Disconnections.

[#1]

Quote from: pierre_pierre

Dont think you have every said what operating system you are on.

one laptop has XP, the other one vista and up to now no disconnection in any of them (2hours.. WOW! I managed to write a whole paragraph of my thesis including references!). Don't think it's operating system.

Quote from: pierre_pierre

Have you got your log on to the router set to stay on all the time?

I believe so, as far is the default setting... also I've changed 3 routers and all do the same thing!
JELV: please stop looking at the finger when i point at the moon!! I'm using the VPN conection to keep a track, it's a tool, a probe... considering that the log seems not to show anything... how can I see if both laptops get disconnected simultaneously otherwise?

[#2]

Yes but your tool could be clouding the issue. You believe that you are suffering from disconnects but no evidence to  back this up except internet browsing is stalling and VPN is disconnecting. Unlike Jelv I have no experience using VPN but I can make a few suggestions, one being could  congestion at the exchange cause a VPN drop?

[#3]

I would exclude that. As I said, my tool is reliable as I've used it for years and never got this problem. Also, if there was a problem and considering how unusual it would be, other users would experience the same, report to IT and there would be a departmental email making people aware that something is going on. I think it happened twice in the past and was solved in literally few hours. So trust me when i say that it is not the VPN.
3 hours of connection in a row now... my neighbours must be at work! I start suspecting there is an interference with someone else...
If this is the case, who's responsible for cabling in the buiding? (this is a house converted to 4 flats) I've called the management company and they said that it's responsability of the provider to provide a reliable service...

[#4]

I'm moving towards some sort of congestion or traffic related problem.
Have you checked the status of your exchange? http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/
Can you try doing something which loads the internet connection such as downloading something to see if that causes the VPN to drop (e.g. download a program from BBC iPlayer).
I don't think it would be the cabling in the building - that would be likely to cause disconnections, but if everybody else is at work the level of traffic going through your exchange may be lower.
Edit: If it is an exchange related problem going on to Max Premium which as well as giving you faster upload speeds gives you a higher priority on the BT network. When I was experiencing VPN problems with VPN software that didn't handle timeouts very well I found that moving to Max Premium made a noticeable improvement.

[#5]

Results: Nine Elms Code: WRNELMS
County: London - Greater
Enabled: 11 Oct 1999
Market: 3

VP capacity at this exchange is currently showing as Green.
Click here for further details 
BT have advised that this exchange is enabled for WBC on 21CN 
You can view recent Service Outages for this exchange here 
BT has published DSL Max upgrade information for this exchange
Click here for further details

Nope... no exchange problems. All lights are green (first 2) or grey (second two). when clicking on the second two does give no service outage and the exchange has been upgraded in 2006!

Quote from: jelv

I don't think it would be the cabling in the building - that would be likely to cause disconnections, but if everybody else is at work the level of traffic going through your exchange may be lower.

Sorry, didn't get that.. you say that messed cabling WOULD be likely to cause disconnections? because that is the case...

[#6]

I would think that if the building cabling was messed up you would get more significant problems including disconnections - your sync speed and that Plusnet are not seeing disconnections tell us that that isn't happening.

[#7]

Internal wiring problems can cause lost of synchronization with the exchange (disconnections) but you believe that's happening but we don't as PN data does not support this and your modem stats does not support this when you have stated you have experienced disconnections.
My modem report back 2 connections for broadband
1. DSL connection (which is the sync with the exchange and this what gets disconnected when the line is noisy)
2. Internet Connection (This is the PPPoA session which PN control and is dropped for profile and gateway changes)
Both of these have  timers and currently mine are at 2 days 16 hours which was the last time I lost sync with the exchange. Your modem display similar information and this is what you need to post to back up the disconnection you believe you are suffering from.

[#8]

You've said that general browsing is affected by the disconnections. Something has just occurred to me. Have you checked the router tables when the VPN is connected to see how IP addresses not on the network you are connecting to are routed. It may be that all your internet access is going via the VPN connection which is why it would then look like general browsing was affected at the same time as the VPN drops.
If you could open a cmd window and run the following two commands and copy paste the results back we would be able to tell if that is the case:
route print
tracert ntp.plus.net
The output should look something like this:

