-- Using another router would cost me in terms of purchas...

[mdk]

@SideshowAlex -- Using another router would cost me in terms of purchasing, configuring and maintaining the router.

Do you get value for your costs? For me, there was no post-setup "maintenance".

I live in an area where www.used.ca is very popular. I see many offers to sell routers, as people have upgraded from a package -- older-generation "basic" cable-modem and their own router -- to a TELUS (or Shaw) "combination" cable-modem-WiFi-capable router.  Examples:

1. $35 - Linksys EA6400, Advanced Wireless-AC technology, 4 Gigabit Ethernet Ports

2. $40 - Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router with 4 ethernet ports

3. $50 - D-LINK AC1750 High Power Wi-Fi Gigabit Router (DIR-859),

> I am fortunate that I have the means to do so, but there are many who don't ...

Agreed.

> securing a network is not something that everyone can easily do.

I disagree. First, any router that does NAT (Network Address Translation) also is a "firewall", which provides security from unsolicited incoming network traffic. Second, the routers that I have used have a built-in "wizard" to guide one through the configuration, and setting of the SSID & password for one's SSID.

> service ... is degraded because the "dumb it down" feature of their network is inhibiting my throughput,

I disagree. Once the cable-modem is "bridged", all network traffic goes directly to the router, without any NAT, until the traffic enters the router.  If you connect one computer directly to the cable-modem, throughput is 100% of what is incoming to the cable-modem. If you connect your own router to the cable-modem, then, of course, NAT can cause some slowdown. But, for me, I pay for "Internet 300", and that is what I get to my desktop, connected, with NAT, to my non-bridged cable-modem.

> making the service not usable for my requirements.

How is it deficient?

> I shouldn't have to purchase another device to make the service usable for the most minimal use case for their service.

True.

But, most Shaw customers need only the "minimum" that Shaw provides -- one cable-modem, one Ethernet LAN-port, and WiFi -- to provide good service. If a customer can afford to live in a "much larger than minimal" house, it is possible that the WiFi won't reach strongly end-to-end, or up-and-down several floors.

[SideshowAlex]

@mdk There is a cost to maintain. I work from home, and downtime has a cost. There is a monetary cost to purchase the router, a cost in terms of time to ensure that the router that you are purchasing is meets your requirements. There is a maintenance cost incurred every time you have to update the router, reconfigure it, reboot it when it unexpectedly dies on you.

My mother would have never be able to secure a network by herself. Any wizard in used to set up an access point would be useless for her. For someone that is technically literate, I agree that it is not hard to setup a router. But there is a percentage of people out there that do not update their routers, leaving them exposed to many security vulnerabilities.

My service is degraded because of a feature of my Blue Curve gateway with wifi being placed on a congested channel. Wired ethernet gives me fantastic speeds. Wifi connections give me a maximum 1/10 of the throughput as with wired ethernet, even when maintaining a social-distance 6 feet away from the gateway. I cannot hold a video call without being dropped.

[mdk]

@SideshowAlex --  There is a cost to maintain. I work from home, and downtime has a cost. There is a monetary cost to purchase the router, a cost in terms of time to ensure that the router that you are purchasing is meets your requirements. There is a maintenance cost incurred every time you have to update the router, reconfigure it, reboot it when it unexpectedly dies on you.

Agreed. However, my HITRON cable-modem has a need for rebooting maybe once per year. It is powered by a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), which protects it from power-spikes.  Any serious "work-at-home" person should invest the time to purchase and deploy a UPS, especially during winter -- when trees fall on power-lines, et cetera -- to protect the router, your desktop computer, your monitor, and your printer.

> For someone that is technically literate, I agree that it is not hard to setup a router. But there is a percentage of people out there that do not update their routers,

There is a majority of people out there who have the "minimum" setup -- one cable-modem, one Ethernet cable,  one desktop computer, and one WiFi-capable smart-phone. For them, Shaw will automatically update their cable-modem. and the default WiFi setup will be perfectly secure.  They will not have their own router.

