VPN Access for faster Data + No Image Compression

[Guest UndeadDevil]

I have tested using a VPN (On my own Network) to enhance speed of browsing on my T-Mobile MDA Vario 2. The results have been pretty impressive and so I'm considering trialling a service to members on here to see if it is a viable way of enhancing our PDA's Data Speeds.

The things I noticed using my VPN was:

No Locating... in pIE, instantly went to Loading... (My much faster DNS responsible)

No IMAGE COMPRESSION! (The VPN is encypted)

No Port Blocking at all (Web'n'Walk £7.5 users can now access FTP and other blocked ports)

Much faster page loading times (See below)

Download rates almost double (No idea why as data is stilll going through T-Mobile)

A static IP Address could be allocated.

So firstly I'm asking to see if people are intersted in using a VPN for better NET on there Mobiles. If so I will start a open Beta Test and if the results are good we will discuss where to go from there.

I am not sure about networks other than T-Mobile but I know that T-Mobile users must subscribe (Free) to the vpn.t-mobile.uk Gateway to be able to access a VPN.

[Guest UndeadDevil]

I have tested using a VPN (On my own Network) to enhance speed of browsing on my T-Mobile MDA Vario 2. The results have been pretty impressive and so I'm considering trialling a service to members on here to see if it is a viable way of enhancing our PDA's Data Speeds.

The things I noticed using my VPN was:

No Locating... in pIE, instantly went to Loading... (My much faster DNS responsible)

No IMAGE COMPRESSION! (The VPN is encypted)

No Port Blocking at all (Web'n'Walk £7.5 users can now access FTP and other blocked ports)

Much faster page loading times (See below)

Download rates almost double (No idea why as data is stilll going through T-Mobile)

A static IP Address could be allocated.

So firstly I'm asking to see if people are intersted in using a VPN for better NET on there Mobiles. If so I will start a open Beta Test and if the results are good we will discuss where to go from there.

I am not sure about networks other than T-Mobile but I know that T-Mobile users must subscribe (Free) to the vpn.t-mobile.uk Gateway to be able to access a VPN.

Wow I'm suprissed. No one is intersted even though it would allow them to get around Port Blockings, Image Compression and give faster page loading times)

[Guest psionandy]

Ok... how do I set up a vpn to my network?

[Guest jchamier]

Ok... how do I set up a vpn to my network?

Assuming you're on ADSL or Cable, you'd need a router that supported incoming VPN's (as an endpoint). e.g. Draytek 2600/2800 (for adsl) or 2910 (for cable) at a start.

I've got a Draytek 2900 (previous ver of 2910) and have PPTP VPN enabled on it, but I can't get the Vario II to connect - as I probably need the "vpn.t-mobile.uk" APN to be enabled on my account.

However I don't have enough of an issue to be bothered, HSDPA at 1mbps in my front room, and pages load quickly enough for me.

I did change DNS servers though.

[Guest marc_uk2]

Undead, this is something i would probably be interested in. Could you PM me with some more details please. Cheers!

[Guest bacus]

I've got a Draytek 2900 (previous ver of 2910) and have PPTP VPN enabled on it, but I can't get the Vario II to connect - as I probably need the "vpn.t-mobile.uk" APN to be enabled on my account.

I've got a 2900 too. My pptp vpn works without using vpn.t-mobile.uk.

I use it mainly to browse to the web server on my Tivo when I'm out and I've forgotten to record something. It really impresses the non-techies :)

Lee

[Guest jchamier]

I've got a 2900 too. My pptp vpn works without using vpn.t-mobile.uk.

Ahh, cheers, I'll give it another go. I have static IP from my ISP, and plenty of real unlimited bandwidth. :-)

I use it mainly to browse to the web server on my Tivo when I'm out and I've forgotten to record something. It really impresses the non-techies :)

That's seriously cool, I've got Sky+, so can't do anything as clever as that, and the official Sky java app doesn't work on any windows mobile device. Doh!

[Guest jim.mason]

Ahh, cheers, I'll give it another go. I have static IP from my ISP, and plenty of real unlimited bandwidth. :-)

That's seriously cool, I've got Sky+, so can't do anything as clever as that, and the official Sky java app doesn't work on any windows mobile device. Doh!

For Sky+ you can log on to their website from your phone and do 'remote record' from the TV listings page. Its up and running on HD boxes and last time I looked (couple of months ago) it said that plus boxes would follow soon - worth checking out.

Cheers

Jim

[Guest jchamier]

For Sky+ you can log on to their website from your phone and do 'remote record' from the TV listings page. Its up and running on HD boxes and last time I looked (couple of months ago) it said that plus boxes would follow soon - worth checking out.

