TrueMobile 2300 & VPN

A followup question: is this a hardware issue? Would I still have this problem if I replaced my TrueMobile with, say, a Linksys?

Here's the solution (at least it worked for me) if anyone's interested: click on the Advanced tab in Local Area Connection properties & disable ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). I've learned that enabling ICS can lead to VPN connection drops if one is running XP with SP1 installed.

This post I put up earlier might help you.

First there was a thread on this at this forum link: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_network&message.id=18988&highlight=1350+intel+cisco+vpn#M18988

I'm assuming that you have Dell TrueMobile 1300 (or later models of TrueMobile) WiFi Mini PCI in the laptops. TM 1300 WiFi is actually made by Broadcom and rebranded for Dell. According to people on the thread I mentioned earlier, Broadcom doesn't follow technical standards closely so it causes Cisco VPN client to break. In my experience with TM 1300 in D600 XP Pro, wireless connection via TM 1300 works perfectly fine via any WiFi AP or Router, but when I open Cisco VPN client(VPN 5000 Client 5.2.3 3DES, old and EOF vpn box but no $ to upgrade) via WiFi I lose both internet/VPN connection in about 10 minutes or so. As soon as I close the VPN client, internet connection is established again immediately. I used to reopen Cisco VPN connection every 10 minutes to my office to work on servers and also practice on linux box etc I set up at work but it got very old very quickly. I initially thought the problem was caused by my netgear MR314 Wireless Router so I upgraded its firmware. I also tried upgrading TM 1300 drivers and bios firmware but still no go. I even tried Netgear WAG511 WiFi PCMCIA but same result after reading the forum thread. I didn't try opening Cisco VPN connection via Wired Ethernet since it's so much pain to get the wire out from the Netgear MR314.

I'd like to recommend these solutions:
1) Return the laptops. Or,
2) Replace the TM 1300 cards with INTEL PRO Wireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Card available at this Dell link for $32.95 plus tax/shiping
(http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?category_id=&k=&mnf=&brandid=&prst=&prEnd=&sku=430-0913&mnfsku=&SearchType=&Page=DellItemsProductListing.aspx&spagenum=2&Pageb4Search=&InStock=&items_per_page=50&orderby=&mnfname=DELL&brand=Latitude+D600&SubmitSearch=&image_flag=True&refurbished=&c=us&l=en&cs=04&iCompatid=157951)

See if you can make Dell pay for the replacement.

The product description page for Intel 2200 b/g card claims it's Cisco compatible with CCXv1 certification and I haven't found any complaint about it not working with Cisco VPN client on Dell forums so I believe it will work. But I suggest testing 1 laptop with it first before doing whole sale replacement.
BTW, someone on Dell forum wanted latest driver for Intel 2200 b/g at this link (http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_wireless&message.id=6842&highlight=intel+2200+ibm#M6842
) and he was pointed to this url at ibm.com (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-54956)

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your response, Jock. Per my earlier post, disabling ICS solved my problem, so I see no reason to return the notebooks or the card.