Vodafone Sure Signal

[Jennys]

Back in February I switched to Vodafone from Orange as I thought Vodafone were the only company to offer a signal booster. I have since found out that Orange do one so all the pain could have been spared.

For the first couple of weeks everything seemed to working fine (funnily enough that's the same period as the trial where I could have returned the phone). After this the problems started. 

The sure signal box became intermittent and required numerous resets and witchcraft to try and get the stupid thing to work. 

I have called the support line several times, only to hear that if I switch it off, press buttons, hop on one leg and face east that it will work. Needless to say, it didn't. 

I then proceeded to scour the forums looking for a solution. Now I don't have an advanced degree in computer science so expecting me to have to open ports and follow the router settings etc is a bit much. I payVodafone and apple to do the programming, if I have to do it myself then surely I should some kind of discount? After several hours and fraught conversations with Mr Frustrated we eventually managed to follow the instructions and do the opening port things. Still not working.

So back to the forums, where I finally find out that apparently the sure signal box doesn't work with sky broadband, but this is not actually vodafone's problem, I need to get Sky to sort it out.  Sky does exactly what I pay them to do. I get broadband from them and my telly works. Happy days.  I had sky broadband when the sure signal box was purchased so if It wasn't going to work, then I should have been  notified of this at the time. 

Back to the support lines who tell me that I need to check some things with Sky and they would send me an email. That was a good 3 weeks ago and I have heard nothing. 

As it is, the signal I get on my iPhone when out and about is appalling - it's almost not worth having. I can have no signal in my office when other people on different networks have no problems whatsoever. But then to not be able to use it at home means I pay a lot of money every month for what is essentially a paperweight for 90% of the time. 

Whe I signed a contract with Vodafone, I agreed to pay you money every month in return for a service. I am not getting the service but but am holding up my end of the deal. 

Please could someone tell me what I need to do to get the fully functioning phone I have been paying for since February? 

[Matt]

Hi

Can you take a look at our Sure Signal Troubleshooting thread, and then post back your results if you’re not directed to an existing thread?

Thanks

Matt

Moderator
eForum Team

[Jennys]

Hi Matt

I have been through the entire troubleshooting process numerous times and nothing has worked so far, as mentioned in my original post.

I have reset things, unplugged the router, switched to airplane mode and back, reset the router, opened ports, changed settings to other numbers - everything that has been suggested by both troubleshooting threads and when I have called (from a landline as I cannot use the phone at home). I am not an IT worker so all the talk of ports etc is hugely confusing and quite frankly, not something I really feel I should have to do. Isn't that the point of plug and play (again - not an expert so perhaps I am missing the point!)

My internet works perfectly, my broadband speed is more than adequate - I don't know what else to do.

Please can someone sort this out as I feel now that I would be better off getting my money back and switching back to my original mobile provider.

[chrise]

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Jennys wrote:

I thought Vodafone were the only company to offer a signal booster. I have since found out that Orange do one so all the pain could have been spared.

---

Hi,

Orange offer a service they call "signal boost", which provides phone services (voice calls and SMS) via your home WiFi.  At your end, this is purely implemented in software on the phone, and hence only works with a limited range of handsets.  The last time I checked, it was limited to Blackberry, and certain specific Android models.  Therefore, if you want to use a different handset (I too use an iPhone), this is of no help whatsoever.  By contrast, the Voda Sure Signal is a hardware device that provides a 3G signal, which means it should (in theory) work with any 3G phone.  

So as an iPhone user, it's worth persevering with the Sure Signal.

As for "opening ports", this is more likely to break things than fix things, especially if you have a bog-standard home broadband setup, like 99% of people do.  I would suggest trying to remove / revert anything you've done (any changes you've made) in this area.

[Jennys]

Thanks for your response. 

Re orange -fair enough. I had already switched when I found out about it.  But in all honesty it wouldn't have made any difference as the ss doesn't work anyway :-) 

Its quite annoying that the Vodafone forums are posting suggestions that can make things worse! If I could undo it I would, but I have no clue now what the original settings were or how to undo it - I'm really not good with the background stuff.  I was hoping to buy it, plug it in and have it work! 

