Version 3 VSS Lights (Power - flashing, Internet - off, In Service - orange, In Use - orange)

[Retired-Lee]

This thread has been created to discuss and troubleshoot the version 3 Sure Signal when the light sequence is as follows:

• Power: Flashing
• Internet: Off
• In Service: Solid Orange
• In Use: Solid Orange

Cause

This light sequence indicates the Sure Signal's not active and it has been unable to authenticate on the Vodafone network

Troubleshooting

Please restart your Sure Signal. If the symptoms continue please add the following details to this thread:

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

Traceroute command:

On a PC:

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

On a Mac:

1. Open Terminal (Applications, Utilities)
2. Type 'traceroute 212.183.133.177'
3. Press Enter

This will help us get the quickest possible resolution for you.

Thanks

LeeH

[gravityisahat]

I have reworded my proposed e-mail in the light of comments and technical clarifications - thank you - as far as burnt fingers are concerned I play double bass and they are seriously blistered already.

Vodafone provide a device called a SureSignal (VSS) that provides mobile coverage in areas that have a weak or non existent signal. This device costs £100 or in some circumstances can be part of a mobile deal. Other mobile operators offer other solutions but the VSS seems to be very popular. The only problem is that it does not work with the new BT Hub 5 and there are problems with some other operators and systems. At present there are 92 pages on one support forum addressing just one symptom of a fault the device exhibits – no doubt there are many others. http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Vodafone-Sure-Signal/Version-3-VSS-Lights-Power-flashing-Internet-off... My monthly bill for 4 phones all of which rely on the VSS is over £100. I can nether send or receive voice calls or texts at home despite the VSS. Vodafone offered me a one off payment of £50 not sufficient to pay the £200 needed to buy a new piece of equipment which contributors to the forum, not the Vodafone technical team, have discovered through there own research works with the VSS. The forum is full of angry people, many of whom end up giving up or buying new equipment at their own expense. I understand the technical modification required to get it to work is trivial but Vodafone are technically incapable of making the change, due they say to a license issue. In the meantime they continue to sell the device as an easy solution to signal coverage issues and after a year of complaints are not openly advising customers that it will not work with the standard issue BT router. Instead they provide a raft of factually incorrect and misleading information that simply wastes people's time. Isn't this a classic case when competitors should consider their customers and collaborate with their rivals to resolve issues.

[jeffkinn]

Sorry to burst your theory but my Sure Signal works perfectly with my BT Home Hub 5 and has done from the moment they were connected. I've never had a problem and I would imagine that there are thousands of SS signals that are just as happy with their SS and HH5 as I am.

No doubt there are issues but don't fall into the trap of thinking that a few people with issues represent the whole or even the majority of users.

[gravityisahat]

jeffkin

Thank you that is helpful. I have Business Hub 5 maybe the problem is limited to that. I will amend my proposed e-mail according. I assume you are on Infinity

[patrick_keys]

Just for the record: I have two SureSignals under my management - one on the end of a BT infinity connection, and one on the end of a BT ADSL connection. Initially the infinity connection refused to work with a BT business hub 3, and the ADSL connection did work with a BT business hub 2.

I changed my router in both locations for other reasons - replacing the BT routers with Mikrotik RB2011-series routers. Both routers are configured identically (except for authentication information). Since this change, the infinity connection now works with SS, and the ADSL connection doesn't. It isn't always the case that changing the router will resolve the issue.

Now - this is why I'm annoyed. As an end-user, the best technical support that I have access to is essentially a 'have you turned it off and on again' service. The issues presented here extend far beyond the hardware that I (as a user) chooses for my router. Clearly there are issues that both Vodafone and BT need to investigate. Both companies are telecommunications providers, and both companies are able to access the relevant staff to discuss the problem directly. All anyone wants is for BT and Vodafone to start talking to each other. BT release new firmware for their hardware every couple of weeks - if there really is a BT problem, then they should be able to work with Vodafone to implement a fix that works for everyone.

Now - Vodafone. Hiding behind licensing terms to claim that the 1500-byte MTU is unchangeable is frankly laughable. You are Sagem's customer (I believe that they are the ultimate vendor), and as such are able to put pressure on them to deliver a solution that works for more of your customers. If you specified a 1500-byte MTU in your initial specification, then you need to man up, admit the mistake and pay some money to have it fixed. If your vendor specified it, then you need to go back to them, and find out how much it would cost to change it. Leaving it as-is isn't a suitable solution to the problem, as you are simply transferring the problem elsewhere. That's not a very nice way to treat your customers.

Let's not forget that the whole reason SureSignal exists in the first place is because your network coverage has holes in it... perhaps you should invest in more cell infrastructure!

As far as Watchdog goes - can I also suggest contacting The Register? They are an IT daily news site (read by countless system adminstrators) and are capable of understanding the technicalities involved here. They should be able to put some pressure on Vodafone via the press office.

