Commercial use - Connection time outAnnounced

I've only used TV for personal use, but one of my computers got flagged and I had no idea why. From reading some of the posts, it could be frequently using it on a commercial network like a coffee shop or school, even though reading through the guidelines I thought I was safe because I am only using the computer for personal use, and only to connect to another personal computer, and I dont use TV that frequently.
I filled out the form, and we'll see. Too bad TV doesnt see fit to offer personal licenses with a small yearly fee as another option, but fortunately at least one other company does.

Never understood why TV discriminates private/commercial users. 

If TV is worth anything, there should be a PAID option for everybody.  Nothing is for free. 

I used the run-only version ( V11ish) ocassionally privately (w/o getting paid).  

Unfortunately, this stopped working recently, when they forced to update to V14, and which in turn forces to get new H/W, because TV managed to elliminate OS backwards compatibilility for their S/W. On top of that, I noticed that connecting to Win10 targets isn't working well (try open on-screen keyboard, taskmanager  or some other pop-up windows w/o freezing up the target...).

For what TV does lately, I think even the currently the lowest rate $440 is not worth it. Especially when I have to pay out of private pocket.

I am looking for at least a monthly paid subscription if I should continue considering TV.

The company should fix their software instead of force everybody to send a support request. 

It will likely cost the company less payroll expense to ask the engineering dept to fix the stupid bug that was introduced into the latest build; as opposed to processing thousands of support requests. Their process is clearly is not automated because many legitmate free users have already waited several weeks for a response. 

The company's policy is stated very clearly and it does not sound encouraging to me. I only have one computer so if it is marked commercial then the company has basically labelled me as an unauthorized user (a cheater). I do not appreciate being treated this way. 

...connections to devices
which are flagged as commercial 
are not possible even if your device
has been reset to personal use.

I do not want this company to waste my time. I will find a competing product before I will submit a support request. 

They have damaged the TeamViewer brand.

I am glad I do not work for this company as I would be so disappointed in my leadership. 

With regardes to Commercial Use suspected/detected: even going through the proper channels and filling out the forms isn't going to help much, it's been 2 months since I contacted TV about the Commercial use suspected with my account, only have 5 contacts in my list, my other computer, both my wifes laptops and my sister and her husband computers, TV only gets used once a month or so.

I sent TV the logs and they responed with "They couldn't tell if I was using TV commercially or not" and told to fill out the declaration of private use form and send it back.

2 months and nothing (apart from the rise of TV spam in my inbox), time to remove TV I think.

I am too tired of this. Between using **Third Party Product** and **Third Party Product**, I will make do. The programs are not as good but I can't tolerate such poor treatment. I am not allowed to pay a small fee for use so it's either pay a huge fee or free+relentless false accusations. It's ridiculous! So I'm deleting.

I am also the type of personality to go for the low-hanging fruit, first! 

I am hopeful that this is a defect introduced into their code. Though, I would not be surprised if the attempt to change the heuristic is a result of management wanting to increase sales. So, why not improve the "hits" on potential cheaters! 

Or it may not be the greedy case at all.

Perhaps it is a new bug in the connection layer of the latest upgrade that creates the conditions that trigger the existing cheat-detection code to flag the user as a cheater? 

Regardless, it is probably causing problems with thousands of legitimate non-commercial Users. Far less than 1% may go to the trouble to jump through the hoops to talk about it here. 

In the case of this being driven by the desire to increase revenues, I suppose there is not much downside of these change by the company to reduce free loading; other than alienating people that probably would not have purchased the product any time soon, if at all. And these experiences may make that a certainty.  

I didn't even get the option to send a declaration >:/

I have the same issue....

