VPN over wifi woes

Hi,

I'd be grateful for any help with the following problem:

I want to connect to my work domain from my wireless network at home.
I'm using a laptop on XP SP1 with a PCMCIA 3Com wireless card. The
Wireless network is encrypted. Windows is set to manage my wireless
networking. This all works fine for basic stuff, other PCs on the
network (wired or wireless) can use the Internet no problem.

What I want to do is log on to my work domain using dial-up networking.
The domain I'm logging on to is an NT domain, but the RAS server is
running Windows 2000 server.

What happens is that during the log on process, I am authenticated onto
the domain, but then the wireless network connection appears to be
dropped for a second or two (the connection light on the 3com card
flashes and then goes steady again). Of course while the wireless
network is dropped the VPN is disconnected. I then have to reconnect the
VPN, but by then its too late, the logon script hasn't run, my offline
files haven't synchronised, etc. All works OK if I logon using dial-up
networking if I connect using a cat5 cable, so its definitely a wireless
problem.

I don't recall having this problem when the wireless network was
unencrypted, though I could be wrong.

Is there something I can do to get the laptop to stay connected to the
wireless network during the domain logon process?

My event viewer just states that the VPN was disconnected. No errors.

Regards,

SW


S W