Sure Signal not transmitting a 3G signal

[Retired-George]

This issue presents the following symptoms:

For version 1 Sure Signal (the one with four lights on the front):

• Lights one and two are solid which indicates the Sure Signal is connected, but isn't giving a 3G signal.
• Light four doesn’t light up or lights occasionally and then goes out at certain times of day.

For version 2 Sure Signal (the one with 3 lights on the front): 

• The power and system lights are both solid, indicating that the Sure Signal is giving a 3G signal.
• Your registered phones don’t pick up a 3G signal.

For version 3 Sure Signal (the plug in version):

• Power, internet and service lights are solid and the ‘in use’ light is either solid or flashing
• Your registered phones don’t pick up a 3G signal

Troubleshooting steps:

Check that your broadband connection meets our 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 (ISP) and you’ll need to contact them to discuss this.

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

To ensure the Sure Signal broadcasts at the correct frequency, it sends and receives small amounts of data to a Network Time Protocol Server hosted by ourselves. If these packets of data take longer than 240ms to make a round-trip, the accuracy can no longer be ensured and so the Sure Signal will automatically stop broadcasting and light four will go out.

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:

1. Hold in the reset button until all lights go solid
2. Pull the power lead out with the reset button still pushed in
3. Continue to hold down the reset button and reconnect the power lead
4. Wait for all lights to come on and then release the reset button

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

Configure your Router Firewall.
The IP address and ports used for NTP (Network Time Protocol) synchronisation are listed below. You may need these to configure the correct firewall settings on your router.

This step isn’t usually necessary, but it may help if you’re using a complex network (such as a corporate or office LAN), or a complex router.

We recommend contacting your ISP or router manufacturer directly for detailed instructions on exactly how to change your router settings. Alternatively, select your router make and model over at http://portforward.com and follow the default guide there.

Destination IP addresses:

• 212.183.133.181
• 212.183.133.182
• 212.183.131.128/26

• Protocol = UDP
• Port = 123

Please note that in the list of IP addresses above, the notation "212.183.131.128/26"means the entire range of IP addresses between 212.183.131.128 and 212.183.131.191

Perform a PathPing to our server.

In order to check if the Sure Signal's able to communicate with our NTP server, a PathPing can be performed as a test. In order to do this, you'll need to open the command prompt in Windows as follows:

• For XP just click Start > Run and type cmd then hit enter
• For Vista/Windows 7, press Start and type 'cmd' into the search bar
• Right click the result and click ‘Run As Administrator’

Once you're in the command prompt, type in PathPing 212.183.133.181. This will perform a trace route to the NTP server and will show you the route it took to get there. One of the columns will display packet loss, if this occurs before hitting our server, you'll need to contact your ISP for further assistance.

If you've completed all the troubleshooting steps above and not identified the cause of the issue, your Sure Signal may be faulty. Please post in this thread and we can look into it further.

Thanks,

Jenny

[JohnPead]

Hasn't worked for about 36 hours or more now.  It is connected to a BT home hub 4.  Here is the various data you recommended gathering - looks like 85.205.116.2 is timing out (possibly ?)

Your IP Address is

81.154.128.19

Your IPV6 Address is

::ffff:519a:8013

Speed tests:  6.3mb/sec download,  0.3mm/s upload

Sure signal serial number:  21197195403

olllputing stat:isticsf()1~j00 seconds ...                                        

                     SOUI'ce to Hel'e This Node/Link                                       

op HIT    Lost/Sent = Pct   Lost/Sent = Pet   fl ddl'e s s:                         

   0                                                                                                           DFY3TG1J.home   U92 .168 .1.64]    

                                                          0/ 100 =    0% i                                                                                  

   1 0ms    0/ 100 =      0%    0/ 100 =    0% BIhomehuh.home [192 .168 .1.254]  

                                                          0/ 100 =    0% I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                       I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

   2 24ms   0/ 100 =      0%    0/ 100 =    0% 21'1'.32.99.122                    

                                                          0/ 100 =    0'"      I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                       ,                                                              

   3   ---         100/ 100 =100%      100/ 100 =100% 213.123.109.161                    

                                                          0/ 100 =    0% I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                       I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

   4    33ms   0/ 100 =     0%    0/ 100 =    0% 213.1.69.42                        

                                                          0/ 100 =   0% I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                       I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

   5 31 illS              0/ 100 =        0% 0/ 100 =        0%    21'1'.41.169.20'1'               

                                                          0/ 100 =    0% ,                                                              

                                                                                       I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

   6    3111ls 13/ 11313 =   13%   0/ 100 =    0% 21'1' 041. 169.109                      

                                                          0/ 100 =    0% ,                                                              

                                                                                       I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

   ?   32ms   0/ 100 =      0%    0/ 100 =    1:;1;.-;         acc2-xe-0-0-3.sf.21cn-ipp.ht.net    [

