I didn't receive the promised call-back, but was lucky this evening to reach a great CS rep who spent a good 30 minutes following-up and then called me back. She confirmed they had initiated the process to supply a signal box due to my bad signal, and even read out the internal process documentation of what has to be done to place such an order, confirming each step had been completed for me. We are now waiting on another department to execute the allocation of the box to my account, and I believe she will call back as promised in the next couple of days with a progress update. Fingers crossed!
Jolly good. If only I could use mine. I'm just looking at it in its box at the moment lol.
I'll be on to EE business first thing to get it activated.
Then, assuming my ADSL comes back up to speed, a 300 year old farmhouse in the sticks in Devon will, for the first time in the history of mobile telecoms, have 3G indoor coverage.
my broadband is 2.10 down and 0.39 up and the signal box works fine
What's the coverage like in your house? What's the range like?
My house has some pretty thick walls (like 2 feet thick).
They're basically made of stone and earth, not good for cellular signals. Femto in the hall, 18 inch thick wall to the kitchen, massive 24 inch chimney breast/wall into the sitting room. Wifi is fine and I see the Nokia puts out a maximum of 20mW, slightly less than wifi. I guess it'll be fine.
It'll certainly be putting out its full power in my house. There's no macro signal at all so the box won't need to reduce its power output.
What's the coverage like in your house? What's the range like?
My house has some pretty thick walls (like 2 feet thick).
They're basically made of stone and earth, not good for cellular signals. Femto in the hall, 18 inch thick wall to the kitchen, massive 24 inch chimney breast/wall into the sitting room. Wifi is fine and I see the Nokia puts out a maximum of 20mW, slightly less than wifi. I guess it'll be fine.
It'll certainly be putting out its full power in my house. There's no macro signal at all so the box won't need to reduce its power output.
upstairs it keeps me on the normal network, down stairs it flicks on to the femto, it beeps just as it starts to ring when connected to the box. Ive not actually tried a call yet where i go from the network to the femto to see what the switching is like. My box is currently upstairs in a room with 1-2 bars (as this is where the router is) , might move it over the next few days to see where is best for it, it might be better down stairs
upstairs it keeps me on the normal network, down stairs it flicks on to the femto, it beeps just as it starts to ring when connected to the box. Ive not actually tried a call yet where i go from the network to the femto to see what the switching is like. My box is currently upstairs in a room with 1-2 bars (as this is where the router is) , might move it over the next few days to see where is best for it, it might be better down stairs
So your Femto will be reducing its power output quite a bit I would imagine. Assuming the 1-2 bars is 3G?
I have tried it in two places. The first is my office with a moderate macro signal. The iphone shows a -66 signal 3 feet away from the femto. I took it home where downstairs I have a moderate to good macro signal. Three feet way it had a -74 signal so it is reducing power. Upstairs at the front of my house its switches to the ouside network but at the back its on the femto.
Next stop my mums house where there is a very low macro signal. This is where it is going to live so I am interested at the power it puts put here.
FYI, when I moved the femto from the office to my house it had not configured after 90 minutes so decided to press the reset button. It then registed in a few minutes. Just bear this in mind if you are moving it.
So your Femto will be reducing its power output quite a bit I would imagine. Assuming the 1-2 bars is 3G?
yes 3G upstairs, but it sometimes drops to no signal (cell breathing?) and calls drop frequently, down stairs its a full signal from the femto due to no 2G.
let us know how its working in your house when its registered
FYI, when I moved the femto from the office to my house it had not configured after 90 minutes so decided to press the reset button. It then registed in a few minutes. Just bear this in mind if you are moving it.
I suspect this is because the box stores its private IP in its memory so its always on the same one on the local LAN.
Resetting it causes it to get a new IP via DHCP.
EDIT: Or because its detected a new LAN it knows its in a different location so has to be re initialised to detect the macro network again.... Possibly.
Just called up. The nice lady I spoke to hadn't done one before and struggled a bit. She got there in the end though.
Waiting for the light to stop flashing now
I got through in 1 second. The extra .25 you had to wait must have seemed like a lifetime Haha!
OMG OMG!!! STOP THE CLOCK!
Th..... the.... li.....light........it's green...
