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

[tjstevenson]

George

That would be most kind.

It's 21223473212

[Retired-George]

Hi tjstevenson,

Thanks for your reply. I've just forced a resync for you. If you are still experiencing issues tomorrow morning then please let me know and I'll investigate further for you.

George

eForum Team

[tjstevenson]

George

It was still cycling as before this morning.

I gave it a hardreset andthere is no change.

I will put the unit in the DMZ on my router, and if you want access to it I can email you the IP address.

[Retired-BenJ]

Hi tjstevenson

I've sent an email to you so that  we can  look into this further for you,  

If you could reply back when you get a chance and I'll make sure this gets looked into for you.

Thanks
BenJ
eForum Team

[tjstevenson]

Thanks - have replied the day before yesterday. Meanwhile last night I noticed that only the Power light was on - does this mean you can run remote diagnostics?

(It's cycling again this morning).

[jmonline]

Hi

I have had my suresignal for nearly a year now and it has worked perfectly, (with the occasional disconnection for a couple of hours here and there, but nothing major).

However, as of approx 1week ago it refuses to connect and dish out any signal. I have the Lights 1 & 2 lit solid, and the 4th light will not light up. 

Nothing has changed on my network, and my connection to my ISP (Talktalk) is still the same, around 1.5Mbps. I have never had any issues like this up to now. 

The suresignal is connected directly to the router. The router is a Draytek Vigor2820n (with the relevant ports forwarded, but it never really needed them because it has UPnP).

I have de-registered the suresignal box via the Vodafone control panel, and reset it using the button on the back. I have since re-registered it and it is showing as being registered, and has the 2 lights lit, but still not showing light 4. 

My serial number is #21197071448. 

I am able to successfully tracert to the Voda servers etc. 

Any help please Vodafone?

Cheers

[Retired-James]

Hey Guys,

I will pass this onto our day team to investiugate further for you as I currently don't have any sure signal support teams working at this time of night.

James
eForum Team

[Retired-Reidar]

Hi Kingchillout and thanks for your post

Pleas can you try the pathping command and copy / paste the full results here, we'd like to have a closer look:

pathping 212.183.133.181 (you may have to run as administrator, command prompt, via Start)


Drwhy, a big welcome to the eForum.


It sounds like you have gone through quite a bit of troubleshooting, your router seems fine, you're getting a full, although temporary, 3G signal, so the issue may well be that the device is faulty.


Reidar


eForum Team

[dandyant]

Hi

I've done the 'pathping' here's the results, does this mean anything?

Thanks

Ant

[philip42h]

Hi

I've done the 'pathping' here's the results, does this mean anything? ...

Well I suspect that it does, but I'd be interested to hear the authoritative view from VF.

What it says is this:

• 1% of your data packets get 'lost' at hop 4 - in the Virgin network - that's no big issue
• 99% of your data packets get 'lost' at hop 5 - in the Global Crossing network
• 100% of your data packets have been 'lost' before reaching hop 6 - in the Global Crossing network

So, none of the data being sent ever gets as far as the gateway into Vodafone ...

Clearly, all is well within the Virgin network itself but it rather looks as though that particular bridge between Virgin and Vodafone 'is down'.