From Thursday 1 November until Friday 9 November a series of critical network upgrades will be taking place. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
These core upgrades will impact a selection of VPN, Proxy and most crucially VPN Router customers.
What is being upgraded?
In October 2018 as part of a sustained period of growth we identified a network bottleneck at the Telehouse East (THEDC) Data Centre in London. To avoid users losing their connectivity we started migrating traffic to the Telehouse North (THNDC) Data Centre where we have greater server capacity.
We are now in the process of deploying 10 extra VPN servers, a mixture of PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN to cope with extra demand placed on the THNDC infrastructure. This will in-time allow us to resolve the bottleneck issue at THEDC without it impacting customer connectivity.
As part of this upgrade we need to remotely upgrade the settings on a selection of pre-configured VPN Routers. Obviously with thousands of VPN Routers in customers’ homes and businesses around the world, this is a considerable undertaking and will regrettably cause some inconvenience; which as always, we will endeavour to keep to an absolute minimum.
What issues may I notice?
Software VPN & Proxy Customers & Trial Users
Device specific VPN software configurations and Proxy Server users should only notice minor interruptions to their service where you may become disconnected from the service and need to log back in on your device. Any sustained period of disruption to your service will be irregular and unexpected; and you should contact us to report this, please include your username and the devices you are having an issue with in any reports to our Helpdesk Team.
Existing VPN Router Customers
As per above we will be remotely updating the settings on the majority of VPN Routers connected to the network. This will likely mean a selection of issues including:
Speed tests at www.fast.com returning lower speed results than previous – Following the planned capacity upgrade this week, we would anticipate the network will return to full capacity (actually greater capacity) by Saturday 9 November.
VPN Routers not showing in customer account area – If your VPN Router is no longer showing in your account area please power off your VPN Router for 2 minutes then power it back on. Then log back in to your customer account on our website. If this fails then please contact us with the S/N (Serial Number) shown on the sticker on the base of your VPN Router and we will manually reassign it for you.
SSID and Router Password returning to default settings – If you had set a custom VPN SSID or Password then unfortunately the recent settings update will in many cases have reset these to the default ones printed on the side of your router. For example: UK-WIFI-1234 / UKP552234
Network unavailability for short periods – Any sustained period of disruption to your service will be irregular and unexpected; and you should contact us to report this, please include your S/N (Serial Number) from the sticker on the base of your VPN Router in any reports to our Helpdesk Team.
New VPN Router Customers
The essential setting changes we refer to above for VPN Routers purchased directly from the LibertyShield website or eBay will be made before the device leaves our warehouse and you should simply follow the instructions in the blue book inside the box.
If you purchased from Amazon, then the VPN Router will arrive with the previous settings and you will need to complete the following procedure to update the firmware on your device prior to following the activation instructions in the blue book inside the box:
Please connect your VPN Router (using port 1) to your ISP Router (any port) for 10 minutes before completing the activation form. During this time your router will download our latest firmware.
Once you complete the activation form your router may take up to 15 minutes to come online and broadcast the wireless network SSID.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused and LibertyShield aim to maintain our fanatical levels of customer service and support throughout this period. The Helpdesk will be open 9am to 9pm GMT 7 days per week and should anything require our attention please contact us for assistance.