SureSignal down 2+ weeks, please fix

[marekp]

My SureSignal (SN 21224662995) has been out for 2 weeks.

I've got correct ports forwarded and am within lower upload speed limit.  I've tried de-registering it & re-registering it to myself and several hard resets - nothing seems to work.

It is now showing steady light 1 and steady light 2.  Traceroute info below:

traceroute to 212.183.133.181 (212.183.133.181), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets

 1  api.home (192.168.1.254)  27.232 ms  92.904 ms  100.004 ms

 2  217.47.200.122 (217.47.200.122)  20.593 ms  17.543 ms  17.967 ms

 3  217.47.200.161 (217.47.200.161)  16.329 ms  16.677 ms  16.191 ms

 4  213.1.69.210 (213.1.69.210)  18.235 ms  18.493 ms  17.708 ms

 5  217.41.168.73 (217.41.168.73)  17.847 ms  17.557 ms  18.228 ms

 6  217.41.168.107 (217.41.168.107)  18.165 ms  18.012 ms  17.635 ms

 7  acc1-10gige-0-2-0-6.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.249.101)  20.463 ms

    acc1-10gige-0-2-0-7.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.249.103)  17.742 ms

    109.159.249.118 (109.159.249.118)  17.467 ms

 8  core1-te0-0-0-5.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.43)  21.719 ms  23.193 ms  23.163 ms

 9  peer1-xe8-1-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.254.181)  17.529 ms  17.783 ms  17.785 ms

10  lndgw2.arcor-ip.net (195.66.224.124)  20.979 ms  20.988 ms  20.077 ms

11  85.205.116.2 (85.205.116.2)  19.224 ms  19.560 ms  19.481 ms

12  * * *

At this point it gets stuck and just keeps trying.

I live in an area with no other Vodafone coverage, so the 2 phones + 2 tablets in the house can no longer access the network.

[Sukhi]

Hi marekp

Thanks for your post I've taken a look at your Sure Signal and can see that it connected last night.

Can you make sure your firewall is not turned on?

Is it possible to test the Sure Signal at a different location? Could you pop around to a friend’s house and see if the same happens?

I look forward to your reply

Thanks

Sukhi

[marekp]

The firewall is switched off.  Nothing has changed in my internet connection set-up compared to when it was working prior to this two week outage.

Today the SureSignal has been cycling through showing the top two lights solid and the bottom light flashing.  Then all the lights will go off and it will repeat the same sequence, showing the top two lights solid and the bottom light flashing for a few minutes, before the lights all go off again.  Eventually it just sits there with the top light solid.

Can you tell me what you mean by 'it connected last night'?  I didn't see any sign of that on the hub and never got any mobile coverage...

Our neighbours around here with broadband all use SureSignal (it is the only way to get coverage where we live) and are understandably reluctant for us to start messing around with their set-ups.

What are some other possibilities to fix this - all our Vodafone mobiles are useless in the house without it.

[Retired-James]

Hi marekp,

Thanks for getting back to us.

When we say that it connected last night, we are referring to the connection made by the Sure Signal to our server through your broadband connection.

If you neighbour has a working VSS then you wouldn’t need to change any of their setup but simply plug yours in to their router to see if it works.

If it works, we definitely know that it is an issue with your setup rather than a fault with the Sure Signal.

Can you confirm who your ISP is and what equipment (router) you are using?

James

[marekp]

BT, using a BT Home Hub (the one with the squared off corners, not the newer curvy one).  The SureSignal is plugged direct into this.  Firewall is off, relevant ports are forwarded.

Would the fact it has worked fine for months with exactly the same set-up & the fact you can see it trying to connect to your servers a couple of nights ago suggest the fault is not with the broadband network set-up, but rather an intermittment problem with the SureSignal hardware or a server-side issue?

I'm not willing to risk messing up our neighbours set-ups.  I know you think it won't cause problems, but I know how frustrating it is to lose signal, and I'm not going to risk doing that to one of the other neighbours who rely on it.

What are the other options?

[Retired-James]

Hi marekp,

To be honest we are restricted by what we can do in this instance because by trying it ion a different connection it will identify if it is a Sure Signal issue rather than any kind of setup issue.

If it is a Sure signal issue then you will need to send the unit away for repair however, as this is now out of warranty it would be a chargeable repair.

Alternatively you can also purchase a new Sure Signal.

A new Sure Signal would cost £100 and a repair would usually be about £65.

James

[marekp]

I was able to test it on someone else's broadband connection over the weekend and encountered the same problem.  It would try to connect, with the top two lights solid and the bottom light flashing, but never got past this stage, just continually re-booting itself.

Until Vodafone improves the network coverage in this area, SureSignal is the only way for our household to remain Vodafone customers.  Are you really telling me that, when your equipment breaks, the only answer for a house with 3 Vodafone contracts is to shell out another £100 to buy a SureSignal that actually works, just so we can remain customers, or pay £60 for a repair?

I've been without working signal in the house for 3 weeks now and we're paying for 3 contracts we essentially cannot use most of the time.

Vodafone's inability to get this problem resolved, despite the fact your support forum is full of people experiencing similar faults and unreliability with this product, has made for a poor customer experience.

Given that I'm minded to close all of our Vodafone accounts and move to Three, who have offered us their Home Signal product, what can you do propose a satisfactory solution which would persuade a 15-year Vodafone customer to stay with you?

[Jenny]

Hi marekp,

Thanks for getting back to us.

As this issue was replicated on another connection, it seems that the fault is with the device.

As James said above, because this is now out of warranty the options are either for a chargeable repair or you can purchase one of the new Sure Signal models online or in store.

Thanks,

Jenny

[marekp]

Unfortunately this doesn't solve the problem, it just tells me we need to spend more to fix a piece of broken equipment you supplied. Without a working Sure Signal, there is no reason for us to remain customers. You've made the decision to leave an easy one.