Vodafone SureSignal no longer working?

[#1]

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I idiotically set up an Unlimited account thinking it was including Broadband and calls

Ah!, so you changed your Broadband package ?
It shouldn't have changed BUT can you check the status of your PlusNet Firewall on the member centre here https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=firewall ( you will need to login with your PlusNet account/password ) . It should be set to OFF ( or LOW ) , if it isn't , then set it to OFF. You need  to disconnect/reconnect the Internet seesion on your router for any change to take effect.
Also, I would guess that any account change would have automatically forced a disconnect/reconnect and so you will have possibly been allocated a new public IP. There's been some issues with one of the IP ranges in relation to it's perceived location, some sites think it's not UK based. I wonder if that can affect the SS also. Check if your public IP is in the range 146.198.0.0 - 146.198.255.255 (you can check here http://www.whatismyip.com)?

[#2]

** just seen MisterW's post about changing the broadband package and will chase that, can't resist putting my sob story on anyway**
Sorry, was trying not to whinge but failing!  But since you ask ...
We moved house, I set up what I thought was an Unlimited broadband which included calls with Plusnet (it is called a Home Phone Service!).  Then I got 2 or  3 emails saying I was nearing my credit limit and needed to top up.  I topped up Mon 3 Nov, Sat 8 Nov.  At that point I had no idea why but topped up to avoid being cut off and didn't make time to go into it.  Eventually (what an idiot) I realised how much this was costing as my husband was working from home and had a couple of days working out problems in France and Italy!
So I contacted them Mon 10 Nov, arranged to change my plan to include calls, was told this would kick in on Fri 14 Nov.  I double checked with the operator that my credit would last until the Friday - I could easily have topped up but the man assured me it would be OK.
On Tues11 Nov at 22.49 I got an email saying I'd gone over my credit limit and could only make 999 calls.
At 6.20 am the next morning my  house alarm went off because they'd pulled the line.
When I complained about that the next morning they agreed not to charge me £5.76 to reconnect me.
And I got this explanation:
"Dear Christina,  Thank you for getting in touch, and I apologise for the problems caused.  I can see from when you signed up with us, you were never on Anytime calls as seen in Service Notice: 198660788 so unfortunately, the calls that were made would be chargeable. You are due to change on to the Anytime package on 14-11-2014.  I'll answer your questions as you've listed them:  1. Why would your website not allow me to update my package once I had realised I was not on a call inclusive tariff (see the screenshot I sent earlier)? It seems unreasonable to offer these on the website but not have a site which works - there was no button to continue, so I could not upgrade online, in spite of the website telling me to do just that.  When you go over your credit limit, no changes can be made to your account. You would have to been in credit to do this.   2. Why, when I had spent a considerable amount of time on the phone to your customer services on 10/11/14, upgrading my package to include calls and double checked with them that I would have enough credit to last until Friday 14 (when the new package would take effect) did you cut my line off without any warning? I do not consider an email at 10pm the night before as adequate warning. This goes against your Code of Practice which says (see below, under Home Phone Specific Policies*) that you give plenty of warning before transferring all outgoing calls to Customer Services.  Unfortunately, if you're making calls, we can't fully say how long you're going to be on them. I'm sorry the previous advisor said otherwise. This doesn't go against code of practice, I'm afraid, as we've e-mailed you every time you've gone over.  I'm sorry for any troubles that may have been caused.  There is no need to reply to this ticket if the matter is resolved. If you wish to close this ticket you can do so via the following link: Close This Ticket. Alternatively it will automatically close in 14 days.However, if you feel the matter needs further investigation do not hesitate to get back in touch online at http://portal.plus.net/wizard/ if we can be of any further assistance.  Kind regards,  Dave Price"

[#3]

MisterW, checked the Firewall and already set to OFF.  Checked IP and it is 91.125.158.109 registered to Plusnet and marked as GB.
The VSS forum has post showing troubleshooting for different variations of lights on/off/flashing.  Shame it doesn't show mine which is no lights doing anything apart from the power!

[#4]

Quote from: npr

Quote from: MisterW In the meantime you might want  to check the vf forum thread here http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Vodafone-Sure-Signal/Light-one-on-light-two-flashing/td-p/495774/page... In that thread suport are asking users to do a tracert to IP 212.183.133.177. It fails for the users who've tried the tracert and it fails here.  Doesn't give me much confidence.........

@npr, Sorry I missed your post
Is that the problem, a routing issue ? The tracert fails here as well ( on a Demon/Thus connection ) so it's not just a PN problem. The IP resolves as cluster4.vap.vodafone.co.uk so it looks like it could be correct. Interestingly most of those tracert's on the VF forum end up at 85.205.0.93 which is a vodafone IP, mine doesn't , although a tracert to 85.205.0.93 works!
@fairygodmother00, Thanks for the reply, well that's those theories out of the water then!
I think you probably need to try Vodafone support, maybe the eforum thread and see what their suggestions are...

