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Old 26-06-2015, 11:45
lightspeed2398
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Apple I think used to say as well that the M8/7 motion co-processor on the iPhone at least "detected" if your phone had moved or not when you were out of coverage and didn't keep the radio at full power if your phone hasn't moved.
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Old 07-07-2015, 21:24
robbies_gal
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still having pprobs goes off daily now husband isnt happy-my wifi calling seems to be a bit random aswell some texts will go through others wont
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Old 11-10-2015, 09:17
Bryenr
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I have an ee signal box working directly off a port on my D-Link modem router. I use the other port on the router to connect a sonos and my desktop by cable. I recently bought a TP Link powerline kit and without disconnecting the ee signal box added it to my looped through connections on the other router port. The powerline works fine but my signal box stopped working. Specifically on rebooting it connected and worked for about 5 minutes and then dropped out to a flashing red light. Removing the powerline and re-instating the old connections it worked fine again.
What is happening? I know the signal box is "locked" to modem router and my ISP, but why should a powerline affect its connection?
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Old 11-10-2015, 10:17
simon69c
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May just be interference from the power line adapter. They are quite notoriously "noisy" and I know the three home signal can be sensitive to interference so I expect the same is true of the ee box. You could try just using a longer network cable to connect the signal box to the router and try to position it as far away from the power line adapter as possible.
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Old 17-10-2015, 12:17
rightonpard
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It could be possible that they are now locking the boxes to the MAC Address of your router.

I've seen no evidence to suggest this though - and I've previously had an EE Signal Box which I moved from being connected directly to my router to behind a LAN switch connected to powerline.

Personally, I would try connecting it via the powerline as you would like it, calling EE & explaining that you have changed your router (a white lie - but saves having to explain to a quite possibly non-techy person the actual scenario) and the device is not connecting, and you've read that they may need to "re-provision" it.
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Old 21-10-2015, 17:14
Bryenr
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Thanks. I tried moving the powerline plug further away with a long (3m) cable. That didn't help this time unfortunately.
It took about 5 attempts to get my signal box set up in the first place with EE, so as I'm changing ISP in November then I will wait out the re-provisioning till then. Hopefully that will sort it.
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Old 21-10-2015, 18:42
exterra
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ignore if you've already tried this but if you've got BT power line adapters I had the same issue - the only way to stop is was to boot things up in this order

1. Router / bt modem
2. powerline "main" adapter i.e. the one connected to the router
3. the "remote" power line adapter
4. the ee signal box

Also worth checking the ethernet cable from the signal box to the power line adapter is ok by swapping with a known good one e.g. the one from the router to sonos
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Old 05-11-2015, 00:08
Will_S2
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I've been struggling with signal boxes for a while so was delighted to find a thread with so many knowledgeable contributors.

I've been trying to get multiple signal boxes working at the same location - a large old building with thick stone walls. Signal outside is poor, signal inside is terrible and one signal box isn't sufficient to cover the whole building (most of the interior walls are stone/brick too).

One of the boxes is the older model (rectangular, w/ rounded corners lies flat on table) the others are the newer model (upright with curved sides and a pedestal) - do the models have names/codes?

Some boxes flash green indefinitely, some turn solid green after 10-30 mins. I think this suggests that they can all get past the router but struggle establish the VPN connection.

The router has a configurable firewall (currently with UPNP on and no port forwards) and IPSEC vpn passthrough.

The issue may be that the boxes are detecting the signals from the other boxes and disabling themselves deliberately.

It may be that IPSEC vpn passthrough only allows 1 local client to connect to a destination IP - I've read that whilst VPN passthrough can pass multiple VPN connections, they must be to different servers/IPs otherwise the router can't tell which local device the returning data is destined for.

It may be that port forwarding is required to facilitate setting up the VPN connection and port forwards can only go to one specific local IP not multiple boxes. I've read that port 500 is often used?

It may be that upnp isn't working properly to setup the port forwards (if required) - upnp has never worked very well in my experience.

I'm struggling to diagnose the issue since the boxes have no GUI or CLI and you have to wait 30 mins every time you make a change to see if the issue is fixed!

Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Old 05-11-2015, 00:33
DevonBloke
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I've been struggling with signal boxes for a while so was delighted to find a thread with so many knowledgeable contributors.

I've been trying to get multiple signal boxes working at the same location - a large old building with thick stone walls. Signal outside is poor, signal inside is terrible and one signal box isn't sufficient to cover the whole building (most of the interior walls are stone/brick too).

One of the boxes is the older model (rectangular, w/ rounded corners lies flat on table) the others are the newer model (upright with curved sides and a pedestal) - do the models have names/codes?

Some boxes flash green indefinitely, some turn solid green after 10-30 mins. I think this suggests that they can all get past the router but struggle establish the VPN connection.

The router has a configurable firewall (currently with UPNP on and no port forwards) and IPSEC vpn passthrough.

The issue may be that the boxes are detecting the signals from the other boxes and disabling themselves deliberately.

