Static IP, multiple VPNs and Vodafone SureSignal

Hi all - I've had a quick search but can't find anything about Vodafone SureSignal. I'm coming to the end of my BT contract and wonder if anyone is aware of a broadband supplier who offoers:

A static IP
A router which allows multiple VPNs

I have a home server I'd like to VPN into and the Vodafone SureSignal uses a VPN tunnel
The BT router doesn't let me set up multiple VPNs

MAny thanks for any help you can give me.

Is the server able to run VPN server software itself? If so you should be able to connect to it remotely so longer as your router has appropriate port forwarding.

I would expect the Vodafone SureSignal to be able to establish whatever connection it needs via your router.

Plusnet offer static IPs for a small amount. Dynamic DNS is a free alternative.

As Michael's implied, you can ignore the SureSignal. It will set up the connections it needs like any other device. I recently got one and had all sorts of problems with it, and read on their forums (and was advised by Vodafone themselves) about opening all sorts of ports to the SureSignal (which would indeed have taken the ports normally used for incoming VPN). But it was all a red herring.... it's not quite so badly designed as gthey make out! The SureSignal hadn't registered correctly at Vodafone and they had to "re-sync" it. Then it sprang to life and has been great since, with absolutely no configuration on my router whatsoever (though I assigned it a static local internal 192.168. IP).... leaving all the (main) ports available for me to do what I like. Generally the SureSignal just maintains one connection using port 4500 (but because of NAT, actually some random port on the router is used, hence not occupying inbound port 4500).

Not sure many (any??) "standard" (aka free) routers given away by ISPs will offer VPN in, but the majority of ISPs let you use whatever router you fancy, so if you need VPN in, I'd recommend buying your own router. I have a Draytek 2860 which gives me many VPN options for inbound as well as network-network connections, plus all the internal configuration I want. I use it with Zen as my ISP, who provide all users with a static IPv4 address.... and a block of IPv6 too if you want it. Not the cheapest option, but works well. My experience is that it provides a much better connection than the free Zyxel I was given too.

As olicuk says, Vodafone SureSignal units are pretty well behaved these days, though my only recent experience is with version 3 hardware (the current Alcatel Lucent manufactured unit built into a large mains adaptor - not the earlier units with separate 'wall wart' adapters). SureSignal version 3 is usually happy so long as it has no restrictions on outgoing Internet access. Most of its traffic goes over an IPsec VPN using NAT-T, which uses UDP port 4500.

Thanks for the answers - I'll remove all the port forwarding on the Sure Signal and leave it be for a bit and see what happens.....

One thing to note about Sure Signal - it only supports 3G and if your phone has 4G enabled it will always use that in preference, thus bypassing the SS. Luckily for me it turns out that one or two bars of a 4G signal are good enough for a voice conversation whereas one or two bars of a 3G signal are not.

So I've been able to retire my SS3 which prolly saves £1 a month in electricity - those things run hot.

My phone also supports wifi calling but so far has never needed to use it.

I don't get 4G in the house.

I've taken all my port forwarding away and it seems my Sure Signal is still working.
I'm not really sure how to test that it's working though ?