Can my VPN be causing my continual wifi disconnections??

CheekyChook

Hello : ) I just recently bought a google pixel 7 pro (disappointing choice) and one of the problems I am having is that at least once a day I have to restart my phone to get access to my home wifi on my phone (it is not the wifi). This never happened on my old Iphone SE.

I'm starting to think it has something to do with my VPN, as a similar thing has happened to the last 2 laptops I have owned (and its only dawned on me this morning - I am a bit slow). Whenever my laptop goes to sleep (ie I don't attend to it for a while) and I wake it up again, for the most part I have to restart the laptop too before I can access wifi : (

Is this because I am using a VPN??

Also, do I really need to use a VPN on my home network?? My concern is that my mobile gets disconnected from Wifi and I don't know it - therefore I am not receiving important emails as the wifi is disconnected and I haven't been made aware.

Please help. Ta : )

Alexandru_BD

Hello @CheekyChook,

I would say it's possible. I think you should test the connection without VPN to see if the same thing happens. It's also important to know on which network the disconnection occurs. If it's being used on the home network, the VPN anonymizes its traffic, like on any other networks. Speaking of networks, I would also recommend to use the Bitdefender Wi-Fi Security Advisor to configure your home network and other networks you may use:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/40620/

But I do not exclude a possible issue with the Wi-Fi. Restart your wireless router and check how stable the network actually is without VPN.

I think you can use the mobile settings to switch to mobile data when Wi-Fi is not available, if mobile data usage is not a concern. For what is worth, the Bitdefender VPN also provides a Kill-Switch feature. When enabled, this feature temporarily suspends all Internet traffic if the VPN connection accidentally drops. As soon as you are back online, the VPN connection will be reestablished. I don't know if this would be useful to you, but I thought I should mention it.

Regards

CheekyChook

Thank you so much for your help 🙏🙏💐people like me really appreciate your help like you wouldn't believe. Thanks again : )

Alexandru_BD

You are most welcome @CheekyChook, I'm glad to hear the information was helpful 🙂

Regards

Cyberchook

Okay Since the 'new look' VPN, it drops out, and I find has to be reconnected at least 3 times a day when using my iOS Mac desktop.

Why now as it was fine before?

It is very insecure when I need to reconnect all the time and that often does not do that immediately, and I have to try a few times.😖

Alexandru_BD

Hello @Cyberchook,

It's really difficult to tell what could be causing this behavior based solely on the above information.

When there are situations related to VPN, generally more details are required for a more efficient diagnosis, such as:

• 1. The OS on which the vpn is running (here we established it's happening on macOS?)
• 2. Whether the problem occurs on a specific location or all locations? Here you can try multiple servers to check if the issue persists
• 3. IP of the affected server(s) - The IP displayed in the VPN interface can reveal more useful information
• 4. The applications/sites affected could also prove useful
• 5. If you are using standalone VPN or VPN in BMS (so if this happens on both iOS and macOS in this case)
• 6. Whether the problem occurs only on mobile data or only on wifi or present on both. Preferably try
• multiple networks, switch between them and observe the app behavior.
• 7. App version.

Additional details might be required, but generally speaking, drops in connection can have a multitude of reasons behind them, so this really needs to be investigated properly by the Support teams, in my opinion. The above information serves as a guide to what the engineers may require when users report connectivity issues with the VPN, so make sure to have this information available to them, to speed up the process.

I would recommend contacting the Technical Support Teams and you can get in touch with them by choosing one of the contact channels available here:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

Choose from the available contact channels, chat, phone and email/ticket. Chat would be the fastest way to reach them.

Let us know how it goes and what was causing the drops.

Regards,

Alex

Cyberchook

Belated thanks Alex, as I am a mid 80 aged grandma user, the above instructions although clearly written, are unfortunately not options for me to follow as changing servers etc.🙄

Alexandru_BD

Hi @Cyberchook,

Changing servers is fairly easy, you just have to select from the available servers list in the VPN app. This is to exclude a potential issue with a specific server that you may be connected to. In the event the issue persists with no solution in sight, I still recommend that you contact the Support teams for a more in-depth investigation.

Best regards and Happy New Year!