Just to add been trying most the day to get hold of one of these, seems anyone who has got one already has been very lucky - they appear to have been briefed that you can't have one unless you have that technical note on the account, which is a shame.
Just to add been trying most the day to get hold of one of these, seems anyone who has got one already has been very lucky - they appear to have been briefed that you can't have one unless you have that technical note on the account, which is a shame.
I may have one spare that I can send you, just possibly, I will need to wait till friday though to see.
Just to add been trying most the day to get hold of one of these, seems anyone who has got one already has been very lucky - they appear to have been briefed that you can't have one unless you have that technical note on the account, which is a shame.
Does this just apply to Orange, or are EE restricting their signal box sales too?
A phew! I've held off as I've been away over Christmas, I'll be contacting EE Business tomorrow to get a SIM-only contract & a Signal Box. Shall let you know how it goes.
I've been trying since they first came out but got nowhere, I'm in the process of moving back from EE to Orange so EE won't let me change the account type.
I've been trying since they first came out but got nowhere, I'm in the process of moving back from EE to Orange so EE won't let me change the account type.
Thanks, hopefully you get good news!
WARNING WARNING. Do not change back to Orange. Honestly EE is a god send compared to O and T-m.
Phone up 150, and ask to speak to the Device Escalations and ask to speak to Glen Barnett. Insist to the thick 1st line teams that you must speak to Device Escalations, tell the 1st line that it's outside their remit, they'll get pissed off but thats all there for to take the slack.
The material number is 400006562 and it's the Signal Box G3. Its very important to know the difference. G3 is Residential and G5 is business.
I am not using my signal box because it doesn't help me, the interleaving on my line has kicked in substantially since connecting it up and has ****ed the box right up.
And I can now confirm I have two femtocells spare. I will still need to wait till Friday when a network engineer is coming to install a different piece of kit in my home. My home broadband isn't now up to scratch.
WARNING WARNING. Do not change back to Orange. Honestly EE is a god send compared to O and T-m.
Phone up 150, and ask to speak to the Device Escalations and ask to speak to Glen Barnett. Insist to the thick 1st line teams that you must speak to Device Escalations, tell the 1st line that it's outside their remit, they'll get pissed off but thats all there for to take the slack.
The material number is 400006562 and it's the Signal Box G3. Its very important to know the difference. G3 is Residential and G5 is business.
I am not using my signal box because it doesn't help me, the interleaving on my line has kicked in substantially since connecting it up and has ****ed the box right up.
And I can now confirm I have two femtocells spare. I will still need to wait till Friday when a network engineer is coming to install a different piece of kit in my home. My home broadband isn't now up to scratch.
Unfortunately I'm stuck on a contract with Orange and getting nowhere... Before Christmas they seemed to think it was possible and a very helpful lady even placed an order, but now all I get from everyone I speak to is that 'the device is not yet available on Orange'. They even have it on their website as 'available for some customers' but CS deny this is true!
I would offer to buy one of your femtos but I guess once they enable 'configurable' mode and let you select which phones are accepted, this will be tied to your account...
Voda seem the only option to get a femto easily right now In a twist of fate its the only network that I can get a signal in out house so don't need one.
We are PAYG in out house. Trying to get a femto out of Three was like getting blood out a stone. Seems Orange./EE is going the same way. Shame as the Mrs is on Orange. Would happily pay for one too (wouldn't expect a free one on PAYG).
Its not like we are doing them a favour, its their network that doesn't provide adequet signal after all!
ill try tmob business tomorrow and feedback wether they can still be purchased, tmob business is where i got mine from (im just non business customer), if they do I dont know if I can purchase another one and then whoever on here who cant get one can give me the ££ via paypal and call up and register it just a thought to try and help out
got a feeling that the demand is high so at the moment they are restricting them
Been trying Orange again today, spoke to several people who said they've been told they can't sell them unless the network team have made a notepad item saying they have switched a mast off due to the intergration, and that it's impacted on the users signal.
When I got mine (10/12/12) the story was different with tmob; case being, yes you can have one for £89 plus the VAT, and if a mast had been switched off they would give you a discount' (dont know what the discount is/was)
out of interest have you tried an EE shop? Was told by a member of staff mid Dec that they would have them in stock ' after christmas'
Just called EE Business, and was told that they've stopped issuing Signal Boxes, and they are planning to "relaunch" them in the future, but there is no news as to when that may be.
