Vpn With Usb 3G Dongle Questions For The Resident Mac Experts

[rogerdee123]

Issue One: I'm using Witopia VPN service on two different MacBook Pros ... same same 2011 models except one is 17" and one is 13". The 13" MBP is running Snow Leopard and the 17" is running Mountain Lion.

The VPN service (Witopia) works without a hitch over ethernet and wifi internet connections with both operating systems. However when I use a USB 3G dongle, it only works on MountainLion.

Question 1 : Does anyone have an idea as to what the differences are between the two operating systems that would affect the functioning of the same/identical VPN service when using the 3G dongle with SnowLeopard? Once again ... ethernet and wifi connections are no problem for the VPN & SL .... it's only with 3G dongle. BTW the 3G dongle works fine when I turn off the VPN in SL. This is not a critical issue for me but I'm curious, and of course would like to us the VPN with 3G dongle and SL because I still have some SW I need that hasn't yet been updated to work on ML.

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Issue Two: When I use the VPN service in "stealth" mode (either SL or ML OS) Google search blocks me and says they detect suspicious activity from my computer. I presume this is simply google's inability to track my location, browsing etc and their attempt to get me to turn off my VPN .. since all the other search engines work fine. And I can do google search when the VPN is turned off.

Question 2: Are any of you using Witopia or other VNP service ? And if so are you having this same problem with google search?

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Issue Three: In addition to "stealth mode" I can customize the Witopia VPN to a certain extent and one of the options is "bypass the DNS server".

Question 3: I know what a DNS server is but my question is, am I safer or more exposed when bypassing the DNS server? Are the DNS servers normally located locally with the ISP ? Or could they be anywhere and not necessarily always the same server? My question is related to being monitored by the DNS server. Presently I am in Laos but also travel regularly to other countries in the region.

I've contacted Witopia support re the USB 3G with Snow Leopard question but no answer yet and I'm not optimistic.

[nikster]

Mountain Lion probably has a less crappy driver for that USB dongle, that's all. Did you install drivers on either SL or ML?

Issue Two: Contact the VPN customer support. This only happens if the IP address you use is one that has been flagged by Google. It's up to the VPN provider to get you an IP address that doesn't have this problem. This is the IP address that you are coming from, as seen by the outside world. It's assigned by the VPN.

Yes using the DNS server from the VPN service should be safer. Unless you've set up your DNS server manually - e.g. OpenDNS or google's DNS servers - all DNS requests will usually go to a DNS server at your ISP. So they know where you're going from that.

I *thought* any VPN service would naturally have to provide a DNS server - but since you got that option, I guess not?! The DNS server knows all the domains you have accessed. So in order to be safe, and also to be safe from DNS spoofing, you'd clearly have to use the VPN DNS server.

Edited December 13, 2012 by nikster

[rogerdee123]

OK thanks Nikster. All makes sense.

Re the drivers, I installed the same SW package from the 3G provider on both snow leopard and mountain lion. Also the software package from Witopia is the same version for both SL and ML. So yes it's logical that there must be a problem between the VPN SW and 3G SW on SL. I'll probably just have to live without using the 3G with the VPN on the Snow Leopard machine. As I said before, the VPN works fine with WiFi or ethernet on Snow Leopard.

I'm waiting for Witopia support to respond .... when they do I'll ask them for another IP address so I can still use google search with the VPN. Thanks for this advice.

Also thanks for the help with the DNS server issue. Actually the VPN software allows me to set up my own DNS server but I don't see any point in doing this. I might as well use the DNS server automatically assigned by the VPN service provider. I mean they can monitor everything I do on the net anyway if they want to. Am I correct with this? Would you chose to manually set up your own DNS server if you were me? What would be the advantage?

But also with the VPN settings, I have another option re DNS. I can "bypass DNS" and "connect directly using an IP address". I assume this means the address of the website I am contacting. If I selected this setting, wouldn't this effectively bypass the DNS server? ... and ... if so, wouldn't this be a bit more secure, although probably overkill and not necessary in my case if my DNS server is provide by my VPN. My security issues are mostly with the local servers and local Internet providers here and in some of the neighboring countries.

If I'm encrypted between my computer and the VPN and use the VPN DNS server, this seems to me to be more than adequate in regard to the local internet providers. Would you agree?

Thanks for any advice Nikster. Although I've been using Witopia VPN service for a couple of years. I've just been using their settings out of the box. But I've been kind of taking a crash course in this over the last couple of days for my peace of mind.

[nikster]

Yes, use the VPN providers DNS server.

As for the 3G dongle, before you install any 3rd party driver software, try if it works without. OS X has some drivers built in and they are invariably going to be much more stable than 3rd party ones. In my experience 3rd party drivers are crap and I use them only if I have to.

[rogerdee123]

hmmmm .... good idea ....

I'll try that

[rogerdee123]

WiTopia support has responded and they say .... Shouldn't be any difference between Mountain Lion & Snow Leopard.

They are asking me to open terminal and ping 8.8.8.8 .... they say if I can ping this address with Witopia running, the DNS is getting stopped and not the internet. I'll try this tonight also before I remove the driver.

[rogerdee123]

In conclusion ........ and If anyone needs this bit of info ...It's a DNS problem that the dongle is creating only with Snow Leopard when using a VPN.

After removing the dongle driver .... when I plugged the dongle back in ... it began automatically downloading and installing the driver (and who knows what else) from the internet.

This is a Lao telecom dongle (packaged with their 3G sim card) which is supplied by a Chinese company in Yunnan.

The Google search issue (denying my access because of suspicious activity) is not due to my IP address, i.e. I log onto a different "gateway" and get a different IP address anyway everytime I log onto Witopia.

I suspect the dongle (or the Chinese website) is causing these problems with Google search. I have no problem with Google search (and Witopia) when using ethernet or Wifi .... the Google problem is only when the dongle is plugged in.

I'm ditching the USB 3G dongle and now running virus and trojan horse scans of my computers. I think this USB dongle 3G internet service is itself a security risk.

Thanks for the help Nikster.

Edited December 15, 2012 by rogerdee123