I just bought one of these boxes plugged it in and it did not work.
I searched on the forum and web for help and was appalled at lack of plain simple help and the amount of just plain rubbish. Specifically the Vodafone help pages are useless. I am astounded that Vodafone does not provide just a little sensible advice on these pages.
I am trying to install SureSignal (V3) over a Devolo device (mains-wiring ethernet extender) to a TP-Link router (TP-WR841N) to an openreach modem to a BT Infinity line to the internet.
I worked it out - but probably only because I have at least a little understanding of IP.
i) The SureSignal needs PPPoA and does not work with PPPoE - rubbish!
ii) You need to forward ports. I have not; and suspect that most people do not need to either. The use of the word is (of course) ambiguous so lets go through it step by step.
For many (if not most) routers forwarding as seen by the user relates to packets originating in the internet being sent to a specific device (PC). This so that people can accept connections originating from other people. Now the SureSignal uses DHCP to acquire an IP address. This is assigned (in principal) randomly and hence I cannot configure the router to route packets to the SureSignal. So no inbound mapping is (can be) required.
Few routers allow outbound packet routing to be configured. I could setup static routes, but this is really a very unusual step.
I think what is meant by "forwarding" here is to make sure that the router is not blocking specific ports outbound. So that when the SureSignal tries to call home (on say port 50) the router accepts this request.
Most routers will block incoming requests - this is a simple security precaution. Few will block outgoing requests (by default) - they are being made in reponse to your requests and presumably you want them to work.
So in general I suspect that nothing needs to be done for "forwarding" for many (if not most) routers.
iii) Vodafone themselves have incorrect setup.
Your IP address is blacklisted by Vodafone; your device has been disabled in the Vodafone database; the device setup at Vodafone is broken and needs to be "reset".
Little puzzled by the IP address one as most of us have dynamic IP addresses which change from time-to-time.
However, there are clearly a number of issues with the Vodafone server software and so it makes sense to ask Vodafone to check. SureSignal SerialNumber, your (current) IP address, PostCode and such.
iv) It takes 30 minutes, an hour, 24 hours, ... for your SureSignal to configure.
What!? I am just sending a short list of mobile numbers. 1 milli-second!
I suspect that the SureSignal is downloading its software dynamically. This a way of making sure you have the latest firmware, but over a slow unstable line does mean that these is a finite chance that you will never sucessfully finish.
Why they did not store the current version in flash, and do the update only when it changed, is I suspect a penny-pinching issue.
It takes mine about 10 minutes.
v) The SureSignal uses a VPN - Virtual-Private-Network.
Cannot think of any reason why it does - a single simple SSL socket must have been adequete for this requirement. I suspect that the original devlopers wanted to play with the technology.
However, it does; and here lay my problem.
They have chosen to use IPSec VPN technology and this does require specfic behaviour from the router.
In my case in the "Security" settings section of the TP-Link configuration page I needed to enable "IPSec Passthrough".
Hey Presto! It works!
I understand that at least BT on the HomeHub calls this something else - VPN clamping.
