What you’re seeing
- Remote users' VPN connection drops every few minutes and reconnects on its own.
- Large file copies, uploads and remote desktop sessions are interrupted mid-way.
- Video calls freeze or drop whenever the VPN reconnects.
- The VPN client logs timeouts, dead peer detection failures or authentication renewals.
- Drops happen more on Wi-Fi or certain home internet providers.
Common causes
Every environment is different, but these are the causes our engineers find most often:
- Idle or session timeouts on the VPN gateway are set too short for how staff actually work.
- Unstable home internet or Wi-Fi drops packets, causing keepalive checks to fail.
- Packet size and fragmentation problems cause larger transfers to stall and the tunnel to reset.
- Power-saving settings on the network adapter turn off the connection when the laptop is idle.
- The VPN gateway is overloaded, running outdated firmware or hitting a license limit on concurrent users.
- The client and gateway disagree on encryption or rekey settings, so the tunnel fails when it renews keys.
Why it matters
Frequent drops wreck remote productivity. Every disconnect can interrupt a file save, break a database connection or end a client call. Staff lose unsaved work, and repeated interruptions to accounting or ERP sessions can occasionally leave records locked or incomplete. Frustrated users may avoid the VPN entirely and find other ways to move files, which undermines your data security policy. For remote-first teams, an unreliable VPN directly limits how much work gets done.
How AskTechGurus fixes it
Skip the trial and error. A certified engineer works on your actual system, finds the root cause, and fixes it properly.
Tell us what’s happening
Submit a ticket in about two minutes. Paste the error, describe what changed, and pick your tier. No charge to submit.
A certified engineer diagnoses it
A vetted, US-based systems engineer claims your ticket, usually within minutes during business hours, and investigates over a secure remote session you can watch and end at any time.
Fixed and verified with you
The engineer resolves the root cause and confirms with you that it’s working. You don’t just get a workaround, and you get a plain-English summary of what was wrong.
Pay only when it’s resolved
Fixed price from $99, invoiced only after you approve the fix. If it isn’t resolved, you don’t pay.
Frequently asked questions
Is it our VPN or the employee's home internet?
It can be either. If many users are affected, the gateway is the likely cause; if only one is, their home network is a strong suspect. We confirm before changing anything.
Could dropped connections corrupt files?
Files that were being saved over the VPN at the moment it dropped can be damaged. An engineer can help identify any affected files.