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Forum Discussion
Can anyone get the VPN to actually open a port?
Hello All, I have an ORBI RBE771. When I manage this device and click Enable VPN Service and select the default TUN and TAP mode ports (12973/12974) then go to this site to obtain my IP address: ht...
Just to "double check", I activated OpenVPN Connect on my Samsung Galaxy S23, connected to Spectrum Cellular. It connected to my RBR50 Orbi and appeared on the list of Attached Devices:
Thus, even though ports 12973 and 12974 "timed out" on dnschecker.org, OpenVPN is definitely enabled and working. As another check, I opened a web browser on the phone to IP address 192.168.1.4 (an Epson printer), and the Epson page appeared as expected.
We were taught on the Help Desk that when a client calls and says there's a problem, there is ALWAYS a problem. Our task was to be patient and discover what the problem was. (Yes, we have asked, "is the computer plugged in?" and got, "oops. my bad")
In this case, how about changing the VPN configuration from UDP to TCP? (Download a new ovpn file or edit the existing file to reflect the change). This way, the dnschecker.org should report the ports open. Another thought is to change the device that is connecting to OpenVPN. Because OpenVPN listens only to the WAN (internet) port, my practice has been:
- Disconnect my cell phone from WiFi to use cellular data.
- Open a Hot Spot on the phone.
- Connect the device I want to test to the Hot Spot.
- Enable OpenVPN Connect on the test device.
- VPN has worked correctly on smart phone, Windows laptop, Linux laptop, and Android tablet. (Have no "Apple things".)