Connectivity Issues

[Kheldarson]

This is more my dad's problem than mine, but it's driving everybody batty.


Dad's a manager for the transportation section of a company. So he's constantly sorting through paperwork and making sure it's all good and in the right spots. He's also working almost 24 hours because of it. So he does work at home so he can spend time with us.

But recently, he's been having issues getting connected at home. It's like the whole system lags and nearly locks up. He thought it was the wireless network in our house, but I'm not having any issues getting online through a hard connection, and a call to our internet provider told us that it wasn't a fault on their end. They said it might be an issue with whatever program it is Dad connects through. They called the program a "VPN"(?) or whatever it is. I'm not sure.

So, the question is if anybody here can help us define what the issue might be and be able to tell us enough to figure out if we can fix it or if anybody actually has a fix, that would be great.

[Chromatix]

VPN software is often of disturbingly low quality, and different types operate in confusingly and incompatibly different ways. I would certainly suspect that it's causing this kind of problem.

Unfortunately, my advice would be to have someone competent look at it, possibly your dad's workplace if that is why he's using VPN, since they should be familiar with that particular software's quirks.

[technical.angel]

Plus, have him try plugging in. Our VPN doesn't like wireless connections.

[lordlundar]

To narrow it down, when he has that issue, have him try to something else that relies on the net connection, such as some casual net browsing on sites he knows function reliably. Assuming the VPN isn't commandeering the bandwidth, he should have no problems otherwise. Then you will know it's the VPN causing the headaches.

[Der Cute]

Here's a bit of a run down:

A VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.
It's how a person can be sitting at home, and be connected to the Enterprise network (their job, not the Star Trek :P) and be able to grab files/transfer information/do work just like they're sitting at their desk.

It can be problemsome though.
Lordy's right.

If your dad thinks the connection is being misbehaving, first thing to do is to try opening a window of IE or Firefox and browsing - using the home only network. Do you have an extra computer sitting next to Dad's? Have that one open up a window and surf. Wirelessly.

If the New Window of Surfing is just fine- fast response time, easy to load, easy to navigate links etc, then try opening a Browser window on the VPN connection. Is THAT one misbehaving?

If so, I'd point fingers at the VPN.

Next thing to try would be using a wired connection from Dad's computer to the router etc and then trying the VPN. Does that work better?

VPN can be tricky. It's having to take your info, encrypt/package it so it looks normal, send it through the internet, land at work, get unpackaged and sent to the right port etc. It's quite a few more steps than just you surfing, getting web page info, reading it.
Also the other end of VPN - work's end - may be misbehaving too. So, there are quite a few factors to start out with.

If you guys do the troubleshooting and it's still hairy, have him start a ticket with IT and document what you've done. We like that.

Cutenoob