09.159.251.207]                                                                    

                                                          0/ 100 =    0% I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                       ,                                                              

   8    42ms   0/ 100 =      0%    0/ 100 =    0"' core1-te0-2-4-0.ilford.ukcol'e.bt.n

                                                                              .,  

t                         [109.159.251.141]                                                          

                                                          0/ 100 =    0% ,                                                              

                                                                                       ,                                                              

   9 43ms   0/ 100 =      13%   13/ 100 =   0% peer1-xe10-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.ht

.net                      [109.159.254.122]                                                          

                                                          0/ 100 =    3% I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                       I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

10 45ms   0/ 100 =      0%    0/ 100 =   0% Indgw2.arcor-ip.net   [195.66.224.12

]                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                          100/ 100 =100% I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                      ,                                                              

11        100/ 100 =100%      0/ 100 =    0% 85.205.116.10                      

                                                          0/ 100 =   0% I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                       I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

12 ---         100/ 100 =100;.-;   IV 100 =    0% DFY3TG1J [0.0.0.0]                 

l'ace complete.                                                                    

:'Documents and Settings'Ann)                                                      

:'Documents and Settin s'Ann)                                                      

C='Documents and Settings\Ann>tracert 212.183.133.177

tracing route to cluste1'4.uap.vodafone.co.uk [212.183.133.177] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1             <1 ms   <1 ms     <1 illS BI ho me fmb . ha me                       [192.168.1.254]    

2       24 ms   25 illS   25 ms    217.32.99.122                            

3       24 ms   25 ms     24 I1lS 213.123.109.161                         

4       34 ITlS          34 I1lS 34 ms            213.1. 69.42                         

5                34 ITlS          34 ITlS 33 AS            217.41.169.207                       

6       35 ITlS          34 ms    34 illS          217 .41 . 169 . 109                         

'I'               31 ms   30 I1lS   30 ITlS acc2-xe-11-2-0.sf.21cn-ipp.ht.net    [109.159.251.1

:99 ]                                                                       

B                41 illS          39 illS 39 illS                                    care1-te-0-4-0-17.ilford.ukcore.ht.net [109.159.

251.53 ]                                                                         

9       35 inS              36 illS   36 ms    peerl-xe11-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.ht.net     [109.159.

254.124]                                                                   

10      43 ITIS          43 ITIS 46 I1lS               Indgw2.apcop-ip.net [195.66.224.124]   

11      41 I1lS          41 illS 44 IT'S          85.205.116.2                         

12      *           ..•.                ~             Request timed out.                       

13      *           ..•.                *             Request timed out.                       

14     ..•.

Hope you can sort it soon - need the phone for my work

[Jenny]

Hi JohnPead,

Everything looks ok from what you’ve posted above.

Please let us know what light sequence you’re seeing in standby and when you make a call.

Thanks,

Jenny

[JohnPead]

Lights 1 and 2 are on solid, the other two are off.   Yesterday I spoke to someone at your online technical helpdesk who told me to ask my ISP (BT) to turn on some ports.   BT said they couldn't do that.   Then all afternoon the box kept resetting itself - I assumed you were doing that - but each time it eventually reached the same state - Lights one and 2 on solid, no connection, no other activity.   Then a few hours later it suddenly started working again and was OK until today when we had a short power cut and after that (not necesarily at the same time of the power cut) it had just light 1 on.   I manually reset it (i.e. held the reset button till all the lights came on in sequence, removed the power cable for 10 seconds, then waited again till the lights came on briefly in sequence, then released the reset button) and it then when into the reset sequence, reaching the state where lights 1 and are on solid, and light 4 flashing slowly - and a minute or so later it self reset, i.e. all lights went off, then all lights came on briefly in the sequence 1,2,3,4.  It kept repeating this for a couple of hours, then I manually reset it  again and then it eventually went into the familiar state again - lights 1 and 2 on  solid, others off, and it has been there ever since - so still not working.   I did go up the hill behind us where there it a normal  signal and the phone did connect there.

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi JohnPead,

Thanks for that.

I've sent a resync. Please follow these instructions:

1 - Hold the reset button until all 4 lights are solid. Don't let go of the button until step 4

2 - Remove the power cable then the LAN cable

3 - Insert ONLY the power cable

4 - When the lights flash 1, 2, 3 then 4 release the reset button and wait for the unit to boot (5 mins should do it).

5 - Insert the LAN cable and wait

Let me know how you get on.

