Cisco AnyConnect constantly dropping out

[pirapramtade]

Hi,

I've encountered so many dead ends on this and I don't know where to turn now. I use Cisco AnyConnect VPN on my company laptop when working from home on Vodafone broadband.

I signed up for Vodafone broadband in May 2020, at that time using a Windows7 laptop. Everything worked fine. I upgraded to a Windows10 laptop in June 2020, everything continued to work from June 2020 until January 2021. Then suddenly my Cisco AnyConnect just started dropping out for no apparent reason. Nothing that I'm aware of changed on my laptop or WiFi (unless it was a background Windows update). When Cisco drops out, my WiFi and internet remain connected...when I'm on a conference call, for example, there is no interruption in the call, but my access to all my company's systems stops. Clicking on Reconnect in Cisco AnyConnect does not work, the only way I can reconnect is to switch off/on the WiFi on my laptop. It then might work for anything between 1 minute and a couple of hours before dropping out again. The dropouts seem to be triggered whenever I try to download a large file from my company's servers, but also at other random times when I am not putting any load on the Wifi.

My company's service desk has tried everything they can but nothing works. They even resorted to sending me a new Windows10 laptop but it does exactly the same thing.

My old Windows7 laptop works perfectly on my Vodafone broadband, Cisco AnyConnect never drops out on that machine.

Has anybody got any ideas?

Thanks!

[pirapramtade]

@Jayach....I am cautiously happy to report that after splitting the bands on my router and connecting to the 5Ghz band, I have not experienced Cisco AnyConnect dropping out today. I'll give it another day or two and if I don't experience any further drop outs I'll come back to update this thread and mark yours as the best answer. Many thanks for your help.

[Jayach]

I have my fingers crossed for you. 🤞

[GDL_UK]

So today I bought a plug in wireless access point which I connected via ethernet to the Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub, and used that to connect via Wifi, having disabled the wifi on the Vodafone Hub. Not one drop out in 6 hours of Microsoft Teams and Webex meetings.

[gipjon]

I am so happy that you both have got round the issue .Think everyone worked out it was the router wifi. There is a really big thread about wifi and not being able to turn off the 5g or change channel . Vodafone for what ever reason dont seem to think there is a issue with wi-fi and this thread is another reason why you should be able to control your own wifi and turn off the wifi doctor etc 

[pirapramtade]

Update: I split my Wifi bands to 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. Connecting my laptop to the 5Ghz band dramatically improved the situation, but Cisco AnyConnect did eventually drop out once after about 4 hours of continuous use. I then changed the laptop to the 2.4Ghz band and have been using it for over 10 hours now without any dropouts. Given that previously I encountered multiple dropouts a day within minutes of each other, I think this has fixed it.

Many thanks to everyone for their suggestions and help with this. Thanks to @Jayach - I have marked this answer as the best.

[Cynric]

"Connecting with an ethernet cable seems to work, although I haven't tested it for more than a few hours as my phone line is at the opposite end of the house to my home office. I'd really prefer to fix the root cause rather than wire a new phone connection through my house."

Did you try/consider Powerline rather than running a new wire?

[GDL_UK]

I have exactly the same problem. I thought it was just me!

Mine is even more weird that when on a (predominantly) on a Microsoft Teams meeting (which bypasses the Cisco AnyConnect VPN as it is a trusted split tunnel), the inbound (other people’s audio over VOIP) is perfectly fine, but at exactly the same time my outbound audio, isn’t being received (others can’t hear me). The only way to resolve it is to ‘disconnect’ the WiFi on Windows 10, and immediately reconnect.

I have also had a brand new company laptop with exactly the same issue.

I moved to Vodafone 6 weeks ago from BT FTTP which worked perfectly.