There was a problem connecting to accounts.google.com

[Aleksandr]

I have a Galaxy A7 Lite Tablet, running Android 11, brand new out of the box. When I try to Google Play, I receive the error:
There was a problem connecting to accounts.google.com

A search on-line shows plenty of people asking about this on Google support forums, and not a single answer. Searching for videos show a couple fixes -- one synchronizing the time (which is correct here), and one switching from the WiFi network to the cellular network.

I tried switching networks, it does work on other networks. However, I need it to work on this network here, since I need to use the Play Store often, and I don't have my own network to provide, I have to go search for someone willing to share their mobile data every time.

This is a secure network, requiring a certificate for internet access. The certificate has been installed on the tablet, and websites load fine. In particular, accounts.google.com loads in Chrome without any warnings or errors. I am logged in to my account on Chrome.

How do I troubleshoot what's wrong when trying to access Google Play Store?

 

[Laura Knotek]

What if you use your mobile phone's hotspot to connect to your tablet?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Who manages the network you're using? If it's a work or school network, there may be firewalls in place that prevent people from accessing certain sites and services -- you'd have to talk to the network manager about that, but it's unlikely that they'd make an exception for one person.

 

[Aleksandr]

I manage this network. It is a work network. No firewall is in place. It is part of my job responsibility to download apps on all company tablets, and I cannot get a single one to work.

If I use a mobile hotspot, then it works; however, I do not have a mobile phone. Instead, our company provides landline phones with MMS capabilities. I've had to hunt our general manager down, who does get to have a mobile phone, in order to confirm that this works on a hotspot. But, it is unsustainable as a long-term solution.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm, it must be something to do with the work network. Is there a VPN set up? Have you gone through the router's settings to make sure there are no other security options that might be related?

 

[Aleksandr]

The router is connected to an untangle device, which connects to internet through two ISP's, and routes some computers through one and others through the other one. The idea is, that it allows for a dedicated connection for management, which is unaffected by other users' internet usage. Also, if one of the ISP's loses service, then the rest of the computers switch over to the other ISP.
There is no VPN set up.
I will go try to hook the router directly to one of the ISP's and see if that makes a difference, and report on here when I find out (it might take a while until I catch a moment when noone is using the internet).