wrote: I asked if I could swap it out at a Shaw/Rogers s...

[mdk]

@davegriffin wrote:  I asked if I could swap it out at a Shaw/Rogers store myself but he said this wasn't possible.

Yes, ever since COVID, Shaw employees do not touch any "returned" equipment.

Instead, they order a replacement to be shipped from their warehouse to you, and you use Canada Post to box-up the current device, and ship it (at Shaw's expense) to a Shaw location where proper sanitation procedures (hopefully) are followed.

[davegriffin]

I was not offered a replacement by mail. I have to wait  for a tech next Saturday.

Meanwhile my internet failed twice yesterday and twice today.

Not what I would call good service.

[mdk]

@davegriffin -- physically, where are you?  Shaw's "outages" page for "Southern Alberta" show many outages in that region, on May 7th. Most seem to be a lack of AC power reaching the Shaw infrastructure.  Blame an electricity provider: https://energyrates.ca/alberta/  for outages on their network.

[davegriffin]

I live in Southwest Calgary in the Somerset community.

There haven't been any power outages in my area in the last month.

I lost my internet connection twice on Monday ( 8;00 am and 8:30 pm ), once on Tuesday at 10:30 pm and once so far today at 7:51 am.

To get it back I have to unplug the modem for several minutes before I plug it back in.

This is not what I expect from my internet provider. This is not an energy provider problem.

[mdk]

@davegriffin wrote: There haven't been any power outages in my area in the last month.

There probably are many electrically-powered devices between your home and Shaw's "Central Office". If any of them lose power, your Internet is "out".

For example, a "traceroute" from my computer to www.shaw.ca starts out with:

my modem: 1 ms 10.0.0.1
Shaw network device in my neighbourhood: 10 ms 70.67.224.1
Shaw network device in my city: 9 ms rd1cv-be122-1.gv.shawcable.net [64.59.161.249]
Shaw network device in my city:10 ms 24.244.62.1
Shaw network device in my city:10 ms 24.244.61.109
Shaw network device in my city: 10 ms rd1lp-be1.gv.shawcable.net [66.163.72.22]

and the trace continues, if all of the above devices are "up" -- receiving power from BC Hydro, and actively routing IP packets.

So, unless you ask Shaw which of their devices in your city lost power, the fact that you did not lose power is not relevant.

[davegriffin]

I am 80 years old. This conversation has turned out to be way above my competence level.

All I can tell you is I am frequently losing my internet connection. I was told in a chat with a Shaw Agent that there is a problem with my modem that requires a tech visit to my home to fix. I took the first available appointment which was over a week from the date of the Chat.

In my opinion Shaw should have a faster way of taking care of their customers who are experiencing problems.

Just want to let you know that I lost my internet connection yesterday at 7:51 am and 7:23 pm. It has also gone down again as I am typing this at 8:15am. I have unplugged the modem for a couple of minutes and plugged it in and am now able to resend.

[mdk]

@davegriffin wrote: I was told [by] a Shaw Agent that there is a problem with my modem that requires a tech visit to my home to fix. 

A properly-trained Shaw Agent should be able to remotely logon to your modem, to view the "signal strength" (and other measured values) that is reaching their device.  Poor values can cause the symptoms that you have noted.  You might want to call Shaw, and ask the Shaw Agent to do this test, immediately -- not a week into the future. When the technician arrives, next week, the same measurements will probably be taken.

[davegriffin]

That is what the Shaw Agent did. He told me that it is probably the modem but had to schedule a tech visit to my home. 

My whole point is this could have been done quicker, either by me swapping out the modem at a Shaw/Rogers store or sending me a new modem by mail.

This has caused my wife and I a lot of aggravation.

[mdk]

@davegriffin wrote: swapping out the modem at a Shaw/Rogers store 

One of the lingering effects of COVID is that their store-fronts no longer accept any customer-used equipment, for sanitary reasons. They hand-out sealed boxes, to brand-new customers. Their return-centre is where the used equipment is properly handled.

He told me that it is probably the modem, but had to schedule a tech visit to my home. 

That's probably an item on his flow-chart.  I think that it would be cheaper to ship a new modem to you, rather than to schedule and pay a technician to make a site-visit.

However, if you have some other problem, even after swapping the modem, having the technician on-site may quickly resolve your "real" issue. Possibilities:

1. replacing the coaxial-cable between the modem & the wall-port;
2. problem with their hardware inside their "demarcation" box (where the coaxial cables inside your home are joined, to connect to the single coaxial-cable that goes from that box to the nearest telephone-pole);
3. problem with that cable that goes to the nearest telephone-pole;
4. other problem that affects all the Shaw customers on your street.

So, there is some justification for getting a site-visit.

[deli107]

mine as well