Vodafone Networks

[alanw]

That's interesting.  I just made a call with the phone set to auto 3g/2g and it did not go through SureSignal so that confirms your finding.  The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S8 bought a few months ago second hand and I believe it was supplied originally by Spark though never locked to their network.  Model is SM-G950F running Android 7.0.   I see it is listed as having FDD-LTE+WCDMA+GSM connectivity but I don't know the frequencies that represents.

[alanw]

Frequencycheck.com indicates it should be compatible?: 

https://www.frequencycheck.com/carrier-compatibility/8KplCer/samsung-sm-g950f-galaxy-s8-td-lte-samsu...

[sebastianbd]

Have checked and can see on 15/01 you did attach to the Sure Signal (although no calls made via it at that time).

Suspect this issue is related to your handset. Have you changed your handset at all since the end of December? I can see since before 29/12 you were using 3G and 4G dominantly (mixture of both U900 and U2100 +LTE) and now since 29/12 onwards, you are only ever using 2G and 4G now, no 3G.

[sebastianbd]

Can you try a manual carrier selection? I will be interested to see if 'VFNZ Sure' actually even appears in the carrier list on your handset (if your handset is seeing the U2100 frequency broadcast by the SS unit).

[alanw]

I haven't changed handsets recently.  The most recent change was to an Ultrahub and vdsl from adsl in November.

I did a search networks and only Vodafone NZ, 2degrees and Spark NZ came up with the phone set to auto 4g/3g/2g.  With it set to auto 3g/2g only Vodafone NZ and 2degrees came up.

[sebastianbd]

Looks like you have a fault with your handset as since 29/12 you are no longer using 3G at all.. And your handset is not even able to detect the U2100 frequency broadcast from the SureSignal unit.

Suggest you try your SIM card into another working handset to prove your handset is faulty.

Change of Broadband modem is not related in the slightest.

[alanw]

Just tried an iPhone 4 and it came up with the same 3 networks except calling the last Telecom NZ.   However it does show the Carrier as the SureSignal.   I don't see a similar identification on the S8.  

Network Cell Info Lite shows the serving cell: GPRS (GSM)

MCC 530  MNC 1  Band 2  LAC 6032  CID 43102 Power 2.0nW on the S8 on Auto 3g/2g.

[sebastianbd]

Cool, so this proves the issue to be with your handset. iPhone 4 with working 3G attaches to the Sure Signal, however your S8 will not connect on 3G at all (to Femto or Macro network)

And yes the stats from your S8 show, GPRS (GSM) = 2G. CID - 43102 = Russell/Paihia sector 2 G900.

[alanw]

Wondering if it was a software update on the S8.  That's the only thing that may have changed about that time.

[sebastianbd]

Could be.. Maybe try a factory reset in the first instance.