Ok, keep calm... 4 years I've been waiting for this.
Good god!! My iPhone is showing 5 bars.... like, er Wow!
Think I may be hyperventilating... call an ambulance someone Hahahaha
While I like a drink in the evening I never touch the stuff in the day. But it's Friday and I have a full signal and I think I deserve a very small Whisky. I think if I don't have it I may die
We have arrived. I can now actually use my iphone at home.
Some screen shots.... https://www.dropbox.com/s/1p539q0w1oi4gvs/Photo%2014-12-2012%2011%2030%2053.png
OMG OMG!!! STOP THE CLOCK!
Th..... the.... li.....light........it's green...
Ok, keep calm... 4 years I've been waiting for this.
Good god!! My iPhone is showing 5 bars.... like, er Wow!
Think I may be hyperventilating... call an ambulance someone Hahahaha
While I like a drink in the evening I never touch the stuff in the day. But it's Friday and I have a full signal and I think I deserve a very small Whisky. I think if I don't have it I may die
We have arrived. I can now actually use my iphone at home.
Some screen shots.... https://www.dropbox.com/s/1p539q0w1oi4gvs/Photo%2014-12-2012%2011%2030%2053.png
So are you gettin good signal thru out the house with the thick walls?
Oh that's right, don't be worried about my mental state then Hahaha
Well here's the thing. Due to my current life predicament I'm not actually at home. Currently staying with a mate 12 miles away. Crap signal here too though. 2 bar 3G against a window. 1 bar intermittent in the room.
Only a small bungalow but yes 5 bars everywhere. Sometimes drops to 4 as I guess the presence of a macro signal has reduced it's output somewhat.
Going to go outside when it stops raining and see how for it goes.
Will be testing it at home soon though so I'll keep you posted.
Right, range is pretty damn good. Don't think I'll have any issues at home. You can obviously tell when you’re on the Femto because of the beep. In a straight line I walked 35 metres away outside and still had clear call quality. It wouldn't go further though.
Bear in mind indoors the signal from the box was going diagonally though a 4" block wall then straight though another 4" wall then through the double 4" cavity wall.
Pretty damn impressive methinks!
I'm beside myself
EDIT: I'm fairly sure it's limiting it's power here though so at home it should be even better!
Where it will eventually be located there's no signal at all. Not even from 900Mhz Vodafone who transmit from the same mast at the same height! Only 2G of course
Unlike the Vodafone box, you do not need to register mobile numbers. They just work. There is no admin access that I can see.
Really ? So what's to stop a neighbour, or someone stood outside your house, using it, and eating up your ADSL data allowance and/or downloading p0rn ?
Really ? So what's to stop a neighbour, or someone stood outside your house, using it, and eating up your ADSL data allowance and/or downloading p0rn ?
At the moment nothing at all. When I ordered mine though the guy said they would initially be unlocked but in about 2 to 3 weeks EE will send out a SIM update to all Signal boxes which will lock them. You will then be able to add up to 32 mobile numbers to the box.
How this is going to work though I don't know. I have tried getting into the box but it's blocked. I ran an IP scanner and found mine was on 192.168.1.5 but I couldn't get in on that IP.
One of two things will happen I reckon.
Either the SIM update will enable the Signal box's web interface and you'll enter them directly, or there will be an EE website control panel where you enter the numbers and EE send them to the box.
Anyone got any thoughts on this?
All I know is, at the moment the neigbours will suddenly find they have a bloody good signal
The femtos should not be open mostly for the reason that if neighbours use it your broadband will be severely comprimised in speed. They will be using a lot of your upload bandwidth which then affects the download in a big way. If you have fibre at 10 meg upload then it doesnt matter. They must have sent them out open because they dont have the system up and running yet to add or remove numbers.
The femtos should not be open mostly for the reason that if neighbours use it your broadband will be severely comprimised in speed. They will be using a lot of your upload bandwidth which then affects the download in a big way. If you have fibre at 10 meg upload then it doesnt matter. They must have sent them out open because they dont have the system up and running yet to add or remove numbers.
My mate just popped home, his iPhone rang in the Kitchen (where they won't normally), he picked it up, looked at the screen and said "WTF!!!!" Hahahahaha
Yeah, full marks to EE for getting them out quickly even if they haven't sorted the back end yet!
