Secure connections to computers from outside LAN are unstable

dpignot2 · 28 Sep 2016

I have four computers in my apartment that I regularly connect to from outside my network. I forwarded the ports on my router, set up my asuscomm DNS, and everything worked well for months. Then, last week all four computers simultaneously stopped accepting remote desktop connections from outside my local network (inside the LAN everything works fine). RDP will log on for a second and then immediately quit. My plex server stopped playing remotely (unless I disable secure connections). Also, I cannot upload to dropbox. My feeling is that encrypted traffic connections are somehow unstable. The fact that it happened to all my computers at once makes me think its a problem with my router, modem, or ISP. I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to networking so I could also be way off base.

What I've done to troubleshoot (with no success):

power cycled everything
rolled back windows updates to two week before the problem started
followed guide that had me look for/delete a certificate file in the registry (it didn't exist in my system)
replaced asus AC68u with asus AC88u
replaced cable modem sb6183 with same model
called ISP and asked them if there was any issue on their end (they said no)
re-installed network driver
various network resets/releases

Finally, when I was at work, I uploaded a file to my dropbox and it worked (as expected). When I brought the same laptop home and tried to upload the same file, it failed. When I brought the laptop back to work, it worked. This, along with my new router and modem exhibiting the same symptoms as the old ones makes me think it's an ISP problem.

I'm at a total loss.

bro67 · 29 Sep 2016

Most likely your Upload speed is too slow at your Apartment. Also if it is a Work issued laptop. They may be using a Proxy to restrict it from doing certain things.

dpignot2 · 29 Sep 2016

bro67 said:

Most likely your Upload speed is too slow at your Apartment. Also if it is a Work issued laptop. They may be using a Proxy to restrict it from doing certain things.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't think either option is correct. As I said, the remote connections worked for months before suddenly stopping. In checking my upload speed, it is the same as it was before the problems (20 Mbps). The laptop I used for the test was my personal laptop (it just happened to be at work). There should be no restrictions on it.

dpignot2 · 29 Sep 2016

Talked to an IT guy at work and he said it was likely packet loss caused by my ISP. He recommended running a traceroute and pinging a website to look for any losses. I ran the traceroute from work to my home DNS and didn't see anything super suspicious. I'm not very familiar with the program so I may not know what something suspicious looks like.

Fifteen minutes later...

EVERYTHING WORKS.

All I did was run the traceroute. I still have no idea what the problem was. Hopefully it won't happen again.

bro67 · 29 Sep 2016

dpignot2 said:

Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't think either option is correct. As I said, the remote connections worked for months before suddenly stopping. In checking my upload speed, it is the same as it was before the problems (20 Mbps). The laptop I used for the test was my personal laptop (it just happened to be at work). There should be no restrictions on it.

Those are not options, they are items that you need to look at and tell us what your Upload speed is at your apartment, along with Latency and also if work uses a Proxy if you are trying to use a workstation.

Your employer hopefully has certain restrictions in place to keep people from trying to use up all of the bandwidth, so that the users cannot stream videos and music all day or use their connection to download or upload files to unknown systems.

You have to look at the connections as the problem. If you are not using a VPN, you are wide open on the Internet and can have your traffic routed through slow routers and connections between different hops.

bro67 · 29 Sep 2016

dpignot2 said:

Talked to an IT guy at work and he said it was likely packet loss caused by my ISP. He recommended running a traceroute and pinging a website to look for any losses. I ran the traceroute from work to my home DNS and didn't see anything super suspicious. I'm not very familiar with the program so I may not know what something suspicious looks like.

Fifteen minutes later...

EVERYTHING WORKS.

All I did was run the traceroute. I still have no idea what the problem was. Hopefully it won't happen again.

If you do not post that information, you are only troubleshooting this on your own. Did your IT guy check from the Router/Firewall to your IP at your Modem Public IP that your ISP gives you, to see if there are bad hops anywhere? If they are also looking from their end, it allows them to get those items fixed for those who may need to work from home with a VPN.

If your IT guy or gal has free time to work on this. I would gift them with some food for helping you out on this. It is something that they can show you how to look for problems as a teaching lesson. The good thing is that it may give you an opportunity to move into that field for better money and also when you run into these issues on here posted by others, you are able to help volunteer time to work these things out with them.

Remember it is all about education. None of us got this far by just posting. Most times we have had to purposely break things to learn how to fix things.

dpignot2 · 29 Sep 2016

I posted my upload speed in my first reply (20 Mbps) and it is unchanged since before the problem occurred. My ping is 14 ms with a jitter of 7 ms.

Having some sort of restriction on my work network doesn't make logical sense as I could upload to dropbox on my work network, but not on my home network (with the same file/laptop). Again, as I wrote in my first reply, this is a personal laptop not a workstation. Why would a restriction cause something to work? Furthermore, when I'm at home I test remote connections through my phone (with wifi turned off).

While appreciated, I don't think a five minute conversation with the IT guy warrants a gift. I'm also reasonably certain moving into the IT field would result in a pay cut, not a pay raise. Knowing very little about my background, I wonder why you would make this assumption.

bro67 · 29 Sep 2016

We need the actual speed test info and also a copy of the Trace Route and Ping. It is how this can only be figured out where the problem lies, so that you can understand where it is happening.

Think of it like traffic on the highway or city. There is always a chance that you may have to take a detour if traffic is moving too slow on the fastest route, but the detour may cause you to have to go at various speeds or have to take another detour. That is pretty much how traffic flows on the Internet, but it is moving at the speed of light and if the various equipment that it is passing through is older or has issues that are not being checked, it can cause users problems from getting from Point A to Point B.

dpignot2 · 29 Sep 2016

Thanks again, if the problem happens again I'll post the requested information. As everything works as expected now, I wouldn't think the information would be all that enlightening. If you think otherwise, I can post the info when I get home.

bro67 · 29 Sep 2016

No problem. Just keep notes for yourself and experiment with the Google DNS servers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 and see if those work. Also having servers set at Static IP's on the network, good quality network gear, no servers using Wifi, maybe a VPN to directly connect to home would maybe fix things. Especially with the Plex Server. You just need to make sure that your Public IP does not change. If it does, you have to use a third party service to allow you to always connect to your network, which means further layers if problems jump up.