I have also contacted teamviewer, created a support ticket, provided the computer ID's as well as a lengthy explanation that I only use Teamviewer for personal use, have never used it for commercial use, and received an acknowledgement that they would review my account and restore the ID"s to personal use status if their review showed this to be the case. It's been over a week now, and either no review has taken place, or they have decided to leave the account marked as being somehow thought to be for commercial use despite it never having been at all.  So, getting this incorrect flagging is terribly lacking as well... with accounts that are only used for personal access  within ones own home network now being incorrectly flagged and limited by Teamviewer as being used improperly when they have not been.

Clearly the "find cheaters" heuristics in your TeamViewer code is a big waste of everybody's time in its current form! 

Please remove that garbage code that is improperly flagging me as a cheater. 

I take no offense because I know how easy it is to put garbage code in your production product.  

I use the service for less than a 90 minutes per week to check a PC with a home surveillance camera so that I can see if my 85 year old Mother has fallen or not. 

Only recently have I started seeing this stupid message aout cutting me off after a few minutes. I am never even logged in that long typically, anyway. 

Just taking my time today to point out that you have seriously broken code in your product now, with a recent update.

I received this message from you on 8/8/19:

========================================================================

Dear TeamViewer User,
 
Thank you for getting in touch with us. We are happy to inform you that your TeamViewer ID has been reset to “free”. After reviewing your request, we decided that your use case can be qualified as “personal”.

========================================================================

BUT I STILL GET THE MESSAGE THAT THINKS I'M USING TEAMVIEWER AS A BUSINESS AND IT IS TIMING ME OUT RIGHT AWAY, CAN'T EVEN LOG INTO A SESSION. I am not sure what the problem is, could you please recheck why this isn't resetting? I have sent many messages since you sent me the original email saying I was reset to free personal, but am not getting a reply.  My TeamViewer ID is **Please do not post TeamViewer IDs**

I appreciate any assistance you can give to me.  Thank you.

@Aamcqu : ok so we finally know it: from now on we're supposed to be using only in the home / private network, and not accross the Internet (i.e. the TV network), because otherwise we'll all get eventually flagged.

Ok so we're not supposed to discuss pricing, but how about a personal licence?!?

So I did actually hear back from support on this question. 

support(at)teamviewer wrote:

---------------------------------------

Hello!

Yes your usage intent appears to be personal, however the teamviewer app will continue to flag in the future when it runs into the work network. The best way to keep it from doing this is to use it from home network to home network.

To reset your ID to Private, please visit: https://www.teamviewer.com/reset

Please allow up to 30 days for processing, though most tend to be processed in half as much time.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards,

---------------------------------------

So there's the answer. Yes it's considered personal use to access your home computer from your work computer, but the software they use to catch actual cheaters won't let you do it anyway.

And obviously the workaround they suggested is not a real solution. If I need to access my home computer from my home, I can just walk over to it.

I'm sure they're not actually concerned about losing free users, but it's a shame that in their crackdown on people using their product for work they're alienating so many longtime loyal users of their product. 

(It's also a shame they don't offer a personal plan - one that doesn't cost **Please do not discuss pricing**, which is just an absurd price.)

Oh well, off to a competitor for me. Good luck, everyone!

same happened to me. first time in 3 years. 

Same happened to me over the past few days. Use it for home computer use only and still somehow flagged after years later. I wouldn't mind supporting the product for a few bucks a month if they actually sold personal licenses instead of business ones.

Somewhat off-topic, but I can't resist the temptation...

Following kudos received for my last post, this forum's software informed me by mail that I had now received an Emissary badge (whatever that is?). To whoever designed this forum software:
While I appreciate you obviously have amazing programming skills, I would like you to know that your badges have as much value as a chocolate fire grate. For my part, I subscribe to Groucho Marx's philosophy of "I would hate to be a member of any club that would accept me as a member." In other words, you can take your badges and shove them where the sun don't shine!

And, as for the titles the forum gives, I have now achieved the status of 'Trigon'. It appears everyone has a status of SomethingGon. Equally as worthless as the forum badges, I would however remind the company that, at least where my usage of TV is concerned, you have achieved the well-deserved status of TeamViewerGon!

