OK, well I have been running the Home Signal box for a couple of days and thought I should report back on it.
Coverage around the house is good, rather than amazing - I get a decent signal all over, but only 2 or 3 bars in the kitchen for example, rather than the full 5 bar signal I get in some areas.
When in a call, there is a noticeable lag - rather like the old satellite links on the TV in the 1990s... perhaps half a second or so.Acceptable though - much better than being unable to make a call at all!
Problems -
The box decided to go off for some reason one day - I had no signal and when I checked, it had gone offline. Unplugging and plugging it back in fixed that.
The other problem I have had was more strange. We were testing out something on my wifes phone (which is with O2) and I tried to ring her phone - I didn't hear any dialing noise as I would normally and didn't hear her answer. I couldn't hear any conversation either. I tried ringing my landline - and still no dialling noise or anything.
When I looked at the Home Signal, it had a quickly flashing green light - as if it was in use, even though it wasn't. I used the reset button to attempt to sort things - and that worked fine. But this problem is a little worrying because to all intent the box was working and my phone had a good signal etc - but was useless and could not make or receive calls....
I shall be watching the box more carefully for a while to see if that was a one off or a genuine issue.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Home Signal from Three
Well, the Home Signal box has arrived and thought I would pop a quick post about it on here.
The box wasn't the white, upright one I have seen on various videos - it was a black, lozenge shaped one.
First snag was trying to fit the ethernet cable into the back of the Home Signal - it is a pretty fiddly fit due to the size of the end of the cable and the overhanging cover of the Home Signal - but it went in eventually. It should have been an easier fit frankly, so if I was scoring it, it would lose a mark for that.
I had already read other peoples comments, so I reset the SIM card before going any further - some people found they were not fully inserted.
Once connected and turned on, I had a red light flashing slowly - lighting about once every second or two. Looking at my router settings, the Home Signal box didn't seem to be allocated an IP address and looking at the instructions which came with it, the slow single flash indicated that it is not connected to the broadband. So I used the reset button on the Home Signal to reset the thing and after 5 seconds, I released it and straight away I got the flashing green light which signifies that the box is starting to set things up.
After a few minutes, my mobile suddenly went from " No Signal" or at best 1 bar to 4 or 5 bars (seems to fluctuate a little but 4 or 5 is great!) - and that is in the room below where the Home Signal is situated.
Not only can I now make calls from inside my home, but I assume the lack of struggling to get signal will help the battery life on my phone too.
I shall report again once I have played a little more.
The box wasn't the white, upright one I have seen on various videos - it was a black, lozenge shaped one.
First snag was trying to fit the ethernet cable into the back of the Home Signal - it is a pretty fiddly fit due to the size of the end of the cable and the overhanging cover of the Home Signal - but it went in eventually. It should have been an easier fit frankly, so if I was scoring it, it would lose a mark for that.
I had already read other peoples comments, so I reset the SIM card before going any further - some people found they were not fully inserted.
Once connected and turned on, I had a red light flashing slowly - lighting about once every second or two. Looking at my router settings, the Home Signal box didn't seem to be allocated an IP address and looking at the instructions which came with it, the slow single flash indicated that it is not connected to the broadband. So I used the reset button on the Home Signal to reset the thing and after 5 seconds, I released it and straight away I got the flashing green light which signifies that the box is starting to set things up.
After a few minutes, my mobile suddenly went from " No Signal" or at best 1 bar to 4 or 5 bars (seems to fluctuate a little but 4 or 5 is great!) - and that is in the room below where the Home Signal is situated.
Not only can I now make calls from inside my home, but I assume the lack of struggling to get signal will help the battery life on my phone too.
I shall report again once I have played a little more.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Damn You once again Google!
Google has finally forced their new "Compose" version onto their users - just like when they stuffed us with this new look Gmail.
Until recently, as they do with all their changes, this was able to be reverted to the older version via the Settings or Options or whatever link.
Now the new Compose has been foisted on me - and frankly, just like the changes to Blogger or many other Google things, I don't like it.
Not only is it annoying to be forced to change whether I like it or not, but it will also mean that many "Techies" - including myself - will get calls from Mothers/Grannies/non computer litereate folks/ demanding help because..."Google/Gmail is broken!" or "My computer has a virus because Gmail looks wrong..."
If it wasn't for the fact that I can easily get my Gmail from anywhere and any randon connection, it would be gone from my life.
Totally annoying.
Update: 17th August and my mother has been on the phone confused about the changes to her Gmail....
Thanks Gmail.....
Until recently, as they do with all their changes, this was able to be reverted to the older version via the Settings or Options or whatever link.
Now the new Compose has been foisted on me - and frankly, just like the changes to Blogger or many other Google things, I don't like it.
Not only is it annoying to be forced to change whether I like it or not, but it will also mean that many "Techies" - including myself - will get calls from Mothers/Grannies/non computer litereate folks/ demanding help because..."Google/Gmail is broken!" or "My computer has a virus because Gmail looks wrong..."
If it wasn't for the fact that I can easily get my Gmail from anywhere and any randon connection, it would be gone from my life.
