Does Vodafone Fibre block/have issues with Google One VPN?

[jamesl1001]

I have recently moved home and have signed up for Vodafone Fibre.

Since it's been installed, I've been experiencing connection drop outs several times an hour.

When these drop outs occur, my PC is still connected to the router but all pings timeout and the browser/games/etc. behave like the PC is offline. Other devices are unaffected.

I am still diagnosing but I have a suspicion the drop outs may be due to being connected via Google One VPN.

Does Vodafone have any issues with Google One VPN?

[Cynric]

@jamesl1001  Have you tried changing the DNS setting in the router to use the Goole DNS rather than the Vodafone one? The numbers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

[Ripshod]

I've used multiple VPNs including Google one without any issues. You'll find clues to your problem in both the router log and the VPN log.

As @Cynric suggests, move the DNS to Google's. 

[jamesl1001]

Yes, I have already changed the DNS settings to 8.8.8.8.

In the router event logs, I can see the following logs:

Failed to send DHCPV6 message to ff02::1:2 (Permission denied)

2023/09/29 13:26:08 [warn] 6610#0: *16427 [lua] session.lua:103: changeUser(): changing user to vodafone

2023/09/29 13:25:38 [error] 6610#0: *16427 [lua] sessionmgr.lua:262: redirectIfNotAuthorized(): Unauthorized request

2023/09/29 13:25:26 [warn] 6610#0: *16427 [lua] session.lua:354: new(): new session for default user

And of course the usual firewall logs from dodgy IPs.

Should I be concerned with any of the above logs?

[Ripshod]

Nothing unusual in there. 

The DHCPV6 message is because vodafone don't provide IPv6.

The lua messages are not related to VPN:

https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/lua-session-lua-103-changeUser-changing-user... 

[Cynric]

@jamesl1001  Vodafone does not do IPv6. 

You should be able to do IPv6 over the VPN, I have done so over Microsoft Direct Access.

[Ripshod]

I believe Google One is IPv4. Don't quote me though. 

[Ripshod]

One (major) thing often overlooked by VPNs is the MTU. VPN servers assume everyone's internet connection has an MTU of 1500. With PPPoE (vodafone included) the MTU is 1492. To get the VPN tunnel's MTU we need to subtract 28 from that for overheads, which gives us a Tunnel MTU of 1464. This figure needs to be set on the VPN server, and should be included in the config files downloaded from there on, or set manually in the client. 

[jamesl1001]

Thanks for all the info.

The Google One VPN's settings are pretty much non-existent - it's basically just on or off - there's no advanced settings. Does this mean I can't set the MTU?

Are there any other settings that you can suggest experimenting with?

[Ripshod]

I've taken another look at it and it's been dumbed right down since the beta days. There's only a few settings, two of which (username, password) can't be changed.

While the service was pretty good at the time, these days with so many subscribers it's too slow and unreliable to be of any real use to me. 

The reason I don't recommend it? How can I trust that my data is secure when it's a service provided by a company that makes loads of money selling user data?

What do I recommend? Personally I use my own server running OPENVPN access server, so nothing is logged, nothing is tracked, and my data is mine. And less than £4 a month