Damn! I should have just gone ahead with my order on the 10th Dec!
Just called back and spoke to someone else, who said it was due to a "technical issue" with the batch of units they were provided with. Said they hope to have them available ASAP, and recommended I call back in a week.
Hi, I just came accross this thread.
My reception at home is terrible. 90% of the house has zero signal and where I can get it, its one bar with frequent drop outs. It seems the mast my phone picks is 17miles away!
I can't change provider as its a work sim so something like this would be fantastic.
I'll be keeping a close on on this thread to see how people get on and how I can get my hands on one of these box's.
Unfortunately I'm stuck on a contract with Orange and getting nowhere... Before Christmas they seemed to think it was possible and a very helpful lady even placed an order, but now all I get from everyone I speak to is that 'the device is not yet available on Orange'. They even have it on their website as 'available for some customers' but CS deny this is true!
I would offer to buy one of your femtos but I guess once they enable 'configurable' mode and let you select which phones are accepted, this will be tied to your account...
I do not need money for them as I received them free. I can try sending you one, and No, they can easily be re-registered I can get one of my contacts to do this easily enough. However Im wanting to hold onto this one for now, but I will probably not need it in the so distant future.
Hi, I just came accross this thread.
My reception at home is terrible. 90% of the house has zero signal and where I can get it, its one bar with frequent drop outs. It seems the mast my phone picks is 17miles away!
I can't change provider as its a work sim so something like this would be fantastic.
I'll be keeping a close on on this thread to see how people get on and how I can get my hands on one of these box's.
It's an Android app called 'Network Signal Info'
I can't vouch for its accuracy as I have nothing to compare it with, but its seems to work and get quite good reviews.
I spoke with Orange yesterday, unfortunately I didn't get very far at all, since its a company account they can only deal with my company and not me, and trying to make that happen inside my company is never going to happen. I just hope they release them for general sale at some point.
Hi guys and especially devonbloke (i live in north devon). been interesting to read of your experiences. i've basically for the last few months, have been on to the CEO office in EE. Have had network engineers out to our property site, and have all had the masts reset and even some equipment been replaced.
After having this sorted, and was able to get perfect coverage outside, for all the troubles, the signal inside was still terrible. so they arranged for us to have a femtocell.
Now basically to cut a long story short, they ordered the box, Monday 24th. And it arrived at 7:15 this morning -_- nice to wake up to it!
I live on a very long line 9.5km to be exact, and get about a 2meg sync speed. And usually as BRAS of 1.75mb due to how BT WHolesale systems work.
DSL Details
Modem Type: Built in modem - ADSL
DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Current DSL Connection:
Down Up
Rate: 1920 kbs 736 kbs
Max Rate: 1832 kbs 736 kbs
Noise Margin: 8.0 dB 6.0 dB
Attenuation: 61.4 dB 31.5 dB
Output Power: 16.6 dBm 11.9 dBm
Protocol: G.DMT Annex A
Channel: Interleaved
DSLAM Vendor Information Country: {3840} Vendor: {ALCB} Specific: {0 }
ATM PVC: 0/38
Rate Cap: 1832 kbs
Attenuation @ 300kHz: 61.4 dB
Uncanceled Echo: -22.7 dB Ok
VCXO Frequency Offset: -52.0 ppm Ok
Final Receive Gain: 29.9 dB Ok
Excessive Impulse Noise: 0 Ok
My current set up is. BT Business Hub Wireless G >>>> Repeater Wireless G
EE Signal Box, and its sitting up on one of our beams so it's about as central in the house as you can get it.
I always keep my contacts e-mail address for handy issues. I've never known a company to go out of it's way like EE has for me, to show me good customer service! And it proves you don't need a terribly fast connection to have a signal box that works. Just you basically need. Good bitloading, and the right MTU. I also think the wireless being G helps a lot, we seem to have so much interference in our house.
Sorry, been nearly dying with flu
Good to hear that it sorted your signal issues. EE are very good especially on the business side. They seem to fall over themselves to help.