Thanks

Ian

[JohnPead]

Hi Ian

It started working by itself sometime yesterday.  It was still working early this morning but I went out and when I returned about an hour ago, it wasn't working - perhaps that was when you re-synced it.  Lights 1,2 and 4 were on solid, and my iphone could see the Vodafone UK carrier, but it still said "no service".  I then reset ithe box as per your instructions, and about 6 or 7 minutes later it started working.  So all is OK now - but I haven't tried walking up the road out of range and coming back again yet.  Thankyou for your help - if possible could you let me know exactly what was wrong or not connecting.

Regards

John

[Jenny]

Hi JohnPead,

That’s great! Thanks for posting back to let us know!

I’m not exactly sure why this wasn’t working but it sounds like it just needed a re-sync as this seems to have fixed it.

Thanks,

Jenny

[MrBadger]

hello, 

I have a sure signal 3 in the house attached to a BT home hub router which works fine with all phones in the house. I also have a suresignal 2 which used to work in the house until i got the VSS3. The VSS2 is now located in my workshop at the top of the garden and is connected to the main router in the house using powerline adaptors. I have an wifi access point running from this powerline adaptor which works fine in the workshop so the bandwidth is good in the good shop. 

However, having reregistered the VSS2 and added the phone numbers to my VSS2 account for that device via my online account i still cant get the suresignal to transmit a 3g signal to my phone. The powerlight is on, the main light appears to be on but it is not providing a 3G signal to any of the phones i have registered it for. All these phones will pick up the signal when in range of the Vss3 in the main house though so the issue is not related to the phones. 

Having followed a few posts many suggest leaving it for a few days, reseting, etc. none of these seem to work so i think i need some expert help. My account shows the box has been resgitered ok. my speed test and path ping results are below, any idea what to try next? 

thanks

rog

Speed test results are as below;

download: 12.46MBps

upload: 0.98Mbps

path ping as below;

C:\>pathping 212.183.133.181

Tracing route to 212.183.133.181 over a maximum of 30 hops

0 teeandi-PC.home [192.168.1.96]
1 BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254]
2 217.32.147.1
3 217.32.147.46
4 213.120.176.26
5 217.41.168.223
6 217.41.168.109
7 acc2-10GigE-0-2-0-6.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net [109.159.249.229]
8 core-te0-7-0-6.faraday.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.249.147]
9 host213-121-193-139.ukcore.bt.net [213.121.193.139]
10 t2c3-xe-0-2-2-0.uk-lon1.eu.bt.net [166.49.211.174]
11 166-49-211-254.eu.bt.net [166.49.211.254]
12 * * *
Computing statistics for 275 seconds...
Source to Here This Node/Link
Hop RTT Lost/Sent = Pct Lost/Sent = Pct Address
0 teeandi-PC.home [192.168.1.96]
0/ 100 = 0% |
1 4ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254]
0/ 100 = 0% |
2 42ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 217.32.147.1
0/ 100 = 0% |
3 62ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 217.32.147.46
0/ 100 = 0% |
4 41ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 213.120.176.26
0/ 100 = 0% |
5 39ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 217.41.168.223
0/ 100 = 0% |
6 43ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 217.41.168.109
0/ 100 = 0% |
7 41ms 1/ 100 = 1% 1/ 100 = 1% acc2-10GigE-0-2-0-6.l-far.21cn-ipp
.bt.net [109.159.249.229]
0/ 100 = 0% |
8 46ms 1/ 100 = 1% 1/ 100 = 1% core-te0-7-0-6.faraday.ukcore.bt.n
et [109.159.249.147]
0/ 100 = 0% |
9 44ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% host213-121-193-139.ukcore.bt.net
[213.121.193.139]
0/ 100 = 0% |
10 45ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% t2c3-xe-0-2-2-0.uk-lon1.eu.bt.net
[166.49.211.174]
0/ 100 = 0% |
11 44ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 166-49-211-254.eu.bt.net [166.49.2
11.254]

Trace complete.

C:\>

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi MrBadger,

Thanks for posting that information.

How far apart are the two two Sure Signal's?

If they're fairly close the VSS2 in the workshop might be picking up interference from the VSS3.

The serial number of the VSS2 would be useful too.

Thanks

Ian

[MrBadger]

Hello, 

thanks for the reply. My Serial number is: 40110502479. 

The distance between the two suresignal boxes is about 40 metres with a few walls in between. There is pretty much no 3G signal in my area so as my phone cannot pick up the 3G signal from the sure signal box in the house(no bars showing on the phone at all when in the work shop)  i am guessing it is too far to interfere.

thanks

rog

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi MrBadger,

Thanks for this.

I can see that the Sure Signal last made contact with the Sure Signal on 28/02/2014 at 10:54am.

What light sequence do you see?

Thanks

Ian