Vodafone Sure Signal

[Digicom]

Cheers George Much Apprciated

[Digicom]

Also just to add George if you read back to last week when many members had this same problem tech support said they wernt aware of any problems even after 5 days of members rining them telling them then on sataday night vodafone fixed the problem but not permantly it seems as now the same problem is back

regards

[c_g_white]

Dear All,

I like the rest of you have now been going through this saga for 3 days...  I used to be the technical director for a UK ISP so I think that I know something about Internet etc. 

My problem was slightly different to any I have seen here.  I had all the lights on but the 3G would only come on for about a minute.  Then the VSS would recycle / reboot itself and go through the whole process again.

My first annoyance was trying to get through to VSS support.  I had to give my mobile number 5 times along with the rest of my details.  Most annoying.

Secondly I spoke to secondline support who gave me the wrong information, I now know, on how to hard reset the VSS.  They then said that it would take 6 hours for it to reset itself.  I waited and waited and nothing happened.  All I ended up with was the power light on steady.  The ethernet green light on and the orange ethernet flashing about once every second.

24 hrs later I phoned again and had to go through the same rigmorole to get to support for vss.  They then gave me the run around regarding port forwarding although nothing had changed at my end from when it worked.  I then had a text message telling me what ports to add. I could not reply to that text BTW.  It was one way the same as the customer service email address is. By this time I had discovered that my vss was not even getting a DHCP address.  So the reset had obviously not worked. 

The next call to support, in Cairo Egypt, lead to another red herring hard reset.  "Press the reset button for 40 seconds, THEN unplug the ETHERNET cable, and then plug it back in again for another 40 seconds."  This did nothing as I have since found out that it was the power cable that should be unplugged thanks to this forum.

So, finally after 3 days I have done a hard reset on my VSS and low and behold it immediately picked up an IP address and started a mega data download.  During this time the top 3 lights on the side flashed in alternating sequence of 1 &3 followed by 2.  This went on for about 3 minutes.  I am assuming that it has done a software update during this time.

The VSS then went into light 1 on steady and light 2 flashing.  Which it is still doing an hour later...  I now will wait to see what happens.

BTW, is it right that you can't ping the VSS?

Vodafone have a lot to answer for.  We are the only country in the world that needs these types of boxes, unless you are in the wilds of the US.  Go to Europe and you get a full 5 bar signal anywhere, even on the top of the alps!

My few pennyworth.

Regards,

Chris.

[diripio]

I have been reading  this thread as I have been having the same problem over the past couple of days, after having many months of perfect connectivity on a proper pnp basis since I bought the Sure Signal.

I don’t have a problem backhauling the deficiencies in the Vodafone Infrastructure with Sure Signal but I do expect it to work correctly.

The second line support have been very good however trying to lay the fix with one’s ISP is fatuous and disingenuous to say the least.  The problem would seem to lie within Vodafone’s own infrastructure and a very poor UAT (in particular around load and stress testing).

I am reasonable tech savvy and have duly used DHCP to create IP etc and firewall rules to allow the back haul to connect to the web via its vpn to no avail,  bearing in mind up to two days ago the back haul was a plug and play device. Yet it still does not work

I will give Vodafone a bit more time to get their act together and if not I will have to open up a line of enquiry with Trading Standards and Ofcom.

[zzyzxuk]

OK - I'm getting further along.

Ii've worked out I have a Netgear DG934G router with my Sky broadband service, and so using the instructions on www.portforward.com I was able to add services for a few of the ports and have set up firewall rules to forward them to a "LAN SERVER" which I then put the IP address of my Sure Signal box in that box.

The problem I have now is that when trying to set up a new service for port 500, I get an error saying "Service Port number was defined by another service.".  However, looking at the list of services, I don't see any other service listed for port 500 - just the other two I've defined (50 and 4500)...

Any ideas what this might be and how to fix THAT?

[neil54]

I am afraid I am in the same boat again

Worked for a couple of days early in week then past 2 days just the steady 1/ flashing 2 scenario.