9.5Km? Crikey, that is a long line. Must be a good one with few joins. Mine's 7.2 and I get roughly the same speed. I know that 5.2Km of my line is continuous with no joins.
It is interesting to see Orange now have the signal box on their site and with a lot more info and FAQs too. It will obviously be mainstream in a minute so everyone who wants one will get one soon. I do think it was the batch of dodgy ones that caused the problem and with Christmas and everything it's going to take a while to get back on track I would have thought.
I just got my next invoice from EE and I too have not been charged for my signal box. Lets hope it stays that way
Many smartphones have built in UMA which runs off wifi and means you don't need a signal box, so check before buying!
Yeah but it limits your choice. Fine if you like Android or Blackberries but I would never move from iOS.
UMA was a good idea but as I told Orange a couple of years ago, it'll never catch on in a big way. I'm a computer tech and I've wasted countless hours trying to get UMA working reliably for customers over the years. Don't get me wrong, it's great when it does work but there are too many issues for most ordinary users to deal with.
It can have battery drain issues but mostly routers blocking the connection. I've lost count of the amount of times a router firmware update has either fixed it or nobbled it. The average user has no idea how to do a firmware update and port forwarding is beyond most too.
EE (Orange) championed it for ages, I think because early Femtos were a bit dodgy and there were no Macro interference issues with UMA. But look how many UMA handsets they currently have. Still very few. If manufacturers don't get behind it, it'll never happen. It needed a mass backing of handset makers and router manufacturers but never got it.
Femtos work with any (3G) handset. They configure automatically on any router (with very few issues) and the icing on the cake? They actually massively increase your battery life.
I have no macro signal indoors at all on any network. Just on standby my iPhone would lose about 30% battery in a day just because it was constantly searching for a signal.
Now I have my Signal Box (full 3G signal), it never loses more than 5%.
Even if I make calls all day the battery drain is way less than when using it outside.
It's a small Nokia miracle. I hope it helps them back into profit.
Question for you all. I've been trying without luck again to order an Signal Box, but due to it being a company account I have to go via our own account team and get them to request and purchase one. Getting anything out of them is like getting blood out of a stone.
I was thinking if a bought a PAYG SIM then I could call up as an individual customer and perhaps have more luck in buying a signal box.
Question is does anyone know if being a PAYG customer is enough or do you think they would only allow orders from regular contract customers?
Many smartphones have built in UMA which runs off wifi and means you don't need a signal box, so check before buying!
The Orange "signal boost" app can often be quite flaky in my experience, it will often disconnect and refuse to reconnect (my day job is in network engineering, I understand what UMA needs in terms of firewall reconfiguration and other network requirements - and other IPsec stuff works fine).
Plus it limits your phone choice (iPhones don't have it, unbranded Android handsets won't have it unless you reflash to Orange firmware) and also the ability to use custom or third party ROMs on your phone.
I think if I didn't already get a passable signal I'd want a femtocell regardless of whether my phone could do UMA or not.
Comments
I may have one spare that I can send you, just possibly, I will need to wait till friday though to see.
Does this just apply to Orange, or are EE restricting their signal box sales too?
I got the same answer from them, but was also told it's business customers only if you wish to buy one without the technical note.
Thanks, hopefully you get good news!
WARNING WARNING. Do not change back to Orange. Honestly EE is a god send compared to O and T-m.
Phone up 150, and ask to speak to the Device Escalations and ask to speak to Glen Barnett. Insist to the thick 1st line teams that you must speak to Device Escalations, tell the 1st line that it's outside their remit, they'll get pissed off but thats all there for to take the slack.
The material number is 400006562 and it's the Signal Box G3. Its very important to know the difference. G3 is Residential and G5 is business.
I am not using my signal box because it doesn't help me, the interleaving on my line has kicked in substantially since connecting it up and has ****ed the box right up.
And I can now confirm I have two femtocells spare. I will still need to wait till Friday when a network engineer is coming to install a different piece of kit in my home. My home broadband isn't now up to scratch.
I would offer to buy one of your femtos but I guess once they enable 'configurable' mode and let you select which phones are accepted, this will be tied to your account...
