VPN / router / broadband issue

[#1]

I switched from BT to plusnet on 13th June, since which time I have had issues working from home that never happened when on BT.
To work from home I use vmware view with a vpn to access a virtual desktop. Since moving to plusnet the vmware fails to establish a secure connection especially between 8 and 10 am. It usually connects eventually and then is fine for the rest of the day however odd days it hasn't worked at all all day or has worked almost straight away. I have tested it with a mobile broadband provider and it works fine. My work IT dept have checked the laptop, the software, the server etc. and all that is fine.
I have tried resetting the router, switching off the router firewall, opening various ports (the fact that it works some of the time seems to suggest none of this is necessary though) with no change. I haven't been able to check with a different router as I don't have another one to test it with. Plusnet line checks report no speed or connection issues.
The broadband works with everything else, but I need to be able to work from home without this hassle. I have had a request with plusnet support since 24th June with little success.
Anyone have any clue why I would have these problems? And if there is anything I can do to fix it?
Thanks for any help offered.
Paul

[#2]

Hi francemillers,
There's a similar thread here.
It links to http://npr.me.uk/vpnissue.html which may be worth a try.

[#3]

Thanks for the suggestion.
I'm struggling to understand why it would work some of the time if it's a problem like this.
But I guess anything worth trying! I've just had a go at the suggestion in that thread and it hasn't worked. I found another thread about using a VPN so will try that too.........this one: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,102798.0.html
Paul

[#4]

Doesn't appear to have made any difference trying all those things.
Paul

[#5]

Given that it seems to be intermittent, it sounds more like a temporary DNS or routing issue.
You could try changing the DNS settings in the router to see if that makes any difference http://npr.me.uk/telnet.html#dnsr10
OR maybe even change the DNS server settings on the laptop if you can.

[#6]

Thanks for the reply.
Have tried to follow the steps to change the DNS settings on the router - I was trying to follow the note about the "intf" bit but the command "dns server forward dnsset list" just showed me an empty table. Sorry, this is all a bit beyond my understanding!
I ended up doing the the flush bit, then saveall. Following that the remote connection worked. I can't tell if that's a permanent fix as it may be ok the rest of the day so I may not find out until tomorrow morning if it fails again.
However both my phone and tablet now seem unable to connect to anything even though they are connected to the wifi (I've tried rebooting, disconnecting and reconnecting to the wifi). The internet on the laptop outside the virtual desktop is also intermittent. From my reading of the instructions here http://npr.me.uk/telnet.html#dnsr10 I haven't actually made any permanent changes........?
I'd be prepared to buy a new router if I knew for sure that was going to fix this problem.

[#7]

Quote from: francemillers

I was trying to follow the note about the "intf" bit but the command "dns server forward dnsset list" just showed me an empty table. Sorry, this is all a bit beyond my understanding!

The interface used by Plusnet supplied routers / firmware is intf=Internet .
If it's of any help, you could download a telnet script to change the routers dns setting.
Works with R8 and R10 firmware supplied by PN, instruction in the readme.txt file.
http://npr.me.uk/dns-script.zip

[#8]

Quote

but the command "dns server forward dnsset list" just showed me an empty table.

That's probably ok, since there were no DNS servers set in the router when you started.

Quote

From my reading of the instructions here http://npr.me.uk/telnet.html#dnsr10 I haven't actually made any permanent changes........?

If you've done the saveall command, then the changes are permanent BUT can be undone using either the commands shown in the 'Undo, return to obtaining DNS resolvers via DHCP' section of the link OR by a factory reset of the router.

Quote

However both my phone and tablet now seem unable to connect to anything even though they are connected to the wifi (

Can you connect to the router and post the result of the 'dns server forward dnsset list' command please. That will check that the DNS servers have been set correctly.

[#9]

See below.........I don't think I did it right. The connections to tablet & phone gradually came back btw.

Forwarding Servers (flags:

Dynamic HCP

PP [I ]PSEC rigger)
==================
Set Metric Flg DNS-Server                              EDNS Label          Intf
                            State
--- ------ --- --------------------------------------- ---- --------------- ----
--------------------------- -----
  0    10  P* 212.159.6.9                                                  Inte
rnet                          UP
  0    10  P* 212.159.6.10                                                Inte
rnet                          UP
Please note: the queries will be forwarded to all entries of a matching DNS Set
(see rules section) AND
            all available entries in DNS Set 0.

[#10]

Think I've done it now:
Forwarding Servers (flags:

Dynamic HCP

PP [I ]PSEC rigger)
==================
Set Metric Flg DNS-Server                              EDNS Label          Intf
                            State
--- ------ --- --------------------------------------- ---- --------------- ----
--------------------------- -----
  0    0      208.67.222.222                                              Inte
rnet                          UP
  0    0      208.67.220.220                                              Inte
rnet                          UP
Please note: the queries will be forwarded to all entries of a matching DNS Set
(see rules section) AND
            all available entries in DNS Set 0.

[#11]

Having done that I have logged out of the virtual office and VPN, rebooted the laptop and tried to reconnect. I still get the same failure when trying to connect to the virtual desktop server.

[#12]

In that case can you do a traceroute to your vpn server.

[#13]

Thanks for the reply. Is this what you mean?
Paul

Quote

Tracing route to 10.254.0.163 over a maximum of 30 hops   1    5 ms    3 ms    2 ms  dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]   2    37 ms  120 ms    44 ms  lo0-central10.pcl-ag08.plus.net [195.166.128.189]   3    44 ms    43 ms    59 ms  link-b-central10.pcl-gw02.plus.net [212.159.2.190]   4    *        *        *    Request timed out.   5    *        *        *    Request timed out.   6    *        *        *    Request timed out.   7    *        *        *    Request timed out.   8    *        *        *    Request timed out.   9    *        *        *    Request timed out. 10    *        *        *    Request timed out. 11    *        *        *    Request timed out. 12    *        *        *    Request timed out. 13    *        *        *    Request timed out. 14    *        *        *    Request timed out. 15    *        *        *    Request timed out. 16    *        *        *    Request timed out. 17    *        *        *    Request timed out. 18    *        *        *    Request timed out. 19    *        *        *    Request timed out. 20    *        *        *    Request timed out. 21    *        *        *    Request timed out. 22    *        *        *    Request timed out. 23    *        *        *    Request timed out. 24    *        *        *    Request timed out. 25    *        *        *    Request timed out. 26    *        *        *    Request timed out. 27    *        *        *    Request timed out. 28    *        *        *    Request timed out. 29    *        *        *    Request timed out. 30    *        *        *    Request timed out. Trace complete.

[#14]

IP 10.254.0.163 is not a valid internet address, it's part of a range reserved for private networks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network
It's not the vpn server, it may be the virtual desktop server though.

[#15]

It's the virtual desktop server.  I don't know the vpn server address. Will find out.
Should I do the trace route while running the vpn software or doesn't it matter?
Thanks, Paul