I had the same problem with quickVPN on vista and Windows7. The only thing I need to do is make sure Windows Firewall is on and there is an exception for quickVPN and I can connect using quickVPN. Like everyone else I kept getting the error message that the remote gateway is not responding, do you want to wait? I tried everything on the forums. I tried all sorts of exceptions in advanced settings with ICMP. I even uninstalled Norton and still had the problem. QuickVPN worked on an older version of XP so I knew it was not the router (SA5200). I was not convinced that it was the lack of Ping being returned because I could ping and Windows was not blocking that. But because I want to VPN in from home I knew all of the local addresses and I just set them and it all works. The coffee shop example is probably the same.
Here's how it works. On the Local Area Connection (or the wireless network connection) go to the Internet Protocol Version 4 and set the properties instead of using the "obtain IP address automatically", Set the DNS server addresses to the local ones on the system you are on at home (or away from the office). Then set the IP addresses to one on the network you are trying to VPN into, I had the network manager reserve one for me so it is never assigned. Set the subnet mask to something different than the one on the system you are trying to VPN into. You can set the default gateway to the local one or leave it blank. Then go ahead and start quickVPN and you will be connected. You don't have to mess with Norton and I am using the Windows Firewall default settings without creating any exceptions.
This procedure seems to work on Vista as well. Good luck.
