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

[simay]

May I kindly ask Vodafone Tech Support team to confirm if there is anything else they/we can do to make this VSS work?

Because if there is nothing else left, we will try to revert back from BT infinity to standard ADSL.

Kind Regards,

Simay

[Retired-Sarah]

Hi @simay 

The Sure Signal’s last contact with us is showing 28 January at 03:17 am.

Are you able to try a new Ethernet cable with the Sure Signal in a different location?

Thanks,

Sarah

[simay]

Hi Sarah,

28 January is the day we switched from standard BT ADSL with Netgear modem to BT Infinity with only BT Business Hub 5 Type A modem (no Openreach modem installed). So we know that the cable and VSS are OK.

This issue is a result of bad combination of BT Infinity connection, BT Business Hub 5 router and Vodafone Sure signal device. I guess we will just go back to standard ADSL as it's been a week without a ny progress now.

[arukDave]

Hi again.

Yes, it is the (so called, and lame) "Business Hub" that is the whatsit in the woodpile.   It's less capable than a (also badly named) "HomeHub".   But I bet they (BT) buy them in cheap, in bulk.   'Nuff said, sadly.

Cheers.

   Dave.

[simay]

Hello,

Sure signal was working OK with standard BT ADSL until 28 Jan 2015.

On 28 Jan services switched from standard ADSL to BT infinity with BT Hub 5 ( single modem, no Open Reach device installed).

Changed MTU to max allowed 1492.

Reserved an IP to sure signal from BT Hub.

I can see the device connected to LAN interface with correct IP from BT Hub interface.

Put the VSS in DMZ, so all ports are forwarded to it

Restarted VSS several times.

Didn’t do a reset on VSS yet.

Please see info below and help to resolve the issue.

Down:11Mbps Up:2Mbps
PacketLoss:0% Ping:32ms Jitter:13ms Grade:B
External IP: 81.136.151.221
Sure Signal serial: 42144602325
Tracing route to cluster4.vap.vodafone.co.uk [212.183.133.177]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms BTBusinessHub.home [192.168.1.254]
2 25 ms 13 ms 18 ms host81-139-160-1.in-addr.btopenworld.com [81.139.160.1]
3 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms 213.120.182.141
4 17 ms 18 ms 16 ms 213.120.161.82
5 15 ms 14 ms 14 ms 31.55.164.189
6 14 ms 19 ms 20 ms 31.55.164.107
7 26 ms 22 ms 23 ms 109.159.248.69
8 25 ms 25 ms 59 ms core2-te-0-4-0-4.ilford.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.248.6]
9 25 ms 22 ms 25 ms peer1-xe3-2-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.254.205]
10 37 ms 25 ms 23 ms lndgw2.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.124]
11 24 ms 23 ms 27 ms 85.205.0.86
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.

[arukDave]

Hi.

Is there any setting in the BT Hub 5, that you can set, to allow it to pass fragmented packets?   If so, set it.

We have BT Infinity originally with the Openreach modem, and BT (so called) Business Hub.   That combination is an utter disaster for the VSS!

We ended up using a DrayTek Vigor router with it's own built in VDSL modem, bypassing the Openreach modem and "Business Hub".  Once we had set the "allow fragmented packets" feature in the Vigor, the VSS was happy, and has been working fine ever since.   In our LAN, the IP addresses are set by a separate server, not the router, but the VSS has a static internal IP address assigned to it.

I believe most of the problems are caused by the VSS needing a MTU of 1500, while the default BT kit doesnt quite allow that, so drops data, wrecking the VSS's ability to authenticate with Vodafone's servers.

The ports issue is relatively minor compared to that.    But again, the BT Business Hub, did not allow any forwarding rules to be created, that were based on external (WAN) IP addresses, only protocol's, and again that was a disaster for other VPN based services we have.

