Vodafone Sure Signal

[jr]

George - well pathping obviously isn't showing what's really happening as my internet connection is fine and the SS box has been working since I did the last reset.

[jr]

George - light 4 just went off around 16.00. Ran your speed test and results OK. Did "soft" reset and box connected again. Could be a blip on network speed somewhere, but box doesn't re-connect afterwards without a reset even though network is OK again. Only comes back by itself if I leave it overnight. Is this as expected or is it a fault, and how do I get my £30 rebate as I paid £50 via the online shop for all this pleasure.

[Wayne]

Hi jr

Thanks for your post here. I'm sorry to hear that you are still having issues with this.

The pathping tells us exactly where this is failing and that is with your ISP. So in this case you would need to contact your ISP as the Sure Signal randomly cutting out is definitely not something that is expected to happen. Especially if it is correctly set up from our end.

Have you been through this thread that outlines all the things you would need to check to resolve this issue before speaking to your ISP?

Troubleshooting.

Please let me know how you get on and if you have any more questions we'll be happy to help you further

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team

[jr]

Wayne - still losing light 4 and the 3G signal about twice a day, usually around 3-4 in the afternoon and 8-9 in the evening, but some days have had no issue. Soft reset (hold reset button till light 2 goes out then release) has always re-established the connection within 2-3 minutes so far, so there is obviously nothing fundamentally wrong with my set up.

Thought about trying another box based on swickes post but then realised they had the constant resetting issue dealt with in the "out of the blue" post which I've already been through. Noted bignose2 post where a new box and a new router make no difference, another post somewhere about the instability of the chips used in this box, and another where the pathping result usually showed the issue was around the V server connection. I've spoken to my ISP and there is nothing they can do. In every other way, my internet connection is working fine.

My conclusion is that I need to keep an eye on the box and reset whenever the signal drops. I can't see any reason why the box or your system can't detect the drop and do the reset automatically, and it has come back overnight when left, but I prefer now to re-establish the connection manually as soon as I notice it. The product is a good idea, but I just don't think the technology is quite there yet.

[jr]

Wayne - to try and move this forward, please can you explain why the box was able to recover twice overnight without intervention, but can’t recover by itself after being tripped even though a reset works, proving that the connection is OK again.
 
The situation is as follows:
- every aspect of my broadband is working perfectly with every other piece of kit I have
- my SS box works perfectly most of the time, but up to twice a day light 4 goes out and I have no 3G signal
- there is no obvious connection between my home broadband usage and the failure time
- if I run a speed test immediately afterwards it says my connection is OK
- if I do a soft reset immediately afterwards, the box comes back up in 2-3 minutes and works fine until the next random failure

The failure pattern has been as follows (times are approx as they are when I noticed I had lost the signal)
- thurs 23 – plugged in replacement box and left it overnight with 1 solid, 2 flashing
- fri 24 – working first thing, failed at 12.00 and recovered by itself overnight
- sat 22 - worked all day
- sun 23 - failed at 15.00 and recovered 06.30 mon
- mon 24 – failed 12.00, did reset at 20.00 and worked OK
- tues 25 – worked all day
- wed 26 - failed 16.00 & 21.00, reset worked both times
- thurs 27 - worked all day
- fri 28 - failed 16.00 & 20.45, reset worked both times
- sat 29 – failed 13.00 & 17.30, reset worked both times

Unless you have a way of permanently monitoring my box, I can’t see how to identify what trips the connection. As far as I can see, it could be any component from the box itself, through the network to your server, and could be due to a temporary loading somewhere. Please note that the pathping result you say shows that the problem is with my ISP was done when the box was working.

What I need is for it to reset by itself after the failure, whatever caused it, so I don’t have to keep checking up on it.

[BenJ]

Hi jr

Hmm odd one, I can understand how annoying this must be.

To me this sounds like your NTP is fluctuating.

If you could do a path ping when your box isn't working , this could shed more light on this issue for you. NTP is controlled by your ISP  I suspect Wayne is correct that this is dropping and causing the box to fail. I noticed the times you listed are quite busy times.  Which ISP are you with?

Thanks
BenJ
eForum Team

[jr]

I'm with Orange, and I can't really do a pathping when it's not working because immediately after it fails, it will work perfectly again with a reset, so "not working" is a momentary thing which trips the connection but then immediately clears. Failure times on sunday were almost identical to saturday (around 13.00 and 18.00) but so far today it has remained connected.

Is anyone else out there experiencing signal loss at similar times or with a similar pattern?

[fruitcage]

I'm experiencing a very similar pattern - light 4 goes out 2-3 times a day. Mostly afternoons or evenings. Will recover eventually (many hours) if left or immediately if reset.

And my ISP is also Orange. I'm beginning to think this may the common factor (I think there was someone else on this thread on Orange broadband with similar problems.)

I will be changing ISP later this week (not just because of SS problems) and I'll let you know if that fixes it.

However, even if ISP issues are the cause, the fact that it does not recover immediately indicates a lack of robustness in the SS box or in VF's setup.

Cheers Geoff

[fruitcage]

A few more thoughts for you jr:

The vodafone SS utility always says my link is OK (1 - 3 Mbit download). But if I try speedtest.net, I get very different results for download and latency to different servers (e.g. 4 Mbit / 60ms to Maidenhead, 0.2 Mbit / 600ms to Newbury).

