Instructions for setting up VPN rules on the Sky Router Netgear DG834G

[NewsreadeR]

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/view-vpn.html

[garryprior]

Hi
Im trying to set up a VPN connection to my work's network through Sky BB /Netgear router. I've set up the Firewall rules as instructed in this post but still cannot connect. Sky Technical support have now told me they do not allow VPN connections through their service. Is there anything else I can try - otherwise I'll have to cancel my Sky BB subscription and go back to an ISP that does allow VPN
thanks.

[NewsreadeR]

I really don't understand why they are saying its blocked, afaik there were no ports blocked and loads of people have reported it works.

[garryprior]

Ok thanks for getting back to me, I'll try a few more things over the weekend but if I can't get it working will have no choice but to cancel.

Im 99% certain its not a PC issue, as I'm trying using both a laptop and a desktop, both of which worked fine when I was with Tiscali.

One thing I've thought about - I need to enter the IP address of my PC(s) when setting up the firewall rules, is this definitely 198.162.0.2 as allocated by Sky, or does every PC have some other unique IP address that I should enter instead ??

[garryprior]

sorry I meant 192.168.0.2 in my message above...

[garryprior]

OK I've had enough, after another weekend of trying to get my Cisco VPN client working, including resetting the router to factory default, re-adding firewall rules and playing about with practically every setting on the damn thing - I still cannot access my work's network from home.

I've re-ordered Tiscali broadband simply because I know it works, despite the fact its £15/month for 2mb versus Sky £5/month for 8mb. Like a lot of people out there, I'm prepared to pay a bit more for a service that works, with support that actually helps. I think Sky will come to realise the importance of this in time...

bye then...

[marklid]

I got migrated overnight from Plusnet to Sky Max and connected to my work VPN (Cisco) this morning without any issues - I used the Sky router, but I was only connected for about 20 mins so it wasn't that much of a test.

I hadn't changed anything on the router though with regards to firewalls etc.

Would it be worth clearing the settings and trying again ?

[garryprior]

Hi marklid,
thats good to hear...I can't even get connected for 20 seconds let alone 20 minutes!
So you haven't changed any settings, added any firewall rules/port forwards or anthing then?
I'll reset to default settings again tonight and give it one last go, wish me luck!!
perhaps theres something else on my pc that is causing the blockage, any suggestions what that could be (as I've said previously everything worked fine when I was on Tiscali, and I haven't knowingly changed anything since moving to Sky). I've also moved house, so now have a different BT phone line & number, it couldn't be anything to do with that though could it???

[marklid]

No, I haven't altered any of the router's settings (apart from changing its IP to 192.168.1.1 so save reconfiguring my home network).

Don't know what could be causing your problems, I connect using Windows 2000 Pro within VmWare on Linux. The Windows virtual machine has Comodo firewall on it which is set to allow the VPN client to connect to the internet.

Does your VPN destination filter by IP address i.e. set to let you in on your Tiscali IP address but not on Sky ? I don't really know how the admin side of VPN works so I could be talking cr@p !

Good luck, post back how you got on...

[garryprior]

still no joy...I reset the router to default Sky settings, and even tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the Sky Broadband software on my laptop - same result though. Internet connectivity is fine, but I cannot for the life of me get the Cisco VPN client to connect to my work's network.