The Vigor (and many other makes of router) happily allow you to create port forwarding rules, where you can specifiy WAN addresses, such as those that Vodafone quote for their servers.   It's easy then just to allow all traffic from those addresses to reach the VSS, and it all works well.

Best Regards.

Dave B.

[simay]

Hi @arukDave,

Thanks again for your previous replies. My client asked me to visit her just to make sure if she is doing something wrong so I'm planning to visit early next week. I also have a Draytek Vigor 2860 I can test for couple of days so I'm planning to pre-configure the Vigor 2860 so it will be ready to plug in when I'm there.

On you previous replies you mentioned that two main things were MTU and fragmented packets to configure on the Draytek. Could you kindly confirm if following are the correct locations?

MTU
Changed MTU to max allowed 1492
Draytek 2860 >> WAN >> Internet Access >> WAN 1 >> PPPoE / PPPoA >> MTU

"allow fragmented packets"
is it the box (which is ticked) under
Draytek 2860 >> Firewall >> General Setup >> Accept large incoming fragmented UDP or ICMP packets ( for some games, ex. CS )

I'm planning to put the VSS in DMZ so I don't need to worry about any possible mistakes in port forwarding. Do you think it's better to do forwarding instead of DMZ?

I know that our VSS may take 24 hours to fully connect but generally do you know how long VSS takes to connect if you restart (not reset) an already working VSS?

Any other recommendations will be much appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Simay

[arukDave]

Hi Simay.

I think you have all the right boxes ticked, re MTU and large/fragmented packets.   I don't at this time have access to the office router setup to confirm, but from what you describe, memory, some notes and the user manual, I'm reasonably sure those are the needed tweaks.

The use if a DMZ for testing is fine, but I'd personally not leave anything with as uninformative a user interface, and full LAN access in a DMZ as routine!   (Just me knowing Linux has it's own networking security issues, some recent nasty ones have been patched now for many systems with a UI, but we don't know exactly who's flavour of that OS is used within the VSS's.)

I've had odd things happen with DMZ's in the past, related not to anyone hacking, but the routers own behaviour.   If you have a protocol based rule setup for something else (a VPN say.)  Then all traffic with that protocol (port target) will go to the assigned LAN IP for that rule, even if it is not intended for that application, so not appearing at the DMZ's address.   (A common dodge to block things, is to make a rule for something, that points to a nonexistant LAN IP!   As a result, it doesnt even get to any assigned DMZ.)

From my notes, we have our VSS on a static LAN IP address, and WAN IP address based rules setup so Vodafone's servers have unfettered access to it, but no other WAN IP's have!   VSS outgoing traffic allowed by default.   (As per the VSS server IP addresses called out on this list in the recent past.)

If it is going to work, you should notice different light activity paterns quite early on.   Chances are it will appear to restart once or twice by itself before "settling".   After that, power cycle any registered handsets, and they should then start working with the VSS.

We've found here, that if the VSS power is interupted, it only takes some 10 minutes at most (often much less) for it to come back online.

Hope you have some positive progress with this.

Best Regards.

Dave B.

[simay]

Thanks Again Dave, very helpfull information. I scheduled a visit for tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed

[simay]

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I replaced the BT Business Hub 5 with a Draytek Vigor 2860.

The internet connection was OK on the Draytek.

I replaced the thin cable of the VSS with a different one.

IP address reserved for VSS and I could ping the LAN IP of VSS from LAN.

All mentioned ports were forwarded on the Draytek.

MTU was max allowed 1492.

"Allow fragmented packets" was selected.

I could see from web interface of Draytek >> "NAT session table" that VSS was (or trying to) connecting to Vodafone servers with several different ports.

But result was the same after 1-2 minutes. Power - flashing, Internet - off, In Service - orange, In Use - orange

I restarted and reset the device several time. Can Vodafone tech team tell me if they see any connections or connection attemts for this VSS (External IP: 81.136.151.221 Sure Signal serial: 42144602325)

Regards,

Simay