Comcast blocking VPN traffic

Wendy Grossman: "Comcast has been progressively turning on functions to block VPN traffic for the last four or five months. If you fight through the Comcast site to find the terms of service you discover that's only the beginning. Under their rules prohibiting you from using your Internet connection for 'any business purpose' you are arguably in violation if you so much as buy a book from Amazon.com." Assuming this is true, it's reason enough to recommend against giving Comcast any of your business, and telling all your friends to follow suit.

Comments

[Peter]

I couldn't agree with you more. Years ago when comcast bought our local cable provider we thought the service would get better. Well, in terms of the number of stations, yes, but in terms of quality no. In addtion they bummed the price from $20 years ago to $45. We called them in so many times to fix the quality and they've told us their's nothing they can do and we should upgrade to digital. No thanks. I'm not that into TV. Not only that, but they've laid down so man restrictions on the cable internet side, it's a joke. Too bad DSL is not offered in our area or we would have switched a while ago.

[KGFox]

I had been an Adelphia customer for years untill they were bought out by Comcast. A few months after the converting to Comcast my VPN stopped working. No notifications, etc. Thank God for Verizon FIOS

[FreeBamboo]

A bit over a month ago, all of my end-users w/Comcast started having problems w/VPN. The connection would complete, but no traffic would pass. We're using a Cisco ASA5520 as the VPN gateway.

[Pete]

Check out my experience with the Comcast Timewarner take over! screw comcast!

[Andrew Bond]

I think I've found a solution to this problem. Comcast breaks long running TCP connections by spoofing a RST packet in both directions, so both ends drop the TCP call. You may have noticed large file downloads, ftp, etc.. getting dropped for the same reason. Anyway for VPN, you can get around Comcast's spoofing by using IPSec/UDP for VPN connection. I have verified this works for long periods of time, where an IPSec/TCP VPN drops after about 5 minutes.

Cheers,
ahb.

[Visit website]

Countries like Canada, Sweden, and South Korea have better, faster Internet connections. People in Japan can download an entire movie in just two minutes, but it can take two hours or more in the United States. Yet, people in Japan pay the same as we do in the U. S. for their Internet connection. Not only do they have the technology for higher speeds, but a larger percentage of people in those countries have access to high speed connections. The United States has fallen to 16th place behind other...

[Jacob]

I have a problem with comcast. First I find out they are blocking p2p traffic, then I try to set up my wifes VPN for work, only to find that that too, doesn't work. To boot when I call comcast they deny deny deny that they block p2p or VPN. I ask them why I read in the papers that they indeed DO block these things, and they still deny. I pay too much for comcast to restrict the internet like they do. Goodbye Comcast Hello AT&T

[spascho]

you can try this options here http://vpnomania.com/proxy-surf.html and http://world-secure-channel.com/why/
i hope i was useful

[amy amster]

I also have found that my cable provider is blocking my VPN Service. How frustrating.
http://www.gotrusted.com/ 

[US vpn]

I don't get it when cable providers block VPN. Could you please elaborate more?

[Dave Alden]

As a helpdesk support guy for a large corporate office where there are many people using VPN to tunnel from home, I can attest to the fact that we know Comcast blocks IPSEC on occasion to throttle connections back and maintain bandwidth. Comcast will of course deny all of this ...but recommend business service (at a higher price) to any complainers. I don't think they are the only ISP that does this however....