Constant latency spikes and brief disconnections

[talthos]

And it's been getting worse, over the past month or so. Connecting from the Brentwood Bay area on the Saanich Peninsula of Vancouver Island, so I wonder if we need to have the lines going to the telephone poles looked at again.

[shaw-valerie]

@talthos Are you experiencing the issue on multiple devices in your home? When you're seeing disconnections, do the lights on the modem itself change at all? What other troubleshooting have you attempted so far? 

[talthos]

Yes, all connected devices experience problems. I haven't watched the modem lights to check for any changes during the latency spikes.

As for other troubleshooting methods, I've tried adjusting the MTU, I've tried clearing the DNS resolver cache, I've tried manually selecting DNS servers based on reliability and speed, I've even tried using a VPN routing service to try and get a more ideal routing solution for the online games I play; the latency spikes still happen, no matter what route I end up with.

Edit: I'm seriously considering just grabbing Shaw's highest 'business' plan, and being done with the problems inherent to Shaw's 'home' plans.

[DuncanRichards]

Quick question.

What modem do you have? Is it an Arris XB6 (black) or the Technicolor one (looks the same but is a light blue)?

[shaw-tony]

@talthos it may be a signal related issue. Have you tried the steps here to reseat your coax cable connection? If the performance does not improve, touch base with our technical support members to schedule a service technician.

[talthos]

Neither: it's a Hitron CGNM-2250.

Does it require replacement, perhaps?

[x0swifty0x]

Nah it's a Shaw problem they have this sweet deal with Intel to get garbage chipsets called Puma 6/7, your modem is black listed as a do not use modem along with several others. This chip is notorious for high latency spikes causing internet interruptions sporadically.

Shaw won't admit there is a problem with them but just do some Google searching you'll see you're not the only one with this issue. 

[talthos]

When I said "Does it require replacement", I meant whether I should get it replaced with one of Shaw's newer cable modem models.

They do have newer, better ones that I could use with my current plan, right?

[shaw-tony]

@talthos depending on which plan you have, the BlueCurve Gateway is available. 

[talthos]

My plan is the 300 mbps plan. Though I also have a digital phone plan with Shaw as well.

Additionally, two other people connect through the modem I have now, for a total of 3 separate Ethernet cables. The BlueCurve Gateway you linked only has 2 Ethernet ports.