Actually there are 3 neighbours here that are in range. If they are on any EE branded network they are going to think a new mast has been installed.
They are going to be really pissed when my box is locked.
If EE were really savvy, when that customer rang up and complained that they had really good signal for a week, they should ask them if the phone beeped when they made a call.
If so they could sell them a Femto there and then.
Really ? So what's to stop a neighbour, or someone stood outside your house, using it, and eating up your ADSL data allowance and/or downloading p0rn ?
Well the porn or any other dodgy behaviour would not be linked to your broadband account but the neighbours mobile account and IP address.
Outside coverage on this should be pretty poor, so unless the neighbour right next to you hasn't got wifi at all then in the average situation the box should be running on a low output and no one using data, maybe Devon's may get a little more range as it shall be maxed out seeing there is no signal at all.
How many people do not use data via wifi at home?
What's with the phone beeping? Is it in the ear speaker??
Also could you try the Preston or London (Namesco) server to test it out, see if that solves the upload issue.
Yes the beep is in the earpiece just before the call connects. It's a two tone (beep) sound, low followed by high. Must be the Femto doing this. It's good though, makes testing easy.
Ok, both Preston and London (all of them) have same download. Upload does now complete but is jittery and resulted in .27 for Preston and .33 for London.
You know something I don't, don't you. Do tell.
Uploading normal data is fine though. Very fast. I only have 448 here (ADSL 1) but I would say it's uploading at full speed.
Small correction, it's a tri-tone, Low-High-Low.
Slight annoyance is that if you have to reboot your router, the Femto takes another 20 minutes to start working again.
I had a rogue WiFi card that froze the router. Now I'm off line again. Mustn't grumble though:)
Comments
Jolly good. If only I could use mine. I'm just looking at it in its box at the moment lol.
I'll be on to EE business first thing to get it activated.
Then, assuming my ADSL comes back up to speed, a 300 year old farmhouse in the sticks in Devon will, for the first time in the history of mobile telecoms, have 3G indoor coverage.
What's the coverage like in your house? What's the range like?
My house has some pretty thick walls (like 2 feet thick).
They're basically made of stone and earth, not good for cellular signals. Femto in the hall, 18 inch thick wall to the kitchen, massive 24 inch chimney breast/wall into the sitting room. Wifi is fine and I see the Nokia puts out a maximum of 20mW, slightly less than wifi. I guess it'll be fine.
It'll certainly be putting out its full power in my house. There's no macro signal at all so the box won't need to reduce its power output.
upstairs it keeps me on the normal network, down stairs it flicks on to the femto, it beeps just as it starts to ring when connected to the box. Ive not actually tried a call yet where i go from the network to the femto to see what the switching is like. My box is currently upstairs in a room with 1-2 bars (as this is where the router is) , might move it over the next few days to see where is best for it, it might be better down stairs
So your Femto will be reducing its power output quite a bit I would imagine. Assuming the 1-2 bars is 3G?
Next stop my mums house where there is a very low macro signal. This is where it is going to live so I am interested at the power it puts put here.
FYI, when I moved the femto from the office to my house it had not configured after 90 minutes so decided to press the reset button. It then registed in a few minutes. Just bear this in mind if you are moving it.
yes 3G upstairs, but it sometimes drops to no signal (cell breathing?) and calls drop frequently, down stairs its a full signal from the femto due to no 2G.
let us know how its working in your house when its registered
I suspect this is because the box stores its private IP in its memory so its always on the same one on the local LAN.
Resetting it causes it to get a new IP via DHCP.
EDIT: Or because its detected a new LAN it knows its in a different location so has to be re initialised to detect the macro network again.... Possibly.
Just called up. The nice lady I spoke to hadn't done one before and struggled a bit. She got there in the end though.
Waiting for the light to stop flashing now
I got through in 1 second. The extra .25 you had to wait must have seemed like a lifetime Haha!
COME ON GODDAMNIT!
I am going to pass out, I just know it
lol
STOP THE CLOCK!
Th..... the.... li.....light........it's green...
Ok, keep calm... 4 years I've been waiting for this.
Good god!! My iPhone is showing 5 bars.... like, er Wow!
