Home Plugs and Tiscali Problems.

[LOLGEOFF]

Wifey has bought some Devolo Home Plugs because where she works they have said that this is the easiest method to connect to the firms computer to our broadband. We have plugged them in but she is unable to connect to her firm’s computer. We have plugged her computer directly into the router, which I use wirelessly, but she still can’t get into the work computer. When out on the road she uses a 3G dongle but it’s slow and the reception in our area is poor and I think there is a cost issue as well. She can’t use wireless because it is disabled on her laptop due to security reasons. Does anybody know if there is a problem using home plugs with Tiscali?

For reasons I can’t go into I can’t ring Tiscali to ask them for help and the firm’s IT bods say the home plugs work at the office so they should work from home.

Any Ideas?

 

[ianf]

You eliminated the homeplugs by connecting directly to the router, and still couldn't get a VPN to establish.

What VPN software is it? - What model is the router?

I've seen cases where a specific Sky router was unable to handle vpn traffic, maybe it's something similar. Let us know and it'll be easier to google.

 

[shugie]

It would seem that the home plugs are not the problem. You need to be able to make a connection to the work computer when plugged directly into the router first. When that works then try the home plugs.

It could be that the work router needs to be configured to allow your router to connect to it, do you know if other people can get a working connection from home? Or it could be your router needs configuring.

 

[turbine_2]

Your wife's IT department should be able to tell her what ports need to be opened on the router to allow the VPN software to work. The problem will probably be that the router currently blocks those ports or routes them to a different IP address. What they probably won't be able to do is tell your wife how to configure that router, but post its details here (make and model) and someone here probably will be able to.

 

[alistairl]

Like the guys say, make the basic checks. With an ethernet cable connect to your router and check that the activity lights at both ends go on. Hopefully the laptop has led's beside its ethernet socket that will light up when you plug it in. That indicates some sort of electrical connection. If it doesn't then the laptop has ethernet disabled or the ethernet cable is duff.

If you do get a connection then your laptop needs an IP address from your router - let us know if you don't know how to do this. Then it needs routing to the internet.

If your wife works for a big enough company then she should call their IT help desk for help - they will know how they have built the laptop and what needs to be done to get working.

If the 3G dongle works then that is just a straightforward internet connection, so you should be ok once you get past the basics.

I use homeplug kit at home and at each end it works just like there was an ethernet cable (albeit slower than a real cable) connected between each plug. They are made to be pretty transparent in normal use.

 

[judge]

My money is on your router blocking the VPN connection, numpty IT bloke at Missus Geoff's work needs to be a bit more forthcoming with help to make this happen.

Vital info is missing.

I had problems with o2 upgrading my router over the air and blocking VPN connections so I've had to chuck them out and lock down their router from them

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

s'obvious

the dongle is incompatible with the IP of the VPN on when connected through DNS with the compatible setting to on

However - all other days between 2am and 6 am should be ok if the ambient temp is below 15 deg

 

[LOLGEOFF]

Thanks everyone unfortunatly I'm at work and all her gubbins is at home. I'll have a proper look later.

She is trying this out for herself before she buys other home plugs for the rest of her staff. I asked her to get her mate to try it out on her laptop but her husband doesn't want her to connect to his stuff before it's tested and working on ours.

My router is a netgear wireless not sure of the model number and it's about four years old. I run it unsecured as before I upgraded my lap top memory it kept disconnecting, took ages to reconnect and it seemed to work better that way.

I might take my router next door and plug her lap top into his system that might eliminate Tiscali from the equation.

What's VPN?

 

[roddy]

VPN- virtual private network

normally company will have a small programme on there laptops and when your off site, you connect to the internet as normal but then run this VPN and this connects to the company neworks over the internet.

when connected to the router can you missus surf the net as normal ? if yes try the same thing using the home plugs if she can still surf,

then it would suggest theres an issue with the company side of things.

 

[LOLGEOFF]

VPN- virtual private network

normally company will have a small programme on there laptops and when your off site, you connect to the internet as normal but then run this VPN and this connects to the company neworks over the internet.

when connected to the router can you missus surf the net as normal ? if yes try the same thing using the home plugs if she can still surf,

then it would suggest theres an issue with the company side of things.

Thanks again. I think she can get on the internet just can't get into the works computer. She has some sort of number generator on a key ring type thing that gives her a number to log on with but I don't think she can get to her log in screen.

I'm doing a lot of guesing now so I'll stop posting until I can work out what she can and can't do then I'll be back.

Thanks

Lol.

 

[alistairl]

Thanks again. I think she can get on the internet just can't get into the works computer. She has some sort of number generator on a key ring type thing that gives her a number to log on with but I don't think she can get to her log in screen.

I'm doing a lot of guesing now so I'll stop posting until I can work out what she can and can't do then I'll be back.

Thanks

Lol.

