Sure Signal - Call Audio Quality Issues

[Retired-George]

This issue has the following symptoms:

• Poor audio quality on both outbound and inbound calls
• Particularly affects customers using a Virgin Media cable connection

If you’re only experiencing poor audio quality one-way (for example, the call sounds fine to you, but the person you are calling reports poor quality), then this is most likely due to insufficient bandwidth on your broadband connection and is not an issue with your Sure Signal.

Troubleshooting:

If the person you are calling can’t hear you, this is usually caused by low upload speeds.

If you can't hear the person you've called, this is due to low download speeds.

Check if your broadband connection meets the minimum requirements.

Please run the broadband speed checker.

If your connection fails any part of the test, this indicates an issue with your Internet Service Provider and you’ll need to contact them to discuss this further.

Your connection speed will vary throughout the day, so we recommend running it at various times to get an accurate reading.

Check for planned maintenance.
Planned maintenance can cause periods of downtime, so check the forum for any planned maintenance. If there is, this will be announced at the top of the Sure Signal forum.

Reset your Sure Signal:

Sure Signal version 1

• Connect device to internet and power supply

• Press and hold down the reset button (located near the internet port) until end of the process which will be indicated

• Remove the power cable at back of the unit and wait for five seconds

• Reconnect the power cable back to device

• Wait for the LED sequence to flash from top to bottom and back to top

• Wait for five seconds

• Release the reset button

• Within 10 minutes, all the 4 LEDs will start to flash in sequence – 1^st & 3^rd then 2^nd & 4^th then 1^st & 3^rd – with the sequence repeated. This sequence indicates the start of the factory reset procedure.

Sure Signal version 2

• • Connect device to internet and power supply
  • Press and hold down reset button – located near the internet port
  • Wait for all the LED (power + 2 white LED) to light up for few seconds (power LED will always remain lit)
  • Wait for five seconds
  • Release the reset button
    
    
  • Within 10 minutes, 2 white LEDs will start flashing continuously – power LED will always remain constant in addition (unless there is an issue with local connectivity)

Sure Signal version 3

• • Connect device to internet and power supply
  • Press and hold down reset button – located near the internet port
  • Wait for 20 seconds
  • Release the reset button
    
    
  • All the LEDs will temporarily switch off for about 10 seconds. The power LED will then light up and remain constant whilst white internet LED flashes continuously.

The Sure Signal will be back online in around 1 hour.

Move Your Sure Signal Away from the Router
Sometimes the Wi-Fi signal from the router can interfere with the 3G signal from the Sure Signal and this could result in poor audio quality.

In order to prevent this from happening, please ensure that your Sure Signal is moved away from the router as far as the cable will allow.

If you’re still experiencing poor audio quality, post in this thread and we can look into it further.

Thanks,

Jenny

[oracle1]

Hi Jenny,

Problem is that I have always had these problems from day 1 with three SureSignals at two different addresses on three separate phone lines, over three years. So whilst it is possible that all three Suresignals that I received are all faulty, the odds are very much against that.

I see one other poster on TalkTalk who says that they have replaced everything except their DSL service, so maybe there is something that the SureSignal does not like about the TalkTalk DSL, but if there was I expect that Vodafone or TalkTalk would already know about it by now.

http://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Unlimited-Broadband/Vodafone-Suresignal-Drops-Calls/m-p/880593

I will check the dates of my series 2 SureSignals, but as they were both setup in 2011 I expect they are both over two years old. We've already spent £150+ on SureSignal boxes so far with no luck ...

Can you confirm the public IP addresses of the SureSignal gateway at Vodafone, so that I can try to configure a QoS rule from my routers, to prioritise the SureSignal <> Vodafone traffic.

Thanks

Jonathan

[oracle1]

Just confirmed that my V2 SureSignals were bought in Aug 2011 so are both over 2 years old.

I bought the last one myself for £50 at a Vodafone shop.

I think my employer bought the other V2 and V1 units at around £110 each.

I see that the V3 is now £100.

So my employer and I have probably spent £270 on SureSignal boxes so far and none of them have ever worked properly at either of the two locations that I have tried, over three years and three separate DSL lines.

You can see why I'm not keen to spend another £100 on the off-chance that a V3 box might be OK.

Do you think someone at Vodafone might be able to help me get a box that works?

I will also send out enquiries via the TalkTalk Community to see if anyone else is having these problems, in case its related to TalkTalk DSL somehow.

