A virtual private network client for cellular mobile devices is described. The VPN network client establishes a secure VPN connection with a remote VPN security device. The VPN network client establishes a secure control channel with the secure VPN gateway and, upon a successful authentication, receives a session cookie with a unique identifier. In the event communication with the secure VPN gateway is subsequently temporarily lost, the VPN network client performs a fast reconnect without requiring re-authentication of the cellular mobile device by communicating the session cookie to the secure VPN gateway. Prior to performing the fast reconnect, the VPN network client identifies a set of transport mechanisms currently available to the cellular mobile device and, when only a cellular network is available and not a wireless packet-based connection, the VPN network client defers the fast reconnect until application-layer data is received from a user application and is ready to be sent to the remote VPN security device via the VPN connection.