They keyfob thing is part of the security - SecurID being a big part of the market http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecurID

The thing you might have to do to support the vpn is to add an exception to your router firewall to allow the computer at the company to connect back to the laptop. I had to do this on my netgear before we upgraded the vpn at work.

 

[alistairl]

s'obvious

the dongle is incompatible with the IP of the VPN on when connected through DNS with the compatible setting to on

However - all other days between 2am and 6 am should be ok if the ambient temp is below 15 deg

Good point, during the day up here it has hit 18 degrees in daylight so vpns stop working.

It avoids the issues with sunspots as well, not a problem at night, the static they create with nylon underswear is shocking.

 

[LOLGEOFF]

Well this is what is happening. When trying to connect, using my Cable and Wireless 11G ADSL wireless router directly wired to her laptop using a ADSL cable, to the internet we get the message 'Microsoft Exchange Server is Unavailable' and that's all. Sorry for the confusion. When I try to look at connection settings I get told to mind my own business pleb, Administrators Only Beyond This Point. I was also wrong about her having an internal IT bod it's been subbed out to a firm called Steria so not just a case of leaning on someone she knows.

 

[judge]

Well this is what is happening. When trying to connect, using my Cable and Wireless 11G ADSL wireless router directly wired to her laptop using a ADSL cable, to the internet we get the message 'Microsoft Exchange Server is Unavailable' and that's all. Sorry for the confusion. When I try to look at connection settings I get told to mind my own business pleb, Administrators Only Beyond This Point. I was also wrong about her having an internal IT bod it's been subbed out to a firm called Steria so not just a case of leaning on someone she knows.

You're deffo missing the bit when mi lady's computer sitting outside the company network needs to get an 'in' by way of a VPN connection usually.

Ain't much of a corporate network if it just allowed anyone off the net to tip up masquerading as a bona-fide company authorised bod.

The VPN gives your machine sitting at home a company IP address then allows it to act as if it was on her desk in the office.

That's why Exchange is complaining most likely because the Exchange server is located inside the company network and not hosted externally.

And I type all of this knowing that somewhere between 95-98% of it went right over your nugget

 

[LOLGEOFF]

There's a shortcut on her desktop that is called G3 & VPN, when I open it it says something about cisco is connected with a clock running.

 

[alistairl]

Okey doke, based on that I'm going to assume that it is a Cisco vpn client.

Then some googling shows the ports you need to have open for inbound. Note that the instructions on the following page are for windows firewall, this isn't your issue, you need to look at your router firewall instead.

http://www.helpdesk.ilstu.edu/kb/index.phtml?kbid=1156

This is based on the assumption that your netgear is allowing all outbound but not inbound comms, though upnp covers that most of the time with windows apps.

 

[ianf]

There's a shortcut on her desktop that is called G3 & VPN, when I open it it says something about cisco is connected with a clock running.

I wonder if they've set up something that binds the VPN to her 3g dongle, which presumably is not physically connected.

The newer Cisco AnyConnect Client only uses TCP and UDP on port 443 using outbound connections only so you shouldn't have to worry about firewalls/nat.

I checked the windows instructions on our MIS helpdesk pages, and the only extra step you normally have to do is add https://vpn-emea.company.com (or similar) to the trusted sites list in IE security page.

To be honest though, and given that this is outsourced to Steria (and therefore something old-bill/public safety related most likely) is to get them to figure out why it's not working, so whatever get set up is compliant.

Is there a start/all programs/cisco/cisco anyconnect vpn client program to run that you can start without the 3g/VPN shortcut? You'd need to know the public name of the vpn server to get much further though.

If 100% of this goes whoosh, then get a man in or have her consult at work, they should be able to cable it up at work and get her a shortcut that starts it up off the ethernet cable.

 

[LOLGEOFF]

Thanks again everyone for their efforts, if only I knew what you are talking about. It seems that whenever I open menus relating to connections or internet it just comes up with the administrators only messages. I think it's beyond my simple comprehension of computers so I'll get her to throw it back in their court.

When she has asked Steria before about the connection problems they say everything is working ok as far as they are concerned so it must be my broadband. As a matter of interest how do I adjust firewall settings on my broadband? I can only find the firewallon my lap top. If this question is really stupid I would prefer it if you ingnore it rather than show up my complete ignorance of the subject.

 

[ianf]

Depends on the router... Some have one, some don't. glad to point this out.

 

[Greger]

VPN

Thanks again. I think she can get on the internet just can't get into the works computer. She has some sort of number generator on a key ring type thing that gives her a number to log on with but I don't think she can get to her log in screen.

I'm doing a lot of guesing now so I'll stop posting until I can work out what she can and can't do then I'll be back.

Thanks

Lol.

I have the same set up for work using VPN.
If she can get to internet then broadband is working OK.
Suggest you get her work to sort the VPN issue out and prove it works using a work based broadband line if they have one. The VPN security codes and user names are the pain bit but once sorted should be OK.
I have just changed to BT and did not have to change any default settings on the laptop or router.

Hope this helps.