Forum Discussion

MajinB's avatar
MajinB
On our wavelength
5 months ago
Solved

VPN Connection Issues - New Install

Context

I have recently signed up to VM after their Nexfibre XGSPON became available in the area. My internal routr installation took place earlier this week (17/09/2024). The purchase of the package was made about 2 weeks prior. The Hub installed is the 5x, so no modem mode. My old ISP is still active at the address within the cancellation notic period.

Problem

As soon as VM was up and running, the first thing I noticed was issues with my Personal Internet Access (PIA) VPN. It had trouble connecting, and if it did manage to connect, the connection would quickly drop. Rinse and repeat. 

The bigger issue arises when trying to work from home. I tried connecting with my work VPN (Cisco Secure Client) and it just does not connect. Either saying "Could not connect to server. Please verify internet connectivity and server address". Or simply display "Limited Access - DNS Failure". 

This is completely unnacceptable. 

Solutions Attempted

  1. Connecting my personal PC back to old ISP router - PIA VPN Works fine.
  2. Connecting Work laptop to old ISP router - Cisco Client VPN works fine.
  3. Connecting those devices to a mobile hotspot - Both PIA and Cisco work fine on personal and work computers.
  4. Connecting to VPN when connected to my virgin router - Fails to connect or DNS issues.
  5. Setting DNS to Open DNS on my PC while connected to virgin router - Still does not resolve the issue.
  6. Turning of parental controls from VM Security settings - Tried and does not resolve it.
  7. Turning off virus protection from VM Settings - Tried and does not resolve it.

Next Steps/Questions

  1. Is there a solution to this?
  2. What solutions can I try beyond the ones already mentioned above?
  3. Is my cooling off period from when I place the order, or would it be from the 17th, when the installation happened?

These issues are completely unnacceptable for such a large ISP. If I cannot even use my service to work from home, then there isno point in having the higher speeds compared to my old ISP. I would appreciate any help or advice, as otherwise I would like to cancel asap before my cooling off period finishes, as I do not want to be stuck with VM for 18 months with no ability to use VPNs or Work from Home.

Thank You.

 

  • MajinB's avatar
    MajinB
    5 months ago

    Hey, unfortunately not, it is only on the 1Gb ports.
     
    @Client62 yeah hopefully it can help someone else.

    For anyone in a similar situation, please search "Hub 5x working modem mode" on a search engine, I would post the link directly, but unsure about the rules regarding posting external sources.

    In summary: 

    1) Disable DHCP, DMZ and UPNP from your Hub 5x settings.

    2) Try the following address in your browser to see if the Modem mode option shows: http://192.168.0.1/?page=modemmode 

    3) Unplug anything from the Hub 5x apart from the router you want to use. 

    4) Enable Modem Mode and wait for the Hub to restart, you shoud see a steady green light on the hub. 

    After this, things should be working and your router should take over the rest.

    If you have issues, simply reset the hub using the reset button on the Hub 5x to go back to factory settings. 

    So far for myself it has been working okay. I will be working from home over the next few days to see VPN stability. The one issue noticed so far is that the virgin Hub 5x is no longer accessible via the IP address when typing it into the browser, so unsure how to resolve this yet. 

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    Virginmedia don't support VPNs. In most cases they can be made to work but you are really on your own or with advice here from other users. 

    Your 14 days starts from the time the service was first connected. Do not let offers to look into it drag you over the deadline. 

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      Thanks for the advice jpeg1, I think I will be cancelling as I do not want to drag this out in the hopes of a fix which may never come.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    Customers with a DOCSIS "Hub 5" have found it necessary to Disable "Smart Security" via the VM Connect app in order to prevent the Hub 5 performing DNS query redirection to the Virgin Media DNS.

    Could this also apply to the XGS-PON Hub 5x ?

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      No such options it seems in the smart connect app for the Hub5x. 

      Also, attempting to cancel via whatsapp, agent is telling me even though I am within my 14 day cool off period, they require a 30 day notice. So the service will disconnect in a month and I will not be charged any termination fee. Is this accurate? Thanks

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    DNS redirection is easy to spot, perform an nslookup using a Public DNS,
    make sure the DNS Server that responds is the one you specified,
    in the example below it is dns.google which is IP 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4


    >> > nslookup hp.com dns.google
    Server: dns.google
    Address: 8.8.8.8

    Non-authoritative answer:
    Name: hp.com
    Addresses: 15.73.145.56
    15.72.80.135

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      Hey mate, do you mean assign my personal pc to use open dns and then do the ns lookup to check its showing correctly?

  • carguy143's avatar
    carguy143
    Dialled in
    5 months ago

    ISP (not Virgin) tech support here.

    It may be worth asking your VPN provider to check your IP address and white list if needed. 

    I work from home and had to tell my employer's IT dept that I am no longer on one of their connections and they unblocked my login to allow it to work from any IP address.

