Signal Box on EE

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  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    Thank you Jon. I knew I was right :)
    All of EE's 21 other MVNOs work as well of course!
    At the end of the day it broadcasts EE licensed spectrum and connects/registers handsets to the HMS in the normal way. If a SIM is allowed on the network, it'll register.

    HMS - Home nodeB Management System
    I'm not really that clever, I looked it up :)
  • jon41jon41 Posts: 1,427
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    Pleasure :)

    Devon, if you call 1471 when connected to the femto which voice do you get?
    My femto appears as a Orange cell, as I get Ruth & it assumes I'm on the home network.

    What is interesting though is if "closed mode" is available if you request it. You can see the sense if everyone else around you is using your femto & you can't, but then that should send a clear message to the network team that coverage in that area isn't good enough.

    And also how are they allowing you to add / remove numbers - do you have to call them or visit a webpage?

    Thanks
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    jon41 wrote: »
    Pleasure :)

    Devon, if you call 1471 when connected to the femto which voice do you get?
    My femto appears as a Orange cell, as I get Ruth & it assumes I'm on the home network.

    What is interesting though is if "closed mode" is available if you request it. You can see the sense if everyone else around you is using your femto & you can't, but then that should send a clear message to the network team that coverage in that area isn't good enough.

    And also how are they allowing you to add / remove numbers - do you have to call them or visit a webpage?

    Thanks

    I assume you get the same voice as for the the macro network. It's not appearing as an Orange cell I wouldn't have thought, it's just that you have an Orange SIM (you are Orange, right?)
    I get Annie, but then I'm on EE Business.

    I didn't even know you could have them locked down until just now. I don't think EE have a Femto admin web page so I guess you have to ask them to add the numbers for you.
    Hopefully someone else knows. kev perhaps?
  • robbies_galrobbies_gal Posts: 32,226
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    thanks devon i will call them and try again to get somewhere
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    Funny thing is they say when you register as part of the script only use Ora, TMUK or EE on this box.. I asked if Virgin would work and he said it was not allowed lol.
  • jcwackyjcwacky Posts: 37
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    Right, slight issue.
    If I put my iPhone into airplane mode while connected to the Signalbox, callers just get 3 beeps as if my phone is barred or doesn't exist. Just tested it again now.
    Can someone else try this just to see if it's me or everyone?
    Not a major problem as I have now started using "do not disturb" instead.

    Did you speak to EE about this? Just tested mine again, and it now appears to be diverting to voicemail as normal.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    EDIT: Damn it jc, you got in before me.. I hate it whan that happens Hahahaha
    Yeah, classic case of uninformed CS again.
    It stands to reason that any allowed handset would work. I'm sure EE could if they wanted to, block all SIMs except EE, TM & Orange in the HMS but clearly they don't. As Jon has already said he can roam on it with an Australian SIM.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    jcwacky wrote: »
    Did you speak to EE about this? Just tested mine again, and it now appears to be diverting to voicemail as normal.

    No i didn't have time the other day and I just put my iphone to "Do not disturb" instead now. I will try it again today though.
  • jon41jon41 Posts: 1,427
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    I assume you get the same voice as for the the macro network. It's not appearing as an Orange cell I wouldn't have thought, it's just that you have an Orange SIM (you are Orange, right?)
    I get Annie, but then I'm on EE Business.

    I didn't even know you could have them locked down until just now. I don't think EE have a Femto admin web page so I guess you have to ask them to add the numbers for you.
    Hopefully someone else knows. kev perhaps?

    Yes Orange SIM, when the phone roams to T-mobile I don't get Ruth, or the info about last caller info no longer in use.

    Also the Australian SIM is a Blackberry SIM, and the handset routing info states it's connected to Orange (SIM can roam onto any of the UK networks apart from three).

    Here's a T-mobile branded femto for sale on ebay
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TMOBILE-FEMTOCELL-3G-ACCESS-POINT-/281059320826?pt=UK_Computing_Wireless_Access_Points&hash=item417070e3fa
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    jon41 wrote: »
    You can see the sense if everyone else around you is using your femto & you can't, but then that should send a clear message to the network team that coverage in that area isn't good enough.

    Surely call drop outs and switch downs to 2G, lots of phones losing signal and reauth back up to the network a little later would show them anyways... lol
  • kevkev Posts: 21,071
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    Someone on here somewhere said their virgin phone worked. And why wouldn't it to be honest.
    I didn't think you could lock them down. How do you do it?

    Our account manager did it for us - noticed that after that was done the light stopped it's near constant slow pulsing so it was obviously being used a fair bit when open :eek: The interesting thing is that in the street you can see three T-Mobile/Orange masts and get a full 4 bars of HSDPA signal, but the second you walk into the buildings the signal dies :( So it's not really an indicator of poor coverage area just well built buildings!
    DevonBloke wrote: »
    I assume you get the same voice as for the the macro network. It's not appearing as an Orange cell I wouldn't have thought, it's just that you have an Orange SIM (you are Orange, right?)
    I get Annie, but then I'm on EE Business.