It may be that IPSEC vpn passthrough only allows 1 local client to connect to a destination IP - I've read that whilst VPN passthrough can pass multiple VPN connections, they must be to different servers/IPs otherwise the router can't tell which local device the returning data is destined for.

It may be that port forwarding is required to facilitate setting up the VPN connection and port forwards can only go to one specific local IP not multiple boxes. I've read that port 500 is often used?

It may be that upnp isn't working properly to setup the port forwards (if required) - upnp has never worked very well in my experience.

I'm struggling to diagnose the issue since the boxes have no GUI or CLI and you have to wait 30 mins every time you make a change to see if the issue is fixed!

Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Well as an IT guy I would go with your first suspicion and have them all off and disconnected except one. Does it work?
If no then it's the router/firewall/connection.
If yes then fire up another one and see what happens.

Also I would test each one individually on a domestic set up to see if they are all working.

They work best with a router that just allows VPN pass-through but crucially some routers only allow one VPN to pass through while others allow more. Could it be that?

Finally, if these are EE signal boxes you do know that each one has to be registered to an active pay monthly mobile phone account and you can't have more than one box per contract?
So if you have 3 signal boxes you would need 3 EE phones contracts to register them with.
Just checking!
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Old 05-11-2015, 18:30
Will_S2
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Thanks for the quick reply.

All the boxes (3 new ones, 1 older one) are associated with different pay monthly accounts.

They all work fine using our existing router/network set-up provided they are only used one at a time (I tested them all individually when I activated them).

However, when I try and connect more than one, only the first new one connected works (and usually the old one too).

I'm not sure if the additional boxes are detecting the cell signal from the first and disabling themselves or if its a problem with our router (either IPSEC passthrough or port forwards) only allowing one connection at a time.

It's strange that the older box works at the same time as 1 new box, perhaps it's because the two different models connect back to different vpn servers?

I assume that the boxes would simply lower their transmit power if they detected another nearby rather than not working at all. This leads me to think I need to tweak the IPSEC passthrough settings to allow multiple connections to the same vpn server. Is this possible (the router is a vigor 3200)? Has anyone else got multiple signalboxes working on the same lan?

(bear in mind the boxes are on separate consumer paym accounts not a joint business account)

thanks again!
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Old 05-11-2015, 20:41
jchamier
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I'm not sure if the additional boxes are detecting the cell signal from the first and disabling themselves or if its a problem with our router (either IPSEC passthrough or port forwards) only allowing one connection at a time.

It's strange that the older box works at the same time as 1 new box, perhaps it's because the two different models connect back to different vpn servers?
The problem with all these femto cells (Vodafone, EE, Three etc) are that they use IPsec secure communications and hardly any home routers understand IPsec.

You most likely will need three separate broadband lines, and subscriptions to get this working, or a business class ISP account with a corporate style router that allocates a separate public IP to each NAT for each signal box.

Having three signal boxes working through a home router that does NAT to the same public IP address is just asking for trouble. IPsec wasn't happy with NAT in the original design, and the various techniques implemented to make it work won't be expecting more than one connection.

You have the same problem that people who work for some large corporates have when their partner also works for the same corporate or a similar one using the same VPN tool. Only one can VPN to work at a time
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Old 05-11-2015, 22:03
bookey_uk
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Easy one, can't have more than one home signal box on the same internet facing connection. Wifi calling a option?
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Old 05-11-2015, 22:05
bookey_uk
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Thanks for the quick reply.

It's strange that the older box works at the same time as 1 new box, perhaps it's because the two different models connect back to different vpn servers?

I assume that the boxes would simply lower their transmit power if they detected another nearby rather than not working at all.

thanks again!
Currently they do connect back to different gateways but that will change.
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Old 05-11-2015, 22:14
DevonBloke
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Easy one, can't have more than one home signal box on the same internet facing connection. Wifi calling a option?
The man with the answers as ever.
Ok so the back end server is checking WAN IPs?
Old and new, two different servers so no issues.
Two new boxes though and the same IP would be detected so no go.
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Old 06-11-2015, 08:30
kev
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I assume that the boxes would simply lower their transmit power if they detected another nearby rather than not working at all. This leads me to think I need to tweak the IPSEC passthrough settings to allow multiple connections to the same vpn server. Is this possible (the router is a vigor 3200)? Has anyone else got multiple signalboxes working on the same lan?
IIRC my Vigor was able to handle multiple WAN IP addresses - if you're able to get them from your ISP (I was ADSL 24 when I did this) that may work.

That being said the second generation EE Signal Boxes seem to be a lot more picky with there NAT settings, originally our (old) one used to be behind two layers of NAT and worked fine. It then gave up.