---

@Technut wrote:

---

• What is Personal Use?

Personal use means that you are helping family and friends, or remotely connecting to your own non-server devices, which are not being used in a commercial environment.

 

---

I think that accurately describes the usage of most, if not all, of us here complaining about TV's current "Commercial use detected" policy. Because my original post is now very old, I remind everyone here that TeamViewer's support team refused to reinstate my ID because my email address is on a company domain. So, even though I have been retired for the last 3 years, I must be a commercial user.

The 2 friends I helped with TV are also retired. At first, they were confused when I told them to uninstall TV and install another solution. But since using the competing program they are again happy.

Incidentally, someone recommended us to file a review on Capterra which I duly did but that platform is only for business users so my review will be rejected as it pertains to personal use. I have never used TV for any kind of business use which means, as far as Capterra is concerned, my input is of no value.

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@pv7721 wrote:

You want to be right, and actually I want YOU to be right, but I'm afraid that TV won't want that, as pretty much everything you do it flags you. 

---

I'm not saying it won't flag you... that seems to be almost random. It clearly is falsely flagging personal use all over the place.

But according to their own website it is Personal Use to connect from work to home as long as your home is not a 'commercial environment'.

• What is Personal Use?

Personal use means that you are helping family and friends, or remotely connecting to your own non-server devices, which are not being used in a commercial environment.

Shame, TeamViewer staff to suspect reliable users in fraud.

Rather we all should suspect TeamViewer in fraid.

@Technut : I might be wrong, I don't remember where I've seen it written, and as this history is going on and on I'm not sure I want to look for the info.

You want to be right, and actually I want YOU to be right, but I'm afraid that TV won't want that, as pretty much everything you do it flags you. 

I've already said, but I can say it again, how I used the version 9 which didn't have the flagging but they got backported, and then the version was unsupported.

I filled the form for all my IDs and waited, using 3rd parties (that unfortunately are nowhere as good as TV); one day I got an ok for one ID (I didn't know which) and another day got the declaration to sign. After a while I got unblocked, but I wonder when will I be blocked again?

---

@pv7721 wrote:

@Aamcqu : yes unfortunately you do need a license, as the originating computer you're running TV to connect to your OWN personal computers is in a work environment.

---

@pv7721 He's asking for an OFFICIAL answer, but I think you're wrong. 

Every example that I've found on the TeamViewer website only says it's commercial use if you are accessing your work computer, not if you are accessing your HOME (non-work) computer from work.

@Aamcqu The key element is that he is not earning any direct or indirect income or compensation by accessing his personal computer from work. It is no different than accessing his home computer from his mother's house.

https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/How-exactly-is-quot-personal-use-quot-defined/ta-p/4712

Examples of indirect payments:

• a software company sells a software product for which it offers free support via TeamViewer
• teamwork among colleagues within a company
• use in associations and non-profit organizations with non-volunteer (i.e. paid) employees
• access to a company computer for work-related activities

In the above-mentioned cases for indirect payment, TeamViewer is used for creating an added value, the payment takes place indirectly through salaries or a combination of sales/support activities.

https://www.teamviewer.com/en/support/commercial-use-suspected/

using TeamViewer for the exercise of your business or profession, or for any purposes for which you directly or indirectly receive compensation – for example, team work with colleagues, or providing free support to third parties which have bought software from you – does not qualify as personal use.

https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Why-do-I-see-Commercial-use-suspected-Commercial-use-detected/ta-p/5265

What is Commercial Use?

We define commercial use as being any use of TeamViewer for purposes that are either directly or indirectly paid for. This includes, not exclusively, the following use cases:

Commercial use applies to provide support to customers and colleagues:

If you are using TeamViewer to connect to your client’s or customer’s devices, it qualifies as a paid service.

