Sure signal with Satellite Broadband

[kate87]

Hi,

I live really remotely and therefore do not have access to broadband through my home phoneline and have no phone signal on Vodafone. I have had satellite broadband installed and have bought a SureSignal box to try and get some phone signal. I have been told by the assistant in the Vodafone store and also over the phone that it will work with satellite broadband, but I cannot seem to get it to work.

I have registered the SureSignal and the users, connected it all up and the power light is constant red, and both other lights will flash for a period of time (around 15 mins) but then go off and just the power light is on. I have tried numerous times to get it to connect but it does the same thing. My phone will connect to the wireless and my laptop also connects, so I don't think it is an issue with the internet?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[chrise]

I'd imagine the latency (delay) of the satellite connection is too great for the SS to be happy.

But I could be wrong.

[Retired-James]

Hi kate87,

Welcome to the Vodafone eForum from all of the team.

To be honest with you the connection should work with the Sure Signal however as with anything this can’t be guaranteed as it isn’t a normal cable broadband setup.

Firstly can I ask if you have been given access to the admin panel for the router by your satellite broadband company?

If no, then you will need to request this from them before looking at the next step.

If yes, then please follow the details on the following this thread and post back with your results.

In the meantime I will also seek clarification on whether it is supported through Satellite Broadband services.

James

[philip42h]

Personally I suspect that chrise is correct. While James is checking I suggest that:

1. You post your external IP address for VF to check against their whitelist - some satellite services have used non-UK registered addresses which simply aren't accepted by VF's UK SS service.
2. Run a tracert command (tracert 212.183.133.177) to establish the latency applicable to your satellite service and post the results here. It will 'time out' before it reaches the final server but that's normal - what we need to see is the round trip time to the VF gateway server which will have an address like 85.205.116.n

IIRC the SS requires a latency of less than 250ms (VF can confirm); with a satellite service the RTT is likely to be >300ms ...

[Hope I'm wrong!]

[Portlan]

Hi there,

I've been reading the threads here, all interesting.  I have limited VODA signal (we are in the country).  Operate on Satellite Broadband via the TOOWAY Satellite.  I have the new Sure Signal, delivered today.  Silly question time from me!  We have 2 boxes - the wireless router and the Satellie Modem (which goes to the dish). 

Does the Sure Signal connect to the Wireless box or hte Modem?

There is one connector in the modem, so plugging the sure into this renders the home internet unworkable (as you have to unplug the wireless router).  Using it in this way it appears to connect, but we didn't wait for server registration as there seems little or no point (as we will have no home wireless) doing it in this way.  However, the 'internet' light flasshed for about a half hour (connecting) - seemed fine.

On plugging into the wireless box (this now being reconnected to the Modem), there is a flashing red light and the Internet, Service and User lights are a steady orange (indicating a problem)?

I guess my only point is if the Sure Signal is connected to the Wireless Router (and that is connected to the Modem), it won't work so isn't useful.  Is my theory supported?  Unfortunately, it could be that my hardware (satellite modem) is rubbish, with only one ethernet connector.

Any help most welcome.  I'm not the teckie type, so please bare with me.  Unfortunately if the sure signal isn't useful, its goodbye vodafone after 10 years or so!

Thanks, Andy.

[allegoricus]

Hi Portlan,

Aren't there any ethernet ports on your router? That's where you should be connecting your Sure Signal.

HTH,

Peter

[Portlan]

Hi Peter, thanks for the reply.  There is 1 Ethernet connection on the back of the Router (the satellite Modem).  That one connection has the Wireless Router plugged into it.  The only other input to this Modem is a USB input!  If one plugs the Sure Sig into this Modem, it shows no fault (and would seem to connect).  But doing this means the Wireless Router can't be plugged into the Modem so we would have no home internet.

If you plug the Sure Sig into the Wireless router (which I would think to be right and is what you mean - perhaps you could confirm), it doesn't connect.  There are 4 Ethernet inputs on the Wireless Router, + the main Ethernet connector to the Modem.

I have attached a pic of the Modem (black unit) and the Wireless Router (white unit) so you can see what I mean as sometimes a picture can speak volumes.  Apologies for the poor quality.

Many thanks, Andy.

[allegoricus]

Hi Andy,

Bear in mind here that I have no idea of your level of confidence in these matters, so if I'm making suggestions, or asking questions, that seem elementary, it's for this reason.

Firstly, there's no reason why plugging the Sure signal into one of the ethernet ports on yor router shouldn't work. There may be otherfactors in play, but, if you do plug into the router, are you able to determine whether the Sure Signal is picking up an IP address (likely to be 192.n.n.n) from the router's DHCP server?

Not knowing your router, I can't offer much assistance with this but, in my own case, if I connect to my router using the browser, I can navigate around and find a list of the connected devices, together with the IP address that's been assigned to each. If all is as it should be, you should be able to identify one of the devices as the Sure Signal. If so, you can verify that the Sure Signal is alive on your local network by pinging its address from your PC (http://allegoric.us/VkLKgx).

Next thing to do is, if your router prmits it, to place the Sure Signal's address into the DMZ - the alternative is to open several ports on your router's firewall, but that's a PITA if the DMZ optioin is available.

Having done that, you should see evidence of activity on the Sure Signal's front panel.

See how you go with this and report back.

TTYL,

Peter

[chorotega]

I'm afraid it is unlikely to work on Satellite for the following reasons:

1) The latency will not be up to the spec required by the Sure Signal

2) Your provider probably uses a foreign IP address (I believe TOOWAY is actually New Zealand) so the connection will be refused by not being on the whitelist.

[tomdroid77]

Hello,

As a Tooway customer I tried pinging my VSS. It replied it took an average of 1268ms, with 75% loss of package.

This is compared to an average of 111ms with 0% loss to my mobile across the same wireless router