I just started at a new company (insurance agency) and I work in a small satellite office with 3 people. We access our home office server via a VPN using comcast cable internet. THe problem is that the speed through the VPN is so slow- to the point where completing a simple field form like you are placing an order takes 3-4 minutes. What are the drawbacks for having a VPN for office use and would a dedicated T1 line solve this problem?

 

A dedicated connection like a T-1 would obviate the need for the VPN gear, but may not give you much of a bandwidth improvement over the cable ISP. There are bandwidth compression solutions from Juniper and Riverbed but would require a significant $$ investment from your company.

 

That doesn't sound right. I've run 5 vpn's on 1 cable modem running intense real time streaming software without much problem.
You may want to check your cable speed, & connections(modem,cables).
Also see what your upload speeds are. The higher those the better a VPN connection.
And may want to play with different types of VPN clients instead of the windows built in crap. Some offer compression, or streamlined transmission.

Consult your main office as well. You may be connecting to some POS backbone on ISDN, or the VPN servers may be total crap.