Commercial use applies to home office:

If you use TeamViewer for home office, it is commercial use – even if you just quickly connect to your work computer to check your emails. It does not depend on whether you register your TeamViewer Account with your personal or company email address.

Commercial use applies to incoming and outgoing connections:

If you are using TeamViewer in a commercial environment but let your customers connect to your device, it is commercial use. The definition does not exclude incoming connections.

Commercial use applies to server administration:

If you use TeamViewer to monitor one or several devices running a server operating system, commercial use applies.

Commercial use can apply to non-profit organizations:

If you work for a non-profit organization, the use of TeamViewer can be commercial if you or another person in the organization receive a salary from the organization.

• What is Personal Use?

Personal use means that you are helping family and friends, or remotely connecting to your own non-server devices, which are not being used in a commercial environment.

@idonthaveagood : please see this post: https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/General-Questions/TeamViewer-thinks-I-m-using-the-software-commercially/m-p/69546/highlight/true#M31772

@o23iutg5498h234 : very interesting observations, but:

* Having Teamviewer installed on more than 2 different devices. -> I have it installed on 8
* Using remote connections more than 3 times in a 24 hour timeperiod. -> i had been using more than that sometimes more in parallel 

* Having more than 3 people in your friendslist.
* If any of your contacts use Teamviewer commercially, even if there's no interraction.

What's the purpose to have people in your friendlist, you can connect to their computers? If their commercial use influences yours, maybe there's not such a good idea to keep them, as there's finally no interaction.

@Aamcqu : yes unfortunately you do need a license, as the originating computer you're running TV to connect to your OWN personal computers is in a work environment.

same problem, what are the steps to fix, its just a home mac running and I can't find a way to create a ticket

Hum, I don't think that''s 100% accurate because I have been using TV to help my kids since they started to use PCs and my elderly parents including with laptops, PCs and recently android phones... without any problems for many years.

I even had a contact who bought a professional license of TV,  based on my own recommendation for supporting his own team! it would ironic if TV was kicking me out because of that pattern! :-(

Anyway, it is the second time it happened to me, let's see how long it takes them to fix it again this time... but it seems to always happen at the worst time...

I was trying connecting from work to check on my home computer and it was the work network that **bleep** things up that time for me, so no, it's not ok. Not ok if on: work network, school network, church network. It's all commercial. [removed per Community Guidelines] None of these work as well but I am stymied when I am getting labeled commercial when I am connecting from my home computer to my other home computer in my home...and it is flagged and then it 'infexts' all of my other computers on my account. I get their need to police this but it's getting so difficult I have had to find alternatives.

I would like to hear an answer on this, too. I have never used TeamViewer for commercial use as remote access is not allowed by my department in general to do my job as it requires access to the landline phones here. Not only that, but they use Citrix for that. I, not my computer, use Team Viewer to access my home desktop PC using my personal cell phone that I pay the bill for and also isn't used for the company but I use the work wifi to not kill my data plan. Its not different from connecting to the McDonald's wifi as I'm doing the same thing, playing idle games and messing with my PERSONAL discord server. I would love to know why this is "commercial use" suddenly without them even bothering to clarify anything. Its a Samsung S9+ from a work wifi connecting to a home desktop PC. That's obviously not work.

Hi @Esther , @Natascha and any others who can help -- Can I ask for some official clarity from TeamViewer on this? 

This page says it's considered commercial use:

1. "If you are using TeamViewer in a commercial environment but let your customers connect to your device"  
2. "If you use TeamViewer for home office, it is commercial use – even if you just quickly connect to your work computer to check your emails"

What if you were to do the opposite, and connect to your home computer FROM your work computer, so that you can access your personal files or send emails while you're on a break?  This type of usage is clearly not considered "commercial use" according to the definitions on that website, but I wasn't sure if there was another, stricter definition being used by the software that flags suspicious behavior.

If I want to continue to access my home computer FROM my work computer (not the other way around) during my breaks, do I need a commercial license for that?

Thank you for the clarification!