Sure Signal not working with Apple Airport Extreme router

[janemac]

I have a Sure Signal latest version.  Is it really possible for this to work with an Apple Airport Extreme router?

We have spent a considerable amount of time telephoning the Vodafone helpline, and talked through all sorts of possible solutions without success. They eventually concluded that our sure signal device must be faulty, which we returned and received a replacement. Unfortunately this will not work either. Shortly after plugging in, the red light starts flashing and continues flashing no matter how long it is left.

The new device has been correctly registered, and we have checked with our ISP that there is no port blocking. Checks on our line speed were confirmed as being OK.

The Airport connects via a Draytek Vigor 120 modem and we wondered if this was the problem. Draytek confirmed that connection was via PPPoE and that this is also the requirement for the Airport Extreme.

They stated that the Vodafone Sure Signal requires PPPoA and as such they did not believe that our system could connect successfully.

Is this the case? Are we wasting our time continuing to try?

Any advice to solve this problem would be gratefully received as our phone signal at our house is very poor.

[janemac]

I have tried a different D-Link modem but makes no difference to the sure Signal.

We have received a replacement Sure Signal already so doubt if it is faulty as both had the same problem

but will try it out in another house when I get an opportunity.

I have contacted Draytek technical team again and they are sure the problem is that the Airport Extreme can not allow a connection by PPPoA and therefore will not work with the Suresignal.  I still have no details of how this can be made to work! and looking at other threads have never seen a positive result.

Regards,

janemac

[Retired-Andy]

Hi janemac,

Thanks for the update, let us know how you go on.

Thanks

Andrew

[janemac]

Connected the sure signal to a neighbours house with a router/modem allowing connection via PPPoA and the SS worked perfectly (100% plug and play). 

I seem to to have tried all the suggested means of allowing connection through my AirPort Extreme router without success and am coming to the conclusion that I will have to admit failure.  Dissapointing, as I was assured at the Vodafone shop in Inverness that it would work with all routers including Airport extreme.

On the other hand the Vodafone help teams, by phone and through this forum, have tried to be as helpful as they can.  I just think that Vodafone should make it clear that there are issues in using it with Airport routers.

Regards,

janemac

[Retired-PaulE]

Hi janemac, 

Thanks for getting back to us.

We've tried hard to make sure that the Sure Signal was as universal as it could possibly be, but there will always be one or two routes that struggle to work with it.

We don't have a defintive list of routers that will or won't work so we'd have been unable to tell you this at point of sale - have you contacted the router manufacturer to see if they can offer any advice? 

Paul 

[janemac]

Final attempt - we bought a Netgear DGN2200v3 modem/router and hoped it might work. 

Failure again - power light flashing, service light orange. 

I have tried configuring port forwarding in the router, and firewll settings to recommended values. Still no success.

Before we give up completely and throw this out of the window, could you please try to reset the sure signal from your end.

We have tried using the reset button here but it made no difference.

Thanks

Janemac

[Jenny]

Hi janemac,

Thanks for getting back to us.

I’ve checked your serial number and this hasn’t updated since 29/03/2013.

I’ve re-synced this for you today so please complete this process by performing a factory reset as follows:  

-Hold in the reset button until all the lights go solid

-Pull the power lead out with the reset button still pushed in

-Continue to hold down the reset button and reconnect the power lead

-Wait for all of the lights to come on then release the reset button

Let me know how you get on.

Thanks,

Jenny 

[janemac]

Which lights did you mean? The ones on the bottom or the ones on the front - Sure signal is the V2 type and there is no power lead to unplug so switched off and on at the mains.

Having done this, there is no difference. 

No matter how long I press can't get the lights to go solid - how long should this take?

[Retired-Kay]

Hi janemac, 

Can you please de-register the Sure Signal via My Account and then re-register after 24 hours? 

Hopefully now that you're using a new modem it should connect. Even though we have resynced the modem it's still not updating so it's worth starting from the beginning to see if this helps. 

Let me know how you get on. 

Kay

[janemac]

I am sorry to say that after doing what you suggest, the Sure Signal still has the red light flashing and the orange service light on. The sure signal itself was tested in another house and works perfectly. And to recap, we have tried it here with the Apple Extreme Router, and a Netgear modem/router and no system works.

[Ben_H]

Hi janemac,

Thanks for posting again. As you say, it can't be a hardware issue as you were able to use the Sure Signal straight away on another conection. Do the other two routers you mention allow PPPoA connections or are they not possible like the Airport Extreme? I'm surprised Draytek haven't been able to offer any further support around this as the Sure Signal is a very popular mainstream device and femtocells are widely available globally much like their products. :smileyfrustrated:

Cheers, Ben