VPN drops

  • Thread starter Thread starter archean1
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A

archean1

I use VPN -PPTP to get into my office on a regular basis (I'm a laptop,
Win2KPro). I just moved
and am sharing a wireless connection with my roommate. I can get
online, though it is often picking and sometimes can't open a port, but
then often will get on. But once online, I typically get 1 or 2
minutes before it drops me.

I've gone through the router and all the ports are enabled (I'd imagine
that I couldn't get on at all if there weren't).

Is it a modem or wireless router hardware/bios problem? Wireless
problem / settings? As I said, it's always worked perfect (and still
does) everywhere else.

Any advice on the best way to troubleshoot this? How do I get the
error codes? Are these generated on the server end only? I'm guessing
this might shed some light? Pointers in the right direction would be
much appreciated!!

David
 
Okay, maybe I'm getting this on my own... I'm going through a WRT54GS
(Firmware Version: v1.50.5). Seems there are a lot of posts on
problems getting this router to work with VPN. I'm sure I'll screw
something up shortly and the router is locked up next door... sweet!!

Any hints on this? Sor far I've seen people recommending TCP port 1723
forwarding (not quite sure how to do this, but getting there),
upgrading firmware, changing MTU rate, etc. etc. I'm losing billable
hours at the moment... would spending $100 on a different wireless
router fix my problem? If anyone says yes, I'll go to the store right
now!! :)
 
You shouldn't need port 1723 forwarded on the client end. Just needs to be
open to the outside world. My bet is that the WRT54GS is set up as a NAT
router and is plugged into another NAT router (double NATed). NAT routers
mess with source ports and create problems with VPNs. If you enable "VPN
Pass-thru" on both NAT routers, that may help.

....kurt
 
Also, if it's just the two of you sharing the wireless and the next upstream
router is a NAT device, you might be able to use the WRT54GS as just an
access point (connect your Internet feed to the LAN instead of the WAN if it
has a wired LAN port).

....kurt
 
I tried to dig further, but with no success. The way it's all set up
is an ADSL modem then a WRT54GS v5 with the most recent firmware. I
tried going into the modem settings and there is virtually no settings
to adjust (i.e., no option to turn off VPN passthrough). The modem
only has one output called ethernet and the wireless router only has
one input (and 4 outputs)... i.e., no WAN - LAN options?

I dropped the MTU speed/rate(?) to 1432 as recommended by some post and
this did not help. I then hooked up to the router via a cable and
updated the firmwarm to v1.50.8. I then tried to conected to the VPN
(via wireless & eithernet) and still had the same problem (problem
being a couple failed attempts to connect with the connection hanging
with the message "opening port".... then
finally on the 3rd attempt connecting and everything working fine, but
the connection dropping in 1 to 2 minutes.)

There are some posts about 3rd party firmware... any thoughts?

Or maybe just buy a different wireless router than better supports VPN
passthrough? Any recommendations on routers? Seems maybe even the
same router but a previous version (anything but version 5 it seems)?
Or maybe a different router would still have NAT problems?

thanks!
 
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