxotes Posts: 102member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by naftalim View Post


    Good stuff. Mine is intermittant as well, works sometimes others not. Most people however don't know which ports and how to open them for BTMM. I don't.



    It's listed on Apple's website somewhere. Pretty sure airport routers are automatically okay, but other ones may need to have specific ports opened.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    bbwibbwi Posts: 812member
    Mine works great. I have a Time Capsule on one end and a Linksys on the other. Wireless signal strength has nothing to do with it. ISP upload speeds are FAR less than the weakest WiFi signal.



    It's all based on the routers and the ACLs on them.



    Home routers have a feature called UPnP which makes configuring your firewall a no brainer. However, this no brainer technology is a real security risk. Because of the security risk you won't find this feature on enterprise class routers/firewalls so Back to My Mac won't work when you're at work (unless the Network Administrator has specifically opened the ports). This is true for coffee shops, hotels, and just about every other WiFi hot spot. If UPnP is turned off then the Net Admin must manually open the ports for the service to work.



    If you own an older router update the firmware to the latest version. If it's really old then go out and buy a router that has UPnP. If you also use Apple's built in firewall you have to go into System Preferences>Sharing and tick Screen Sharing and File Sharing. Once all the firewall stuff is configured correctly you need to configure .Mac on all computers.



    If you buy Time Capsule the UPnP feature is enabled by default (Apple calls it NAT Port Mapping) but on any other model router UPnP will most likely be disabled by default.
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