Outlook hangs over VPN when going through router

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Caporegime
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Calling network geeks!

Not sure if this is best placed in here or software...here goes anyway.

I sometimes use my work laptop via my home cable connection (Virgin) and from behind a router.

I normally connect to my work emails via webmail in a browser window. Recently I tried to use Outlook and discovered that Outlook hangs as soon as it loads. Everything else seems to work fine, browsing internet and files, etc.

When I bypass the router i.e. connect the PC directly to the cable modem, Outlook works fine. I have added the necessary port forwarding rules for SMTP in the router menus (it's a typical D-Link cable modem) and tried placing my PC in the DMZ, with no joy.

IT have looked into it, but have drawn a blank so far. I think they think it's not worth the effort when I can just use Outlook Web Access, but I need to be able to edit my calendar, reminders, notes etc. offline when I have no access to the internet and have it sync with the server when back online at home.

Any ideas network geniuses? What about Outlook from behind a router is causing a problem? :confused: :)
 
If placing it in the DMZ didnt work then I would say there is something inherantly wrong with the router. I cant think of any reason why that wouldnt work with the router and then suddenly work without it.

Depending how much resource you want to put into this you could buy a different make router and see what happens.

Can you confirm that you connect into work with a VPN?
 
J.B said:
If placing it in the DMZ didnt work then I would say there is something inherantly wrong with the router. I cant think of any reason why that wouldnt work with the router and then suddenly work without it.

Depending how much resource you want to put into this you could buy a different make router and see what happens.

Can you confirm that you connect into work with a VPN?
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Probably should have mentioned...the same problem occurs with a colleague of mine's all-in-one Virgin hub jobby, as I asked them to test it. So it's unlikely to be the router I think.

Am I doing right by placing my PC's local IP address into the DMZ? ipconfig shows it as 192.168.0.100.

Yes I connect to the work servers via VPN.
 
Hey Robbie, it is certainly and odd problem. I assume the VPN connects ok and you can access other work resources, intranet, file shares etc?

That is normally all there is to placing a machine in the DMZ which would imply its not a port issue. That said if removing the router fixes it there might be some sort of internal firewall on the router, but again you would expect the DMZ to solve that too.

Apart from updating the routers firmware and trying again I cant think of anything.
 
J.B said:
Hey Robbie, it is certainly and odd problem. I assume the VPN connects ok and you can access other work resources, intranet, file shares etc?
Click to expand...

That's correct, literally everything else works perfectly.

J.B said:
That is normally all there is to placing a machine in the DMZ which would imply its not a port issue. That said if removing the router fixes it there might be some sort of internal firewall on the router, but again you would expect the DMZ to solve that too.

Apart from updating the routers firmware and trying again I cant think of anything.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks anyway. I'll keep Googling and post this elsewhere. :)
 
Make sure the VPN isn't assigning you a similar ip address to that of your router. eg, if you get a 192.168 address, try changing your router to give you a 179.xxx.xxx.xxx address.
 
Just had a thought when you are connected to the VPN, can you ping/nslookup the exchange server.

mejinks idea is a good one too
 
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