TeamViewer Stops Commercial Use Checks in Coronavirus-Affected Regions

[Porthos]

TeamViewer has stated that they will stop performing checks for commercial use of their remote control product in regions heavily affected by the Coronavirus.

TeamViewer is a remote control software that is commercial organizations can purchase to offer remote support and for non-commercial, or personal, users to use for free to control their computer or help friends and family.

Even personal use of TeamViewer is meant to be for free, some users are erroneously detected as being used for commercial use.

When this happens, their sessions will be disconnected and they are prompted to purchase the program with various alerts, some comical, as shown below.

TeamViewer Commercial use detected alerts
With more people working from home, friends and family helping each other with technical issues, or some using it for commercial reasons without a license, many TeamViewer users have started to receive the dreaded "Commercial use detected" alerts.

Once they receive this alert, their TeamViewer ID is added to a bucket of users who will continue to see this message when using TeamViewer. The only way to use TeamViewer again for personal use is to submit a request to have their TeamViewer ID reset.

After reaching out to the TeamViewer, TheRegister was told that TeamViewer is stopping the checks for commercial users in regions heavily affected by the Coronavirus.

"We have stopped checking connections for commercial use in heavily affected regions like China and Italy already some weeks ago and are currently implementing that for lots of other affected countries including UK," TeamViewer told TheRegister.

It is not known if the USA will be included in this change and BleepingComputer has reached out to TeamViewer for clarification.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...l-use-checks-in-coronavirus-affected-regions/

 

[carmen617]

Funny thing about Teamviewer. I've used them for years, personal use, supporting elderly relatives, basically my stepmother and my sibling's inlaws. I was always very careful to NEVER use TV for any clients, just for my personal old folk freebies. About 6 months ago they decided I was using it commercially - I have no idea why, had the same 6 computers on it and really didn't log in much to most of them. But i went on a quest to find a replacement, took advantage of a bunch of free trials, and settled on Splashtop SOS Business, so I could use SOS for clients and take the 10 unattended licences and use them for my oldies.

When TV said I was using it commercially, I actually sent them a support request saying it was personal use according to their terms, but it was denied. So I switched to Splashtop, but I never removed TV from my system or the client from my supported computers. I don't know why - laziness, I guess, plus I prefer TV. Well, about a month after I gave up on TV, they decided i was legal again. The dreaded "commercial use detected" warnings disappeared, and TV works just fine. So, I have both systems on my freebie users, and plan to continue using TV until they decide I can't again.

 

[Your PCMD]

I hate TV. I used AnyDesk for quite a while but switched to SimpleHelp. Paid the one time $300 and I own it.

 

[callthatgirl]

If you charge your client, you need to not use the "free version" period.

 

[MDD1963]

MSP360's (Formerly Cloudberry Labs) website say their Remote Assistant listed simply as Freeware, no provisions to purchase, no listed restrictions, and says simply: "Absolutely Free"

 

[GTP]

I dont mind paying $314 per year for the best remote software on the planet. (Teamviewer)
I make it back 20 times over.

 

[Your PCMD]

MSP360's (Formerly Cloudberry Labs) website say their Remote Assistant listed simply as Freeware, no provisions to purchase, no listed restrictions, and says simply: "Absolutely Free"

With a crap ton of advertisements.

I dont mind paying $314 per year

One seat, 1 session
$49.00/mo ($600) USD
Managed Devices up to 200

Multiple seats, 1 session
$99.00/mo ($1200) USD
Managed Devices up to 300

Or in AUS

One seat, 1 session
$79.48/mo ($973.20) AUS
Managed Devices up to 200

Multiple seats, 1 session
$160.58/mo ($1946.40) AUS
Managed Devices up to 300

I have 228 managed devices, so I would have to pay twice the price for 50% more devices. Thats not economical at all. I don't know how your paying $314/yr OR $193.59/yr USD.

 

[Diggs]

I dont mind paying $314 per year for the best remote software on the planet. (Teamviewer)
I make it back 20 times over.

Are you saying you wouldn't make that money if you were using something else? There's just so many other more economical options out there these days. It seems like you are trying to justify an antiquated decision to yourself. Personally, I have better needs and uses for $314/$600 year in my life.

 

[GTP]

It seems like you are trying to justify an antiquated decision to yourself./QUOTE]

I dont have to justify anything to anyone. This my business and I'll use whatever I want.
Teamviewer works for me as I'm sure whatever you use works for you.
To all the doubters who question what TV costs me; I have already posted a copy of this years invoice in these forums.

 

[Your PCMD]

To all the doubters who question what TV costs me; I have already posted a copy of this years invoice in these forums.

I'm not disputing what it costs you, I've seen your invoice way back. I simply asked how you can get it for such a low cost compared to whats listed on the TV pricing page. Calm down brother from across the pond.

 

[GTP]

I'm not disputing what it costs you, I've seen your invoice way back. I simply asked how you can get it for such a low cost compared to whats listed on the TV pricing page. Calm down brother from across the pond.

Because, my long tall Texan mate, I call their office (which is just down the road) and tell them to do a better price or I'm out. They usually discount by around 50% without too much argy bargy.

 

[MDD1963]

I like Teamviewer....

Alas, even the moderate $47 monthly price (Japan pricing, single user, business, 1 connection at a time) encourages free alternatives, at least for me... (I thought the earlier one time TV USA pricing at ~$780 year calculation as high, but ~$550 a year forever is hardly an improvement...)

 

[lan101]

I spoke with teamviewer the other day because I have a client that occasionally likes to connect from home to his office. He's only ever connected to 1 machine but he usually leaves it connected for long periods of time.

The person from teamviewer basically said long extended connections will now trigger the "commercial use" So essentially the "free" is just a one off connection here and there for 10-20 min and that's it. They want their cashola lol.

My client decided to buy the "remote" license that allows up to only 3 computers for like 300 bucks a year. He likes and knows how teamviewer works and didn't want to bother with ultra viewer or anything else. I was fine with that as I know things will work for him now, but the days of clients using teamviewer for free are pretty much over.

 

[fastremotehelp.com]

I'm still using TV version 11, I license I paid for. I used to pay to upgrade every year or so, always getting the new version. But starting around version 12, they became subscription only. That was five or six years ago, or longer. I still use version 11 every day, still have host installed on 150 machines, and I never gave TV another frigging dime. I bought a lifetime license, and I'll continue using it for a lifetime. By the way, there's not a single new feature in the current version that I can use, or that I would pay extra for.

 

[xrobwx71]

I'm still using TV version 11, I license I paid for. I used to pay to upgrade every year or so, always getting the new version. But starting around version 12, they became subscription only. That was five or six years ago, or longer. I still use version 11 every day, still have host installed on 150 machines, and I never gave TV another frigging dime. I bought a lifetime license, and I'll continue using it for a lifetime. By the way, there's not a single new feature in the current version that I can use, or that I would pay extra for.

Does the lack of patched security issues in the software not concern you? Do they provide security updates aside from the program update itself? https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Announcements-EN/Statement-on-CVE-2020-13699/td-p/98448

Oh and a shout out from Panama City Beach!

 

[paulsiu]

This has not been my experience. I requested that they unblocked commerical use, but was told that they can't tell if I am using the product commerically. I was using it to help my mom so there is definitely not commerical