Oh - forgot to say. I'm not actually a Vodafone customer either - I'm the IT guy who needs to make this work for my staff. I use EE, which works perfectly inside buildings.

[arukDave]

JEFFKIN:   FYI.

The main problems are with the BT "BUSINESS" Hub.    That is even less capable than the "HOME" Hub.  (But still has all the presets for online games and other dross services, in a "Business" device!)

If you have your VSS working with your HomeHub, would you be so kind to share the salient points of the setup for others, as configured in your router.   No need for you BT account details, just the needed details for the SS.   In particular, how you configure the HomeHub, to give the SS a stattic IP address on your LAN, as Vodafone say is needed.   And many people just do not understand how to do that.

Also, do you run ANYTHING else at your end, that has a VPN endpoint, so you can connect to home when not "at Home".    If so, how to get the BT device, to handle both that and the SS's incoming traffic indipendantly.

Cheers.

Dave Baxter.

[jeffkinn]

MIne is a home hub and not a business device, and yes I am on BT infinity.

The set up details are as follows:

I opened the box, connected it to the BT hub and plugged it in and it worked perfectly first time and every time.

I'm not being sarcastic or facetious - that is how simple it was for me. I didn't have to configure the router in any way or open any ports.

No I don't have any VPN software to allow me to connect to home when I'm away. Everything I need is either on my laptop or in the cloud.

[gravityisahat]

Thank you for all the additional tips. I will contact Watchdog as promised (but don’t hold your breath as this story is not “sexy” (hope I don’t get edited for that heinous outburst). I am a bit concerned about the suggestion to contact specific resources for IT professionals, as I am just a humble non-IT literate customer with 4 family phones that don’t work properly. I certainly don’t have the expertise demonstrated by others on this forum to engage in the technical debate. So on that account I decline.

It seems there is some ambiguity about whether BT Business HUB 5 can ever work while the MTU setting is constrained to a maximum of 1492. I would certainly appreciate a final clarification on that. May I also ask if that is something I can ask BT to adjust in my specific case or this a global configuration issue. Obviously I have tried resetting it in the router to 1500 but it won’t

Thank you to all those who have been kind enough to try to straighten this out, subject to final clarification on those two issues I will be referring to customer services henceforth.

I would also like to make it crystal clear my complaint is directed to the managers in charge of this fiasco not to the Vodafone support team who with one exception (in customer services as it happens) have been exceptionally polite and helpful (if inaccurate – if that isn’t a contradiction) at all times.

I stick to my personal guns with BT. They valiantly tried everything they could and compensated me generously. So well done to them! I do not have a gripe with them but others may. Unless we can act in solidarity inevitably this will become a personal issue with those that persevere most likely to prevail. That is my profoundest regret. Of course there is only so much time any of us can commit to this issue and I suspect Vodafone know that.

Good luck and goodbye

[patrick_keys]

Just one point: if you have the capability to change the MTU on the business hub 5, try setting it to 1508, not 1500. The extra 8 bytes are required for the PPPoE header - BT infinity does, of course, use PPPoE. Unfortunately I don't have any way to test this, so please don't shoot the messenger if it doesn't work.

[SidneyBonkers]

Further to William Poel's excellent observations,  I suspect that many users who are driven to the ends of their tethers by trying to get help from Vodafone on issues like this - and being told they are the only ones with such problems - would pay for a house call to get it sorted. Maybe enterprising shop staff could hire themselves out around their localities? In fact, perhaps enterprising staff from Three shops could make those calls and then switch the grumpy Vodafone user to their superior service...? 😉 

[WilliamPoel]

You are entitled to believe that Vodafone do not care and will not take any action to address this problem. You are also entitled to be very suspicious of any attempt to exonerate Vodafone posted here by a forum "patroll" with 10k posts to their name. Maybe they really do get their rewards from trying to help people - but I would like to see a statement that Vodafone, its agents or anyone in any way associated with Vodafone on any commercial basis gets no compensation of any sort for their forum contributions. I am happy to swear on a stack of bibles, Korans or copies of Angling Times  that I don't 🙂

If you are as are a "rare case" as implied by jeffkinn then any competent business with the resources (and cash) of Vodafone would send someone round to investigate and add what they find to the "knowledge base". But Vodafone does not do that sort of thing, instead you come here to try and get help - and a patroll member puts you down..

If BT ends up buying O2 or EE then they will be able to provide "home calls" from their fleets of vans for just this sort of situation - the world of tech is now so complex that experts and expert diagnostics are required in many cases - much though we all love to hate the BT devil we know, this type of situation - which is growing all the time as evidenced by those here and on numerous other online forums - would drive a LOT of customers into the arms for the complete "quad play" of phone, broadband, TV and mobile.