Vodafone Sure Signal: three lessons from my experience

Having covered my travails with the Vodafone Sure Signal box at some length, and as a result getting a steady stream of traffic from search engines, I thought it best to collate what I’ve said before on the topic (and remove an error which distracted from the main points):

1. The Vodafone Sure Signal box isn’t suitable for use with mobile broadband as the maximum connection speed is very low.
2. At least as of February 2010, the instructions leaflet being provided with Sure Signals was wrong in its descriptions of how the lights on the box operate, so it could be functioning normally whilst (according to the leaflet) showing a pattern of lights that indicate an error.
   The two specific problems I encountered were that, first, the patterns of lights it says you get when plugging in the box is wrong. So if you get a completely different set of light patterns, that doesn’t mean your box is malfunctioning – it’s the instructions that are wrong. Second, the note in the instructions about what patterns of lights you get if you’ve got two devices (phone and broadband) connected and work is also wrong. So again if you try to connect two devices and get a completely different set of light patterns, that doesn’t mean your box is malfunctioning – it’s the instructions that are wrong.
3. You do not have to have a router to use with the Sure Signal.