Think I may be hyperventilating... call an ambulance someone Hahahaha
While I like a drink in the evening I never touch the stuff in the day. But it's Friday and I have a full signal and I think I deserve a very small Whisky. I think if I don't have it I may die
We have arrived. I can now actually use my iphone at home.
Some screen shots....
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1p539q0w1oi4gvs/Photo%2014-12-2012%2011%2030%2053.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zk21bqb8qv9a88j/Photo%2014-12-2012%2011%2053%2028.png
Interestingly the speedtest stalls on the upload test but Dropbox uploaded these pics fine from my iPhone over the Femto!
So are you gettin good signal thru out the house with the thick walls?
Oh that's right, don't be worried about my mental state then Hahaha
Well here's the thing. Due to my current life predicament I'm not actually at home. Currently staying with a mate 12 miles away. Crap signal here too though. 2 bar 3G against a window. 1 bar intermittent in the room.
Only a small bungalow but yes 5 bars everywhere. Sometimes drops to 4 as I guess the presence of a macro signal has reduced it's output somewhat.
Going to go outside when it stops raining and see how for it goes.
Will be testing it at home soon though so I'll keep you posted.
Bear in mind indoors the signal from the box was going diagonally though a 4" block wall then straight though another 4" wall then through the double 4" cavity wall.
Pretty damn impressive methinks!
I'm beside myself
EDIT: I'm fairly sure it's limiting it's power here though so at home it should be even better!
Where it will eventually be located there's no signal at all. Not even from 900Mhz Vodafone who transmit from the same mast at the same height! Only 2G of course
Really ? So what's to stop a neighbour, or someone stood outside your house, using it, and eating up your ADSL data allowance and/or downloading p0rn ?
At the moment nothing at all. When I ordered mine though the guy said they would initially be unlocked but in about 2 to 3 weeks EE will send out a SIM update to all Signal boxes which will lock them. You will then be able to add up to 32 mobile numbers to the box.
How this is going to work though I don't know. I have tried getting into the box but it's blocked. I ran an IP scanner and found mine was on 192.168.1.5 but I couldn't get in on that IP.
One of two things will happen I reckon.
Either the SIM update will enable the Signal box's web interface and you'll enter them directly, or there will be an EE website control panel where you enter the numbers and EE send them to the box.
Anyone got any thoughts on this?
All I know is, at the moment the neigbours will suddenly find they have a bloody good signal
My mate just popped home, his iPhone rang in the Kitchen (where they won't normally), he picked it up, looked at the screen and said "WTF!!!!" Hahahahaha
Yeah, full marks to EE for getting them out quickly even if they haven't sorted the back end yet!
They are going to be really pissed when my box is locked.
If EE were really savvy, when that customer rang up and complained that they had really good signal for a week, they should ask them if the phone beeped when they made a call.
If so they could sell them a Femto there and then.
Well the porn or any other dodgy behaviour would not be linked to your broadband account but the neighbours mobile account and IP address.
Outside coverage on this should be pretty poor, so unless the neighbour right next to you hasn't got wifi at all then in the average situation the box should be running on a low output and no one using data, maybe Devon's may get a little more range as it shall be maxed out seeing there is no signal at all.
How many people do not use data via wifi at home?
What's with the phone beeping? Is it in the ear speaker??
I feel this will be the case..
Also could you try the Preston or London (Namesco) server to test it out, see if that solves the upload issue.
Yes the beep is in the earpiece just before the call connects. It's a two tone (beep) sound, low followed by high. Must be the Femto doing this. It's good though, makes testing easy.
Ok, both Preston and London (all of them) have same download. Upload does now complete but is jittery and resulted in .27 for Preston and .33 for London.
You know something I don't, don't you. Do tell.
Uploading normal data is fine though. Very fast. I only have 448 here (ADSL 1) but I would say it's uploading at full speed.
This is what I can't get over though https://www.dropbox.com/s/3qcxl3cjbtelfg7/3G.png
Oh god, I am going to pass out in a minute.....
Slight annoyance is that if you have to reboot your router, the Femto takes another 20 minutes to start working again.
I had a rogue WiFi card that froze the router. Now I'm off line again. Mustn't grumble though:)