Problems connecting to work VPN via Home ISP

My daughter G can no longer connect to her work VPN thru her home Verizon ISP using either the Landline or the wireless.

This used to work, no problem. The following changes were then made.

Work gave her a new Laptop. Switched the server she uses and changed the VPN being used. No changes were made on her home PC or thru Verizon.

She can access the VPN when at hotels or even using a neighbor's wireless with permission (very slow and drops a lot). The only place she seems unable to access Work VPN is from the Verizon home setup.

She no longer has admin privileges on her new laptop. Not allowed to install any programs or even her local printer. Therefore we cannot try any sorts of diagnostic programs on her laptop unless there is one already part of windows we can use.

She can access the internet thru the laptop just not the VPN.

System:
Windows XP SP2 Vers 2002
Dell latitude
Verizon High Speed internet (not fios or DSL)
Westell 6100 Modem
Linksys router WRT54GS

Company had her set modem to disable modem firewall and to open certain ports for her.

Onsite help not available as she is in Pennsylvania and tech support in Massachusetts or Europe. This creates a catch22 situation as when she is in Massachusetts or elsewhere the problem does not occur.
Tech Support cannot directly access her PC when she is home because IP address is not accurate (modem) when connected to VPN rather than work IP.

Last Saturday they reloaded her VPN and the connection worked for a day. The next day she again could not access her Work VPN. She has been on phone with tech support regularly but everyone currently at an impasse. They did reinstall the VPN again yesterday but this time it did not work.

We would like to know if anyone can make any suggestions. we did try Verizon (she had to pay for a 72 hour help ) and got nowhere with them.

She has a lot of work to do at home and is mostly unable to get it done because of no VPN access. She either works from home or when traveling for work in the US as well as Europe.

Any questions may take a while to answer as she does not live with me.

 

The most likely cause is that Verizon is blocking the VPN ports. Unless she is using an SSL VPN, the VPN connection will go over different ports (protocol settings) than web and e-mail. Some networks block VPN ports.

I think the solution may be use a different ISP.

Another solution would be to install an SSL-VPN at her workplace to provide an alternative VPN solution. I've used a Netgear SSL-VPN concentrator in similar situations.

 

If Verizon is blocking the VPN, why did it work before all the other changes as well as the one day when Tech support reloaded the VPN? The neighbor's wireless is Verizon as well. Verizon also claims they do not block the VPN. I still believe the problem is with her company and how they set up her laptop or what they are telling her re setting up the modem.

Also, Tech support gave us the ports to be allowed and Verizon allows those ports

She is considering other ISP's but that won't be for a while.

Hers is a very large company and I don't think telling them to change to the Net gear solution mentioned would be likely. She is just a regular employee.

 

"She can access the VPN when at hotels or even using a neighbor's wireless with permission (very slow and drops a lot). The only place she seems unable to access Work VPN is from the Verizon home setup. "

That tells you the laptop and vpn are setup correctly. It would appear to be the modem or router that may be the problem. First thing I would do is update firmware on the router and if possible, the modem.

Initially, I also thought the ports were being blocked.

 

Are the company and your daughter's networks both using the same IP Subnet? For example, if her home router is assigning her laptop the address 192.168.1.100 and her company's network also use 192.168.1.0 addresses, the VPN will not work.

 

Tony,

Re:

Westell 6100 Modem Used for Verizon
Linksys router WRT54GS used for wireless

The 192 //168.1.1. is for the Westell modem not the router. Also, in her case the ID is also admin.

She can not find any reference in the url tabs for VPN pass through .

Did you mean the Linksys router or the Westell modem? If the Westell modem 192 etc. please explain further what she needs to look for and how to check for the pass through for enabled or disabled.

If for the Linksys router how does she get to that and then what?

Thanks

 

Tony,
Passing on the information but Verizon tech support is who gave her the 192.168.1.1 url for the Westell -

Her original wireless set up was done over a year ago by Firedog - (Circuit city)

It always worked prior to this change in the VPN. Very confusing.

Will post results of what we do.

 

Bingo! We have a winner!

 

What is the solution if this is the case?

1. Get company to change its VPN IP address.

2. If they cannot or will not do make that change what can be done?

 

No. By far the easiest thing is to change your local IP address space - that is the one at home. All it takes is to changed the internal IP address of the router and the address range it is giving out via DHCP.

I'd recommend you proceed by taking these steps:

1. Change your PC so that it is statically assigned an IP address. The easiest way to do this is to enter ipconfig at a command prompt and take a note of the IP address, subnet mask and default gate way. Then go to your network connection properties, select TCP/IP and click on properties. And then manually enter the values you got from ipconfig.
2. Browse to the router by entering the IP address for the default gateway you obtained in step one. Log in as admin, and change the router's internal IP address to use a different subnet (see note below). When you do this and save the change, you will lose the connection to the router. See next step.
3. You now need to change your computer's IP address to match the router's new one. At this stage all that means is changing the first three octets of the IP address to match the router's. You do this in the same way you changed the address in step one.
4. You should now be able to access the router again on it's new IP address. Log in as admin again and find the section where the DHCP service is configured. Alter this so that your router gives out addresses that match its own. Save the change.
5. You can then go back into your computers TCP/IP settings and set them back to automatic.

Note on IP addresses and subnets
IP addresses (version 4) are made up of four blocks of numbers from 0 to 255. Each block is called an octet. For an address of 192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0, the first three octets define the number used by the sub-network the address is used on (its 'subnet') and the last octet is unique to the device using this address. So 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3 are two IPs on the same subnet. 192.168.4.4 is on a different subnet. I created this tool a while back to allow people to play with IP addresses and see which ones will talk to each other. Have a play with that if you want to see what effect changing IP addresses has.

So for your case, I'd suggest you change the router's address to 192.168.100.1 and change it's DHCP service to give out addresses in the range 192.168.100.100 to 192.168.100.200.

 

ReggieB - A question

Can I do any of this using her home HP PC on we have full admin priviliges and then that would then be ok for use by the Laptop which uses the VPN. Or does it all have to be done using the Laptop? do not have admin priviliges there and not sure if we would need them.

The Desktop does not use wireless but I presume I can do things with the router from it?

Unfortunately my Computer expertise and experience is with software programs but not networking etc. This is why all of the questions. If we have access to do this via privileges on the Laptop then should be easy to follow all of your steps..

Thanks for the help -

 

Her home PC would be fine. You can do it from any PC on the internal network. It may even be a little easier from a wired PC.

 

Reggie Thanks,

We will try it this coming weekend while laptop is home. Will use home pc to make the changes. will post results.
Have to try soon, as Laptop going on vacation for 2 weeks end of August and then to your country in early Sept for 3 months. (Liverpool)

PS. Daughter going with laptop