Vodafone's 'Sure Signal' no longer effective

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Vodafone's 'Sure Signal' no longer effective

bramwell

161 posts

Master Geek

#207347 20-Dec-2016 10:40

Hi all

We're hoping someone might have some idea as to what could be going on with our Sure Signal. Generally it has been pretty good although we've had intermittent issues with it since having it installed a couple of years ago, but now it seems completely ineffective.

We've been in touch with Vodafone about this issue and completed the reset a couple of times on their instruction, the speed test was more than adequate, yet they say there's nothing wrong with the system.

This is the message we received from them:

We have investigated your Vodafone Sure Signal issue and there are no network issues on our end. After analysing your line, we found a continuous stream of upload usage which is the likely cause of degraded call performance. Please check the background programs e.g. cloud services, P2P etc on your devices. Thanks - Vodafone Team.

So my husband and I both switched off background app refresh on our iPhone 4's and closed any apps running in the background on our phones and laptops. No improvement.

Any advice would be much appreciated as this is driving us mad! ...

Thanks :-)

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#1692669 20-Dec-2016 10:43

Have you tried turning the phones, computers, and anything else using a network connection off completely? You haven't really said what problem you're having.

mdf

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#1692674 20-Dec-2016 10:46

Rebooted your router? What brand router? Any IP cameras or alarm systems connected to the router?

nedkelly

659 posts

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#1692710 20-Dec-2016 11:16

Have you checked if your router shows traffic happening?

Try turning off wifi on all your devices and disconnect ethernet devices and then reconnect one by one to see which one starts uploading.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1692716 20-Dec-2016 11:21

If there is indeed upstream congestion, the point vodafone have made is 100% Valid.

i would recommend an isolation test, Remove ALL Devices off the network aside from your sure signal and test again (This includes disabling your Wireless on the router.)

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

RunningMan

8954 posts

Uber Geek

#1692763 20-Dec-2016 11:57

The problem is probably not uploading from your phones, but uploading from another computer or device in your home, which is causing congestion on the internet connection.

Look for a torrent, iCloud sync, or some other cloud backup running on one of your computers.

Linux

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#1692771 20-Dec-2016 12:10

@bramwell Fixed line Internet speed will impact Sure Signal so if you are rural and connected to a congested cabinet (Conklin) then this will impact the performance of Sure Signal,

Linux

Edit: Scan any PC's with free home edition Malwarebytes for anything malicious

bramwell

161 posts

Master Geek

#1692777 20-Dec-2016 12:20

Thank you so much to everybody who replied :-)

I'll follow up on all your advice and come back to the forum once I've tried everything ...

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

bramwell

161 posts

Master Geek

#1692779 20-Dec-2016 12:24

Timmmay

The problem we're having is broken conversation to the point where it's 'breaking up' so bad it is impossible to have a mobile phone conversation.

We've tried turning everything off and on completely and will throughout the day try various other suggestions.

Thanks again for your reply :-)

tripp

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#1692781 20-Dec-2016 12:34

You need to do some testing, first thing I would try is turning everything off (apart from the router and sure signal) then turn on 1 of your phones and make a phone call, if the call is OK then turn that phone off and turn on the other and try.

If both phones are fine then start turning on other devices 1 by 1 until it goes bad and then you know which device is doing it.

If it is bad while testing the phones then you know its either a line / router or sure signal issue which I would be ringing vodafone back to log a fault.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1692789 20-Dec-2016 13:15

If you are not techy enough, I would speak to the broadband team, discuss with them the fact that you are having this issue.

They can go through some testing with you, Potentionally it could even be that your syncing DSL far too low to hold up the connection well enough, Or as others have pointed out.. .Conklin situations..

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

coffeebaron

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#1692914 20-Dec-2016 16:51

Post speedtest result and modem stats

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johny99

495 posts

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#1692966 20-Dec-2016 19:36

Beam well without giving us your actual address can you tell us where in country you are located down to the suburb.

bramwell

161 posts

Master Geek

#1693019 20-Dec-2016 21:58

Sure, we're in Kaipara Flats , rural Warkworth

johny99

495 posts

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#1693020 20-Dec-2016 22:02

My guess is you are on a Conklin

bramwell

161 posts

Master Geek

#1693030 20-Dec-2016 22:47

Just an update so far

I turned off my laptop and the phones worked fine ... however they work fine again now that I have turned my laptop back on, so I'm not sure that is a fair test. I'll try again tomorrow morning with switching everything off and testing again.

On my laptop I do have 'U-Torrent' but I keep it closed unless using it, which is very infrequent.

To mdf: Yes I've rebooted the router. It's a Vodafone router with no alarms or cameras attached.

To Nedkelly: I'm not sure how to check if there's traffic through the router, and will follow your advice re turning everything off tomorrow. Thanks for your help :-)

To hio77: How do I disable the Wireless on the router? Sorry - I'm blonde! and not techy enough :-D

RunningMan: Task Manager tells me there's nothing such as a torrent or cloud running on my laptop. Thanks for your help :-)

Linux: Yes we're rural, but I know of 2 other Sure Signal users nearby who don't have problems. I'll give the laptops a going over tomorrow with Malwarebytes. Thanks for replying :-)

Tripp: Thanks for your advice - we've started testing tonight and after just turning my laptop off and on again we can make phone calls without any problems. However I'm not sure that's a fair test so will follow your advice and turn everything off for sequential testing tomorrow at a busier time of day. Thanks again.

CoffeeBaron: I don't remember how to do the speedtest results or modem stats :-( Perhaps you can remind me? I do know that the speedtest I did under Vodafone's instruction was fine.

Johnny99: The first I've heard of 'Conklin' is from replies here. Do you think that might be possible, given that there are at least 2 Sure Signal users nearby who have no problems?

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

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