v1 suresignal - failed to provide a 3g signal for weeks

[mbames]

Serial number: 21229750126

I've tried power cycling it, holding the reset button down and doing a power cycling and left it powered down for a few days.

It is just showing the top (power) light as solid green.  All my phones just get Vodafone E(xtra crappy?) signal.

It responds to a ping:

Pinging 192.168.100.241 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.100.241: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.241: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.241: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.241: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.100.241:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

Tracert back to Vodafone:

Tracing route to 212.183.133.177 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms draytek.router [192.168.100.254]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 13 ms 14 ms 13 ms ip-84-38-37-12.easynet.co.uk [84.38.37.12]
4 121 ms 109 ms 12 ms 02780a99.bb.sky.com [2.120.10.153]
5 96 ms 17 ms 13 ms 85.205.0.86
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.

Speedtest results:

Down: 27.41Mbps
Up: 4.95Mbps

External IP:
94.12.73.214

Thanks,

Matt

[cineriv]

Hi Matt,

Your test results look ok.

I would guess the most likely cause is your power supply which has degraded. 

If it is the original power supply, it certainly does require replacing in any case.

Ignore the top (power) light, it does give misleading information regarding the state of your power supply.

Replacement power supplies can be obtained from Amazon or Ebay and cost around  £10 delivered, so worth a try.

Regards,

Mike.

[mbames]

I''ve seen a lot of posts suggesting that the PSU have failed, and personally I find that rather worrying.  Are Vodafone supplying faulty units?  There was no paperwork included with my suresignal saying I must replace the power supply after a number of years because it will have degraded (or has a very weak radioactive source been used in it?!)

I have many other plug-in PSUs similar to that of the Vodafone unit which are many years old and still function as expected, so I see little reason why the Vodafone should "give up the ghost" early, especially if the power light is lit on the unit.

The whole suresignal concept is a good wheeze for Vodafone - charging their customer to improve their network, and worse still supplying units which fail after a couple of years and need replacing.  This long standanding customer (of nearly 15 years) isn't impressed.  Shame on you Vodafone for supply substandard equipment.

[Retired-Jamian]

@mbames

Please try putting your SIM into a different 3G phone and see if you can connect to the Sure Signal.

[mbames]

Hi,

That sadly didn't make the slighest bit of difference, 3 phones and 2 sim cards.  The SureSignal unit seems to be failing to register "back to base", so until you guys can sort that part out, no amount of sim swapping is going to help.

Curiously enough I just went to look at the SureSignal and I caught all of it lights flashing (like after a reset: top, middle-1, middle-2, bottom, and then it went back to just having a solid power light).

Next round of ideas please, it is really difficult to work from home when Vodafone is our chosen company mobile supplier and there is barely enough signal to make a phonecall.  Bad times.

[Retired-Sarah]

@mbames I can see that the Sure Signal is still showing a connection to our Network.

A software update has been sent to your Sure Signal but is currently failing.

Please try the Sure Signal in another location, such as a friend or family member's house and it’ll need to be connected for at least 24 hours.

[mbames]

Unit located to a mates house (as of 1900 13/08/2015).  If the firmware is failing to be applied does that mean the unit is now knackered?

[Sukhi]

@mbames

We've taken another look and the update is failing to reach the unit. 

This suggests that the Sure Signal is faulty. As it will now be out of warranty, I'd recommend buying a new one via our online store.

[mbames]

Hang on... so basically you are saying:
(i) Vodafone sell items which break after a couple of years
(ii) Vodafone apply firmware which bricks units

I would expect electrical items, like say a TV to last more than a couple of years before it broke.  Even my washing machine, with moving parts is still working and that is many years old,

It seems to me that Vodafone is selling substandard items to their customers, knowing full well that they will break after a couple of years and then force their customers to shell out £100 each time the Vodafone defective hardware breaks. This must be evident by the fact that in a few years Vodafone have supplied v1, v2 and now v3 iterations of the SureSignal - none of which seem to work properly.

What is the warranty on the new v3 units?

[Retired-Sarah]

@mbames We can assure you that all Firmware sent out are tested and will not break your Sure Signal.

Sure Signals are the same as many other products which are developed with further improvements than later versions.

As with nearly all other products out on the market, our Sure Signal comes with a two year warranty.