VPN Advice

I just wanted to post to gauge people's experiences with VPN and remote desktoping. We are a SME with several remote workers. I used to use ISA as our VPN server, however I didnt like the interface. I now use the built in server on our Draytek 5510, along with the draytek client, which simplifies things and gets around a lot of the problems with the windows client.

My experience of vpns is that they are a bit lethargic, presumably due to encryption/packets arriving our of order. Every now and then, we'll get a freeze that will take a minute to come back to life, and every now and then you'll get a drop out.

These are all things that I can live with (I remember running rdp over dial up)., however there are people senior to me who do not see this as acceptable, so I must now seek a resolution.

Could I ask, do other people have similar issues connecting to their VPN networks?
Any gems of wisdom as how I can improve VPN stability/throughput, and can anyone recommend different methods of remote desktopping?

Many Thanks
Steven