We are PAYG in out house. Trying to get a femto out of Three was like getting blood out a stone. Seems Orange./EE is going the same way. Shame as the Mrs is on Orange. Would happily pay for one too (wouldn't expect a free one on PAYG).
Its not like we are doing them a favour, its their network that doesn't provide adequet signal after all!
got a feeling that the demand is high so at the moment they are restricting them
When I got mine (10/12/12) the story was different with tmob; case being, yes you can have one for £89 plus the VAT, and if a mast had been switched off they would give you a discount' (dont know what the discount is/was)
out of interest have you tried an EE shop? Was told by a member of staff mid Dec that they would have them in stock ' after christmas'
Damn! I should have just gone ahead with my order on the 10th Dec!
My reception at home is terrible. 90% of the house has zero signal and where I can get it, its one bar with frequent drop outs. It seems the mast my phone picks is 17miles away!
I can't change provider as its a work sim so something like this would be fantastic.
I'll be keeping a close on on this thread to see how people get on and how I can get my hands on one of these box's.
Thanks
I do not need money for them as I received them free. I can try sending you one, and No, they can easily be re-registered I can get one of my contacts to do this easily enough. However Im wanting to hold onto this one for now, but I will probably not need it in the so distant future.
Hi Usual suspect can I ask what app your using?
It's an Android app called 'Network Signal Info'
I can't vouch for its accuracy as I have nothing to compare it with, but its seems to work and get quite good reviews.
I spoke with Orange yesterday, unfortunately I didn't get very far at all, since its a company account they can only deal with my company and not me, and trying to make that happen inside my company is never going to happen. I just hope they release them for general sale at some point.
Sorry, been nearly dying with flu
Good to hear that it sorted your signal issues. EE are very good especially on the business side. They seem to fall over themselves to help.
9.5Km? Crikey, that is a long line. Must be a good one with few joins. Mine's 7.2 and I get roughly the same speed. I know that 5.2Km of my line is continuous with no joins.
I just got my next invoice from EE and I too have not been charged for my signal box. Lets hope it stays that way
Yeah but it limits your choice. Fine if you like Android or Blackberries but I would never move from iOS.
UMA was a good idea but as I told Orange a couple of years ago, it'll never catch on in a big way. I'm a computer tech and I've wasted countless hours trying to get UMA working reliably for customers over the years. Don't get me wrong, it's great when it does work but there are too many issues for most ordinary users to deal with.
It can have battery drain issues but mostly routers blocking the connection. I've lost count of the amount of times a router firmware update has either fixed it or nobbled it. The average user has no idea how to do a firmware update and port forwarding is beyond most too.
EE (Orange) championed it for ages, I think because early Femtos were a bit dodgy and there were no Macro interference issues with UMA. But look how many UMA handsets they currently have. Still very few. If manufacturers don't get behind it, it'll never happen. It needed a mass backing of handset makers and router manufacturers but never got it.
Femtos work with any (3G) handset. They configure automatically on any router (with very few issues) and the icing on the cake? They actually massively increase your battery life.
I have no macro signal indoors at all on any network. Just on standby my iPhone would lose about 30% battery in a day just because it was constantly searching for a signal.
Now I have my Signal Box (full 3G signal), it never loses more than 5%.
Even if I make calls all day the battery drain is way less than when using it outside.
It's a small Nokia miracle. I hope it helps them back into profit.
I was thinking if a bought a PAYG SIM then I could call up as an individual customer and perhaps have more luck in buying a signal box.
Question is does anyone know if being a PAYG customer is enough or do you think they would only allow orders from regular contract customers?
The Orange "signal boost" app can often be quite flaky in my experience, it will often disconnect and refuse to reconnect (my day job is in network engineering, I understand what UMA needs in terms of firewall reconfiguration and other network requirements - and other IPsec stuff works fine).
Plus it limits your phone choice (iPhones don't have it, unbranded Android handsets won't have it unless you reflash to Orange firmware) and also the ability to use custom or third party ROMs on your phone.
I think if I didn't already get a passable signal I'd want a femtocell regardless of whether my phone could do UMA or not.
The guy also said that you can program in up to 5 numbers into the box, so shall be interesting to see if that ability is actually active yet.