For those who are interested, I tried the newest dot release of pdanet and it now supports my VPN. I reupgraded to the most current phone and now use pdanet. It is remarkably stable and reliable - much more so than basic tethering. Plus I can sync the phone via USB at the same time. This is excellent.

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Samsung Omnia- WM6.1 - VZW
HTC TyTN II - WM6.1 - on the new at&t - and loving it!
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