C:\Documents and Settings\John>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 ff 68 7d 1a 8a ...... Juniper Network Connect Virtual Adapter
0x3 ...00 0f 1f 9b 02 53 ...... Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Connection - SecuRemote Miniport
0x4 ...54 c1 07 0d 75 07 ...... Check Point Virtual Network Adapter For SecureClient - SecuRemote Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.0.1   192.168.0.104       20
    83.244.140.24  255.255.255.255      192.168.0.1   192.168.0.104       1
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       1
      169.254.0.0      255.255.0.0    192.168.0.104   192.168.0.104       20
     172.16.0.132  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       10
   172.16.255.255  255.255.255.255     172.16.0.132    172.16.0.132       10
      192.168.0.0    255.255.255.0     172.16.0.132    172.16.0.132       1
    192.168.0.104  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       20
    192.168.0.255  255.255.255.255    192.168.0.104   192.168.0.104       20
    192.168.100.0    255.255.255.0     172.16.0.132    172.16.0.132       1
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0    192.168.0.104   192.168.0.104       20
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255     172.16.0.132               4       1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255     172.16.0.132    172.16.0.132       1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255    192.168.0.104   192.168.0.104       1
Default Gateway:       192.168.0.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  None
C:\Documents and Settings\John>tracert ntp.plus.net
Tracing route to ntp.plus.net [212.159.6.9]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  dg834 [192.168.0.1]
  2    18 ms    14 ms    11 ms  lo0-homesurf.ptn-ag02.plus.net [195.166.128.54]
  3    11 ms    10 ms    10 ms  gi2-7-705.ptn-gw01.plus.net [84.92.3.97]
  4    11 ms    11 ms    11 ms  vl55.ptn-lb01.plus.net [212.159.2.124]
  5    13 ms    11 ms    11 ms  cdns01.plus.net [212.159.6.9]
Trace complete.

[#9]

Well, I know that VPN uses internet and not the opposite.. as I DON'T HAVE a VPN software; it is installed trough windows network... anyway, these are the results if it can help.
sorry.. some stuff is in italian, but it should be clear anyway...

C:\WINDOWS\system32>route print
===========================================================================
Elenco interfacce
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 12 f0 02 32 5a ...... Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
- Miniport dell'UtilitÓ di pianificazione pacchetti
0x3 ...00 0f b0 83 63 b5 ...... Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Contro
ller - Miniport dell'UtilitÓ di pianificazione pacchetti
0x20005 ...00 53 45 00 00 00 ...... WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Route attive:
Indirizzo rete            Mask            Gateway      Interfac.  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      152.78.36.8    152.78.36.8      1
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.0.1    192.168.0.3      21
    83.9.173.219  255.255.255.255      192.168.0.1    192.168.0.3      20
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1      127.0.0.1      1
      152.78.36.8  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1      127.0.0.1      50
  152.78.128.159  255.255.255.255      192.168.0.1    192.168.0.3      20
  152.78.255.255  255.255.255.255      152.78.36.8    152.78.36.8      50
      192.168.0.0    255.255.255.0      192.168.0.3    192.168.0.3      20
      192.168.0.3  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1      127.0.0.1      20
    192.168.0.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.0.3    192.168.0.3      20
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0      192.168.0.3    192.168.0.3      20
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0      152.78.36.8    152.78.36.8      1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      152.78.36.8    152.78.36.8      1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      152.78.36.8              2      1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.0.3    192.168.0.3      1
Gateway predefinito:      152.78.36.8
===========================================================================
Route permanenti:
  Nessuno
C:\WINDOWS\system32>tracert ntp.plus.net
Rilevazione instradamento verso ntp.plus.net [212.159.6.10]
su un massimo di 30 punti di passaggio:
  1    32 ms    34 ms    32 ms  ip-036-000.vpn.soton.ac.uk [152.78.36.0]
  2    33 ms    34 ms    37 ms  b54rv2-v31.net.soton.ac.uk [152.78.128.17]
  3    71 ms    81 ms    79 ms  b54aagesw2-ba.net.soton.ac.uk [152.78.108.130]
  4    37 ms    36 ms    35 ms  b54gagesw1-aa2.net.soton.ac.uk [152.78.108.150]
  5    37 ms    35 ms    38 ms  b54gafwc1-int.net.soton.ac.uk [152.78.109.4]
  6    38 ms    78 ms    82 ms  b54gagesw2-hafw.net.soton.ac.uk [152.78.0.30]
  7  105 ms    69 ms    82 ms  212.219.151.113
  8    34 ms    37 ms    35 ms  195.194.38.33
  9    39 ms    42 ms    38 ms  lond-sbr1.ja.net [146.97.40.17]
10    38 ms    38 ms    38 ms  so-6-0-0.lond-sbr4.ja.net [146.97.33.154]
11    41 ms    46 ms    37 ms  ae0.lond-gw-ixp4.ja.net [146.97.35.182]
12    36 ms    36 ms    36 ms  linx-gw1.plus.net [195.66.224.164]
13    53 ms    79 ms    81 ms  te3-2.ptn-gw02.plus.net [212.159.1.105]
14    38 ms    39 ms    37 ms  vl55.ptn-lb01.plus.net [212.159.2.124]
15    36 ms    36 ms    35 ms  cdns02.plus.net [212.159.6.10]
Rilevazione completata.
Anything interesting?