> leaving them exposed to many security vulnerabilities.

I disagree with the word "many".

> My service is degraded because of a feature of my Blue Curve gateway with wifi being placed on a congested channel.

That is not good.

> Wired ethernet gives me fantastic speeds. Wifi connections give me a maximum 1/10 of the throughput as with wired ethernet, even when maintaining a social-distance 6 feet away from the gateway. I cannot hold a video call without being dropped.

That weakness in the WiFi signal is not typical -- Shaw promotes "whole home WiFi".

Since your "wired" Internet is fine, I think that you have a malfunctioning WiFi adapter in your cable-modem. I find it hard to believe that your neighbours' WiFi "clouds" are interfering that much with your WiFi signals.

Are you connecting on the 5.0 Ghz channel, or the more-crowded 2.4 Ghz channel? If necessary, turn off "band steering" on your BlueCurve, so that you can explicitly connect to the 5.0 Ghz channel -- if your device(s) support that protocol.

I  recommend that you contact Shaw Support, and get them to earn the money that they collect from you, each month, by trouble-shooting, or by shipping a replacement device.

[mdk]

@SideshowAlex -- Wifi connections give me a maximum 1/10 of the throughput as with wired ethernet, even when maintaining a social-distance 6 feet away.

Finally, I recommend that you download and install the free version of the SPECCY software. When you run it on a WiFi-enabled Windows computer, it will give you an inventory of all the WiFi networks within range, including metrics on the signal-strength and channel of each network. If your cable-modem's WiFi signal is "weak", I recommend that you contact Shaw Support, rather than continuing to invest your time in this peer-to-peer discussion forum.

[rstra]

@SideshowAlex The option to change wifi channels was removed to allow the pods to control the network. When I removed the pods, I was hoping that the control would come back, it didn’t. I agree the this feature should have not been taken away.

Which internet plan are you on? If you are in the right city and have Fibre 300 or better, you should be getting 100 up. Which would help with the video conferencing. 

[Upfront6891]

I'm gonna bump this old thread. Many of us don't use pods.

I'm currently having issues with my older XB6 Technicolor modem in the 2.4 GHz where the modem isn't switching channels causing extremely slow speeds (less than 1MB/sec) . It's also greyed out too. Rebooting the modem temporarily resolves this but it's a pain because my smart devices need to unplugged and replugged each time the network goes down. The ignite app goes down a lot and I must turn off the modem manually.

I already swapped out the Arris XB6 twice after it was documented to have issues with WiFi calling which I experienced too. Shaw won't allow a complimentary upgrade to the XB7 or 8. There is the same WiFi calling engineering bug in the Arris XB7+ versions. No WiFi calling issue in the XB7 Technicolor version though.

My trusted Tier 2 engineering contacts at Shaw have been transferred to Freedom Mobile so they can't help me out but off the record they told me the XB6 needs to be replaced. I was warned I'll need amazing luck to find the Technicolor version as it'll be ridiculously time consuming to have the staff in the warehouse to look at each individual XB6 label. I'll see if using a third party router bridged might correct the problem. But I'm not hopeful.

[mdk]

@Upfront6891 --  Shaw won't allow a complimentary upgrade to the XB7 or 8.

True, but if you pay more, and upgrade to any Internet plan faster than 300 Mbps, Shaw will provide you with an XB7 that can deliver that speed.  Upgrade to the top-level (1500 Mbps) and you'll get the XB8.

My trusted Tier 2 engineering contacts at Shaw have been transferred to Freedom Mobile

They are fortunate. In the TV news yesterday, there was a report that Rogers is laying-off some Shaw employees.

they told me the XB6 needs to be replaced.

OK.

I'll see if using a third party router bridged might correct the problem. But I'm not hopeful.

There are many posts to this forum that imply that doing this will be beneficial, namely by disabling all WiFi on the Shaw cable-modem (including communicating with Shaw "pods"), and configuring your third-party modem for all your WiFi needs.