Blue Curve modem is knowingly defective, and they don't know how to fix them

[ZDB]

I've been having issues with my internet connectivity for the last several months. We have a blue curve modem as well as three of the wifi extenders, known as "PODS". I've been working from home since March of 2020, and at first I was working out of my garage (my work PC needs a hardwired connection for internet), so I was simply plugging into the POD that we had out in our garage. That setup seemed to work perfectly for the better part of 7 months, then I started having random connectivity issues. 

When I first brought it up with SHAW, they told me that the POD was too far away from the router, and there was likely some sort of "interference" causing the issues. This made zero sense to me as the exact setup worked perfect with average speeds of about 100MBPS. Anyways, I decided to move my home office into the house so I can could hard wire directly into the router. You'd think this would fix any sort of "interference" issues, but no, the problems just got worse from there. 

I would randomly lose internet access for 1/2/5/15 minutes at a time on all Wifi connected devices, as well as on my hard wired work PC. I couldn't play online games without getting booted, and my kids couldn't even watch netflix or youtube. Shaw decided my router was the issue, and swapped it out for a brand spanking new blue curve modem. Well, the system was up and running for exactly one hour after the service tech left, and I was already randomly losing connection on both my hard wired PC and Wifi connected devices. 

A second tech was at my house three days ago, and he said there is nothing wrong with any of the equipment, and the location of my router was likely the cause of all of the problems......they suggest installing these things in the middle of a wide open room, on a table, with nothing around it for several meters, which isn't practical at all since most houses arent set up to have a coax jack in the middle of nowhere, they are usually located next to televisions. Plus, how are you supposed to route ethernet cables to a router that's out in the middle of nowhere in your house? It's ridiculous. Anyways, moving the router would have zero impact on my hard wired connection issues, so to me, they are just grasping at straws trying to come up with a solution that doesn't exist. 

I now have a third tech coming out to my house tomorrow, and obviously I have very little faith that anything will actually get fixed. They are going to replace the router AGAIN, and somehow that is magically supposed to fix everything. 

Also, I want to add that today, while on the phone with tech support at SHAW, the tech support agent admitted that SHAW have been having nonstop issues with these modems. They are installing them in customers houses, knowing that they are plagued with the issues I described above, but you'll have to pull teeth to get them to admit it. 

Anyways, I'm probably going to get fired for never being online for work because SHAW internet is total trash, and they have no idea how to fix it. 

Rant over

[mdk]

@ZDB -- I have a third tech coming out to my house tomorrow

Be sure to get the tech to measure the "signal-strength" incoming to Shaw's "demarcation box", and the signal-strength incoming to your cable-modem.

It could be a problem with Shaw's coaxial-splitter inside their demarcation box, or a problem with the coaxial-cable between the demarcation box and the nearest telephone-pole, where the Shaw "infrastructure" begins.

Do you have any other splitter (wall-port -> coaxial cable -> 1-to-3 splitter -> coax #1 -> Shaw phone, and coax #2 -> BlueCurve PVR, and coax #3 -> cable-modem) that you could ask Shaw to replace?

> average speeds of about 100MBPS. 

Check the printed labelling on the Ethernet cable between your computer and the "pod". If the labelling shows "CAT 5", that cable is certified only to a maximum of 100 Mbps. Replace the cable with "CAT 5e" (certified up to 1000 Mbps) or with "CAT 6" (for speeds over 1000 Mbps). Of course, if the WiFi connection between the pod and the cable-modem is less than 1000 Mbps, that's your maximum observed speed. Also, you'll get up to 1000 Mbps only when you are subscribed to Shaw's "Fibre+ Gig" service.

[ZDB]

well the service tech came and went before I read this message. But I have asked them to check the line coming into the house as well as the connection on the telephone pole and they have insisted every single time that there is nothing wrong with the signal coming into the house. They just won’t do any work outside of my home. They replaced the router again, re-routed coax cables inside the room and left. When he left the internet was working, and it took about 15 minutes for it to start acting up again. My son was supposed to be doing a piano lesson over zoom and the internet dropped out 6 times over the course of 40 minutes. I am actually going to have to call a competitor and get Telus equipment, my family’s livelyhood literally depends on my ability to work from home, and I can’t work without a reliable and steady internet connection. It doesn’t even have to be fast, it just has to be steady all day. 

