Hardwired drops and reduced WiFi speeds with Fibre+ Gig

[David_M]

First time post, but can't seem to find an answer on the forums (excuse me if I have missed it).

I recently upgraded to Fibre+ Gig and have been having no end of difficulties.  I have called in to Shaw Support multiple times and there is no resolution.  Keep on factory resetting it and it will work for a couple of hours, and then issues restart.

Basic set up is the BlueCurve Gateway, with 3 pods distributed evenly throughout the house as per guidelines.

Initial set-up included a hardwired line to a gaming system, and a hardline to a SONOS bridge system (2017 vintage) which creates a mesh for the wireless sound system which should not interfere with computer WiFi (as per SONOS).  Hardline to the gaming system is now disconnected, and a CAT6 line is running to the main desktop (albeit older iMac but is able to connect to 5GHz -- had no problems on 300 Mbps contract). 2019 MacBook Pro is connected wirelessly to the system, along with various aged iPads, iPhones, and printer.  Pods were set-up to extend signal only for phones and iPad which do not need speed.

Speed tests when the desktop is connected is approximately at 650 - 700, but connection keeps dropping intermittently throughout the day.

MacBook Pro wireless SpeedTest is showing 133 Mbps when approximately 3 ft from the gateway.  WiFi Tx Rate on laptop is showing 1300 Mpbs at the same time (I have had up to 250 Mbps on the speed test after a factory reset, Tx rates remain constant).  Took hardwire off desktop, and it was showing a WiFi Tx Rate of 450 Mbps but only a download of 133.

I have not been able to find a maximum throughput speed for the Shaw Gateway WiFi (Arris system).  What is the maximum WiFi speed for the Gateway (I know pods are only around 75 - 100 Mbps per Shaw).

Furthermore, the Gateway seems to drop my Sonos bridge at least once or twice a day (three times tonight so far), and after a reset, I have just lost all of my pods.  Also, when the gaming system is attached to the Gateway, we lose signal at least twice a day.

Is this a possible channel issue?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  

Thanks

[Techjunkie]

I'm just spitballing here, because I had random drops back when I originally got the BlueCurve Gateway, and this is what fixed it.

Login to the gateway from your PC (10.0.0.1 in your browser address bar.)

Username: admin

Password: password

Look and see that the MoCA network is disabled. I believe it is enabled by default. It's not used, and caused nothing but headaches for me. If it's enabled in the settings, disable it.

Hope the helps.

[David_M]

Thanks for the speedy reply.

I just double checked, and the MoCA network is disabled.

I will keep troubleshooting... Thought it might be due to the VPN required by work, but I am still having issues once that has been disconnected.

Latest logs (were reset after latest reboot) show the following error codes (time stamps and other info removed, but all within 1 second of each other

DHCPv6 - Missing Required Option 82
DHCPv6 - Missing Required Option 24
DHCPv6 Provision - 0 Retries Attempted with Last attempt
DHCPv6 Failed - No Prefix Available
DHCPv6 Failed - No Address Available

Other relevant information

LAN for the Sonos bridge is showing a connection speed of 100 Mbps (expected), and hardline to Desktop is showing a LAN connection speed of 1000 Mbps, but a speed test of 640 over a CAT6.

Thanks

[mdk]

@David_M -- MacBook Pro wireless SpeedTest is showing 133 Mbps when approximately 3 ft from the gateway.  

This probably is the limitation of the wireless network adapter inside the device.

> WiFi Tx Rate on laptop is showing 1300 Mpbs at the same time (I have had up to 250 Mbps on the speed test after a factory reset.

Yes, the laptop's wireless adapter is sending to the Shaw router at the 1300 Mbps speed, but the Shaw router is configured to send to the Internet only at 25 Mbps (if you have Fibre+ Gigabit speed). The Shaw router is configured to receive from the Internet at 1000 Mbps. It could be the speed of the processor inside the laptop that is "too slow" to run the Shaw SpeedTest at its full speed. So, the test will report 250, instead of 1000.

> Took hardwire off desktop, and it was showing a WiFi Tx Rate of 450 Mbps but only a download of 133.

Same explanation -- the wireless adapter inside the laptop is older/slower, creating that limit of 133. Try to put out a fire with a garden hose, instead of a firefighter's house -- both hoses connect to the same water reservoir, but your hose is constraining the liters-per-minute.

However, the "disconnects" are a quite-different problem. I recommend that you contact Shaw (online-chat is currently given higher priority than telephone) and get them to trouble-shoot.

[mdk]

@David_M -- hardline to Desktop is showing a LAN connection speed of 1000 Mbps, but a speed test of 640 over a CAT6.

The network-adapter inside your computer will send/receive at either 10 or 100 or 1000 Mbps. Compare to driving the snowy Coquihalla Highway in winter -- the posted speed-limit is not achievable, and it is not safe to try to reach that speed.

However, if your computer's processor is fast-enough, you should get 1000 speed, if everything is working correctly:

• tightly-connected Ethernet cable,
• tightly-connected coaxial-cable,
• good coaxial-cables inside the walls of your domicile,
• good coaxial-splitter inside Shaw's "demarcation-box" on the outside of your home,
• good coaxial-cable from that box to the telephone-pole,
• good Shaw infrastructure up-and-down your street

I recommend that you contact Shaw (online-chat is currently given higher priority than telephone) and get them to "earn" the thousands of dollars that you are paying per year to them for their services.

[David_M]

@mdk 

Thanks for the information.  The laptop is a 16" 2019 MacBook Pro running the latest operating system (sorry, should have included that information).

I am getting consistent upload speeds of around 25, so there doesn't seem to be any problem there (although sometimes it drops down to 3 or 4).  

Any idea what the maximum download speed transmitted via WiFi from the Gateway is?

[rstra]

If it is faster wifi speeds, you want, I would turn off band steering on the BlueCurve and connect the laptop to the 5 GHz network.

[mdk]

@David_M -- one Apple web-site reports:

• 802.11ac Wi‑Fi wireless networking
• IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatible

So, your 16-inch MacBook Pro has the fastest-available WiFi adapter.

One Shaw web-site for their BlueCurve reports: Supports 802.11ac WiFi standard,

namely the same as your MacBook Pro.

That "AC" protocol can exceed 1000 Mbps -- that is why you see "1300". So, the speed of the cable-modem is the bottle-neck.

[David_M · Accepted solution]

@mdk -- one Apple web-site reports: 802.11ac Wi‑Fi wireless n...

Thanks for all your help.

I replaced the gateway today and now have 750 over WiFi to the laptop.

Obviously, there was something wrong with the Gateway modem.

[mdk]

@David_M -- now have 750 over WiFi to the laptop.

Blazing speed!  I hope that your laptop does not melt-down !   🙂

Now, all we need is web-sites that can "push" out data at that speed. It would be nice to download a full movie in a few seconds, and take a few movies to your summer-cabin, to view while there.

But, fortunately, web-sites like YouTube and services like Zoom work fine at way less than 1% of 750 Mbps.