Also, I have an iphone and there is a speedtest app, which shows very low rates (0.03 Mbit!) over 3g through the SS. If you try this make sure to switch of the wifi on the iphone.

This makes me think that Orange's network is (for some unknown reason) giving very low rates and high latency just to some locations.

Maybe worth a try. As I said in my previous post, I'll let you know if changing ISP makes any difference.

Geoff

[jr]

Geoff - many thanks and good luck with the new ISP. If this is the issue, then like you, I can't see why the SS box can't compensate for it by trying an automatic reset if the signal is lost. Orange is a major provider and this would be a simple workaround.

[Woody]

Hi jr,

This does appear to be an issue with your service provider. At the moment there is nothing we can do to make the box reset in this way. It may be worth contacting your ISP about this matter.

Woody

eForum Team

[jr]

Woody - please can you explain why the box will reset automatically after several hours but won't reset automatically after several seconds, even though a manual reset will work which shows that the connection speed is fine again, thanks

[fruitcage]

OK - I just switched ISP from Orange to BT, and the SS appears stable. No dropouts, good call quality, and over 1 Mbit download when speedtesting to an iphone over the 3g link.

The inconsistent results on speedtest.net (just from my PC) to different servers have also gone. There's no LLU on my exchange (everything's provided by BT whoever your ISP is)  so I'm sticking with my hypothesis that Orange broadband was giving very low rates and high latency for just some routing destinations through their network.

Feedback for VF:

(1) Your speed checker utility is not adequate. It said my broadband was OK, and it must be possible to do a more thorough check, representative of what the SS system really needs.

(2) If a user can spot that light 4 has gone out for a few minutes and do a reset, then it must be possible for the unit to do it automatically. Maybe in the next software upgrade?

Thanks for the various advice and best of luck, especially anyone using SS over Orange broadband.

Geoff

[jr]

Geoff - many thanks for the update. I followed up with Orange anyway, and their reply was "Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. We only monitor your download speed and at present this is 4 Meg which is a good speed". Helpful!

[saltyzip]

Hi,

Setup sure signal this morning, have allocated it a fixed IP on my network(via network router) and have light 1 and 2 on solid, all others out.

I don't believe I need to do any port forwarding, no ports are locked down going out from my router, coming in would be a different matter however. Please advise if my assumption is incorrect.

My pathping results are:

C:\Users\Stephen>pathping 212.183.133.181

Tracing route to host212-183-133-181.uk.access.vodafone.net [212.183.133.181]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

  0  GAMES-PC.home.gateway [7.168.1.2]

  1  salty.home.gateway [7.168.1.1]

  2  dr1.enhmi.isp.sky.com [89.200.128.25]

  3  vl191.ar8.enhmi.isp.sky.com [89.200.133.98]

  4  ge1-0.ar2.lon2.gblx.net [195.66.224.112]

  5  VODAFONE-LTD.TenGigabitEthernet7-1.ar6.LON3.gblx.net [64.214.144.122]

  6     *        *        *

Computing statistics for 125 seconds...

            Source to Here   This Node/Link

Hop  RTT    Lost/Sent = Pct  Lost/Sent = Pct  Address

  0                                           GAMES-PC.home.gateway [7.168.1.2]

                                0/ 100 =  0%   |

  1    0ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  salty.home.gateway [7.168.1.1]

                                0/ 100 =  0%   |

  2   26ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  dr1.enhmi.isp.sky.com [89.200.128.25]

                                0/ 100 =  0%   |

  3  ---     100/ 100 =100%   100/ 100 =100%  vl191.ar8.enhmi.isp.sky.com [89.200.133.98]

                                0/ 100 =  0%   |

  4   40ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  ge1-0.ar2.lon2.gblx.net [195.66.224.112]

                                0/ 100 =  0%   |

  5   37ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  VODAFONE-LTD.TenGigabitEthernet7-1.ar6.LON3.gblx.net [

64.214.144.122]

Trace complete.

Any suggestions, should I just wait 24 hours, although that seems excessive?

Thought I would have been up and running in about 5 mins at face value it doesn't seem that complicated.

Thanks

S.

[saltyzip]

It's working! 

light 4 has come on and light 3 comes on when I make a call. Whoopee!

Range seems a litte iffy however, need to stay within a few meters to keep the full signal, might be down to interference from wireless router and energy monitor. 

[kristianjeffrey]

Hi Guys, please help. I received my SS yesterday, registered, plugged in as requested and after its initial startup i have only lights 1 and 2 showing. 3 and 4 havent lit up at all except in startup. I have rebooted pc, router and modem and ss to no avail. ive done a pingtest and its getting to vodafone fine.

Can someone help me please?

[nickking]

Hi, Tried everything that the thread sugests to no avail.  Pingpath test came back trace complete, no errors, have tried reset again and nothing seems to work.

This unit is new, it was swapped out two days ago by my Vodafone supplier, it cant be a second faulty unit I dont think, it must be in the setup - any other suggestions please -all are welcome at this stage.

Nick

[Woody]

Hi kristianjeffrey,

I would firstly like to wish you a very warm welcome to the eForum.

To best help you get your Sure Signal issue resolved, it is best to follow the the Sure Signal Troubleshooting Guide . This will guide you through the problem step by step and help you get this resolved as quickly as possible.

Woody

eForum Team

[kev2471]

Lights 1 and 2 on solid. Light 4 keeps going out

done a port test thats ok

done a broadband speed thats ok

kev