I seriously can’t believe how much time and energy I’ve spent on this problem and it’s just as bad today as it was 3 weeks ago. 

[rstra]

@ZDB I can understand your frustration, replacing the modem more than once is an exercise in futility. The technicians should be up the pole and changing connectors, but really, they should replace everything from the pole back to the modem.

[mdk]

@ZDB --  they should replace everything from the pole back to the modem

Agreed. This includes:

1. replacing the connector at the end of the coaxial-cable at the telephone-pole;
2. the coaxial cable between the telephone-pole and the Shaw "demarcation box" (either on the outside wall of your house, or inside your garage);
3. replacing the connector at the end of the coaxial-cable that connects inside that "demarc" box;
4. replacing the coaxial-splitter inside that "demarc" box -- if you can see multiple coaxial cables going "out" from the "demarc" box, running into different rooms;
5. checking that all coaxial-cables connected to that splitter are firmly screwed-on;
6. checking the signal-strength reaching that coaxial-splitter inside the "demarc" box;
7. checking the signal-strength reaching your cable-modem;
8. checking that the coaxial-splitter inside the "demarc" box is properly electrically grounded;
9. checking that the cable-modem is properly electrically grounded;
10. checking that each of the coaxial-cables going out from the "demarc" box are connected to some device (BlueCurve PVR or BlueCurve TV player or cable-modem or HomePhone adapter) -- there should be no rooms in your house that have an active coaxial wall-outlet that are not connected to anything. Shaw should change the splitter, so that only the wall-outlets that NEED to be active ARE active -- i.e., not to use a 1-to-4 splitter when you only need to connect 2 devices.

[ZDB]

Well I have another Shaw tech coming to my house this coming Monday and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t leave until he checks and replaces anything that needs it on the incoming service line. 

So my Internet didn’t work for the past 14 hours. I spent two hours on the phone with Shaw tech support and they had no idea how to help. My modem had a white solid white but it showed it as disconnected on Shaw’s end, and I had no internet access. We tried factory resetting it several times, changing outlets, changing cable, bypassing splitters. Nothing fixed it. Well this morning at 11:30AM, the internet randomly started working, like perfectly. It’s now been consistent for the last three hours. But literally nothing has changed from last night. It’s still connected the exact same way it’s always been, the weather conditions outside are the same, and I can’t think of any reason why it would just start working. 

in my opinion that either means it definitely has to be an outside connection issue right? It seems very unlikely that I could have 3 consecutive faulty Shaw bluecurve modems, all acting in the exact same manner. Unless there really is a known manufacturing defect with these modems, or the firmware on them is messed up. These intermittent issues always seem impossible to figure out. What do you guys think?

[rstra]

@ZDB 
It has to be something other than a faulty modem. Login to 10.0.0.1 and click Gateway>Connection>Shaw Network. Look at the system uptime and tell us the downstream and upstream power level. Also check to see if all channels are locked.

[Speedyjr]

I have the exact same issue since Thursday evening.  I have been on support chat and managed to get a call answered and all the reconnecting, rebooting etc and nothing worked.  I have had internet now consistent for the last 40 minutes without an drop.  It amazes me that there is no technicians available for emergency calls and you have to wait until Monday if you are lucky for a tech to come.  My tv boxes are all not functioning after several reboots, if you leave them alone, it will eventually play the last channel you were on, but as soon as you press any button on the remote it give a reboot required screen.  

[ZDB]

The system uptime is 23hours as of 7pm tonight. It was put into service at 2:30pm yesterday. 

The internet has only been working for about 8 hours now. 

[ZDB]

Sorry I just realIzed how that Information is displayed. There is actually no values under the downstream channel bonding data. Everything is blank. 

The upstream power levels range from 40.3-42.8dBmv. All channels are locked on the upstream side.