Not getting any response with my Sure Signal problem

[ayre78]

I'm having issues with my Sure Signal box and have been on the phone to Vodafone multiple times over the past week, but it has now got to the point where I last spoke with your technical support on 3rd Dec, emailed over the information he asked for the same day and have heard nothing back, despite sending another email chasing a response, so in desperation I'm trying here in the hope that someone will actually respond and sort this issue out.

For the past month, the signal on the 2 phones registered to the box have dropped to 1 bar, and there is no 3G available at all.  My phone is an iphone and my partners is a blackberry.  He upgraded his phone last week to the iphone 5, and that still has 1 bar of signal and no 3G.  I've reset the box like I was asked, you've re-synced the box your end, I've removed my sim card whilst the phone was still on, re-inserted and turned the phone off then on again as requested, but still nothing.  I was then passed through to your tech support who checked all the correct ports were open on my router, everything ok there.  They got me to do a speed test, that was fine too, so I was then passed to further tech support who took control of my laptop and started to test things by 'pinging' addresses from my laptop.  He said the results showed there was a problem and asked me to contact my provider to ask for mapping of how my router directs traffic.

I spoke to my provider, copied to them the ping results screen from my laptop and their response was "The vodafone guy was probably just getting confused with all those *'s in the first few lines. That is actually perfectly normal on Be as long as it continues later on. Be block the protocols that are required for traceroute and ping to work on their own core network, so you just see *'s as the traffic is ignored. The important parts though are the lower down bits.  Same goes for this trace - absolutely normal. 

The second hop times out again for the same reason - low ICMP response from a device n our network. But the destination is reached in the end, so no need to worry here"

I forwarded this email on 3rd to the address that the tech support gave me and have had no response since, despite a further chase from myself.  This is getting beyond frustrating as the signal is really poor and affecting phone call quality for both myself and my partner.  I think it's fairly safe to say that I've tried pretty much everything I can do from here, so has it not reached the point where someone turns around and says that the box might actually be faulty and offers a replacement?

[ayre78]

When you say testing the unit on another network, the only other place I can take it would be my sisters house, but the trouble is, even without the sure signal unit, whenever I am at my sisters, I already get full signal plus 3G, so how would I know if the unit was working correctly or not?

Thanks

[Ben_H]

Hi ayre78,

Thanks for responding. Even if your sister has good coverage, the Sure Signal would take precedent and you'd know it's connected during a test call by the indicator lights showing active. Out of interest, who is your internet service provider as 1500 MTU as a standard is pretty high and not something we're aware of with any of the major suppliers. It would be handy to know so that we can add this information to our FAQ's.

Cheers, Ben

[ayre78]

I'm with Bethere.  Just to clarify, I do actually have lights 1, 2 and 4 on solid and the 3rd llight does flash if either of us use our phone.  But both of us still have no 3G coverage and between 1-2 bars signal.

What would I be looking for exactly if I took this round my sisters, as I don't want to give incorrect information and am just really wanting to get this resolved, as I'm sure you can understand.  Thanks

[Retired-James]

Hi ayre78,

The main thing to look for is if you get 3G signal on your phone and if the phone light switches comes on or flashes when you make or receive a call.

Although this may be a daft question, can you confirm that your phone is setup in duel mode and not 2G or GSM Only?

James

[ayre78]

Yes, phone is set up in dual mode and the 3G is switched on.  I'm possibly being a bit dimm here and not understanding what's being said, but I mentioned earlier that round my sisters, I already get a 3G connection and full signal.  The box here has solid lights 1, 2 and 4 on, and 3 flashes when the phone is being used or have noticed it flashing randomly when no phones are in use - from what I can gather, these indicate the box is working, but with the box already displaying this behaviour in my home and neither of us getting 3G or a good signal, how do I establish whether the box is working or not at my sisters when I'm used to getting full signal and 3G there anyway (and assuming the lights continue to display correctly as they are here)

Thanks

[ayre78]

Just bumping this back up as not had a reply to my question from 14th.  Thanks

[Retired-PaulE]

Hi Ayre78, 

We've checked pretty much everything we can think of from here and we're stumped!

If you're getting the three lights you should have 3G signal.

We can see that you've moved location of the unit, and we've tried to resynchronise it too.

Replacing the box might be your only option now - unfortunately we'd be unable to do this under warranty as you've had it for over 2 years and the warranty is only for 24 months.

Paul

[ayre78]

Yes, my unit is slightly over 2 years old.  However, as one of your colleagues pointed out above, these are expensive units at £100 each, and as such, the unit failing after such a short amount of time is not acceptable.  As I'm sure you are aware, under the sale of goods act, items purchased must be fit for purpose and of a reasonable quality and by law, this rule applies for 6 years after I've purchased an item.

Paying £100 for an item to boost signal in an area that is supposed to be well covered isn't exactly a luxury, it is a necessity and given the very short life span of the product, I'm not happy paying £100 for a replacement that might die just after 2 years use again.  The sure signal box supplied to me was not of a satisfactory quality and I am asking for a replacement item under the sale of goods act.

If this is something that you are not prepared to do, please can you provide me with contact details of your head office and I'll take the matter further with them.  Although, after being with Vodafone for what, 9 years is it?, I'm hoping that it won't come to this and customer loyalty will actually come into the equation when sorting this out.  Thank you.

[ayre78]

Could someone reply to my above post please.  Thank you.

[Retired-Wayne]

Hi ayre78

Thanks for your post here. Unfortunately as the device is outside the 2 year warranty period, we’re unable to exchange the device for you as it is no longer covered for a warranty repair.

You can find information regarding our code of practise here.

You say that you a ‘just outside’ the warranty period, how far exactly?

Thanks

Wayne