VPN help!

[theaero]

So to preface, I have no knowledge of VPN.

However, my girlfriend and I are in a long distance relationship, and her college network doesn't let her connect to iChat or Skype. We want to be able to watch movies together, video chat, etc via iChat. Would connecting through a VPN alleviate this issue, and if so, how could I setup a simple/basic one? Thanks!

 

[skoldpadda]

So to preface, I have no knowledge of VPN.

However, my girlfriend and I are in a long distance relationship, and her college network doesn't let her connect to iChat or Skype. We want to be able to watch movies together, video chat, etc via iChat. Would connecting through a VPN alleviate this issue, and if so, how could I setup a simple/basic one? Thanks!

Hey, what version of OS X Is your girlfriend using and the same question for yourself?

 

[theaero]

I use 10.8.2, she uses the latest version of Lion.

 

[BrianBaughn]

If her college network will allow her to connect to a VPN, you should be able to do all of that.

iVPN from MacServe is one of the easiest ways to get a VPN running on a standard Mac. It's about $23 or $24.

It would be great if you could test first to see if her network will allow her to connect to a VPN. You could sign up for a VPN service that has a trial period and allows connections via L2TP (the one you ought to use with iVPN). If she can connect to that she can connect to you. Then you could cancel your subscription and buy iVPN.

 

[kgs]

You still need a VPN service I think, unless you're planning to run one yourself.

For suggestions there, I really like Cloak http://www.getcloak.com and used it when I went on a trip recently. Was great. No extra software needed other than their very small setup app (lets you enable/disable easily).

Check out the free account, gives you 2 gigs of transfer. It should be enough to see if it works for you.

 

[73CortinaV8]

a proxy server would work just as well. You could set one up on your end and have her skype use it (network preferences -> proxy).

there are free ones like "squid" out there.