Thanks :)

[Guest bacus]

Ahh, cheers, I'll give it another go. I have static IP from my ISP, and plenty of real unlimited bandwidth. :-)

I'm using a dyndns account that the router updates for me, so with a static you shouldn't have any problems. Give me a shout if you need advice.

[Guest jchamier]

Give me a shout if you need advice.

Thanks, I've got the connection to work, the Draytek shows the PPC (over HSDPA on T-mobile) and I can ping the PPC from my desktop on my LAN, but when I try and use the connection in PocketIE, the connection drops and reconects to standard T-mobile Internet (e.g www.ipchicken.com).

I'm missing something obvious, where do you tell the built in apps, which connection to use... any hints?

Thanks!

James

[Guest UndeadDevil]

I was waiting for this :)

VPN's do not normally route Internet traffic. Considering you already have a Internet connection on both devices.

To route internet traffic a special setup has to be done on the VPN Server, and I don't think you can do this on your router.

My offer was to use a 1gbps server to do it, but as only one person is interested I'll withdraw it. (Not much point using your home connection as you will not have enough upload bandwidth to take advantage of your HSDPA)

I'm more than happy to help anyone who wishes to use there home connection but you will have to use Linux.

Edited July 31, 2007 by UndeadDevil

[Guest jchamier]

I was waiting for this :)

VPN's do not normally route Internet traffic. Considering you already have a Internet connection on both devices. To route internet traffic a special setup has to be done on the VPN Server, and I don't think you can do this on your router. My offer was to use a 1gbps server to do it, but as only one person is interested I'll withdraw it. (Not much point using your home connection as you will not have enough upload bandwidth to take advantage of your HSDPA. I'm more than happy to help anyone who wishes to use there home connection but you will have to use Linux.

Luckily I'm quite familiar with VPNs and the possibilities. Many VPNs are as you describe, "split", which means traffic destined for the private network travels over the VPN and all other traffic travels direct. However the VPNs that I use day to day have two modes, "tunnel all" or "split", where tunnel all is useful if you're on a customer network that doesn't provide, or provides limited, internet access, but permits the VPN traffic (due to contract). On many systems this is done by routing tables.

I actually know that if I connect a PPTP session from outside my network to my router (using a Windows or Linux laptop) I am able to see my home LAN, and access any ISP restricted services - obviously at the speed of my uplink. So its not a router/VPN capability issue. (The router has "teleworker" and "lan-to-lan" profiles - I'm using teleworker for this).

The problem I'm having with my PPC is that *any* IP address I try and access disconnects the connection totally, even accessing my linux based webserver on my internal network. I have vxUtils which show I am receiving an IP from my Draytek, and the fact I can ping it from the desktop shows it works, just the PocketIE that's looking for the direct T-mob internet link. In some PPC apps there is a "which connection" option, but I'm missing something (I'm not that familiar with WM).

My broadband is with Bulldog, I have a reliable 18meg downstream (to my router) and 1meg upstream (from) which should be plenty for my average 800kbps HSDPA... not something I'll need much at home though, as I'm in the same building, and here is where I get the fastest HSDPA speeds. Guess its due to proximity to the cell.

I think the WM O/S only supports MS's idea of "internal" servers, whereby http://myintranet is internal and anything with a dot (e.g. http://myinternet.internal.company.com or http://192.168.0.1) is assumed to be external... pretty limited.

[Guest bacus]

Thanks, I've got the connection to work, the Draytek shows the PPC (over HSDPA on T-mobile) and I can ping the PPC from my desktop on my LAN, but when I try and use the connection in PocketIE, the connection drops and reconects to standard T-mobile Internet (e.g www.ipchicken.com).

I'm missing something obvious, where do you tell the built in apps, which connection to use... any hints?

James

Ok, here's what I did.

In Start, Settings, Connections, Connections, Advanced tab, Select Networks.

Programs that automatically connect to the internet is set to a connection called T-Mobile Internet. If you edit this, it points to the APN general.t-mobile.uk on 3G. In Proxy Settings, tick This network connects to the internet.

Programs that automatically connect to a private network is set to My Work Network. If you edit this it points to a different modem called My Connection which also points to general.t-mobile.uk on 3G. In Proxy Settings, untick This network connects to the internet.

Now, on the VPN tab at the bottom, create a VPN called 'home' and point it at your router (I use a dyndns FQDN but an IP should be fine). Enter username and password for PPTP on the router and leave domain blank. In advanced, Use server assigned IP, tick Use software compression, tick Use IP header compression. In advanced, Use server-assigned addresses.

In Start, Settings, Connections, Connections, Advanced tab, Exceptions, Add new URL of 192.168.1.*/*. This tells PIE what network to use.

Fire up PIE, Go to favorites create one with the name of your web server and point it to the address http://192.168.1.99/ or whatever yours is. Then simply browse to this favorite.

Hope this helps. Let me know how you get on.