Got the replacement one working, until an Apple user with WiFi calling enabled joined the network and it went into fast-flashing mode Ended up having to move it to the DMZ and give it it's own public IP address.
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Old 06-11-2015, 09:59
moox
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You have the same problem that people who work for some large corporates have when their partner also works for the same corporate or a similar one using the same VPN tool. Only one can VPN to work at a time
Some of the VPN suppliers don't use IPsec any more, possibly for this reason. IIRC Cisco's AnyConnect is SSL based?
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Old 06-11-2015, 18:45
jchamier
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Some of the VPN suppliers don't use IPsec any more, possibly for this reason. IIRC Cisco's AnyConnect is SSL based?
I think Cisco uses SSL and IPsec encapsulated in UDP. SSL solves many problems, but introduces others as all applications end up with traffic in a queue through the VPN, whereas IPSec encapsulated in UDP or similar allows for applications to independently communicate.
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Old 06-02-2016, 19:21
Cloudane
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They can be activated... Just needs an active pay monthly account
Guess it depends on who you speak to then because the person I spoke to at EE told me they would only activate boxes that came direct from them.
Just bought one on eBay (seller with 100% feedback said it'd been deregistered) so I really hope they can! I am on pay monthly.

What's the success rate like? If the agent decides to be awkward can you just keep calling back until you find one who will, or have people found that they have your previous call notes in front of them?
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Old 06-02-2016, 19:57
Thine Wonk
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I'm confused I thought they had wifi calling now, so why the need to these boxes?
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Old 06-02-2016, 20:04
Cloudane
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I'm confused I thought they had wifi calling now, so why the need to these boxes?
Only on a very limited number of handsets and in the case of Android phones only if you bought them directly from EE. I have a Nexus 5X bought from Google, so am SOL when it comes to Wifi Calling.

They may eventually bring it to the 5X in a similar way to the iPhone, but I've learned with EE not to hold my breath!
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Old 06-02-2016, 22:04
Thine Wonk
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Ah thanks
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Old 08-02-2016, 21:06
Redcoat
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Just to add, I recently purchased an EE signal box at the end of January for my own use with a PAYG EE sim account. The general gist of how I got my hands on one is explained in this post.

To sum it up...

* The Signal Box femtocells are only available to buy in an EE store as far as I'm aware. If you're looking one, then unless you pass one such store every day it might be best to give them a call to see if they have any in stock before going to one.

* EE don't really promote that these femtocells are available to buy as much as say Vodafone, but you can get one in an EE store without much hassle - at least once they realise that Wi-Fi calling isn't an option for you.

* The Signal Box is sold for £90 if you are a PAYG account holder. If you are Pay Monthly (either full contract or sim only) or sign up to such a plan in-store at the same time you may be offered a discount if the coverage checker indicates that coverage indoors is unlikely to be sufficiently strong, with the biggest discount being in a place with no outdoor coverage predicted.

* The femtocell needs to be registered before use - if you are a PAYG customer you can register the Signal Box against your account but normal customer services can't do this automatically, at least when I called. Level 2 support can however.

* It might take up to 24 hours for it to register with EE, but mine was up and running within two minutes from finishing calling EE to register it.

* Unlike other femotcells from the likes of Vodafone and 3, EE's Signal Box is an "open" one which allows any EE, T-Mobile & Orange customer to use if it's within its vicinity - this may or may not be OK with you. Placing the Signal Box in a place that covers you home but as little as possible outside it could help.

Just to show I'm not bluffing about buying one, here's two photos - the first one shows the packaging & receipt (with some sensitive details removed), the second one shows its contents - the femotcell itself, power adaptor, a length of ethernet cable and the set up manual.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2dqm5tu.jpg
http://i63.tinypic.com/2r6e836.jpg
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Old 09-02-2016, 01:40
DevonBloke
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Yeah, swings and roundabouts really.
WiFi calling is excellent if you have the right handset on a contract.
It can be used anywhere as well, where there is WiFi.
The only downside? It needs a good WiFi connection to actually work.
Femto is usable by anyone in range with an EE/Orange/TM SIM (possibly others before anyone pipes up : ).
It's 3G and therefore more robust than WiFi so will work with a really weak signal.
Downsides? Obviously you can't use it down the pub!
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Old 09-02-2016, 20:43
de525ma
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I have a Cisco EE signal box and it stopped working a few weeks ago. It used to be fine, but now it's just a solid red light. I tried pushing the reset button but it gives absolutely no indication that it worked and the light remains solid red. Tried rebooting, leaving switched off for a few minutes. It's sending a few packets to the router regularly but the light never flashes green. Anyone else had this? Is it just a brick now?
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Old 09-02-2016, 20:51
DevonBloke
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I have a Cisco EE signal box and it stopped working a few weeks ago. It used to be fine, but now it's just a solid red light. I tried pushing the reset button but it gives absolutely no indication that it worked and the light remains solid red. Tried rebooting, leaving switched off for a few minutes. It's sending a few packets to the router regularly but the light never flashes green. Anyone else had this? Is it just a brick now?
How long did you hold the reset button in?
Might sound like a silly question but I'm in IT and while most routers/switches/APs etc only need the button holding for about 3-5 seconds, there are devices that require the button to be held in for 20-30 seconds.
Hold it for a minute, just to be sure!
After that, it's a brick, yes.
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