Sure signal problem when using I can't be heard

[ABA]

I have had sure signal for several weeks and until this week had thought it had solved my signal problems. However when using my phone connected to it whilst I can hear perfectly those on the phone I can not be heard. Those I am on the phone to either hear static or occasionally me dropping in and out. Having spent several hours talking to Vodafone technical support I was eventually told it was the upload speed and to speak to the ISP. Un surprisingly the ISP has said they don,t adjust upload settings for domestic customers. I normally get 6mbps download and on average 0.3 to 0.5 upload which having researched isn't unusual. I note sure signal make no mentioned of required upload speeds in the descriptions. I don't know where to turn next as I seem to be going in circles. I don't believe my upload speed to be anything different now to now it was few weeks ago when all was working fine.

[Anonymous]

Hi

Apologies if you've already tried what I'm about to suggest but am looking at it from a software/networking point of view, I'm not a Vodafone customer or a Sure Signal owner, just here to try and help.

Unplug the SS from power so that it completely powers down, leave it like this for 30 minutes then plug it back in (it might take a little while to reintegrate itself into the network so you could do this overnight)

Try again.

Make sure when making a call that devices such as games consoles aren't being used on your connection

[ABA]

many thanks, already tried that.  It has also been reset from Vodafones end twice which has made not difference.

[Anonymous]

From what you describe it does sound very much like upstream congestion.

Do you or any family members use Skype on the connection? How does that fair? The reason for this question is that similar symptoms can be observed when placing a call via this when upstream congestion is present as it's fighting for limited bandwidth.

Deactivate Wi-Fi on your router, make sure any PCs (or Macs) connected via ethernet are powered off to ensure the only device active on the connection is your Sure Signal.

When you have done this try to make a call to see how good the call quality is, if that cures it then something on your connection is normally using lots of upstream bandwidth, consoles will try and use as much as is available as will any P2P clients such as Bittorrent if left in a default setting.

If it doesn't cure the issue it might be worth asking Vodafone about swapping the unit for you if they are willing to do so.

[ABA]

we are an occasional skype user and don;t have any particular porblems when we use it and thanks for your comments.  One thing I am struggling to understand is why I had no problems at all in the first 4 or 5 weeks since I had the sure signal and have connected nothing different and am not using anything differently now that would have changed the upload demand.

[Retired-Andy]

Hi ABA,  

If your speed has suddenly changed, your ISP may have been performing maintenance which has affected your connection.

We can certainly look into what’s happening for you, but need some more information.

Can you provide the following please:-

Your Sure Signal serial number.
Your speed test results from here.
Your ping test results from here.
Your external IP address from here.
The results of a traceroute.

VSS Traceroute command

On a PC:

Click on Start and select Run
Type CMD into the Run box and press enter/click ok
A black box will appear.
In this box type tracert 212.183.133.177 press Enter
Paste the output of this command into your reply.

Cheers,

Andy

[ABA]

Andy

Info as requested

serial no40133837019

speed test ping 42 down 5.89 up 0.38 at 8.8am today

ping test 236 jitter 174

 IP 79.77.229.183

[ABA]

don;t think i attached trace results

[Anonymous]

If I may add a little more to try and help.

The round trip figures on the ping and traceroute look rather high and suggest either something else is heavily loading your connection or it's recently degraded due to congestion or line condition, it certainly won't help matters.

Either way I'd look at getting it down with the help of your ISP.

Put it this way I have a long line (but different ISP to yourself) which has 58 dB attenuation downstream and 31 dB up) and when not loaded with traffic my ping ranges between 24 ms and 40 ms.

[Retired-Dave]

Hi ABA,

pctechbloke is spot on. Although the connection is reaching our servers, the times shown on the traceroute wouldn't be capable of sustaining the connection.

You'd need to show the results of the traceroute to your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Ask them to look into anything causing the slow connection from step 2 right through to step 7.

Dave