Where to find a SS version 2?

[AmandaHayes]

Hi,

After much mucking about, I've realised that all the mobile companies have appalling coverage at my house, so since my husband is a Vodafone customer, we're planning to get a SureSignal box and switch my SIM to Vodafone as well. However - looking at the broadband speed requirements for the version 3 (seems to need at least 4.1 Mbps), I don't think our country broadband will support it (when last checked, we were getting 4Mbps. And needless to say, I'm NOT keen on spending £100 to find out whether it will work or not! 

One solution seems to be to get the v2, but a conversation with the magic chat box seemed to indicate these were no longer being stocked. I can get one off of eBay, but all the posts on here about difficulties with registering secondhand boxes make me very wary. Is there some way I can check BEFORE I buy a secondhand box that it has actually been successfully de-registered? 

Thanks for any help/advice! 

cheers,

Amanda

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi AmandaHayes,

That's a really good question.

We can't guarantee that if you buy a second hand Sure Signal that it's been de-registered successfully.

If you buy the latest Sure Signal, you will have a 7 day cooling off period. That's give you time to try it.

If you need anything else, let us know.

Thanks

Ian

[AmandaHayes]

Hi, Ian, and thanks for your reply! 

I'm not sure why Vodafone doesn't keep a few of the old version on hand for us poor folks with bad internet - surely they could have seen this coming??

I've noticed a few posts on here where people who are having problems have given a serial number of some sort to you Tech Team wizards, so that you can check whether it's been successfully deregistered or not. If I could get the current owner of my intended unit to give me this number, would you be able to check it for me, perhaps?

Thanks for your help with this! 

Cheers,

Amanda

[philip42h]

Amanda,

You don't / won't need 4.13Mbps to run a SureSignal V3. The wording on the support pages is as follows:

Home broadband: You’ll need a fixed-line home broadband connection with a minimum speed of 1 Mbps to use Vodafone Sure Signal version 1 and 2. The latest version, version 3, requires a slightly higher speed. As the number of phones using the Sure Signal at once increases, so does the minimum broadband speed. So if you’re using the maximum of eight devices at the same time, you’ll need to have a download speed of at least 4.13Mbps. You can check your download speed by running a broadband speed test, you can find these online.

Bear in mind that if you’re using the internet a lot, it could impact on your Sure Signal’s performance, like using your phone while downloading large files or online gaming.

It works with the majority of broadband providers and most routers. However, not all are compatible with Sure Signal. Don’t worry, you’ve got seven days to return it to us if it’s not.

Just so you know, Sure Signal doesn’t work with satellite broadband, WiMax, bonded lines, or secure firewalls.

VF have never been too good at actually working out the bandwidth required. With the original SS1 & 2 we actually need 64Kbps upstream and downstream per concurrent call - i.e. not very much at all. VF used to quote a minimum of a 1Mbps because that would have 256Kbps upstream and thus would support 4 concurrent calls at 64Kbps each.

The SS3 really won't need much more bandwidth - I've not got nor tested one but it's only doing the same job as the earlier versions. However it now can support 8 concurrent calls which would require 8x 64Kbps = 512Kbps upstream. Given that ADSL is asymmetrical, I suspect you need about 4Mbps downstream to get 512Kbps upstream.

So, in short, if you are only running one or two concurrent calls you'll be able to use a SS3 on a 1Mbps line with no problems at all. And if you do have issues, simply send it back within the first 7 days.

HTH

[AmandaHayes]

Thanks for the info, Philip. I think on the balance, however, I'd still like to avoid paying £100 to Vodafone just to get a decent signal - that's quite a few months worth of mobile access for me! 

If anyone from Vodafone can tell me whether it's possible to check a serial number before buying a secondhand box in order to ensure it's deregistered, I'd be most grateful. 

Cheers,

Amanda

[GojuSuzi]

It would be possible, but bear in mind once you have the serial number you could register it, so many sellers will be legitimately wary of giving it out in case you register it, making it unsellable for them, and then lowball them since you're the only option for getting any money for it. I know I wouldn't do it! And there's the chance, if they did give it, that they dereg it before you check, but register it again before sending. Less likely, but the internet is a hive of scum and villany.

[Gemma]

Hi all,

@AmandaHayes - If you provide us with a Sure Signal serial number we can check to see if its de registered.

Thanks,

Gemma