[Dave]

Hi Jennys,

I'm concerned to hear you're having such issues getting the Sure Signal to work.

In most cases, the default settings of a router will be sufficient for the Sure Signal to work out of the box. The ports we recommend are ones which are often open by default, and opening any which are not already set to open will not have a negative affect.

Whilst we cannot help with regards to where the port settings are, this is simply due to the wide range of routers on the market. We can, however, talk you through many of the other checks we may need to help resolve things.

So that we can look into this, can you first confirm the serial number of the Sure Signal? This can be found on the box itself, and allows us to check how it shows on the system at this end.

Also, can you describe the lights as you see them on the box - which are lit or flashing - for me? Different combinations point to different things, such as unable to connect, an issue with the box, updating, ready to work but the phone doesn't connect and so on.

Finally for now, can you confirm your IP address for me? This allows us to check that this is not blocked at this end for any reason.

Once we have this information, it will help us to see what direction to head in order to resolve things.

Dave

[chrise]

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Dave wrote:

The ports we recommend are ones which are often open by default, and opening any which are not already set to open will not have a negative affect.

Dave

---

Unless the user does something wrong...

For example, I can imagine it'd be quite easy to incorrectly create static port forwardings pointing to some private IP which is not the LAN address of the SS.  In which case, things probably won't work even where they'd have worked fine with the default router configuration.

[Jennys]

Hi Dave

Thank you! Hurrah a real person to help! 

Serial number is 40114256593.

On the box there is just the power light. The other 2 lights aren't on at all.  When I have done the resets the other 2 flash for quite a while then both go off and stay off which is what I have now.

Do you have an email I can send the IP address to please rather than posting on a public forum?

Thank you dry much

Jenny

[Dave]

Hi Jennys,

You've given me something to start with already. It sounds like the box has lost connection, as it's trying to set itself up each time you reset it, and then when it gets no response it stops. 

There is no specific problem with Sky routers and the Sure Signal. The Sky MER thread you most likely saw previously was identified as not being a specific Sky router issue. That said, there are a few things we can check with the router and connection above and beyond the ports we discussed before. We'll get the IP still off you if these don't fid anything.

Looking at our system, it hasn't connected in almost three months, so I've started with a resync on our system. Can you perform a factory reset to pick this up on the Sure Signal for me?

• Hold down the reset button until all the lights show (about 30 seconds)
• Keeping the reset button held down, remove then re-insert the power lead.
• Once all lights display release the reset button.
• The Sure Signal will come online in around 1 hour.

If this fails, can you post the results of a speed test for me?

Also, can you run a Traceroute for me:

• On a PC :
• Click on Start  and select Run
• Type CMD into the Run box and press enter/click ok
• A black box will appear.
• In this box type tracert 212.183.133.177    press Enter
• Paste the output of this command into your reply.

On the router, there should also be a setting for the MTU - this is the setting which defines the maximum size of the data packet the router will allow. To ensure that these aren't being blocked by too small a setting, can you set this to 1500 or, if this is not allowed, then the maximum available? Think like a letterbox and big packages - we need to increase the letterbox size to allow the bigger ones through or things get missed.

You may also need to reboot the router and Sure Signal together, in case one is holding onto some part of a failed connection which then causes the next attempt to fail each time. Shutting off both would the clear this. You'd need to cut power to both together, then restart the router only. When this is fully rebooted, then restart the Sure Signal.

Finally, a quick visual test. Can you check the back of the Sure Signal for me, where the Ethernet cable to the router is connected? Can you confirm that the two lights there are lit or flashing? Either is fine, but if they are not lit, can you try a different cable, as this means that the Sure Signal is not connecting to the internet at all, and if the router works otherwise, this points to the cable or the box.

Let us know if any of this helps.

Dave

[Steverun]

I could not agree more with you. I joined Vodafone in June because of the suresignal and yes like you everything was fine for 3 weeks since then I have contacted Vodafone several times and been told to do various resets and change settings on Modem none of which have made any difference, I have even had the suresignal replaced because their technical team said it must be faulty. I am very frustrated because the signal is very bad in my area and keeps dropping off so I keep losing business calls. Vodafone business said do a manual roam reset, which I have also done but makes no difference. I am extremley fed up with Vodafone, as at minute I can not even manage my suresignal account on line?