    Ours is identifying as an Orange mast even though the phones have T-Mobile SIMs in them and the box came from T-Mobile

    http://kjs1982.me.uk/3rdparty/digitalspy/signalbox shows the before and after signal strengths and network identification. (Note that the data didn't kick in until I turned portable hotspot on for the first time since a system update and changed the APN back to general.t-mobile.uk )
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    My first signal box is still not working. It's registered to my EE iPhone.
    The second one at my mate's place (registered to his Orange iPhone) is still ok.
    My Sister-in-law's on EE is ok too.
    EE still telling me engineers are working on it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 22
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    Virgin definitely works with my signal box. I had very poor signal now and had to stand in my garden to make a call before I got mine. Now 5 bars all over the house.. I am well pleased with mine. Sometimes though when I come in to my house it takes a while to hook onto my signal box. It holds onto the weak outside signal but when it does hook up there's no problem.
  • robbies_galrobbies_gal Posts: 32,226
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    can i ask if u got yours through orange or ee kpfarmer
  • wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    when connected to our femto at home its Orange, we are all on tmob, and there isnt even and Orange macro in the area. Mine seems to be off and on lately, I really need some home plugs to get it set up down stairs can anyone (Devon :D) please reccomend me some decent ones that will work good :)
  • wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    kev wrote: »
    Not so sure about the Virgin bit but when the box is open it works with Orange and T-Mobile handsets, when you lock it down T-Mobile can only add T-Mobile handsets to it (being in the city centre we have had to lock it down otherwise the neighbours will be using it negating our benefits!)

    how do you lock it? i live quite rural so its just us, but would be useful if it can be locked to a few users
  • kevkev Posts: 21,071
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    how do you lock it? i live quite rural so its just us, but would be useful if it can be locked to a few users

    I emailed a list of numbers to our account manager (it's on a business account at work).

    As for the homeplugs - I'm using the Solwise 200mbps ones at home and they work a treat for extending WiFi - have to reboot them about once every eight weeks when they loose synch though - but generally they connect at 200mbps and offer a real world 95mbps of performance, even though they are in extension cords :cool: (The house was completely rewired in 2001 apparently though so that may be helping somewhat)
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    how do you lock it? i live quite rural so its just us, but would be useful if it can be locked to a few users

    I think the unlocked policy is a good one. It's pretty cool when friends or family come in and thier phones just work. The look on thier faces is priceless!
    I'm glad they took the decision to make them unlocked by default. For you and me it's not an issue really. Anyway, one or two outside people using it I don't find a problem either (not that the signal will go outside in my house). the data use is so minimal, it's not an issue normally. I'm on Plusnet's unlimited ADSL plan so not a problem anyway.
    I could see an issue where you have a lot of neigbours, like in a flat or something where you might end up finding you don't have a spare line out of the eight available. But how likely is that?
    EDIT: kev will tell us that happend all the time now. Hahaha
  • kevkev Posts: 21,071
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    EDIT: kev will tell us that happend all the time now. Hahaha

    I already have! But what do you expect when the image I posted earlier (i.e. a signal strength of 3%) is the best one we have inside the buildings? Seams to hold onto the signal in the large pub across the road - no need to use their pathetic WiFi now (got a bit of a surprise on Friday when my phone rang in there - normally it sits on Emergency Calls only) - then again when you can see the Signal Box from the bar though the windows what do you expect? :D

    When testing it out I walked out into the street and got three or four doors down before the signal dropped to two bars and then fell onto the proper T-Mobile network.

    Was thinking about getting one for home, but I've now got three bars of Orange throughout my house - wondering if a neighbour has already got one!
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    Well, my first signal box is still flashing green. Called up and they say there's still an issue.
    Must be certain IMEIs as my other one is working fine.
  • kevkev Posts: 21,071
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    DevonBloke wrote: »
    Well, my first signal box is still flashing green. Called up and they say there's still an issue.
    Must be certain IMEIs as my other one is working fine.

    Our first one didn't work - flashed for days and days. They sent a second out which didn't work, they then unlinked it from the account, re-linked it to the account and ten minutes later it kicked in. Seams the gremlins are still in the system somewhere along the line.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    Hmmm, I'll get them to try de/re-registering it then. Thanks.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    kev wrote: »
    I already have! But what do you expect when the image I posted earlier (i.e. a signal strength of 3%) is the best one we have inside the buildings? Seams to hold onto the signal in the large pub across the road - no need to use their pathetic WiFi now (got a bit of a surprise on Friday when my phone rang in there - normally it sits on Emergency Calls only) - then again when you can see the Signal Box from the bar though the windows what do you expect? :D

    When testing it out I walked out into the street and got three or four doors down before the signal dropped to two bars and then fell onto the proper T-Mobile network.

    Was thinking about getting one for home, but I've now got three bars of Orange throughout my house - wondering if a neighbour has already got one!

    Surely you would know if you were on your neighbour's one as you get that bleep before a call connects.
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    I wonder if there have been a few people asking EE CS why the phone beeps when they make a call :)
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    I wonder if there are a few people who can't quite seem to fathom how they suddenly have a signal at home but not outside. It could cause a lot of people to stay rather than change networks.
    EE should just explain that they now have a new system that projects the signal directly into everyone's home. It uses a combination of mirrors, nuclear fusion, double-sided tape and witchcraft.
    :)
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