Earthlink + VPN + DNS = trouble.... Here's a workaround if you're having problems...

The behavior is very similar to spyware that hijacks the browser, so I burned many hours today running spyware scans, virus scans, and otherwise trying to figure out why my system was screwed up. I could access some internal sites, but not others -- it was really weird. Eventually I stumbled onto the above site. Surprisingly, when I contacted Earthlink customer support, I got a quick and correct workaround for the problem.

Go into your tcp/ip dns settings...

In the Preferred DNS server field, enter 202.27.184.3

In the Alternate DNS server field, enter 202.27.184.5

That should fix the problem. I made the change to my "home" configuration in Access Connections (thinkpad netowrk configuration switching tool) and can now access everything on the intranet that I was using before. (Like the cvs server, for example.) Hopefully this saves somebody some debugging time... I couldn't find any information on Google with this workaround, so I've been posting it to a few forums, and figured I'd post it here too.

- SM -

TRANSCRIPT:

info: 'Valeria K' says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?

xxxxxxxx@earthlink.net: the changes that earthlink has recently implemented for dns lookup has screwed up my vpn access. i can no longer work from home because earthlink is hijacking legitimate web addresses for my company's internal network

Valeria K: I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you in this regard.

xxxxxxxx@earthlink.net: are there alternate dns servers i can use that work correctly?

Valeria K: Yes, please give me a moment while I give you the information.

Valeria K: Please use these DNS settings :

In the Preferred DNS server field, enter 202.27.184.3

In the Alternate DNS server field, enter 202.27.184.5

Valeria K: Is there anything else I may assist you with today?

xxxxxxxx@earthlink.net: excellent. that worked. thank you.

Valeria K: You are welcome.

Valeria K: It is my pleasure assisting you.

Valeria K: Do you have further queries to assist you with?