With the large number of routers available, with varying UPnP support, different firmware versions, port forwarding instructions, and ISP port blockages, getting the Remote Access features of the MSS and WHS to work correctly can sometimes be a daunting task. Some users have instant automatic success, while others have to forward ports, assign static IPs, or are simply blocked by their ISP.

I'd like to gather input from the users of this forum as to what works well, what doesn't work, and hopefully provide a resource for users to successfully configure Remote Access on their MSS.

Please follow the form below to make this easily searchable.

And I'll go first.

Router Manufacturer: Linksys
Router Model: WRT54G V2
Firmware Version: DDWRT V23-SP2
ISP: Comcast
Is UPnP supported?: YES
Is UPnP enabled?: YES
Did WHS Router config succeed?: YES
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: NO
Does Remote Access work?: YES
Does ISP block any ports?: NO
Any additional info/notes?: This config works awesome, I've had zero problems.

Router Manufacturer: D-Link
Router Model: DIR-655
Firmware Version: 1.10
ISP: Comcast
Is UPnP supported?: YES
Is UPnP enabled?: YES
Did WHS Router config succeed?: YES
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: NO
Does Remote Access work?: YES
Does ISP block any ports?: NO
Any additional info/notes?: Setup was too easy

Router Manufacturer: Netgear
Router Model: WNR854T
Firmware Version: 1.4.23NA
ISP: Verizon
Is UPnP supported?: yes
Is UPnP enabled?: yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: not automatic
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: yes
Does Remote Access work?: yes
Does ISP block any ports?: no
Any additional info/notes?: Works great!

Router Manufacturer: Netgear
Router Model: DG834
Firmware Version: V3.01.31
ISP: Pipex
Is UPnP supported?: yes
Is UPnP enabled?: yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: not automatic
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: yes
Does Remote Access work?: yes
Does ISP block any ports?: no

Router Manufacturer: D-Link
Router Model: DGL-4300
Firmware Version: 1.6
ISP: Comcast
Is UPnP supported?: Yes
Is UPnP enabled?: Yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: Yes
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: No
Does Remote Access work?: Yes
Does ISP block any ports?: Yes, Port 80
Any additional info/notes?: The router itself worked flawlessly. Comcast snoops network traffic so becareful. They disallow port 80 but they sniff traffic so they could find out you are running a webserver and cut off your service (if they really wanted to).

I'm getting a DGL-4500 in a few months. I'll post those results then.

Router Manufacturer: Linksys
Router Model: WRT54G V5
Firmware Version: v1.02.2, Jun. 7, 2007
ISP: Comcast
Is UPnP supported?: YES
Is UPnP enabled?: YES
Did WHS Router config succeed?: NO
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: YES
Does Remote Access work?: YES
Does ISP block any ports?: NO
Any additional info/notes?: I had a WHS Beta PC running with UPnP auto-config. Swapped to HP-MSS and will not auto-configure same router. Bummer.

Router Manufacturer: Linksys
Router Model: RVS 4000
Firmware Version: V1.1.09
ISP: Cox San Diego
Is UPnP supported?: YES
Is UPnP enabled?: YES
Did WHS Router config succeed?: NO
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: YES
Does Remote Access work?: YES
Does ISP block any ports?: NO
Any additional info/notes?: zero problems.

Router Manufacturer: Trendnet
Router Model: TEW-633GR
Firmware Version: 1.0.0.5, 17 Aug 2007
ISP: Mediacom
Is UPnP supported?: YES
Is UPnP enabled?: YES
Did WHS Router config succeed?: YES
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: NO
Does Remote Access work?: YES
Does ISP block any ports?: NO
Any additional info/notes?: easy as pie with this router

Router Manufacturer: Linksys
Router Model: WRT54G v5
Firmware Version: v1.02.2, Jun. 7, 2007
ISP: AT&T
Is UPnP supported?: Yes
Is UPnP enabled?: Yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: Yes*
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: No
Does Remote Access work?: Yes
Does ISP block any ports?: No
Any additional info/notes?: * had to update firmware to get UPnP to configure. Once updated - NO problem - works great

Router Manufacturer: Belkin
Router Model: F5D8233-4
Firmware Version: 1.00.10
ISP: Cablevision
Is UPnP supported?: yes
Is UPnP enabled?: no
Did WHS Router config succeed?: yes
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: no
Does Remote Access work?: yes
Does ISP block any ports?: no
Any additional info/notes?: Never had any trouble with Belkin routers. Reliable, nice design, and reasonably fast. Tech support sucks however !

Router Manufacturer: D-Link
Router Model: EBR-2310
Firmware Version: 2.01
ISP: Comcast Cable
Is UPnP supported?: Yes
Is UPnP enabled?: Yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: Yes
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: No
Does Remote Access work?: Yes
Does ISP block any ports?: No
Any additional info/notes?: Comcast Colorado

Router Manufacturer: Draytek
Router Model: Vigor 2600 Annex A
Firmware Version: 2.5.6_UK
ISP: Demon
Is UPnP supported?: Yes
Is UPnP enabled?: Yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: No - see below
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: Yes
Does Remote Access work?: Yes - but beware of double NAT when checking.
Does ISP block any ports?: No
Any additional info/notes?: WHS auto configured on LAN OK by DHCP server in the router, but reports that the router is not UPnP compatible even though it actually is.

Manual config with port forwarding successful but required checking externally due to double NAT issue.

Took a few goes to work the kinks out, but yes this router is compatible when manually configured.

January 2010 - New Router added:
Router Manufacturer: Draytek
Router Model: Vigor 2820Vn
Firmware Version: 3.3.3_232201 UK
ADSL Firmware: 232201_Annex A UK
ISP: Demon (Cable & Wireless/Thus)
Is UPnP supported?: Yes
Is UPnP enabled?: Yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: No - see below
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: Yes
Does Remote Access work?: Yes - but beware of double NAT when checking.
Does ISP block any ports?: No
Any additional info/notes?: WHS auto configured on LAN OK by DHCP server in the router, but reports that the router is not UPnP compatible even though it actually is. The 2820Vn also allows MAC Address/IP Address locking (the call it Bind IP to MAC) so that the IP address on the LAN stays permanently assigned to the hardware's MAC address.

Now also have an EX470 and EX490 running together, but only one has the HP software in use (the EX470). I access the other (EX490) via RDP.

Router Manufacturer: Buffalo
Router Model: WHR-HP-G54
Firmware Version: Buffalo 1.40
ISP: Windstream
Is UPnP supported?: Yes
Is UPnP enabled?: Yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: "Configured, but not verified" is the status.
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: I'm not sure, but I did it anyway. (see below)
Does Remote Access work?: Yes
Does ISP block any ports?: No
Any additional info/notes?: I initially thought that remote access was not working because I could not access the domain name from inside my network. So I did the port forwarding manually. I later learned that it was actually working from outside my network, just not from inside, because the router does not support loopback (?). It may still work without the port forwarding, but once I knew things were working, I just left it alone.

Router Manufacturer: Netgear
Router Model: DG834
Firmware Version: V3.01.31
ISP: BT
Is UPnP supported?: yes
Is UPnP enabled?: yes
Did WHS Router config succeed?: not automatic
Was manual Port Forwarding required?: yes
Does Remote Access work?: yes
Does ISP block any ports?: no