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

[grannyrita]

Thank you - I've tried everything suggested including port forwarding with BT tech, new ethernet cable but still having problem. Have tried resetting many times and some advice on website & telephone tech help conflicts.

Phone tech says hold re-set for 30secs until lights "go solid" keep reset button held down then remove power cable for 5 secs & replace then release reset button.

Online says hold reset for 5secs then when lights flash in order keep depressed remove power cable for 5secs replace & when lights flash again release reset button.

I think it has been trying to 'factory reset' all the time!! so following ONLINE instructions just tried again and still waiting for lights to go solid, 1 and 2 stay solid for 5mins but 4 just keeps flashing- then they ALL go out again! I will wait another few hours to see what happens.

I don't think it's a connection problem or power cable problem as it WAS working with my BT Home Hub so maybe it's a software issue with Sure Signal 1 ?? Any advice would be helpful as it's been very frustrating!

P.S. Vodafone 'Shop' told me to buy a new more up to date Sure Signal but £100 is a lot of money to spend if it doesn't work either :o(

[NozzaC]

Reset it - no change.

I can see the red power light and the white internet light & in service light.

The in use light is not lit.

[kingchillout]

after a few days of working properly I'm having problems again...........after a reset it all works OK then a few minutes later light 4 goes out and lights 1 and 2 stay solid. A reset gets it all back but then it repeats the fault.

This is a new one. I'm a veteran of the VSS Wars and I thought I'd seen every light combination the little box can chuck out.

[volvo940se]

Received my SS box the other day, spent all day yesterday setting it up and waiting for it to do something, left it overnight, came down this morning, still only 1&2 lights on. Around dinner time, the fourth light came on, and was able to use it for the first time. Then between 3 and 4 this afternoon, fourth light goes out, and has not come back on since. Rebooted the box twice still nothing.

Now I have not paid for my box, it was sent free due to issues with the signal here, and I am pleased I have not, it seems to take considerably longer to set up than vodafone would lead you to believe, and then seems to not be that reliable.

Will leave it overnight again, and see if it comes back on, but if the box is maybe sensitive to data speeds, then this will not be a solution for me, as where I live, we have varying data speeds at best, so this may well be why the box is not responding now. At best last night I had 1.3mbps down and about 600mbps up speeds, checked it several times, and this was the best achieved. Will check again during the day.

[Andy9090]

Hi there,

I've just bought my Sure Signal today and have had the same problem as many where I get the first and second lights a solid green but nothing else. I have read through the other posts and run the pathping in command prompt (I have attached the results to this post).

Could you please help as soon as possible as I have spent my whole evening messing around with this equipment which I was under the impression would work straight away.

Thanks,
Andy

[greenwich]

Hi,

I have had a SureSignal box for over a year now, with very little problems with it. Until last Thursday evening when I lost signal from it completely. On friday, I turned it off and on again, turned it off for long period, turned in on again...and nothing fixed it. so today I have done the factory reset, which has to be done right - you need to press the button, pull the power and put the power back in all whilst still holding the reset button - once power you restore the power the lights start to flash 1+3 and light 2. It will do this for about an hour or more... it is basically downloading and resetting itself up again. Getting all your settings from vodafone. After it's finished that - lights 1+2 will come on but lights 3+4 will not and you won't get 3g signal yet.. you have to wait some more time ...all in all the process takes about 3-4 hours. Once it's done all that - you'll get 3g signal back again and it will work again. But what I've seen of the SureSignal don't expect a quick fix. You can't just unplug and plug again and expect it all to fire up. It takes time...and probably depends on backend servers/service and their loads/maintenance schedules etc...but I started the process at 6pm tonight and it's now 9pm and it looks like I have 3g service again. So try this routine with your VSS, just be patient...once it's working its great!!

[robertsm2]

Hey Guys,

It looks like there may have been a temporary outage, please can you all let us know if you are still having issues so we can check each case for you all.

James
eForum Team

Hi

Is Sure Signal down, please can you reset my unit?
Thanks

[Retired-James]

Hey Guys,

As we don't have any sure signal support teams in at this time of night I will pass your queries onto our day team who will be able to investigate this more thoroughly for you.

James
eForum Team

[dublin1968]

My Sure Signal is now down to the solid power light. Noticed last night just before midnight that my router rebooted its self and VSS went down as well. Router working OK this morning and have checked cables and all is good there. Can any one advise me here please. Will try a factory reset before going to work. I have had VSS since January and except for occasional reset it has been a good service

[Retired-Lee]

Hey dublin1968,

Thanks for your post. It looks to me like you're affected by another issue.

Caould you do me a favour and try the troubleshooting in this thread before going any further and also once you've completed all steps, post in that thread if you're still experiencing issues?

Cheers,

LeeH
eForum Team