Faulty SureSignal v1 - Early adopter, advanced users - is there anything I can do?

[zoonyx]

Apologies for the long post, but it's a bit complicated.

I was an early adopter with suresignal, went through all the highs and repeated lows of being one of the first suresignalers many years ago.  Obviously I was a vodafone account holder, and also added other users to the box.

I then left vodafone in approx September 2012 but didn't cancel the suresignal.  My mum continued to use the box without a problem until approx March 2014.  Since then it's not put out a 3G signal.  I phoned vodafone on behalf of my mum, who said the box was deregistered in September 2012, and couldn't have worked. Trust me, it worked fine - the signal was, and remains terrible in the SS location, and she got 5 bars.

In a nutshell, I know what I'm doing with opening ports, and I'm happy to mess with things til they work, but I can't get anywhere with this. 

*The box is now re-registered in my mums name, and has her number and an additional number registered

*The box displays the power light, the internet light and the tick light.  This suggests the ports are open and the box is connected to voda?

*No 3G signal is picked up.by either of the phone/sim combo's registered on the box.

I assume, perhaps wrongly that this MUST be a faulty box, and the 3G radio is dead - but is there any way to confirm, are there any common dry solder issues, can it be fixed by me, etc etc?

Just to add in another complication - it is running through a BT Home Hub.  However, it worked fine through this from August 2013-March 2014.  Also can anyone confirm that a lit @ light means it's  connected to vodafone?

Finally, any idea of the expected lifespan for these devices under the Sale of Goods Act?  It's over 2 years old, but under 6.

Thanks!

Ex-Voda'er

[zoonyx]

Little bit more info..

Serial Nnumber is 21221618461

Can a rep confirm the box is connecting to voda OK?  It's marked as active online, but unsure whether this means connected.

Also is the firmware up to date?

My plan for tonight is:

1) Force a full reset and firmware download with method here: http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Vodafone-Sure-Signal/Suresignal-V1-All-lights-correct-but-no-signal/t...

2) Use a different power supply - I've read a few people have had success changing the PSU.

[Ben_H · Accepted solution]

Hi zoonyx,

Thanks for getting in touch with the details. I can see the firmware hasn't updated automatically.

I'm pushing this through now, so please keep the Sure Signal connected for the next 24 hours. After that, reset her router, the Sure Signal and then all registered phones. It'll take no longer than an hour to come back online.

Cheers, Ben

[zoonyx]

Ben - firstly the good news - it's back from the dead!

Really happy, bit confused about why a firmware update (or lack of) can prevent the 3G signal from transmitting - unless the @ symbol light doesn't mean what I thought it meant - ie: VPN connected successfully?
 

Also, Is there any reason why it didn't download the firmware automatically, or why this wasn't picked up by CS?

The last point is where I start a bit of a rant... when I was with vodafone, customer services were OK, but ultimately most things got sorted faster by posting on the eforum....  it seems like that is still the case, and I don't get why.

The night before last, Vodafone SureSignal specific phone support were, sad to say as usual, useless.  Reading a script, not interested in my comments, just running me through ridiculous things like speedtest.net for no reason, despite me saying so.

More than that, there was no mention of firmware's being out of date, seemingly no ability to force this through like you guys have.  The worst part is my mother was given a PAC code and 'let go' for NO REASON.  So if I wasn't a massive pain in the *** and wanted to try and fix it for her, you'd have happily thrown away a customer because your phone support don't understand the hardware they're supporting.

To end, and to clarify - thanks so much to Ben and the eforum team - you have been excellent, and fixed the month-old problem within hours, and the seemingly dead hardware lives.  But you really really need to sort out the terrible phone support - which is where most of your customers end up.

Thanks again!