[#10]

by the way it's now almost 7 hours of no drops..... I really have no idea what's going on, but I hope it will last!

[#11]

Quote from: Laura1975

Anything interesting?

Oh yes!
I was right - when you have the VPN connected ALL traffic not destined for you local network is going via the university. That is particularly obvious if you compare your trace to the Plusnet time server to mine; yours you can see goes via the university, then out on to the Janet network before it reaches Plusnet.
So we are back where we began and your problem is VPN dropouts, not dropouts of the connection to Plusnet.
Did you manage to test whether generating a lot of traffic causes dropouts?

[#12]

One thing I have noticed from your tracert is that the times are very variable (unhealthily so). I've just checked out how far I can get towards you from the outside going in - I can get responses to pings as far as 152.78.0.30.
With VPN connected could you run the following command please:
ping -n 50 152.78.0.30
and then repeat the same command with the VPN disconnected.

[#13]

Laura,
How much of the time do you actually need to be connected to the university VPN? I bet if you only connect as and when needed and disconnect when done you'd find general browsing etc. a lot more usable.

[#14]

Not sure which VPN client you are using , but if its a standard VPN connection using the Windows PPTP VPN client then you can configure it not to route all the traffic through the VPN, and only that which is destined for the remote network will go through the VPN tunnel. See here http://knowledgelayer.softlayer.com/questions/212/Setting+up+PPTP+for+Windows+XP , its the 'Uncheck Use default gateway on remote network' you need to do, see Fig 15 ( about 2/3 down the link ).

[#15]

I've played around with BBC i-player ... still no disconnections (funny enough... it's almost 10 hours connected today!!).

Quote from: jelv

I was right - when you have the VPN connected ALL traffic not destined for you local network is going via the university. That is particularly obvious if you compare your trace to the Plusnet time server to mine; yours you can see goes via the university, then out on to the Janet network before it reaches Plusnet.

Don't know if this is totally true.. most of my traffic goes through VPN cause most of my traffic is searching papers and using softwares that NEED University server to have access to it, so it doesn't mean much... and this also reply to your question on how much I need VPN!  is there any traffic at going through VPN all not ? I only occasionally waste some time on facebook.. and check this forum!!

Quote from: jelv

ping -n 50 152.78.0.30

VPN connected results:
Esecuzione di Ping 152.78.0.30 con 32 byte di dati:
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=62ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=154ms TTL=250
Richiesta scaduta.
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=69ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=74ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=84ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=43ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=71ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=84ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=45ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=33ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=81ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=77ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=53ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=36ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=65ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=65ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=73ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=94ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=54ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=81ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=71ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=67ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=65ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=33ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=54ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=72ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=45ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=42ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=84ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=82ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=71ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=72ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=55ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=68ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=87ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=71ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=107ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=70ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=67ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=73ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=39ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=42ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=55ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=90ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=135ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=144ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=67ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=81ms TTL=250
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=90ms TTL=250
Statistiche Ping per 152.78.0.30:
   Pacchetti: Trasmessi = 50, Ricevuti = 49, Persi = 1 (2% persi),
Tempo approssimativo percorsi andata/ritorno in millisecondi:
   Minimo = 33ms, Massimo =  154ms, Medio =  71ms
C:\WINDOWS\system32>
-----------------------------------
VPN Disconnected
C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping -n 50 152.78.0.30
Esecuzione di Ping 152.78.0.30 con 32 byte di dati:
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=38ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=43ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=32ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=37ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=37ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=31ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=35ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=34ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=44ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=37ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=41ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=74ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=73ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=36ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=37ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=32ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=35ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=42ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=36ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=34ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=34ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=32ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=37ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=34ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=33ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=103ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=91ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=89ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=36ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=34ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=35ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=36ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=38ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=77ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=38ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=79ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=59ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=38ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=75ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=143ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=167ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=35ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=63ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=44ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=62ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=122ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=75ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=75ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=121ms TTL=245
Risposta da 152.78.0.30: byte=32 durata=142ms TTL=245
Statistiche Ping per 152.78.0.30:
   Pacchetti: Trasmessi = 50, Ricevuti = 50, Persi = 0 (0% persi),
Tempo approssimativo percorsi andata/ritorno in millisecondi:
   Minimo = 31ms, Massimo =  167ms, Medio =  57ms