ping works then "times out"

I have two locations each with a DSL modem and a firewall that makes a VPN tunnel for a secure connection that allows users in the branch office use terminal services on a Win2K server to access a LOB applications in the corp office.

The branch office has recently...last month or so....been experiencing disconnects that have been affecting their ability to work. Nowhere have I seen anything logged to account for this...

Users simply get a "Your connection has been broken, this may be due to a network error...."

When I do a continuous ping from the branch to the internet...www.yahoo.com...the access times are solid and there are no timeouts, however, when I do a continuous ping to the corp location terminal server, (through the vpn tunnel) access times vary wildly (10-1300ms) and there are occasionally timeouts...those I assume are the cause of the disconnects....

From ths corp location I do continuous pings to the internet e.g www.yahoo.com and experience varying times and occasional timeouts....the same when I ping the branch oofice's modem, server or firewall...

The DSL provider has been telling me that it must be my setup, however, I have placed a standalone pc on the dsl modem at the corporate location bypassing all other networking equipment and experienced the same problems...

Any comments or directions to help me troubleshoot this?

It could be the DSL modem itself.. I had one that was screwed exactly like this.. it would randomly disconnect, no matter what I was doing... file transfers on the net, streaming video, surfing the web.. at random intervals it would disconnect. I got the provider to replace the modem and it fixed everything.

It might be the corporate location connection. They can do a reset on that account.. a line trace, etc... Call the ISP provider for the corporated location, and have them do the test. Often they can just flip a switch at their office, resetting the connection.

If that doesn't fix it, you can get them to come out and do a line test. If that doesn't work, it could be the telephone lines themselves... I don't know how old the lines are but if they are ancient, this could just be a side effect of the old telephone cable... which will be quite difficult to fix.

Just my advice.

And the locations have static IP's correct? Just a wild guess but are the modems same make and model?

gotta bump it....1 post I not think he/she be back but would be nice knowing what could cause this.

couldn't they also perform a trace route to see where packets may be dropping?

in an attempt to get ideas and answers to technical problems...I've made a living for a long time by solving other peoples problems...

Ip addressing in each location is DHCP, however, each machine has a "reservation" so it remains constant.

DSL modem/switch in each location is the same...Firewall is a Sonicwall.

The provider XO Communications has reset the line...has logged into the modem and done pings....they say "occasional" request timed out is normal. I think it's a bunch of bull....but they have yet to see a timeout... :o

Yeah sounds like they oversold the service and just found out they can't mess with your account with out you guys noticing.