Have tried hard and soft resets plus port forwarding/ DMZ already set up and previously working.

This is hugely frustrating as I have no signal with any operator without the VSS. The last 6 weeks have seen the service deteriorate to a joke.

[Digicom]

You are wasting your time reseting the suresignal etc

As i stated earlier there is nothing that will get your suresignal to work as this is same problem that happened last tuesday and it was  fixed 4 days later on sataday evening and it was was vodafones problem!

But again they will not accept it is a problem with there beloved suresignal server but again blame the isps.

I have totally had enough of the negligence of vodafone who will not hold there hands up and admit there is a problem yet again!

Then passing the problem to next person i have spent 5 out of last 7 days on fone being told reset your signal, check your ports, etc

maybe you try playing some of the calls back that are recorded from customers and you will hear how pathatic the excuses really are!

Yes i have now had enough as a i can take and i say i pay £65 +vat month for my tarriff and all i carnt even make a call!

@ the Tech Dept get of your high horses and get this sorted as im sure if you dont i wont be only customer leaving vodafone!!!

[Quality]

I appear to be one many who are experiencing Light 1 - Solid and Light 2 - Flashing Slowly.

I installed and registered my Sure Signal on Thursday 16 Dec 2010 morning, then found all I had was Light 1 - Solid and Light 2 - Flashing Slowly. 24 Hours later I still had the problem. A call to Vodafone 2nd line support team told me my account was showing registered, but had not been forwarded to the Server Team. I was also advised they would resolve the issue within a couple of hours.

Over three hours passed and no improvement, so another call to 2nd line support, who advised their first rep was wrong and that it can take up to 72 hours to connect. They also stated that I might need to change my port settings, that this was a simple easy process etc... I mentioned the Sure Signal should be a Plug and Play device (as this is how it is advertised) to which I was told 'normally it is' sometimes it is not.

Received the instructions to change the port settings and although I consider myself to be a bit of a tech wizard, they are far from simple and having seen some other threads do not see why I change my settings as the fault appears to belong to Vodafone.

Whilst I can get a signal in my home, it is not always convenient to take a call in the home areas where I can get a signal.

I believe I have a number of options:

1. Wait for Vodafone to resolve the problem

2. Take the unit back to Vodafone

3. Seek an aternative mobile phone provider

plus I am sure a few more which other people will advise.

All I would like is to be able to obtain a good mobile phone signal strength throughout my home - is this too much to ask for?

[Quality]

Forgot to include in the previous Post

Using iPhone 3GS, Sure Signal Serial No. 21229795915 and Huawei Echolite HG520S Wireless Router

[kjharve]

Hi all,

I'm here to add my name to the list of those having issues with the Sure Signal. I purchased my box yesterday and have only had the solid power light and flashing "@" light.

I have received e-mails and texts saying that everything is registered and the box has now been in-situ for well over 24 hours. I've never had a problem with UPnP on my router (Netgear DG834GT) despite some Sky Broadband users having issues. To be sure, I have opened up the necessary ports anyway, using a 3rd party service to check that these are not being blocked.

My Sure Signal box has a reserved IP address and so there is no chance of it being assigned a different IP address when router or device is re-booted.

A couple of hours ago I did a hard reset and still no joy.

The box cost me just £20 from a Vodafone store yesterday. I normally buy online but the "Add to Basket" button appears to have disappeared. The reduced price and lack of online purchase makes me wonder whether Vodafone are aware of a problem and are trying to prevent more people ordering until it is fixed. It's just a shame they haven't told their shop staff of this issue. The member of staff was very helpful, telling me that he had Sky Broadband with the same router (how convenient!) and had no issues.

I understand it is always difficult releasing a network device given all the different routers and configurations - there are always going to be some compatability issues. However, to be having issues on this scale is frankly unacceptable. Vodafone should've taken an approach such as Sky has done with Anytime Plus and released it to a closed group of customers to act as a controlled release.

