WARNING - If you need Sure Signal and are going to fibre, READ THIS!

[Landshark2007]

I will try not to get too techy over this, but shortly speaking, if you are about to upgrade your Internet connection from copper to fibre, and you use a Sure Signal, you are about to enter a world of pain.

Bottom line is that Vodafone Sure Signals need very specific settings in order to work. One of these settings is specific to how the Sure Signal expects to see the broadband service. ALL Sure Signals use PPPoA to set up their service between the box in your home and the server at Vodafone. When you are migrated from copper-based broadband to fibre-based broadband, the protocol changes from PPPoA to PPPoE and your Sure Signal will stop working. 

As it currently stands, there is no work-around from Vodafone although I am sure that in the fullness of time a product may come forth that can work, or Vodafone may make some internal changes. Either way, with the roll-out of fibre by BT to various parts of the UK, If you use any femtocell (the techncial name for Sure Signals and other such devcies) then you are likely to run into this head on. 

Right now, I am still working with others to try and get some kind of fix, but so far nothing has come forward. Please don't be lulled into a false sense of hope by following the technical support processes for resetting the boxes etc. If PPPoE is being used, nothing you do will make a blind bit of difference and you will save yourself hours of wasted time. 

Right now, PPPoE kills off Sure Signal use - end of story.

[Nabs]

@Landshark2007 I've had a Sure Signal running ove PPPoE for almost 2 years now... there are no conflicts in the technologies and they both work perfectly fine. 

[jeffkinn]

To add to this thread, I have a Sure Signal running very happily over BT Infinity. It ran from the moment it was plugged in and sits there chugging away all day and night.

[Nabs]

Just a thought; If you have just upgraded to fibre the chances are your route to the Vodafone servers has changed. Usually the VSS will work out a new route after a period of time however you may need to reset your VSS boxes and get them resynced if this doesn't happen quickly enough for you

[Landshark2007]

Thanks to all, but I beg to differ.

Vodafone told me specifically: "Sure Signal boxes do not work with PPPoE" in a conversation with their technical support people. 

If you have managed to get this to work, could you please post how. I have been struggling for four days with this and it is holding up amuch larger deployment,

[Landshark2007]

Just been "Upgraded" from copper to fibre Internet by BT. I have the BT Business Hub 5 and their new Echolife HG8240 GPON Terminal on the wall. Internet speed is now 36Mbps down with around 10Mbs up. 

I have posted this elsewhere, but in a nutshell, No PPPoA, no Sure Signal. Fibre uses PPPoE so if you have blisteringly fast Internet, you lose your Sure Signal.

[Landshark2007]

I need (urgently) to find out which communications protocols the Sure Signal boxes use. Specifically for each one, must the protocol be PPPoA or PPPoE, or does it not matter?

I have a number of SS1s and BT is rolling out fibre in the areas where I have a number of clients who have no mobile signal and are 100% dependent on SS for any comms at all. 

[Landshark2007]

DEFINITIVE ANSWER:

Sure Signals use PPPoA only. 

Any broadband connection that uses PPPoE will not allow the Sure Signal boxes to work.

Source: Vodoafone chat line.

[Nabs]

I just plugged it in as normal, didn't need any special configuration for my fibre connection.

Is it an FTTC connection you're on?
Who is your ISP and which router are you using?
Have the boxes been reset since the fibre upgrade took place?

Will try and help suggest things if I can 😊

[Landshark2007]

Thansk for the reply.

This is Fibre to the premises (FttP) from BT who is both ISP and provider. The router is a BT Hub 5 with a Huawei EchoLife HG8240 GPON Terminal providing the fibre termination. It is connected via BT's red ethernet cable to the Hub 5. 

Prior to the switch-over, the SS1 was working fine, but since then and despite a number of resets at both ends, the system has not come back. I replaced the PSU for it about 6 months ago and it has been fine ever since. I am getting around 35Mbps download and 10Mbps up so bandwidth is not an issue and BT has aldded all the port forwarding parameters into the router, but to no avail. I have a static IP address on the WAN, so this has not changed either. Should have added that I left the SS1 powered up and reset over night in case it was a server-related issue.

I'm stumped, and I think BT is as well.