Wireless connection made but cannot use browser

BedMon,

It sounds like a Web browser proxy setting. Under Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings, make sure all proxy settings are unchecked. If that works, the hotel's staff might be interested in knowing that you had to make that change, because it likely means there's a problem with their DHCP or proxy setup.

Jim

BedMon,

The symptom suggests that something's blocking outbound HTTP (TCP/80) traffic. When the VPN client is active, all HTTP traffic goes through the VPN tunnel and is delivered correctly by the VPN server at the other end of the tunnel. Likewise, replies from Web servers come back through the VPN tunnel. So no TCP/80 traffic is directly generated by your laptop - all of it goes through the tunnel.

The behavior is "firewall-like". It's extremely unlikely that the hotel is blocking outbound HTTP traffic. That would certainly result in so many customer complaints that they'd be forced to discontinue the practice. You might be able to confirm that it's not something the hotel is doing by inquiring about it. Another way would be to take the laptop to a location that provides "wireless hotspot" service, preferably in a form that doesn't require any software to be installed on your laptop, and see if the symptom changes.

If it doesn't, then the possibility of a firewall installed on the laptop needs to be considered. This would likely be a third-party product, and might even be the VPN client software itself. Some VPN clients will exhibit "firewall-like" behavior even if the VPN tunnel is inactive. I've encountered a case like this before involving one of Symantec's VPN products, but what it was blocking was access to other machines on the same LAN as the client. The way the problem was discovered was by completely uninstalling the VPN client. That's a poor option if you don't have a copy of the VPN client installer on your laptop. In the case of the Symantec client, the behavior was a result of a VPN policy setting. I wonder if there has been an update to your company's VPN policy that could be causing this behavior.

Jim

Thanks again for the input, Jim.  I was kind of thinking along those same lines, so I began looking at those possibilities.  I have Windows XP firewall enabled on my system but have for some time now with no problems previously.  I also had Security Manager from Comcast installed mainly for spyware (firewall function was disabled).  That, too, has been on my system for some time with no previouos issues.  Still, in an effort to continue the troubleshooting process, I removed Security Manager altogether.  The problem persists though.  Here's an interesting test - I connected via dial-up and was able to successfully browse the Web, both via VPN and not.  I'm not sure what exactly that proves.  Interesting though.  I'll see if I can try the 'Wireless HotSpot" idea you mention.  Thanks again. 

BedMon,

Certainly one thing dialup does is bypasses anything the hotel's firewall might be doing. It'll be interesting to see the results of the "Hotspots" experiment. Why would a hotel block outbound HTTP?

Jim

BedMon,

How clever of the hotel's carrier! Block Web access! That likely wasn't what they'd intended to do at all. I suspect you tried a few more experiments than others did. Detective work pays off! Congratulations!

Jim