Old-style VSS box not being seen by 'phones

[met24]

Hi,

Over the last month or so devices that are registered on my old-style VSS box (serial number 21196904138) don't seem to have been seeing the box and are instead using the local Vodafone 2G signal. I've tried adding and removing the numbers without any apparent effect, and have deregistered and reregistered the box a couple of times as well -- both with my main number which is on a business account and also a separate PAYG number. Again, no luck. The factory reset trick hasn't had any effect either.

Lights 1, 2 and 4 are on, and I can see the NTP and IPsec-in-UDP traffic going between the box and the Vodafone network. Just to eliminate my ADSL line from the investigation, speedtest.net gives a ping of 24ms, download of 18.18Mbits/s and upload of 1.9Mbits/s. The box has worked beautifully in the past on the same line with the same modem, router, ISP etc.

I've very very occasionally seen light 3 flicker but not even with a registered 'phone right next to the box does the 'phone 'see' it.

The first time I tried to edit the numbers on the box it seemed that the box wasn't even registered, which was intriguing -- even though there was one phone (the one to which the box was supposedly registered) that did occasionally get a 3G signal. Trying to register the box at that point succeeded.

I'm wondering whether it needs a kick / purge / resync / whatever from the Vodafone side of things? If you need to deregister it from my account completely that's fine with me 🙂

Many thanks,

Martin

[Retired-Lee]

Hi there met24,

I'm thinking the same as you: SIM!

I'd recommend you trying a new SIM for the Nokia to see if this rectifies the symptoms.

In terms of the devices losing connection, so far you have me stumped. Does this happen overnight, every night or is it random?

Have there been any updates sent to your router or modem from your ISP?

Cheers,

LeeH

[met24]

Hi Lee,

Thanks! I'm not too worried about the PAYG SIM, but I may grab another one at some point just to confirm that it really was the problem.

I haven't done any firmware updates recently to the router or modem. There are actually two routers -- the Cisco that is also the ADSL modem, and a Linux firewall between that and the VSS -- but no updates on either of those and all other network traffic is behaving itself. (There's no network address translation going on with either router, but 

The dropping back to 2G seems random -- I'll keep an eye on it, the iPhone was fine this morning for instance, but the iPad wasn't. Weird. But I can live with it. When you've spent long enough in networking and telecomms you don't get annoyed when things don't work so much as be amazed when they do 😉

Thanks again!

Best wishes,

Martin

[met24]

Hi all,

I've discovered a little bit more about this problem -- that devices that should have been connecting to the VSS weren't always doing so, and one was never doing so.

I deregistered the VSS and left it turned off for a week or so while I was away, then did a full reset when I got back. I then registered it against my PAYG number. Within a few minutes that telephone was getting a full strength 3G signal, and I could see from packet traces on my network that telephone calls etc were indeed going via the VSS.

I then deregistered the VSS from the PAYG number and a little while later registered it against my normal contract number. As expected, within a few minutes the contract telephone was now getting 3G and going via the VSS, and the PAYG was back to the local 2G mast. (It seems that deregistering the VSS doesn't send it any updates -- after I deregistered it from the PAYG number it was still active for that telephone, but that's by the by.)

The next step was where things got really interesting. With the VSS registered to the contract number, I tried adding the PAYG number and my company number as additional users. Both telephones got the 'you've been added to the VSS' text, but even after a couple of hours neither was picking up the VSS. So I tried deregistering the VSS completely and registering it to the PAYG number, then adding my contract and company numbers as users. The PAYG is now on the VSS but the contract and company telephones aren't!

So it seems that for whatever reason, the number to which my VSS is registered is able to use it, but other users can't. Sounds like my VSS may be a bit on the confused side!

I know you mention that changes can sometimes take a few hours to propagate, but when I register the device against a new number that change comes through very quickly -- within minutes I'd say, looking at packet traces -- so I'd be surprised if changes for additional users took longer.

In the meantime I've left the VSS registered to the PAYG number, with the contract and company numbers as additional users, and I'll see the latter two telephones pick up the VSS but I'm not expecting it.

Many thanks,

Martin

[Retired-Lee]

Hi Martin,

That's very curious.

Can you try something else for me?

Is it possible for you to de-register the VSS once again and then re-register it but add all the numbers at the same time? I wonder if that would circumvent the issue?

Cheers,

LeeH

[met24]

Certainly, I'll give that a try and let you know how things go!

Thanks,

M

[met24]

Hi Lee,

Oh, the irony. Just as I went to deregister it from the PAYG account I noticed that the other two 'phones had now found a nice strong 3G signal! Still, I deregistered and reregistered against the contract account, adding the PAYG and work numbers at the same time. The contact 'phone found the VSS quite quickly, the other two took an hour or so to find it, but I am looking at three 'phones with a good strong signal -- even the PAYG which was not playing ball back in October is now happy.

So it does seem that changes that add numbers can indeed take a little longer to work their way through the system.

Thanks very much for your help and guidance ... I think we've got it all sorted now!

All the best,

Martin

[Retired-Lee]

Hi Martin,

Fantastic news. I'm so please we've managed to work this one out. It had me for a while

Cheers,

LeeH