Accessing work PC using RDP through VPN problems...

[#1]

Hi Folks,
I've had a ticket opened about this since the end of january 😞
I'm on Plusnet premier.
I connect through a VPN using remote desktop to access my work PC so that I can work from home.  This all used to work fine on my old ADSL provider which was ZEN.  I've had a new thomson router from plusnet but haven't started using it yet so still using my old router DLINK G604 which used to work fine.
The problem is that the VPN can connect fine but accessing the computers on my work network is very unreliable with RDP connections not happening at all.  If I ping my work PC it's as if the connection is so poor that only some of the ping requests are successful and most timeout.  DNS seems to be working ok as I get the same results using IP address or the computer's name.
I've also got a 3g wireless broadband dongle from 3 and that works fine.  VPN comes up and can RDP no problem.
I've now come to the conclusion that plusnet must be throttling my VPN traffic so much that it's not of any use whatsoever.  Is this a possibility?
Cheers in advance
Tony

[#2]

Welcome to the forums
It is possible, does your VPN run on non-standard ports?
You could do a wiresshark capture to see the priority of the traffic.

[#3]

Thanks for the welcome 

Quote

It is possible, does your VPN run on non-standard ports? You could do a wiresshark capture to see the priority of the traffic.

Standard ports as far as I'm aware. Thing is, some of my colleagues in work are with Plusnet and they don't have any problems.
I've supplied plusnet wireshark captures twice now but I don't think anybody has looked at them yet 
Is it safe to post them on here?

[#4]

You wont be able to post them here as the forum it's not a permitted extensions.
Do you know what package your colleagues are on? If it's the same as you it's unlikely to be a throttling issue as, unless you've gone over your monthly limit, throttling is by package not by person.
Other thought could be a line speed issue, have you had it working on your line before OK?

[#5]

Guys in work are most prob on legacy packages as they've been with them for years.
All was working fine with my previous provider zen.  My line speed should be ok as I often get 1.7mbps downloads.

[#6]

What VPN software do you use?
I spend most days using RDP over VPN - I've had a few drop-outs in the evenings recently (when the Thinkbroadband Quality Monitor is show poor latency), but no problems during the day. However I'm on PAYG (same priority as Pro) and also on Max Premium.

[#7]

Quote

What VPN software do you use?

It's a Cisco client.

[#8]

Hmmm
My wife is having problems with slow VPN speeds accessing her work, using her company laptop, which also uses Cisco VPN.
All was well until Dec 09 / Jan 10. We are on BBYW option 2, because VPN should not be throttled.
I am going to get a wireshark trap this week.
I was trying to borrow an old ethernet hub to "sniff" the traffic. I have now found out that the PlusNet supplied TG585 router can be configured to mirrror an ethernet port via the CLI!
It is worrying that your wireshark captures appear to have been ignored
Richard

[#9]

Hi there,
I'm sorry about the service you've received here, frankly that's just not good enough. I've raised this to the managers of the teams involved, and have got someone looking at the ticket for you now (to me it looks like there's a problem with the categorisation, but I'm not the expert in reading wireshark captures tbh).

[#10]

Thanks for your response Mand.
One of your support guys suggested connecting to my router using an ethernet cable and guess what, it worked! 
Now...can anybody think why VPN traffic would be sooo slow over wireless?  Perhaps it could be a packet size issue, MTUs maybe????

[#11]

Is everything else slower over wireless? Or just the VPN?

[#12]

Just the VPN. Everything else is ok.

[#13]

Strange.  I regularly use CiSco VPN access to do remote maintenance on our servers from home.  Normally it's via an Ethernet connection, but from one location I use Solwise Ethernet over the mains to a remote Wireless hub and that works fine.
Home is on Legacy: Premier Option 1, the other location is using BBYW option 1.
Intrigued to see what the issue is here.
Maurice

[#14]

Not many things are as latency sensitive as VPN (you wouldn't notice this kind of problem with standard web browsing for example).
Do you do any gaming? Or VoIP?
If you have a problem with other latency sensitive stuff it could be packet fragmentation, or upstream latency issues. I can't think of anything offhand that would just affect VPN traffic over wireless.

[#15]

Couple of other issues are:
Don't do online gaming as of yet, but my sons wii refuses to connect to the d-link router.
If I try using the Plus Net supplied Thomson router instead of the d-link then my laptop can see the router but won't connect.
Thing is my signal strength shows as nearly max at most times.
I think I'll have to spend some time changing over to the thomson router as the d-link is getting on a bit now.