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      Thanks for the suggestion mate. I did reach out to my IT department today so awaiting a response.

      I have proceeded with the cancellation now...a little bit in limbo as I have been given vague details. They did say though the service will not cancel until the 20th of October as a 30 day notice period is required even during the cool off period.

      I will try to see if I can get my work vpn working during this time period, and if it does, I will look to continue the service, if not then it will save me a big headache. 

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    It does not mater how your PC's DNS is set for this test.

    Issue the DOS command :

    nslookup  hp.com  dns.google

    and see if dns.google is the DNS Server responding.

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      Thats right, from my personal laptop right now, it gives the same response as what you got in the above post when issuing that command.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    The phone and WhatsApp operators are badly trained and talk nonsense. And they don't always record what they say.  Once you have cancelled, disconnect the Hub so they cannot claim you are using it beyond the 14 days.

    If you want to be certain of the cancellation, send a recorded delivery letter with the account details to 

    Virgin Media, Sunderland, SR43 4AA

    They will send you a package to return the equipment. 

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      Okay, so does that mean if the services disconnect on the 20th of October, there would be an early termination charge, even though I have notified them of cancellation within the cool off period?

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    In that case VM DNS redirection from Child Safe and Virus Safe are not the problem for your VPN.

    When you change your office laptop from the original ISP to the VM Hub 5x are you restarting that laptop to clear down its network connections.  Plus making sure its Wi-Fi is not still linked to the original ISP.

    By restarting I mean use:    Shut down or sign out >>> Restart   

    I explicitly do not mean use Shut down or sign out >>> Shut down  and do not mean use the Power button. 
    These two options don't cause a cold reboot.

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      My PC is wired straight to the VM hub, and that was checked with restarts etc. The work laptop is via wifi, and the wifi was was switched while it was on to the VM router. I will try turning it on, connecting to VM router and restarting to see if VPN connects at all.

      • MajinB's avatar
        MajinB
        On our wavelength
        5 months ago

        @Client62 So a restart of the work laptop has yielded some results, though a bit intermittent. It has for the first time signed in without a constant dropping out. It did however fail a couple of times saying "Connection failed due to unsuccessful domain name resolution". Right now it is connected, I will experiment a bit more with my personal pc and PIA as well to see if that might improve somehow. Will keep you posted, and thank you for the advice and input so far.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    Under Ofcom regulations there should be no cancellation charge if you cancel within 14 days. That's the whole point of the cooling off period. 

    It has been reported on here that someone was charged a proportion of a monthly charge for the time they used the service before cancelling within 14 days. But I don't know how general that is.

    There used to be documentation sent with the installation to spell out the cancellation procedure during the cooling off period. Did you get anything like that? 

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    It might be a good idea to turn off the original ISP's router and all associated Wi-Fi Repeaters
    so the only option is to use VM's Hub 5x.

    Were a laptop or PC to shift from one ISP's Wi-Fi service to the other during a VPN session the result be a loss of the VPN connection quite possibly with some very misleading error messages.

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      Hey, so I did some additional checks with the other ISP access points off. 

      The cisco client behaves the same, it still gives a DNS failure error sometimes, but after some attempts can get connected and appears to be okay foe the short time tested, will check this further for an actual day at work next week.

      The PIA VPN on my personal PC however has the same issue as before. I checked the DNS as you suggested with the nslookup, and the response is initially the same before the VPN is connected. 

      The VPN connects, works for a few minutes, then slows down, then eventually just drops. Almost like virgin detects it running and blocks or throttles it. So not sure how to alleviate this, even setting the VPN to Open DNS does not resolve the issue.

      Thank you.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    I've not encountered VM limiting my business VPN connections.

    DNS failure is usually a sign that connectivity has failed. Which DNS the VPN is complaining about, the default one for the computer used prior to establishing the VPN session, or the DNS that exists within the VPN and is accessed from the remote end of the connection during the VPN session ?

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      So the Cisco client when it shows the DNS failure error happens when it's just been open, but not yet connected. Sometimes when it fails to connect it gives the dns failure again. The personal PIA VPN, doesn't give a specific error, usually says to check connectivity or just drops saying no Internet connect, even though the connection is very much live. 

    • MajinB's avatar
      MajinB
      On our wavelength
      5 months ago

      Hey, as another update. I have managed to get the hub into modem mode, though not official supported or available in the hub settings, I found a useful online resource that shows the mode mode setting still accessible through a different route.

      Having done this, I have connected my own router now, and it seems to have completely resolved the VPN issue...  I am confused then, why with the Virgin Hub 5x in its normal setting causes so much issues with VPNs, while modem mode with my own router is working great. It is unfortunate that this is not officially supported still, as this would alleviate a lot of headaches for a lot of people. 

      What do you think the problem is then with the VPN, the hub just causing issues and throttling or shutting them down, or there being DNS issues?