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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Need to access work vpn

I need to access my work vpn as I am currently working from home.  Work cannot see a problem at their end, so I am working through the router options.

 

I HAVE TRIED - 1) adding work webpages to allowed sites in broadband buddy  2) disabling broadband buddy 3) turning off the Ipv6 firewall on the router.  I still cannot access work vpn and would like to know if there is anything left to try.

 

If I cannot get access then I will leave nowtv for another provider.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous User
Not applicable

OK, reporting back.

 

My manager opened up several different vpn protocols for my account and sent the IP addresses for the servers as well. 

 

I turned broadband buddy back on and set it to 18+. I went back into the security>firewall rules section of the hub 2 and turned all the firewall options back on.

 

I then added Inbound service rules for all the available IPv4 vpn protocols so that the action is always allow and the Lan user was set the the prefered vpn server's ip address. (Log is still set to 'never').

 

Of the 3 protocols available (IPSec, L2TP and TTPT), I found the only protocol that worked was the PPTP, but I am now able to connect to my work's VPN.

 

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.  I hope this info helps someone else in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

View solution in original post

12 REPLIES 12
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

See if the information in this linked NowTV article helps ?

 

https://help.nowtv.com/article/broadband-buddy-troubleshooting 

 

Edit - missed the bit where you have already allowed the works website in the custom Buddy Settings 😠.

 

Maybe contact the NowTV Broadband Team for assistance.

 

Do you have their telephone number ?

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Done those steps, did not work

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User  searched the internet for you and if you have a my work colleagues can they help you 

 

Firstly, it’s crucial that you don’t allow VPN connections from any old machine as it could quite easily bring your entire company network down if it’s not properly checked and managed. Providing you are setting up the VPN on a company computer, then the steps in principle are as follows...

1. Download your firewall’s VPN client software - usually available for free from the vendors website (SonicWall, Checkpoint, WatchGuard, Meraki, etc).

2. Install the software

3. Enter your organisation's public IP address

4. Enter your username and password and connect

Once you’re connected, shared network drives and other systems you might use should become available.


Option 2: Remote Desktop Connection

If your organisation has a Remote Desktop Server, then this is a great option. Using almost any computer, you can open a connection back to your Remote Desktop Server and access a personalised desktop based at your office.

Pros:
- Easy to setup on each computer
- Workload uses server resources (memory, processor, etc) rather than your PC’s
- Very low bandwidth requirement – connect on a slow connection without issues

Cons:
- Requires the server, software and licensing infrastructure to set up
- Higher maintenance

An alternative is to allow remote desktop connections directly to your computer at work, which doesn’t require the server infrastructure but relies on the computer being switched on!


How does it work?


1. Open Remote Desktop Connection on your computer

2. Type in your organisation’s public IP address and click connect

3. Enter your organisation’s username and password

In order to access your computer using the same method, it needs some work on the router – specifically, port forwarding. Ask your IT team about this! Once ports have been forwarded, you can simply connect in the same way as above.

Option 3: Third Party Software

Team Viewer and LogMeIn are just two of many popular options for this. They provide secure remote access into a remote computer from anywhere, with very little maintenance, here are the pros and cons.

Pros:
- Easy to setup
- Very reliable once setup
- Secure "out of the box" i.e. doesn’t require much tweaking to ensure safe access

Cons:
- Can be expensive, especially if your whole organisation is working remotely!


How does it work?

This is a bit general as all software is slightly different!

1. Visit the vendor’s webpage, create an account and purchase your licenses

2. Download and install the software on the computer that you wish to connect to, set it up for unattended access

3. Download and install the software on the remote computer, and enter the remote access ID and credentials

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks for replying, unfortunately you have not added anything new to the info I already have.

 

The pc is one from work, brought home specially.  The vpn software is already installed and set up, and was working fine with my previous IP provider.  I click the button to make the connection, the log shows all the outgoing requests go through but then the authentication fails coming back into the pc. 

 

I will be contacting NowTV tech support today, as well as confirming IP addresses with work.

 

Saint1976
Elite 3

@Anonymous User so NowTV is essentially Sky so I had a mooch around their community and it seems this is an ongoing problem for lots of people.

 

Access to work VPN's was fine and then all of a sudden last summer everyone started having problems. The linked thread is probably the longest with some suggestions but reading all the comments it doesn't look like good news for a lot of people.

 

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Working-from-home-VPN-blocked/td-p/3027911

 

Incidentally, I'd be interested to know if the suggestion in that thread of flushing your DNS and resetting TCP/IP would help. Something to run by your IT department. If you've used the system on another provider before, you may have old connection data stored and a reset of the registry may clear it.

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User 

 

My apologies I didn't read it properly so my apologies for stating the wrong Info .

 

I hope you get it sorted soon

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi 

@Anonymous User 

I had a quick look though the net and not sure if this helps or you have already tried , 

 

Anyway just trying to help link is attached https://openvpn.net/vpn-server-resources/troubleshooting-authentication-related-problems/#common-authentication-errors-and-suggested-solutions 

@Saint1976 @Anonymous User @Anonymous User @schnapps 

Going back over a number of years now, access to an employer VPN via Sky Broadband (including NOW Broadband) has always been hit & miss. Some work, some don’t. Think it depends on the underlying VPN software being used. A few years ago, I did WFH for a couple of weeks using an employer provided laptop which required login over a Cisco VPN connection and it worked fine. But, as a former SuperUser on the Sky Community, I came across many folk who unfortunately never managed to get their work VPN connection operational. Nobody ever see ed to know why this was. 😟

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thank you all for your replies, you have been helpful & informative.  I will be having one last go at getting the vpn to connect tonight, as I now have all the IP addresses etc and work have enabled more vpn connection types.  I will report back with the results.