[#5]

Quote from: fairygodmother00

Sorry, was trying not to whinge but failing!  But since you ask ..........

My bold emphasis

Quote from: Ticket

I'll answer your questions as you've listed them:  1. Why would your website not allow me to update my package once I had realised I was not on a call inclusive tariff (see the screenshot I sent earlier)? It seems unreasonable to offer these on the website but not have a site which works - there was no button to continue, so I could not upgrade online, in spite of the website telling me to do just that.  When you go over your credit limit, no changes can be made to your account. You would have to been in credit to do this.

Oh good grief, not this issue (again). We knew this stupid situation existed for not being able to make a payment on line when the monthly bill was due if you don't pay by direct debit, but didn't know the same stupid situation existed if you hit your Phone credit limit.

Quote from: Ticket

I do not consider an email at 10pm the night before as adequate warning. This goes against your Code of Practice which says (see below, under Home Phone Specific Policies*) that you give plenty of warning before transferring all outgoing calls to Customer Services.  Unfortunately, if you're making calls, we can't fully say how long you're going to be on them. I'm sorry the previous advisor said otherwise. This doesn't go against code of practice, I'm afraid, as we've e-mailed you every time you've gone over.

Well this policy does seem to totally contradict this credit limit statement and certainly I don't consider an email at 10pm the night before and then having the phone service diverted at 6am the following morning to be acceptable or adequate notice. And it's now very clear what can happen when you have an alarm system that's trying to phone home.
An email after you've gone over is no good if the service is restricted.

[#6]

Quote from: MisterW

Is that the problem, a routing issue ?

I would guess it's a Vodafone support failure.
I'm assuming that IP is set to not respond to pings.
Looking through Vodafone’s support offerings for the Sure Signal they do look somewhat lacking in consistency and common sense.
I've seen were they says the SS doesn't use UPnP and on another page recommend enabling it.
And the ports they recommend forwarding are just plain ridiculous IMO.

[#7]

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And the ports they recommend forwarding are just plain ridiculous IMO

Agreed!, there should be no reason for any forwarding, it's just an IPSec client as far as I can see.
The problem is that these things are great when they work, but when they don't, Vodafone just give out a load of waffle to stall, then eventually say it's the ISP's fault and the ISP says 'nothing to do with us', leaving the poor user with no answers.

[#8]

Is it worth setting "IPsec Passthrough" in the VPN settings of the router ?, to see whether that makes any difference ? 

[#9]

It's worth checking, although I would expect it's on by default.

[#10]

I've been trawling through the VF forums and found this

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But... here lies the problem when it stops working.... if your router reboots and your external IP address changes, (as BT don't provide you with a fixed one). Then you need to reset the Suresignal by plugging it in with a paper clip held in the reset hole on the back for a few seconds, then let it boot and wait until it connects again (sometimes hours). ....ALSO, because of this point, I believe Vodafone COULD fix this with a firmware update to the SureSignals or a Server-Side modification!!!!

Now, I assume when the BB product changed it's likely that the ppp session diconnected and probably got a new IP , so fairygodmother00  it's probably worth trying this reset procedure

[#11]

I suppose when all else has failed then a factory reset is a valid option.
Personally I cannot see the validity in the reported claim.  The device operates over a VPN channel therefore the details of the carrier network ought to be transparent / irrelevant.  Dynamic IP broadband connection (rather than fixed IP) is the norm, thus if this were material to the issue, then one have expected to see many references to this being the cause.

[#12]

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Personally I cannot see the validity in the reported claim

I quite agree, but we're clutching at straws here.  On the other hand I've seen some VPN setups where each end needs to know the IP/URL of the other end. As you say, you would expect the SS to be able to handle a public IP address change, since that's the norm.

[#13]

MisterW,
Sorry if my post seemed dismissive of your suggestion - it was not intended to be.  I recognise a desperate clutch at a thin blade of grass! 
I was rather reflecting on the illogical reported premise of why it was thought it would work.  What might be more valid is that a factory reset causes the device to do a complete re-registration with the Vodafone back end system, which sorts the problem.
To know for sure what us happening here, one would need to be able to access a diagnostic interface on the box - I doubt such a helpful facility exists?
Kevin

[#14]

No problem, I didn't see it as dismissive at all, any contributions/theories are very welcome.

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I doubt such a helpful facility exists?

I'm sure it doesn't. If I had a SS I'm pretty sure I could setup the TG582n for port mirroring and capture the network traffic from the SS. Armed with that it ought to be possible to work out where it's failing. I suspect the problem then would be to convince VF support that you knew what the problem was 

[#15]

Just read ALL of these responses and understood less than half but I have factory reset the VSS3 as you suggested and now I have solid white lights, the "in use" one lights up if I ring someone and I have 4 bars of signal on my phone ... but no sign of 3G!
I offer sincere and grateful thanks  and am heading off to annoy someone on the Vodafone forum