Nothing new to add, but did want to emphasize that if a text-only terminal is all you need, ‘screen’ is the way to go. It is one of the lesser known unix goodies, and a true «wonder tool»: a tool you cannot live without once you use it.
The quick primer:
First time:
ssh mymachine
screen
CTRL-a-c
CTRL-a-1
CRTL-a-d
exit
Future times:
ssh mymachine
screen -r
CTRL-a-2
CTRL-a-d
exit
You can create many login sessions inside one screen instance or launch multiple instances of screen on the same box by giving them a name. See the man page for all the goodness.