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Big Worm 1
Original Poster
385 posts
33 months
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The mobile phone signal in my house is just awful, even when i make a call and go outside it isn't much better, so i'm looking at this contraption. £50 one-off payment and all my mobile phone worries will be over, or so they would have you believe.
Anyone got one? Is it any good? Does it "do what it says on the tin"?
Also, what frequency does it run at, and is it likely to interfere with my wi-fi signal?
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aero93
328 posts
105 months
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What phone have you got and who is your ISP?
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plasticpig
8,337 posts
94 months
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It operates on the 2100mhz band. WiFi is in the 2400-2500mhz range.
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Alex
6,249 posts
153 months
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We tried one for a while. It does actually work. Note that even though it uses your broadband, the data used will still come off your mobile contract allowance.
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Big Worm 1
Original Poster
385 posts
33 months
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aero93 said: What phone have you got and who is your ISP? I've got the HTC Sensation and the OH has got an iPhone 4. ISP is Virgin Media.
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Mr E
14,144 posts
128 months
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It'll work just fine unless you live in a castle (or a bunker). Other femtocell providers are available.... 
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edeath
93 posts
60 months
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I installed one for client recently where they had no vodafone signal in a corner of the office. Plugged it in and 20 minutes later they no longer had any signal issues. It switches seemlessly to the normal Vodafone network mid call - nice bit of kit.
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Smiler.
5,388 posts
99 months
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VF are having some major issues with these at the moment. They are in the process or rolling out new firmware.
There has been a fault on their website for weeks meaning that it's not possible to register the unit (the tech guys can do it via their support forum but can take 48 hrs to get a response).
When they work though, they are great.
I have two handsets linked, a Sony Experia Arc & a Nokia E90.
Your phone must be 3G & I'm having issues with the Sony & the 3G signal - still not resolved.
One word of warning - NEVER, I repeat NEVER phone the helpline if you have an issue - you will be transferred to an overseas call centre where the jockey on the other end reads from a crib sheet & answers "okay" of everything.
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Big Worm 1
Original Poster
385 posts
33 months
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I just have concerns because reading the posts on the Vodafone forums, there seems to be plenty of issues with it. I appreciate that people are more likely to put a post on there to complain rather than recommend it, but i just want to make sure before i possibly waste £50.
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bulb763
721 posts
103 months
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Well timed thread! I am currently on O2 and get crap signal at home. Tried sims from all major networks and all equally useless. Would ideally like to stay with O2 but their version is only on trial to business users ATM (to the best of my research). Despite registering my interest in testing one I've heard nothing. So considering swapping to vodafone so I can use this.
Would be interested to hear from the poster above who said others are available..
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Jonnas
746 posts
32 months
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I have had one of these for about 18 months, maybe a bit longer. It is generally good although it will from time to time drop the signal mid call which is annoying. I have the first one, they have updated it since then and they let me have it for a tenner as I complained that after buying two iPhiones from them I could no longer use a mobile in my house. No signal at all, nada. Now full signal, unless it drops out.
The only think is that when I called Voda to complain about the signal dropping, they told me to take it into a shop to get the software updated. I did this and they told me they couldn't and I would have to spen £50 on a new model. I didnt.
It's not perfect but the choice is to have no signal in the house at all......
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Dodsy
5,537 posts
96 months
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I was given one by my employer - Its never worked properly, initially I could make calls but not receive them (all got diverted to voicemail) then after a lot of calls to support it started working properly but then every call had massive echo. I switched it off a month ago, you've just reminded me I need to give it back.
Other people I work with dont seem to have any problems with theirs so you might be lucky.
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aero93
328 posts
105 months
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aero93 said: What phone have you got and who is your ISP? As mentioned above there are currently problems with VM. I am struggling myself with this and opened a thread here and on VM forums about it. I would say buy one, try it, if it doesnt work you can always send it back.
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cj_eds
1,567 posts
90 months
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I'm rather cynical about the Sure Signal things. As far as I saw it, instead of Vodafone investing some more money on upgrading their network or adding additional masts/boosters and what have you, they sell little home ones to the public. That way they reduce the cost of keeping up the network, while the users provide another revenue stream from the boxes themselves, while paying for the power etc those boxes use.
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FUBAR
16,107 posts
107 months
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I've had Sure Signal for 2 years. The only reason I moved from 15 years with Orange to VF was purely down to Sure Signal as I get no signal at home. By and large it has been great. A few issues registering numbers on the system initially and it confused me when I lost all numbers when I came back from holiday. Apparently if you switch the box off for a period it resets it so you have to add the numbers back....or not switch it off lol.
Initially you could only have 10 numbers registered but now I think it's 40 or so.
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Dodsy
5,537 posts
96 months
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FUBAR said: Initially you could only have 10 numbers registered but now I think it's 40 or so. max 32 registered devices but only 4 can use it at the same time
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Superhoop
2,488 posts
62 months
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We've got one, and it's taken us from 'if you stand in that corner, with your finger in your left ear, you might get a signal' to full 3G all of the time
We got ours for free when my OH phoned them and complained about poor signal at home and asked for a PAC code
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Flipatron
1,488 posts
67 months
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Bought one a couple of years ago which failed after a couple of months. The second lasted a little longer but also died.
Tried to get it replaced but Vodafone were useless so I gave up.
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dave_s13
8,378 posts
138 months
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I've got one too, works a treat. Got it for free when signed up to a new contract about a yea ago (I think). I say free, I had to pay £20 in store for it but this was then taken off my next bill. No complaints from me apart from no fecker ever rings me up so it's not used much anyway
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arcturus
1,322 posts
132 months
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Mr E said: It'll work just fine unless you live in a castle (or a bunker). Other femtocell providers are available.... Actually, they would work perfectly in a castle or bunker - that's the point. They do not need to see surrounding cells at all. They connect to Vodafone over the broadband network. I've had one virtually since they came out (first a V1 and now a V2) and I think they are brilliant. No more missed calls at home. There has been the very occasional glitch but nothing major.
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