Interesting issue with RD through VPN w/local apps issues

I am connecting through vpn to a company server while wired directly to the modem (because they removed the wireless abilities in our laptops) and cannot connect to Microsoft Office Communicator and all of the Citrix applications (the server that we are using) freezes for more than 60 seconds at a time and only allows roughly 10-15 seconds of work time between freeze ups. Our IT department is telling us (there are three of us having the same issue and we all work for the same department) that it is our internet connection speed, even though they shadowed into our computers, tested the connections, and said they were fine...up until they couldn't figure out how to fix the problem, then they blamed our internet. When they finally realized we weren't taking that for an answer (since all of our other home computers work perfectly fine) they then blamed it on our locations. I live in Baltimore City, one lives in Glen Burnie, and the other in Pasadena (all in Maryland). I am finding it hard to believe that all three of us have issues in regards to location when we all live in three different areas. There are roughly 200 other employees that work from home or use mobile laptops (sales consultants) that don't have this particular issue. Our VPN is Cisco and our remote server is CitrixXenApps. Suggestions?