Scott:
Heya. I'd be very surprised if it was a MAC-related issue. Firstly, she's VPN'd with work, so her ethernet-frames emerge on her work LAN intact -- no intervening router touches them, or could touch them. That's the underlying approach of VPN'ing, after all: it captures the raw ethernet frames in "virtual interfaces" and delivers them to a remote network. Secondly, even if she wasn't VPN'd, the "source MAC-address" of the ethernet frame as seen by her work PC will be from the last router (or switch) in the chain of routers that the packets used on their way. Unlike VPN traffic, there is no provision in normal TCP/IP traffic to "preserve" the MAC-address of the original source.
The MAC-address cloning you describe is very useful, though, when your own broadband modem has "memorized" the PC it was originally connected to. ISP's used to do this as they didn't want broadband customers to run multiple PC's on the their home LAN -- they wanted 1 PC per IP address. That wasn't very popular with their customers (having more multiple PC's share an Internet connection was the whole reason they *became* customers), and it was nearly impossible to enforce -- they tried MAC-address memorization, and (in typical Internet style) the router vendors countered with MAC-address cloning. Some of them (including LinkSys), actually ask permission to clone the MAC address when you run their optional installation software.
So if when Anita added her broadband router, she was unable to access the Internet *at all*, then I would suspect the MAC address was the issue. Otherwise, the signs point to an MTU-size problem.
cheers, Scott
It's very possible that the "doorway" to your office PC is programmed to only allow access from a particular MAC address. The MAC address of the router is different, so it will be rejected. If this is the case, you need to get the new address to your office IT dude, or in many cases, the router will have a "Clone MAC Address" feature, so you can set it to broadcast the same MAC as your home PC.
Anita Mahoney wrote:
Thanks for the response!
I am connected to the internet through a cable modem. I accessed my office pc by using the VNC Viewer (I kept the VNC server active on my office pc)
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