Given all the above, it's difficult to disagree with the previous poster who suggests that Trading Standards would be very interested in this story. No wonder the other mobile providers haven't released this kind of service yet - they may be doing that crazy little thing called "testing".

My S/N is 21229789124 in case anyone at Vodafone fancies trying to resolve this for me. If however, anyone calls or e-mails suggesting I need to open ports or contact my ISP I will open up their ports (and I'm not talking about routers here).

Telling customers these things will take 24 hours to configure is also quite a story, so don't tell me to wait either. Here's a list of devices that have worked perfectly, first time and instantly with my current setup using uPnP:

- Laptop PC

- Desktop PC

- iPhone 4

- iPod

- Netgear Switch

- PS3

- Wii

- Sky+ HD Box

- Epson Wireless Printer

Apologies if I come across as sarcastic.

Regards,

Kevin

[neil54]

Hopefully this may be a positive sign- my Sure Signal came back online overnight.

I wonder if it will stay up for more than 2 days this time?

As Digicom says above- no need for resets etc. When Vodfone's system splutters into life it should connect without intervention.

If light 2 is not flashing, then a reset may help (as long as the VF system is working)

[Digicom]

My suresignal also came back on last night and is now working which is a bonus 

But the fact is vodafone have not even bothered to take on board the comments i and many others posted last week when we had excatly the same problem and every customers who rang suresignal support was advised to ring there isp or re configure the ports or  reset there suresignal which left many customers going round in circles wondering why the steps they were given by tech support didnt work!

The reason for this is we didnt have a problem to fix,it was vodafone and then 3 days later the same problem appeared and again tech support advised myself and others that they should ring there isp or re configure the ports or reset there suresignal and then today the suresignals are back online

To any forum staff a question  is there anything that can be done regarding the wrong and useless information that we keep recieving from tech support? Or is it a case of there big n were small? And do not need to listen what we say?

kind regards

[neil54]

As I understand it there are a number of support issues here.

The forum moderators do a great job fielding queries, answering what they can and escalating other issues.

Vodafone's technical support do not specifically communicate with the eForum and do not seem at all concerned with ascertaining the root of the problems being escalated by the moderators.

Vodafone themselves rely on Sagem technical support for issues pertaining to the VSS. It certainly appears that VF and Sagem simply don't speak to each other in a meaningful way. This results in VFs tech support relying on scripts to handle problems- which is where we get the ISP/Router/Ports nonsense.

As users we don;t even have the benefit of a status report, even on our VSS page in our VF account.

In VF's whole operation, VSS users are a tiny minority and appear to be afforded a proportionate slice of the support budget.

Ultimately it's simply poor customer servcie, but we are powerless to do anything about it.

[rwhitetlc]

Excellent summary of the situation.

Now let us see if Vodafone can be bothered to respond.

[c_g_white]

Just to update this message. My VSS has now come on line having left it on over night.

[tonytango]

well my vss has just started working it has been off for the last two days.let's see how long it last's.

[tonytango]

well that went well it's gone off again come on vodafone sort this out.

[Digicom]

I thought that we may have had a reply from forum staff at least and i see that nobody from vodafone has even bothered to reply, so that to me says vodafone are to ashed to admit they have got problems with there precious suresignal system and also means that we getting no help from them if this problem happens again

cheers vodafone thanks for listening and supporting your customers!

[James]

Hi Guys,

As this isn't my area of expertise and there isn't any support in at this time of night I will pass your query onto our day team to follow up for you.

James

eForum Team

[Daza]

I am really starting to loose the plot with this sure signal, works ok for about a week then suddenly goes of again. its now happened 3 times and i keep re-setting again and it comes on in about 24hours later. this time it wont re-set at all !! i have done the factory re-set to no avail.

currently the top light is on solid and the 2nd light is flashing.

This has to be the worst product i have came across and customer support is a joke.

vodaphone sort this mess out ffs