Are People Working from Home?

[#1]

The snow has ground the country to a halt, but that doesn't mean that everyone is having a day off. For a lot of people now, me included, being at home means that they can still do a day's work. Many businesses now have VPNs which allow their employees to work remotely and consequently many people are taking advantage of that rather than venturing out. The two graphs below show the amount of VPN traffic we were seeing the week before Christmas compared against what we've seen so far this week. VPN traffic this morning was up about 40% compared with 2 weeks ago. Question is though are some people that could be working from home out making snowmen? Dave Tomlinson Plusnet Network Transformation

[#2]

i think most people are still at home streaming of a white Christmas 😉

[#3]

Those who are able, probably do. Those of us with "intermittent" dropped connections find it more difficult!

[#4]

I was in the office yesterday morning, and came home at lunch time, but have been working from home all day today. Phil

[#5]

some of us are trying to work from home and can't get a stable VPN connection.

[#6]

Just to stir things up a bit! The real jobs, those done by the people who make, grow or mine the material that create the wealth that the city shysters leech their massive bonus enhanced remunerations from don't have this option - try ripping out a coal seam, or collecting several thousand litres of milk from a farm from your home pc via broadband :). The country would run smoother and better if the jobs that could be done from home weren't done at all!!!! These views do not necessarily reflect those of John, who is studying for his advanced Victor Meldrew diploma. John

[#7]

Obviously Dave T is yet to sample the "delights" of ADSL2+!

[#8]

The effect on my connection yesterday was startling - my "normal" speeds are ~ 6.2-6.5 Mb - yesterday afternoon 1.4 - 2.3 Mb!!!!This morning back to 6.5Mb. This is on a "small" exchange (~ 1500 properties)

[#9]

@Dan I see the jokes haven't got any better! @johpal If I remember your forum thread correctly, the intermittent connection has stablised now? @Nick VPN should work on all products, however if you're on Value it's not really suited to regular use. If you're using non-standard VPN ports then that could also cause issues. @John 'I don't believe it!' @badwolf I'm not sure what product Dave is actually on, if memory serves me his exchange may not be enabled for 21CN. @brewerdave If you continue to get lower speeds, drop us a post over in the forums or raise a fault for us to look at via http://faults.plus.net

[#10]

@johpal - I can see a number of drops on there but your latest connection is ongoing for over 36 hours so may be resolved? If you raise us a fault at http://faults.plus.net we'll be able to look into that for you. @brewerdave - your line profile is at 7150 and has been since the middle of december, if you likewise raise us a fault at the link above and attach some speed test results from http://www.speedtester.bt.com we'll be able to investigate.

[#11]

I'm on ADSL2+ on 21CN, have been for 9 months now. Works fine for me.

[#12]

I'm not having much fun trying to work from home - have not been able to connect to my office VPN ever since I received a Thomson 585v7 from Plusnet (I now get error 806 - GRE protocol problems). The only other person in the office who can't connect also has a 585v7 but is with another ISP. I did log a ticket about this last night but haven't received a response yet.

[#13]

Hi Ric, do you know of the VPN you're using uses PPTP? Also did you get the router from us within the last 3 months or so? If it's PPTP and a new router then the router is the cause as the current version of the firmware doesn't support PPTP (would explain why your colleague is similarly affected if their router too is about the same age). If it's not PPTP or the router is older than that then the mostly cause is the broadband firewall on your account. Some VPNs won't work with the firewall enabled, you might have to switch it to low or even off to make it work. You can change the setting in the member centre under connection settings. Make sure you disconnect/reconnect after changing it for the change to take effect.

[#14]

Hi Dave, Thanks for the response. It is indeed a PPTP connection and yes, the router is pretty new (firmware version 8.2.23.0). Should I try to load an old version of the firmware onto the router? I've mentioned your response in my ticket (31467305) to try and avoid two people looking at the same problem - would you be able to respond there so that I get a notification of your response? Many thanks.

[#15]

To be fair, ADSL2+ seems to have settled down now I am using plusnet provided hardware. Topic. Curious - the latest firmware for the 585v7 on Thomsons website is 7.4.x.x (or similiar). Plusnet provided hardware is on 8.2.23.0. How/why is the numbering different and does this mean those with plusnet provided hardware are on newer firmware!?

[#16]

Same VPN/PPTP problem with Thompson 585v7 - CS just responded to ticket saying it's a known problem with latest firmware and suggested downgrading to previous version "at own risk" and gave me a link to this page but not unfortunately to a download!! As previous post says, Thomson website has one download v7.4 something... will probably try this but meanwhile have replied to my ticket suggesting that "at own risk" is maybe a little unfair and asking for a download link so I know I'm going for the right one.

[#17]

You can download the v7.x firmware from this link: http://www.thomson.net/GlobalEnglish/customer-service/dsl-modems-download/Pages/default.aspx They only have the one firmware available though.

[#18]

The 7.4.4.7 firmware from the link above should work fine. The PPTP support worked fine in 7.4.4.7 but was removed in the current v8 release we have. If you do install 7.4.4.7 then please ensure you set a secure admin password on the router. Also when you flash it make sure the router is connected wired rather than wireless and use port 1. I'll check what internal comms we have in place for this.

[#19]

@Lee Baker - The risk is due to a known password exploit on the older firmware version - if you make sure to change the login password for the router when you set it up, you'll be fine. Sorry the message came across as it did.

[#20]

Dave - I presume we have you (and Bob) to thank for this page appearing: http://community.plus.net/library/browsing/changing-the-default-password-on-a-thomson-585v7/ However, a friend of mine who is with Be has (literally) just upgraded his 585v7 to firmware 8.2.34.1 which he downloaded from the Thomson site with a login provided by Be. PPTP VPN works with this firmware. Any chance Plusnet could add this new version to the community page linked above so that we can upgrade rather than downgrade? Thanks