It seems I am stuck with a £35 contract for another 21 months with a phone I can not use unless I leave my office - what an absolute waste of my time and money.

Wish I had gone to Orange.

[ibrindley]

Hi,

I completely understand your frustrations as we too moved from Oraneg to vodafone because of suresignal.

Firstly, can I say that I have no problems using it at home with Sky Broadband. However, my office with ten employees is unable to use sure signal as our ISP providers routes through a US company whose UK IP points have USA IP Adressess (even though they are not in the US) and vodafone kicks the signal out as it thinks it is coming from the USA. It took me two months to prove to those bozos at Vodafone that this was the problem and that their software shoudl be looking at the source IP Adddress (which is a UK IP address) and not where it might have gone on route. In a word USELESS!! and now I am stuck with Vodafone for two years because they are too stupid to do anything about there software issue. I have discovered since that many business ISPs route through USA IP Address ranges even though located in the UK and therefore suresignal will not work. Someone at Vodafone needs to get this issue resolved and they might find they get more business customers.

Ian

[SimonedeB]

I feel for you, similar problems in my house and my location.  I've switched my kids over to Orange and we have no signal issues at all with them.  Our Sure Signal only works within a very short range of the actual box which VF blames on my house and the thick walls.  I am constantly having poor network coverage both in and outside the house, I lose calls midway through, texts take several attempts to send frequently, often have no 3G (the solution according to VF is to switch to 2G) and frequently no service whatsoever.

Don't put up with it, complain, contact the Comms Ombudsman (which I have), report them to Ofcom etc etc.

[chrise]

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ibrindley wrote:

 I have discovered since that many business ISPs route through USA IP Address ranges even though located in the UK and therefore suresignal will not work. 

---

Yep - however, unfortunately in this situation, the "source IP address" Vodafone see *is* the USA IP address.  There is no way they can tell the device is actually in the UK.  Furthermore, this is generally deliberate in the part of the companies who operate this type of network - they wish to hide everything behind a (tightly-controlled) firewall in the USA.  Any details on real origin of any specific traffic would be "information leakage" via the company firewall.

[Lee]

Hello ibrindley,

Many thanks for your post.

Please could you provide me with your external IP address?

Regards,

LeeH

[pryland]

HI jennys.
In full agreement and snap on all the probs, though mine worked quite well for 10 months or so but I have now been struggling hard to get any customer service on this. It appears an impossibility to ever sort these problems with any customer service system of Vodafone. I stumbled on this forum and I have been trying to get somewhere with it for many weeks now. These SS boxes can take over your life.
The only reason I switched to Vodafone is that NO PROVIDER can give me a worthwhile signal in my village, so I switched from O2, which gave me a poor signal upstairs only to Vod, with no signal anywhere unless the Suresignal box has the grace to work that day or hour

[Andy]

Hi pryland,

I've logged your post on the other thread here, where we're already assisting you, to be looked at by the team. As soon as an advisor is available, they'll be along to help.

Thanks

Andy

Moderator

[Jennys]

Hi Dave

I tried all the resets you suggested and to no avail.  I don't have a PC, just an iPad so I can't do the other things you suggested. Is there an alternative? 

3.3 Mbps download 

0.67 Mbps upload speed.

I did have use of a laptop and changed the MTU to what was suggested on the forums but I don't remember what that was. 

I have just unplugged and re-connected the Ss box which is now showing flashing lights on the front but there are no lights flashing on the back where it says router.  They were flashing before but seem to have stopped! I don't think I have another cable so will try and pick one up tomorrow. 

Thanks 

Jenny

[Dave]

Hi Jennys,

When those lights are out, the Sure Signal has no active connection through your router, so this would certainly need to be addressed.

You can also try switching the cable to another port on your router if you have one, just to test if the issue lies with the port rather than the cable.

Just to check as well, when you say the lights are now flashing on the front, does this include the power (first) light? This can indicate an issue with the Sure Signal box itself.

Let us know how you get on. 

Dave