Sure Signal wont stay connected to Vodafone.

[_Aaron_]

 Hi,

After 5 months of issue free working my v3 Sure Signal has stopped working. For the last 2 weeks it will only stay connected and allowing calls for a few hours at a time and will then lose connection back to Vodafone. It will only re-connect if i perform a re-set (button on the bottom for 30 secs), and then only for a few hours before disconnecting again. I've looked at the "Troubleshooting" post but it has not helped. I've not chaged ISP or router. I've even de-registered and re-registered the Sure Signal (on 9/07/13), but it still disconnected after a few hours working. Once it's lost connection the power light flashes with the internet light solid orange, the other lights are off.

Requested details for investigating fault are:

Ser. No.: 40124125846

DL Speed: 62.42Mbps

UL Speed: 3Mbps

Ping: 25ms

IP Address: 82.3.100.17

Tracing route to cluster4.vap.vodafone.co.uk [212.183.133.177]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  2     8 ms     7 ms     9 ms  winn-core-2a-ae7-1051.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.121.245]

  3     8 ms     9 ms     8 ms  brnt-bb-1c-ae2-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.96.169]

  4    12 ms    17 ms    13 ms  brhm-bb-1c-ae8-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.174.126]

  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  6    31 ms    30 ms    34 ms  ldngw1.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.209]

  7    35 ms    39 ms    30 ms  85.205.116.2

  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.

ISP is Virgin Media, I have a Superhub VMDG-480 router

HELP!

[_Aaron_]

Tech Team - Any comments?

I power cycled the Sure Signal last night and it quickly re-connected, however my phone log shows it lost service 3 times during the night, but reconnected each time. I've just got in from work to find it once again out of service with a flashing red power light and solid orange internet light 😞

[Retired-Andy]

Hi _Aaron_,

Thanks for the information you’ve provided.

Everything looks fine with your speed test, ping test and traceroute. Your IP address is on our whitelist, so problems there either.

I can see that your Sure Signal connected to our servers yesterday at 11:36. If you’re still facing connection issues, there are a couple of things you can try.

Try reducing your router firewall settings to low. Once you’ve done this, reboot your router and then the Sure Signal.

If this doesn’t work, try another Ethernet cable.

Let me know how you go on.

Thanks

Andrew

[_Aaron_]

Hi Andrew,

Yes I'm still having problems, my Sure Signal was again disconnected when I woke up this morning, I cycled the power and it was back on line within a few minutes. I've just got in from work and it's disconnected again. The problem doesn't seem to be with connecting but with staying connected, it keeps dropping connection back to Vodafone and requires a reset or power cycle to re-connect.

The router firewall was already set to low, in addition this I already have "IPSec Pass-Through" & "PPTP Pass-Through" enabled and ports 8, 50, 123, 500, 4500 & 1723 forwarded (TCP&UDP).

As the Sure Signal re-connects after a power cycle or re-set I don't believe the cable is the issue, but I have now changed it to cover that possibility. In several other posts I've seen "re-sync" mentioned, what's is a re-sync, could this possibly help?

Thanks,

Aaron.

Update, with the new LAN cable it quickly connected but only stayed connected for 4 mins before losing the connection again!

[Retired-Lee]

Hi there _Aaron_,

Thanks for the edit. It really helps.

Can you test the VSS on another connection such as a friend, neighbour or relative's house?

If it behaves the same way it could be faulty.

Cheers,

LeeH

[_Aaron_]

Hi,

Problem is still ongoing, Sure Signal is disconnecting then re-connecting on average a dozen times a day, time connected\disconnected can vary from a few minutes to a couple of hours. At the moment it is normally re-connecting on it's own but occasionally it will need a power cycle to get it to reconnect.

Yesterday I used it on a neighbours internet connection with a different ISP & Router, it remained connected for a full 7 hours before I left. Once connected back at home it it went back to it's routine of connecting and then disconnecting 😞

I've had the same ISP and router the whole time I've had the Sure Signal (since Jan this year) but it's only recently I've had the issues.

Any ideas on why this could be happening now? (no other devices I have using the internet connection are having issues)

Aaron.

[Retired-Andy]

Hi _Aaron_,

Thanks for getting back to us.

I’ve checked your serial number and can see that it connected to our servers at 02:49 today, are you still facing the disconnection issues?

If the Sure Signal worked perfectly on your neighbour’s internet connection, then it leads me to think there could be something in your current set up that’s preventing it from keeping a stable connection to our servers.

If the issue has suddenly started, have there been any firmware updates sent through to your router? Your ISP will be able to tell you this.

The next thing I’d suggest is to try a different router. If this works perfectly then it would show your router may be the cause of the issue.

Let me know how you go on.

Thanks

Andrew

[_Aaron_]

Hi,

Issue is still ongoing, I don't have another router to try and I'm not about to buy one on the off chance it may help. All other devices using the internet connections are working without any issues.

Not sure where to go next on the Vodafone side of things, but have raised the issue on the Virgin Media forum, hopefully some one there can help, I'll keep you informed of any progress.

On the off chance it helps, my current router is a Virgin Media Superhub VMDG-480, hardware V2, Firmware V2.38.01. If you are aware, or become aware, of any compatibility issues between this and the Vodafone Sure Signal please let me know.

Aaron.

UPDATE: Found a question over the Superhub R38 firmware HERE Do you have any more info on this?

[Retired-Dave]

Hi _Aaron_,

As James mentioned on that thread, we'd identified issues with older software, but we're not aware of anything specific on the latest version.

I noticed that since you re-registered we handle tried a resync to see if anything was trapped, so I've done one now for you. Can you reset the Sure Signal box for me to check that everything has refreshed?

• Locate the button on the base of the box next to the Ethernet ports.
• Press and hold the button for approximately 30 seconds.
• Once the lights come back on, release the button.
• The Sure Signal will come online in around 1 hour.

If you're unable to try another router - and we wouldn't expect you to fork out for an alternate, there are a couple of other things we can check quickly for you:

 - When the Sure Signal disconnects, how do the Ethernet lights next to the cable socket look on the box? Are they lit, flashing or off?

 - What happens if you swap the cable to a different socket on the router?

 - Can you try rebooting the Sure Signal and router together to ensure there is no fragment of an old connection trapped?

• Switch off the Sure Signal.
• Switch off the router.
• Reboot the router only. Allow it to fully restart and settle down.
• Restart the Sure Signal only once the router has fully restarted.
•  

Dave

If I've helped at all today, why not leave me a little feedback?

[_Aaron_]

Hi Tech Team,

After the re-sync and reset of the Sure Signal (done Thursday evening) it was all going well and it remained connected all weekend, but unfortunately I woke up today to find it once again disconnected with the power light flashing. I left it as it was in the hope it would re-connect but I've just got in to find it still in the same disconnected state 😞

Ethernet lights on the Sure Signal are: green is on, orange is mainly on but blinking about once a second. lights on the router are: green light off, orange light blinking.

Using a different router ethernet port makes no difference.

😞