Thanks

Jonathan

[Retired-Kay]

Hi oracle1, 

It's quite a coincidence that all 3 Sure Signals are at fault.

We'll need to get this looked into further so pop an email across and we'll contact you shortly. 

Take a look here for how to get in touch.

Thanks, 

Kay

[oracle1]

Just another update ...

I contacted the team directly as suggested, but was then advised that because my mobile is on a corporate contract that I must go through corporate support rather than this forum.

I logged a call with corporate support, 191, who checked both of my current SureSignals and confirmed that they pass Vodafone remote diagnostics.

They advised me to explore further with TalkTalk, so I am now doing that through the TalkTalk Community. I will report back if we discover anything further. There are a few others there who have reported similar experiences, but no conclusion that I can find yet.

My SureSignal is still behaving the same way, OK for the first 10-20 mins of a call, then degrading audio quality first experienced by the person I'm talking to, then by me as well, then we either have to abandon the call or the line drops. Normally I'm getting 14Mbps download / 800Kbps upload on the two lines that I have here, and very good performance with everything else. This happens on all three TalkTalk lines that I have, at two addresses, tested with three SureSignals.

[Ben_H]

Hi oracle1,

Thanks for the update. If you're on a Corporate Account you'll have a specialist team that deal with your queries.

As a general rule of thumb, you’d only need around 0.37Mbps upload speed for the Sure Signal to handle a call. Multiple calls at the same time may demand more bandwidth but I'm confident your Customer Support team have already covered this in their diagnostics. 

You're more than welcome to keep this thread updated even if we can't access your account ourselves; it's still a handy way for the community to share information. 

Cheers, Ben

[degember]

Hi,

I'm having continuous problems with poor audio quality received by whoever is on the line - fine my end.  Virgin media is my provider.  It appears to be a constant problem, whatever the time of day.

Try resets etc...Any advice?

Thanks

Matt

[Retired-Dave]

Hi degember,

There could be a few reasons for this.

To start with, please confirm the following details:

- Your Sure Signal serial number.

 - Your speed test results from here.
 - Your ping test results from here.
 - Your external IP address from here.

We'll also need the results of a traceroute:

On a PC

- Click on Start and select Run.

- Type CMD into the Run box and press enter/click ok.

- A black box will appear.

- In this box type tracert 212.183.133.177 and press Enter.

On a Mac

- Open Terminal (Applications, Utilities).

- Type traceroute 212.183.133.177 and press Enter.

Finally, check the Maximum Transmission unit (MTU) setting on your router. You need to set it to 1500 if possible. If it won't go that high, use the highest value available.

Dave

[degember]

Hi,

My Sure signal Serial number is 40123262038

My speed test results are here: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3209861743

Ping test results: http://www.pingtest.net/result/91397779.png

My IP address is 86.15.46.198

Tried to do a traceroute but each hop timed out?

Thanks

Matt

[Retired-Simon]

Hi degember

Your speed and ping tests are fine and the IP is registered.

If you’re not getting past the first hop then this would suggest an ISP issue with your line.

Thanks

Simon

[rpm007]

Hi - VSS v1, worked fine for a few years. Last couple of weeks handsets wont connect to it - there have been no changes to my LAN config. The other 3 lights are lit OK, and I have done the reset procedure several times and added the port forwards to my FW to no avail.

VSS Serial: 21197116698

ISP: Utility Warehouse (TalkTalk network) FTTC

MTU: 1500

Current IP: 2.103.81.160

http://www.speedtest.net/result/3485841716.png

http://www.pingtest.net/result/97122302.png

C:\Users\Richard>tracert 212.183.133.177

Tracing route to cluster4.vap.vodafone.co.uk [212.183.133.177]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.250
2 4 ms 4 ms 4 ms host-2-103-80-1.as13285.net [2.103.80.1]
3 4 ms 4 ms 4 ms host-78-151-229-5.as13285.net [78.151.229.5]
4 4 ms 4 ms 5 ms xe-11-2-0-bragg002.bir.as13285.net [78.151.225.72]
5 11 ms 10 ms 11 ms host-78-144-8-163.as13285.net [78.144.8.163]
6 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms host-78-144-10-216.as13285.net [78.144.10.216]
7 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms xe-1-0-0.xcr1.lns.cw.net [195.59.77.21]
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.