Orange broadband VPN change? Advice?

maryink

Hi all,

Sometime in the last couple of weeks it seems that Orange has made a change to my home broadband service so that I can no longer access my corporate VPN. I am between a rock and a hard place as our corporate help desk looks after the connection up to the ISP and says there is no problem and when I called Orange tech support they refused to answer any questions about VPN saying it was not their issue. Actually the person said he had "no legal obligation" to help me with my "private" VPN problems and directed me to the orange website to search the help and advice section for the problem. I kid you not. Of course there was nothing there.

Anyway I have been fed up with Orange and their painfully slow evening speeds and apalling customer support for some time so will likely switch as I am now out of contract.

Just thought I'd post the problem here in case anyone had some advice or insights before I start the long painful process to get my MAC code out of them. (Tried that once before too and gave up. This time more determined as I want to WFH over the hols.)

Despairing,
maryink

S0litaire

Think legally they have to give you the MAC code if you're out of contract and wish to move.

As for new ISP, if you use it for work try and get a "Home Office" rather than a 'Home' connection (fixed IP and lower contention ratio) they cost a bit more a month but are worth it.

Use samknows (it tells you what ISP's are in your area and if any are LLUs)

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

mluton

Can you ping your corporate VPN I.P. Address from Command prompt ?

maryink

Thanks Solitaire.
& yes I can ping but keep getting the error message "remote host failed to respond". It works on other wireless connections no problem. I tried using a different modem/router rather than the livebox - same problem.

S0litaire

You might try changing the VPN port your company is using (if your IT Dept. say it's possible! )

Orange are probably blocking the VPN port.

Ping should tell you if the IP address is being used by a machine but most servers are set up NOT to respond to pings.

you might want to check out VPN tunneling via SSH (uses a secure (encrypted) connection which orange should not be looking at)

maryink

Well the advice I was given by my helpdesk is to tell Orange to open UDC 500 and 10001. However I couldn't even get that far with the Orange tech support. They just refused to discuss the issue or if any changes had been made. I think I will take the advice to get a Home Office package elswhere as both DH and I rely on this connection for work at home.

S0litaire

Orange should open up UDP 500 & 10001, but knowing them, the Tech support don't know what they are doing But they do advertise it for Home use not business use so they may not know about different ports.

Best bet is change ISP asap

S0litaire

Alx_B wrote: »

That's a shocking attitude to customer service IMO! Don't blame you in the least for wanting to move.

I've seen this in most of the big ISP's. VPN is classed as a business service and most home providers won't touch it with a barge poll!

But they will try and talk you into upgrading to their "Home / Office" or "Business" Broadband subscription (more expensive! before helping you with things like VPN or Remote Desktop.

donhg

I'm experiencing this same problem and it seems to coincide with Orange downgrading the speed of my line which they admit was a mistake and I'm having great difficulty talking to anyone who has any technical knowledge at all. I've tried to complain about the VPN no longer working but the term means nothing to them.

I can, strangely, access email over the VPN connection but not my work's intranet - so it's partially working. Something possibly to do with DNS settings and not attempting to try domains within the VPN when they can't be found in Orange's public DNS?

Have you now had any luck?

DatabaseError

you're wanting business related features to be enabled and supported on a home user line, you are using the connection for business/work, it is important to you, move to a business package with a decent ISP, I'd recommend Idnet, it won't be as cheap as orange...but it will work, and be supported, and if your living is dependent on the connection it will be a bargain!

PROLIANT

What type of VPN are you using? CISCO, Microsoft PPTP, OpenVPN (SSL) or Netgear Blue Box? Let me know what VPN Client software you are using to connect to the remote endpoint, I may be abel to assist.