I typically have Auto VPN (not Auto-Connect) set up so that Norton VPN automatically connects when I connect to an unsecured network. I recently started using new home Wi-Fi, which is secured with WPA2 AES encryption, and Norton confirms it as secure when it does a network security scan. However, for some reason, Norton VPN detects the network as unsecured when I connect and automatically turns on the VPN. For the time being, I have turned off Auto VPN for unsecure networks (leaving it on only for compromised networks), but I would like to be able to use that feature again in the future. Has anyone experienced something similar?
The router is an Xfinity xFi router/modem combination if that helps narrow things down at all. I tried contacting Norton support chat, and they were less than helpful and seemed to have trouble understanding what was going on.
Something else you can check. Be sure you use a different SSID for the 2.5 and 5 Ghz networks in your router.
I did just check that and they are same. Unfortunately, Xfinity makes that a challenge to change.
I did, however, discover a different potential reason in my search to see if the above suggestion was possible. It seems Xfinity defaults to having the router double as an Xfi hotspot. I shut that off and am now giving it the 24 hours the Xfinity app said to allow for that to take effect.
xjoex has it right; it's a condo router. Both disabling the hotspot and splitting the bands (and getting different SSIDs) did not solve things. Back to the old drawing board.
The Xfinity wifi hotspot is set on for every router rented thru Comcast whether business or residential.
There are several folks in the condo complex where I live that are broadcasting Xfinity (secure) and xfinity (unsecure) to many neighbors who are able to login to those networks.
There is a way to shut off those networks thru the software.
Is this router used in a business? I would have thought that the wifi hotspot feature was only used on business accounts, to offer customers internet access.
Something else you can check. Be sure you use a different SSID for the 2.5 and 5 Ghz networks in your router.
I did just check that and they are same. Unfortunately, Xfinity makes that a challenge to change.
I did, however, discover a different potential reason in my search to see if the above suggestion was possible. It seems Xfinity defaults to having the router double as an Xfi hotspot. I shut that off and am now giving it the 24 hours the Xfinity app said to allow for that to take effect.
Check the settings in the new routers to see if there is any security features included. If so, try turning them off to see if that resolves the issue. If there are no security features, turn off any included firewall in the router to see if that helps.
I checked and I can confirm that that did not work for me. Just for the sake of it, I also tried turning the router firewall to maximum security, which also did not work.
While playing around in the router setting, I noticed two things:
The router seems to broadcast both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz frequencies with the same name (just slightly different MAC addresses). I don't think this is the cause, since my laptop is old enough it does not support 5 GHz connections, but I figured I would check.
All of the Wi-Fi configuration settings (i.e. Wi-Fi Mode, Security Mode, Channel Selection, Channel Mode, and Channel Bandwidth) are marked as being "managed automatically" presumably by Xfinity. Could something in this be the cause for Norton's Auto VPN thinking the network is not secure?
Check the settings in the new routers to see if there is any security features included. If so, try turning them off to see if that resolves the issue. If there are no security features, turn off any included firewall in the router to see if that helps.
I’ll give that a whirl in the next couple days (depends on how things in work and personal life go in the next couple days).
Check the settings in the new routers to see if there is any security features included. If so, try turning them off to see if that resolves the issue. If there are no security features, turn off any included firewall in the router to see if that helps.