Sure Signal connected to Sky router problem

[mikea]

Hello eForum, 

For the past couple of months I've had a problem with my sure signal not working, originally I thought it was the sure signal box so I've just had it replaced but still no joy. I've read through a couple of threads and it appears that the problem is with the Sky router updates. I've also been through the guides but I don't feel confident enough to try opening ports and port forwarding and hoped you could help me with these technical bits.

Sure signal model number: 931 Home cell V2-V

Serial number 40121420356

Mac@ OC4C39048OFC

I would appreciate your help.

Mikea 

[Retired-James]

Hi mikea,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I have checked the IP address and everything is fine and also looking at the traceroute that you have provided I can’t see any issues.

Due to this it suggests that the actual connection isn’t a problem but something to do with the router setup.

From experience this will normally be resolved by forwarding the ports and making sure the MTU size is set to 1500.

If you can let me know what make and model of router you are using I will be able to see if I can get a guide for you to show you how to do this.

However, there isn’t a guide for the MTU size as this will depend on ISP where the option is.

You don’t need to worry as changing the MTU to 1500 wont stop anything from working.

James

[mikea]

Thanks James, The model, serial number and mac number are on my first post. I can access the router but I would appreciate receiving a guide on port forwarding. Thanks for your help but like most of the other people experiencing problems with sure signal I'm not happy. Mikea

[mikea]

James,

The MTU size is 1500 so I suppose I need to open ports 50, 123, 500 and 4500 on the sky router?

Do I need a static IP address to do this?

Mikea

[mikea]

James, I think I've opened the ports on my sky router, I followed a post on skyuser 'how to port forward on a Sky F@ST2504N router' I opened 8, 50, 123, 500 and 4500. The sure signal hasn't worked so far but one thing I'm unsure of, did I say one thing? I don't think so? Anyway it says when editing the inbound services add your PC IP address, i used 192.168.0.10 I don't know if this correct? How do I find the PC ip address? It seems that i should be entering the sure signal ip address? It's all a bit confusing. I spent my days at college using a slide rule not a calculator so this isn't easy. Please help I need a Vodafone signal at home. Mikea

[philip42h]

If you are setting up port-forward rules, as you rightly surmise you need to use the local IP address of the device that you want the router to forward traffic to - in this case the local IP address of the SS.

You can usually identify the IP address of the SS by looking into the client DHCP table on the router and finding the SS MAC address - the MAC address is on a label on the SS and on the box in came in.

For port forwarding to work correctly, you need to ensure that the IP address allocated to the SS does not change since the port forward rules will send the data on to the address specified in the rule! Most routers provide a facility to reserve or fix an address within the DHCP configuration so this can be achieved.

Finally, under normal circumstances the SS does not require any port forward rules to be established. If you have currently established a set of incorrect rules the SS cannot work, so possibly the next step would be to clear down those rules completely, restart the router, restart the SS and give it 24 hours to establish a connection.

[mikea]

Hello Philip,

Thanks for the reply.

As you can see from the thread the Sure Signal was working for about 6 months then all of a sudden it just stopped, if I clear the rules and restart the router wont I be back to square one. I did reboot/restart the router before I tried the port forwarding.

Could you help me with the following:

1. I've tried to find the SS IP address using the router, where is the client DHCP table? I have the SS mac address.

2. How do I fix or reserve the SS IP address?

3. Once I fix or reserve the SS IP address I then use that in the port forwarding rule?

Thanks again Mikea

[philip42h]

OK, no I had not realised, from what you have posted in this thread, that the SS had worked successfully for 6 months. Presumably during this time it worked without any need for port-forward rules? And if that was the case then, it should still be the case now. Being back to square one, with a working SS, would seem to be the place to be. So, if it were me, I'd reset both devices and give things a chance to settle down.

If you want to carry on with the port-forward option, the answers to questions 1 & 2 should be in your router manual. If you can post the exact model of router you are using, one of us may be able to look up a copy of the manual on-line and give a pointer to the appropriate page / section.

3. yes - use the [fixed] IP address of the SS as the address to forward traffic to. Again details of how this is done should be in your router manual.

[I'm not on Sky; don't have a "Sky router" ;)]

[mikea]

Philip,

Thanks for your reply.

I've been through many different  threads on the issue of the SS all of a sudden not working and it all seems to stem from the configuration of the SKY router. It appears that Sky have made some changes to the router. I've just read one 'The Rich Kavanagh Blog' who needed to assign the SS a static IP address and forward ports, so I'm going to go along that route to see if I can make it come to life. I've tried to find a manual for the Sky router with no success.

Mikea

[illena]

Hi, 

You must try its proper set up and sometime due to loose connection it creates such problem. I faced similar problem with my Sky HD Box and whenever I use to start HD Box it shows the error 29. I tried to set up the Sky HD Box by unplugging  it from 240 V main supply. After that I waited for 30 minutes and then replug it to power supply. After that  it was showing the same same message “ No satellite signal is being received Error 25 or 29. Mostly this problem is solved by resetting the Sky Box. But the problem was not solved with this process thereafter I interchanged LNB cable to see if any LNB cable connector or cable feeder has gone faulty and the problem was there. I changed the cable feeder and was successful in my mission. Many of friends who were not satisfied with the process also visited Sky Customer Service here. But they also guided them in similar manner.