Freebox and remote work impossible

Question

Hello everyone. I live in France for work, but I don't speak French very well. This forum seems very interesting, but I haven't found exactly my problem.

I have been working from home since March and I have been a Free (fiber) customer since June, and since September 3, 2020, my Freebox keeps prompting me to connect.
I apologize if I am not explaining myself well, but I don't understand anything about computers. I am reporting what the IT technicians at my office (an international organization) have told me and what Free customer service has responded. Each blames the other and I don't know what to do.

At home, I have a laptop, a BlackBerry, an iPhone 8s, and an iPad, which belong to my office. The laptop uses Forti Client (VPN), but the others do not have a VPN, only encryption. Until September 3, they were all connected to the secure server, but since that date, if they connect to the Freebox (which was my first choice of network), the office server is inaccessible. I also connected the laptop to the Freebox with an Ethernet cable: the server was inaccessible. If I connect these devices to other Wi-Fi networks, they connect to the secure server without any problems. Now, to work from home, I bought a 4G router and made a second mobile contract with Free. According to the IT technicians at my office, it is clear that the Freebox on the fiber line is blocking the connection to the server.

These technicians checked the IP address associated with the Freebox to see if it was blocked, and it is not. They say that since September 3, there have been no connection attempts from the IP address associated with my Free fiber line. This means that the signal is blocked upstream of the employer's network. That’s why I asked Free to check if there are any records of my connection attempts in Free's logs coming out of my Freebox and heading towards the IP address of the office server I need to connect to. They have never responded to this request.

I find a metaphor: I have to go to the bakery (employer's network) but the door to my house (Freebox) is locked; I ask for help at the bakery but they say they haven't seen me since September. I ask the locksmith (Free customer service) and he tells me to try to reach the bakery.

If you have any ideas or if you can recommend a computer support service that can help me, thank you.

jeannets · Answer

Hello,

These problems have become common since remote work... on connection lines for individuals... It’s not always very compatible...
You are the user, you don’t know anything about IT..!!! It’s up to your employer to put the means in place to ensure it works so that you can work for them...
In the labor code... they must provide the tools of the trade to do the job, for example, the welding equipment for the plumber and the crane to build a building... and for you, it’s the connection line with your home...

I summarize the problem like this...

And the VPN connection is not necessarily simple and can even become complex.

madmyke · Answer

Hello

Since I am also working remotely and using Forti as well, I have colleagues (and clients) who work in France, at Free, who don’t seem to have any particular issues.
From this observation, I doubt that it is Free that is blocking the Forti Tunnel, which is just a VPN like any other (but professional).

In principle, your work PC should be able to connect to your box via cable and/or Wi-Fi (without VPN). That’s the first thing to test because sometimes work PCs have issues with the company's antivirus/firewall.
To test it is simple, does the work PC connect to your Wi-Fi?
If yes, can you go to Google AND conduct any search?

If so for both questions:

Have you tested the Forti VPN outside of your home? (neighbor, hotel, other)
Have the technicians at your company checked the tunnel? (the VPN connection parameters)
And most importantly, what error do you get when you launch the tunnel, and at what percentage does it get stuck?

Finally, the version of the Forti client is important, what version is it?
Is it a PC running Windows 10?

Best regards

--
"We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us and drink the bitter truth drop by drop."

encari · Answer

Thank you for your reply Madmyke.

My computer works very well with the Freebox (connection via Wi-Fi or Ethernet), except that it does not connect to the work server. I can open Google and search online.

With other networks (iPhone hotspot, 4G router, neighbors, hotel, etc.), the computer connects to the work server without any problems as well.

The same happens with the work iPhones/Blackberries/iPads: they work fine for everything, but when connected to the internet via the Freebox, they do not download work emails. With any other network, they also download work emails. Note: from iPhone/iPad/Blackberry, it is not intended for them to connect to the office intranet or to the servers with the files; they are only meant for professional emails. There is no FortiClient here.

That is why the technicians in my organization told me that the problem has nothing to do with FortiClient.

In any case, for the computer the version is 6.2.7.0984 of FortiClient and Windows 10. It gets stuck at 40% and the error message is "unable to establish the VPN connection. The server may be unreachable"

The technicians in my organization checked the tunnel and said that nothing has changed since September 3rd, but since that day there have been no attempts to connect from my static IP.

About a dozen of my colleagues have the same problem: not all of them have Free at home, but only colleagues who have Free.

zipe31 · Answer

Hi,

I found 2 discussions on the Internet that talk about the same problem as you, with 2 different resolutions.

The 1st one (at UniversFreebox) would be an IP addressing issue with the Freebox that is on the same address range as the VPN.
Changing the local IP at the Freebox Server level would solve the problem.

The 2nd one (at ADUF) concerns a very recurring problem currently with Free, where 4 subscribers share the same IP, thus allocating port ranges that do not necessarily include the ones we need.
Requesting a Full Stack IP would also resolve the issue.

To be studied…

--
_______________________________ ☯ Zen my nuggets ☮ _____________________________
Do something for the environment, close your windows and adopt a penguin… ????

encari · Answer

Thank you Zipe31

That's very interesting!

1) In October, I tried to ask Free if it was possible to change the IP address and they said no, stating that it would be necessary to change the fiber cable (!).

2) I don't know what IP Full Stack is, but I haven't tried that solution yet, so I'm going to do it right away. I've only read the article you linked, and I don't find the option in my subscriber area (see photo).

I will study it :)

cristali · Answer

Hello, if it can help https://www.universfreebox.com/article/35583/Freebox-l-option-vraie-IP-fixe-en-ZMD-est-disponible

brupala · Answer

Hi,
can you give us, in a private message if you prefer, the address or the URL with the fqdn name where you connect your VPN?
It could also be an IPv6 connection issue.
Also, is it the VPN that is not connecting or is it just accessing a server that is not working within this tunnel, while other services work inside it?

However, important:

This is why I asked Free to check if there are any records of my connection attempts in the Free logs when leaving my Freebox towards the IP address of the office server that I need to connect to. They never responded to this request.

Fortunately, they cannot respond!!
They have no right to record the addresses you connect to or not.
It is up to your VPN client to log attempts in its logs and to your application as well to log connections to your server.
Therefore, it is your internal IT service that is at fault if the analysis is not done correctly.

encari · Answer

Hello Brupala

I am sending you the IP address in a private message.

According to the organization's technicians, it is not the VPN that is not connecting, as the iPhone/iPad do not have the VPN but they are not downloading emails. They think it is the access to the server that is not working, but they do not know where the problem lies. We tried connecting to our VPN client together, and they only saw the attempts made from other networks, but nothing when I connect to the Freebox. They say that the attempt could also be blocked by the Freebox, and they told me I should check that with Free.

Thank you very much.

Freebox and remote work impossible

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