We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

VPN and BT Home Hub problems

Afternoon all

I'm hoping to get some advice from some techie minded folk to help me solve my VPN problem.....
I have had a VPN set up to allow me to access my works server etc from home, and this appears to eb connecting but I can't access any files. I've been told this is because my BT home hub has the same IP address as the server, and this is causing a conflict. I tried phoning BT Tech support, but they were completely useless (I knew more about the issure then they did), so after a lot of googling I came across the following in a forum somewhere - if I was to follow these steps would I end up causing more harm then good, or could it potentially be a solution?

My problem was that I could connect to my work VPN, but could not then connect to my office PC using remote desktop. As I said earlier, this wasn't a problem with my old Belkin router which could connect to my office PC every time.

The IP address of my office PC is 192.168.1.xxx, while my Belkin router's IP address was 192.168.2.1 and the subsequent DHCP pool was also in the 192.168.2.xxx format, so the router knew that when it was searching for a computer with an IP address of 192.168.1.xxx it had to be on the VPN.

With the Home Hub 2.0, it's default IP address is 192.168.1.254 and the DHCP pool is also a 192.168.1.xxx series. Consequently, when it's looking for my office PC it thinks it's somewhere on my router. I went into Hub Manager > settings > Home Network > DHCP Pool and deleted all connections. Then I went into IP Adresses and changed the router's default IP address and the DHCP pool from 192.168.1.xxx to 192.168.2.xxx. After applying the changes, I restarted the router which is now set up with an IP address of 192.168.2.254 and it happily connects to my office PC through remote desktop. :-)

I don't want to go stomping in and cause unfixable damage, but at the same time, this needs to get sorted soon or I'm going to have to be in the office over christmas and new year :(

Thanks for any help you can give me

Bailey xxx
«1

Comments

  • Sorry, can't help except to say that I can access VPN via my home router with no problems.

    Do you not just have to start your VPN programme (AT&T) for me when you are connected to your home network, let it route to the servers as required and then hey presto? My point is that my set up looks beyong my router and logs in no problems.

    Probably doesn't help but you never know.
  • koksrob
    koksrob Posts: 88 Forumite
    Yeap follow those steps. :)

    Have that problem quite often with vpns.
  • Murielson wrote: »
    Sorry, can't help except to say that I can access VPN via my home router with no problems.

    Do you not just have to start your VPN programme (AT&T) for me when you are connected to your home network, let it route to the servers as required and then hey presto? My point is that my set up looks beyong my router and logs in no problems.

    Probably doesn't help but you never know.


    It should be that simple in theory, but the problem is that the home hub and the server at work both use 192.168.1.254 as the network device ip address - this means that the vpn connects ok but when i try and access files the computer finds the home hub, assumes this is the server as they have the same ip address, and tells me theres a problem connecting to the network. Basically what I need to do is change the home hub ip address without the whole lot throwing a tantrum and not working at all :o

    xxx
  • koksrob wrote: »
    Yeap follow those steps. :)

    Have that problem quite often with vpns.


    If my computer explodes I'll be able to blame you then ;) lol

    I couldn't believe how many people are having the same issues, and how little BT will do to help. I was on the phone for hours trying to speak to someone who knew the first thing about the home hub settings, but I would have had more help from a stoned monkey!!

    xxx
  • BillTrac
    BillTrac Posts: 1,869 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Do you have a company IT dept? Get them onto the problem. If I ever have a problem getting onto my VPN and can't sort it quickly then that's what I do.
  • even if you mess up your router and things dont work you can always return it to factory settings and things should work as before.

    dont be afraid to get stuck in :D
  • davb
    davb Posts: 1,293 Forumite
    You definitely need the two ends of the VPN on different networks.
    So, if your work network is 192.168.1.x then your home network needs to be something else - it's possible that work have 192.168.2.x in use as well, so you could try something more different, eg 192.168.10.x - you need to change the router IP and DHCP scope.
    Just make a note of what you set the IP to, so even if DHCP fails, you can always connect via a static IP.
    The router also needs to support VPN Passthrough.
  • my internet wouldn't work afterwards :( I couldn't even get onto the home hub user interface - I had to restore the factory settings to undo it. Does anyone have any ideas why that might be?

    xxx
  • BillTrac wrote: »
    Do you have a company IT dept? Get them onto the problem. If I ever have a problem getting onto my VPN and can't sort it quickly then that's what I do.


    I am the company IT department :o There's only 3 of us, so I do most of the IT, and whatever I can't do (like this network malarky) we have an outside IT company. The problem is though they don't do residential calls, only businesses.

    xxx
  • Info at the link below any good? Courtesy of Google but I assume you have already tried this.

    http://forums.cnet.com/7723-7589_102-2942.html
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.7K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.6K Life & Family
  • 253.9K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.