Lee

[Guest bacus]

My offer was to use a 1gbps server to do it, but as only one person is interested I'll withdraw it. (Not much point using your home connection as you will not have enough upload bandwidth to take advantage of your HSDPA)

Actually, now I've read it again, I'm interested from a configuration point of view.

How would you configure the phone in your setup?

[Guest mjaaron]

I was waiting for this :)

VPN's do not normally route Internet traffic. Considering you already have a Internet connection on both devices.

To route internet traffic a special setup has to be done on the VPN Server, and I don't think you can do this on your router.

My offer was to use a 1gbps server to do it, but as only one person is interested I'll withdraw it. (Not much point using your home connection as you will not have enough upload bandwidth to take advantage of your HSDPA)

I'm more than happy to help anyone who wishes to use there home connection but you will have to use Linux.

How would this work differently to using the old MoDaCo proxy? I remember people (on T-mobile) could remove the T-Mobile proxy, enter the MoDaCo one and access more services as a result and get faster download speeds. Unfortunately all that all seems to have faded away with faster connections now by removing the MoDaCo proxy...

[Guest UndeadDevil]

How would this work differently to using the old MoDaCo proxy? I remember people (on T-mobile) could remove the T-Mobile proxy, enter the MoDaCo one and access more services as a result and get faster download speeds. Unfortunately all that all seems to have faded away with faster connections now by removing the MoDaCo proxy...

A VPN is very very different from a proxy. It is a direct encrypted (and compressed) connection to another network. It bypasses all of T-Mobiles restrictions and gets rid of the horrid image re-compression. A proxy will only work with a web-browser (Unless its a SOCK's proxy) so proxy offers no workaround for Port Blockings. And when I tried I couldn't get around T-Mobile's transparent proxy either so Images Still got re-compressed.

Actually, now I've read it again, I'm interested from a configuration point of view.

How would you configure the phone in your setup?

On my ROM (Schaps 5.57a) I do not have a Work Connection.

When I set it up I do the normal thing: Go to Connections. Tap "Add a new VPN server connection", add IP of VPN Server (Hostname makes connection take longer sometimes because of slow DNS), select PPTP as connection type, enter username + password.

If the connection disconnects when using pIE it is probably a configuration issue on your VPN Server (The VPN Server must give a Gateway Address!!!)

I use PPTP VPN on Linux and after modding the config it works perfectly on my Phone. The idea was to beta test to find out the issues people have, just because my phone works perfectly without any advance config doesn't mean other ROM's will work. (I don't think WM5 works at all on a external range!)

Edit: I haven't found a way around having to manually connect to the VPN yet :)

Edited August 6, 2007 by UndeadDevil

[Guest bacus]

Edit: I haven't found a way around having to manually connect to the VPN yet :)

Just a thought, but have you tried using an exception of:-

*.*/*

In theory it should cause everything to route over your vpn.

[Guest UndeadDevil]

Just a thought, but have you tried using an exception of:-

*.*/*

In theory it should cause everything to route over your vpn.

I'm confused, everything allready route's over the VPN. I said I haven't found a way of getting the VPN to automaticly connect. I have to go into VPN Settings, tap-hold and tap Connect

[Guest bacus]

I'm confused, everything allready route's over the VPN. I said I haven't found a way of getting the VPN to automaticly connect. I have to go into VPN Settings, tap-hold and tap Connect

OK, this is how I understand it, which maybe wrong, so anybody who knows for certain, please jump in and correct me.

You have 2 connections in Network Management - Programs that auto connect to the internet, and Programs that auto connect to a private network. If you edit the internet connection (the top one) you will see 3 tabs - General, Modem and Proxy Settings. If you edit the private network you will see 4 tabs - General, Modem, VPN and Proxy Settings. Note the difference that VPN is available in private network. You can choose to use a VPN or not, and in my situation (and yours) we want to, so we create one with the details of our servers.

Now, it is the exceptions button, that allows you to enter the address(s) that will auto-trigger the private network connection. So enter what you need it triggered on which in my case was 192.168.1.*/* in yours you want everything so I suggested *.*/* but experiment with other settings like just * or *.* and see what happens.

The important bit - I found that by using the same connection (eg T-Mobile Internet) for both internet and private network connection and adding the VPN settings to it under the private connection, didn't work at all. I presume this is because it already knew the connection was up (without VPN) and so didn't try again thus preventing the VPN from attaching to the connection(?). So to work around this, I created a work connection with the same settings as the T-Mobile Internet connection but with a different name. Now, it does fire up this second connection/VPN silently and works for accessing my internal network.

For you, I was wondering if you did something similar, but with a broader exception list, it would auto-trigger the connection rather than having to start it manually.

There's a lot of guess work and assumptions made on my part above, but in the end I did get it to work for me. I hope it may be of use to you and others with similar situations.

Cheers

Lee