first of all, whenever consultants are called in the local IT staff gets defensive. it dosn't matter if their running windows for work groups, its only human and you should expect that. dont you carry a laptop? youd get a lot better respone by asking for an anolog phone line than you will asking for a tunnel through a firewall, for you only.

Their paying very good money for you to do work there, not for you to check your email. not to mention, your asking for perks from a guy/gal who has more than likely been slighted by his/her company, having called you in. and not trusting their abilities and all that.