-- what I've been told is that the pods will only connect...

[mdk]

@realm174 -- what I've been told is that the pods will only connect to a hidden SSID (the modem)

There are two types of "pods":

* ones that extend your WiFi network, rebroadcasting your cable-modem's "non-hidden" SSID, to bring Internet to a few nearby rooms. By "extending" the availability of the SSID, you don't need to disconnect/reconnect when moving your WiFi-enabled device from room to room. [Compare to a notebook computer running on battery-power -- you do not need to unplug from its AC adapter, and move the AC adapter, and re-plug it, when you move the notebook computer to a different room.]

* ones that physically connect to the TV in one room, and connect wirelessly to the BlueCurve TV box, and its "hidden" SSID, to bring TV channels into that one room. Each pod physically connects only to one TV -- the TV and the box must be side-by-side.

Shaw does have a BlueCurve Total box that provides both TV services and cable-modem wired/wireless Internet services, in one enclosure.

> therefore, would pick up the info from that modem and not from your own wifi...

No. The cable-modem is the supplier of the WiFi signal, and the "repeater" (or "range-extender") pods do not create their own independent WiFi network. Compare to the sign-language interpreter who signs the speech-maker (Provincial Health Minister, or Chief Provincial Health Officer) to rebroadcast the spoken words. The signer should not be generating different content -- they just "repeat" the spoken words.

Your computer can be "manually" configured to use any DNS-servers in a "static" arrangement, ignoring parts of the "dynamic" information supplied by the cable-modem. For example, the cable-modem responds to a DHCP-request:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : D4-3E-7D-28-1B-61
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.10(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : January-01-21 12:54:41 AM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : January-10-21 09:32:15 AM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Your computer can be configured to "ignore" the information about "DNS Servers".

Experiment: power-off your cable-modem, the WiFi repeater in the distant room, and the computer in that room. Power-on the WiFi repeater, and power-on the computer. The computer will NOT obtain an IP-address, nor a Subnet Mask, nor a Lease, nor the IP-addresses for Gateway & DNS Server(s). This shows that the WiFi repeater is NOT a supplier of such information. It simply is "middle management" -- only repeating what the "master" (the cable-modem) provides.

[realm174]

Great info!! Much appreciated!

What I was saying tho, according to Shaw tech support the pods will only connect to the cable modem and not to another wifi provider (aka, my own wireless router for example). So if that is the case, they would only rebroadcast the info from the cable modem, and not from my external wifi router ?

So if I was to setup my wifi router and turn off the shaw modem, and power cycled the pods, you're saying they would connect to my wifi router ? How ?  It needs authentication..

[mdk]

@realm174 --  according to Shaw tech support the pods will only connect to the cable modem and not to another wifi provider (aka, my own wireless router for example).

True. If they connect via their built-in wireless network-adapter, they connect only to the "hidden" SSID(s) that the Shaw cable-modem is supplying. Unless your own wireless router is broadcasting the identical SSID, the pod will not connect to your router.

> So if that is the case, they would only rebroadcast the info from the cable modem, and not from my external wifi router ?

Yes, just like the wait-person at the restaurant transports only what the kitchen has prepared.

If your pod is a "TV" pod, all it does is pass-along the TV signals, unchanged.

If your pod is a Wireless Extender, all it does is pass-along the Internet traffic, unchanged.

If your computer sends a DHCP-request, the DHCP-response will contain:

• IP-address
• TTL -- "time-to-live" -- for how many minutes that you are allowed to use the IP-address, before needing to "renew" the lease
• gateway -- what IP-address is the "bridge" out to the Internet
• the IP-addresses of DNS-servers that you can either use, or can ignore

So, if you configure your computer to "manually" use DNS-servers, e.g., "1.1.1.1" or "8.8.8.8" or "8.8.4.4", and thus to ignore the IP-addresses embedded in that DHCP-response, your computer will connect to those IP-addresses whenever it needs to contact a DNS-server.

> So if I was to setup my wifi router and turn off the shaw modem, and power cycled the pods, you're saying they would connect to my wifi router ?

No. The pods "know" to which SSID that they should connect. If the cable-modem is powered-off, then the pod will not be able to connect to the only access-point that is broadcasting that specific SSID.

[justmejohnny]

Called Shaw about this today...  Wow.  

Level 1 support started ranting so fast that I couldn't understand - about "2.4" and "5g"...  Honestly I think the guy was just trying to bull**bleep** me to get me off the phone.   When I explained that "2.4" and "5g" are radio frequencies and on the transport level, and that DNS is on a different level, he said he already knows that.  Then he starts talking about "2.4" and "5g" again, and having to do diagnostics on my computer... or something.  Diagnostics on my computer to set custom DHCP server settings on the router?  LOL.  **bleep**.

Then, he was very hesitant and tried to delay me when I asked to speak to his superior. 

Level 2 support:  Good.  Was not aware of this, but, did understand the request and said he was "80%" confident that the next version of the BlueCurve modem will support this option.  

We'll see...

Personally, I think I've had enough "bluecurve" and bridge mode is looking appealing. 

[justmejohnny]

---

If your computer sends a DHCP-request, the DHCP-response will contain:

• IP-address
• TTL -- "time-to-live" -- for how many minutes that you are allowed to use the IP-address, before needing to "renew" the lease
• gateway -- what IP-address is the "bridge" out to the Internet
• the IP-addresses of DNS-servers that you can either use, or can ignore
  
  

 DHCP is such a simple protocol... Makes a person wonder why Shaw would make this extremely common setting unavailable.  I haven't ever used a router that both supported DHCP and did not have a option to specify DNS. 

A person might think that Shaw is using DNS queries to further profile blue curve home-user profiles to sell for profit.  

[mdk]

@justmejohnny -- I haven't ever used a router that both supported DHCP and did not have a option to specify DNS. 

A router is both a DHCP-client (on its WAN port) and a DHCP-server (on its LAN ports and on its WiFi adapter(s)).

As a DHCP-client, it must accept the DNS-settings supplied by Shaw's DHCP-server.

As a DHCP-server, it can either "pass-through" the DNS-settings that its DHCP-client has received, or, in most cases, specify the IP-address(es) of the DNS-servers that DHCP-clients ask it to provide.

The user's device (wired or WiFi) can choose to accept the IP-addresses passed to it in the response from the router's DHCP-server, or, in most cases, "hard-wire" its own choice of IP-addresses of DNS-servers, e.g., "always use 1.1.1.1 & 8.8.4.4 & 8.8.8.8".

Yes, it is simple.

[justmejohnny]

As a DHCP-server, it can either "pass-through" the DNS-settings that its DHCP-client has received, or, in most cases, specify the IP-address(es) of the DNS-servers that DHCP-clients ask it to provide.

---

--- Right, and that's the point.  I have never used a router (until now) that does not have the ability to customize the DNS information sent by the LAN side DHCP server.