Afrihost virtual phone home
Enter the @afrihost.co.za connectivity user name:
Once you have activated the redirection, you can reach your home server at this name and IP:
If your home connection replies to ICMP-Echo requests, you can test it with ping:
# ping pptp-virtual.afrihost.com
PING pptp-virtual.afrihost.com (165.73.13.201) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 165-73-13-201.ip.afrihost.co.za (165.73.13.201): icmp_seq=1 ttl=44 time=25.1 ms
64 bytes from 165-73-13-201.ip.afrihost.co.za (165.73.13.201): icmp_seq=2 ttl=44 time=25.6 ms
64 bytes from 165-73-13-201.ip.afrihost.co.za (165.73.13.201): icmp_seq=3 ttl=44 time=25.1 ms
64 bytes from 165-73-13-201.ip.afrihost.co.za (165.73.13.201): icmp_seq=4 ttl=44 time=25.5 ms
--- pptp-virtual.afrihost.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 25.084/25.339/25.639/0.237 ms
Limitations
This service is subject to a number of limitations
- Only one IP: forwarding is done only for the single IP address that you are
now connecting from, and only to the one home network.
- External only: traffic is forwarded to your router, but it is still up to you to
have firewall rules that allow traffic to inside your network, with such security
controls are you find reasonable.
- Dynamic IP: if your home IP address changes, you have to visit this page
and refresh the forwarding. Keeping this page open on your browser will keep
you connected though.
- Filtering: certain ports may be restricted (specifically SMTP)
- No protocol helpers: you cannot tunnel weird protocols with this system
(IPSec, PPTP, TFTP).
- You can only connect to one home server at a time. This means that if you
and a friend are in the same office sharing the same IP address, and both
trying to connect to two different home systems, then only one of you will be
happy.
- This service has no performance guarantees, and may be removed without
notice at any time, either by design, or by error.
- Beta: this service may be discontinued at any time without notice. This
service may be modified at any time, without notice. Your access to this
service may be restricted or go away at any time without notice.
- Security: this an unencrypted service, with no security benefit. You should
use SSL for connections that require security.