Totally annoying.
Update: 17th August and my mother has been on the phone confused about the changes to her Gmail....
Thanks Gmail.....
Friday, August 09, 2013
Customer retention? Nah....
Before I start this particular post, I was originally going to update one about Orange stitiching up their customers - but it seems I didn't post that one!
So a quick resume is in order.
Not long after I signed a two year deal with Orange, they decided to up the prices - which was annoying enough, but the really annoying part was the text they sent to all those of us who were affected saying that it was in the tiny small print that they could do this and there was nothing we could do about it.
Their attitude in the text was enough to make me decide there and then to leave Orange as soon as my contract expired. A shame because their quick action to replace my phone when it went wrong was great (see one of the earlier posts about that).
Anyway, that was the background to this post.
So, contract coming to an end, I look around for another provider. This in itself proved annoying (the reasons are not really important - just down to the remoteness of my home and address issues).
But eventually, I found a good deal with the Three network. I have had a 3 phone on PAYG some years ago and got good signal all around and inside my home - ideal!
So, I signed my life away and awaited the delivery of my new phone on the two year contract I had just signed up to.
The phone arrives and I start examining it - really nice phone, but hang on.... crap signal! I can't get any signal unless the phone is sat in the windowsill and then I can get one bar (or occasionally two bars in the kitchen window!). I can get a 3G signal in the kitchen, so run Speedtest on that - which tells me I have 3.8Mb/s compared to my home broadband speeds of around 1Mb/s at best....
OK, thinks me, the 3G is nice, but the signal inside the house sucks - so off to Google for some researching!
After a short while, I come across the 3 Home Signal device - basically a signal booster for the 3 mobile signal in the house! Great - I decide t oask 3 about it. After a lot of being pushed from Customer Service to Network to the Home Signal service people, I get through to someone who asks some questions and runs a network test on the mast near here.
All is well with the mast, so he proceeds to explain to me all about how the signal travels through the air and how anything in its path - trees, walls etc - can affect the signal.... (Thanks, but I have the A+ Computer Technician certification which covered this stuff.....).
He suggests that I CANCEL my contract since the 14 day cooling off period is still in operation! No, I say, I like the 3G speed here and I have heard about this Home Signal box....
Seems 3 don't issue them unless you qualify - and the qualification seems to include being out of the 14 day trial time. A bit stupid really, because if they had told me I could have this box straight away, it would have been great customer service and would presumably help to sway thise who were less convinced of the pros of the 3 Network. To tell me that I should CANCEL is simply terrible - and I am surprised 3 have any customers if they carry on like that.
Anyway, I am waiting for the 14 day period to end and then they are supposedly ringing me back to organise this Home Signal box....
So a quick resume is in order.
Not long after I signed a two year deal with Orange, they decided to up the prices - which was annoying enough, but the really annoying part was the text they sent to all those of us who were affected saying that it was in the tiny small print that they could do this and there was nothing we could do about it.
Their attitude in the text was enough to make me decide there and then to leave Orange as soon as my contract expired. A shame because their quick action to replace my phone when it went wrong was great (see one of the earlier posts about that).
Anyway, that was the background to this post.
So, contract coming to an end, I look around for another provider. This in itself proved annoying (the reasons are not really important - just down to the remoteness of my home and address issues).
But eventually, I found a good deal with the Three network. I have had a 3 phone on PAYG some years ago and got good signal all around and inside my home - ideal!
So, I signed my life away and awaited the delivery of my new phone on the two year contract I had just signed up to.
The phone arrives and I start examining it - really nice phone, but hang on.... crap signal! I can't get any signal unless the phone is sat in the windowsill and then I can get one bar (or occasionally two bars in the kitchen window!). I can get a 3G signal in the kitchen, so run Speedtest on that - which tells me I have 3.8Mb/s compared to my home broadband speeds of around 1Mb/s at best....
OK, thinks me, the 3G is nice, but the signal inside the house sucks - so off to Google for some researching!
After a short while, I come across the 3 Home Signal device - basically a signal booster for the 3 mobile signal in the house! Great - I decide t oask 3 about it. After a lot of being pushed from Customer Service to Network to the Home Signal service people, I get through to someone who asks some questions and runs a network test on the mast near here.
All is well with the mast, so he proceeds to explain to me all about how the signal travels through the air and how anything in its path - trees, walls etc - can affect the signal.... (Thanks, but I have the A+ Computer Technician certification which covered this stuff.....).
He suggests that I CANCEL my contract since the 14 day cooling off period is still in operation! No, I say, I like the 3G speed here and I have heard about this Home Signal box....
Seems 3 don't issue them unless you qualify - and the qualification seems to include being out of the 14 day trial time. A bit stupid really, because if they had told me I could have this box straight away, it would have been great customer service and would presumably help to sway thise who were less convinced of the pros of the 3 Network. To tell me that I should CANCEL is simply terrible - and I am surprised 3 have any customers if they carry on like that.
Anyway, I am waiting for the 14 day period to end and then they are supposedly ringing me back to organise this Home Signal box....
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