eircom dsl and vpn

llatsni

A client of mine is having a strange problem:

He connects back to the "mothership" in the states using VPN.

The problem is that its faster over dial-up AOL then it is over 1MB eircom DSL. And I mean WAY faster.

The DSL is configured correctly as far as I can tell and is getting good speed and pings to most sites. But the VPN over it is erratic and usually unusably slow.

- Any ideas?
- Is this an eircom problem?
- If its an eircom problem, is there any point in contacting them to fix it?

Thanks in advance,
Paul

crowbar

i've had a whole slew of problems using vpn over dsl here, mainly to do with the mtu of intervening links on the eircom network. but if you're getting erratic pings over the vpn, which shouldn't be affected by the mtu issue then that doesn't sound like your problem.

try ping and traceroute to the vpn gateway with the vpn disconnected to get an idea of whether it's the network. however it may not respond ... if that's the case try pinging the last hop that's shown on the traceroute for an approximation.

MadKevo

What VPN client is he using - the Microsoft one or another?
A number of possible issues:
Are you using the Eircom supplied PPPoE client? If so, download RASPPPoE, uninstall Enternet and then install and configure RASPPPoE instead, this usually works better with IPSec clients.
If using WinXP PPPoE client this may be a necessary step too.

Bob Carrick has a good PPPoE site, look at the Enternet section for specific peoblems with VPN/IPSec clients:

http://www.carricksolutions.com/enternet.php

One problem I've encountered is having to set up a profile to tell the VPN client to use the ethernet card if using an external router [and maybe Enternet], otherwise dial-up if using RASPPPoE. It will probably connect if configured incorrectly, but if memory serves you may see appallingly slow speeds, as you do.

Hope this helps.
MK.

llatsni

I realise my details were a little sparse - I was kinda hoping it was *simply* an eircom problem - early mornings...

Anyhow...

He's using WinXP pro with the Intel VPN client

Hes hooking up to the dsl thru a vlan managed switch connected to a firewall and then the dsl modem, mostly cisco clobber.

cheers

tomk

Sounds like he needs to talk to the admins for the network he's on first - if only to rule out the local VLAN/firewall etc as causes.