Question : PCAnywhere through a D-Link Router over DSL

OK, here's a problem I've been working on for a couple of weeks now.

Infrequently -- but enough that it's an issue -- I need to PCAnywhere to the systems at work. (Before anyone suggests it, due to the expense issue and the infrequent use, GoToMyPC does not seem to make sense.) I am going over DSL through a D-Link DI-614+ to the PCAnywhere host... Well, I want to, at least.

I have the proper ports in the router (TCP 5631, UDP 5632) set to connect to the internal IP of the host. I have followed the instructions on both the D-Link and Symantec sites (which are pretty much identical) to make sure I've done what's necessary.

The issue seems to be with either the router not truly opening the ports or the host not accepting the connection, though I'm not sure how to find out which. I can tracert and HTTP to the router, so I know I have the connection up until there. I can connect to PCAnywhere from inside the network (from the same remote computer, a laptop, which I've tried to use over the internet), so I know the host is taking those connections and the remote can connect.

Symantec suggests attempting to telnet to the IP and port from outside to see if the port is open, and that does not work. I've tried placing the host in a DMZ just to see if that would make a difference; it did not.

Internatlly the router is 10.1.1.100 and the host in question is a static 10.1.1.104. (The router is set for DHCP starting with 10.1.1.110, but four of our computers require static internal addresses.) There are no IP conflicts.

So, any ideas on what to check or how to diagnose this further?

Answer : PCAnywhere through a D-Link Router over DSL

1)  Is this a new setup or have you had this working at one time?

2) What is your firewall?  

3) Can you set up a static NAT for the host PC to a public IP?

One problem with doing pcAnywhere over the Internet is that it needs to be able to find the host.  It can't find it using a private IP - it has to have an internet-routable IP address.  That usually means you need to have a secondary public IP address on your firewall with a static NAT to the host's private IP address, or if you want to expose it to the Internet, you'd need to give the host PC a second NIC with a public IP address, and in either case, hope nobody hacks in on your open pcAnywhere ports.

Last time I checked, GoToMyPC cost around $15 a month, is very secure, is much faster and easier to use than pcAnywhere, and does not require you to punch a hole in your firewall.  Seems pretty cheap, to me, even if you only use it once a month.  What is your hourly rate of pay?  $20, 25, more?  If it saves you even one hack attack per year, it's worth it, just in your time-savings alone, not to mention the potential lost man-hours for all the users.