Minimum requirements for an XB6 to work?

[rajatdixit007]

So I moved into a new townhouse in Champlain Heights area in Vancouver. With the move in I was upgraded from a Hitron CGNM-2250 to the new Shaw XB6 Modem. After weeks of trying to connect and multiple routers swaps later Shaw determined that the townhouse complex is 'too old' to support new high bandwidth routers. When I asked the definition of 'too old' the technician mentioned that the signal wire coming into the house has to be upgraded for it to support the new hardware. I am here to ask some questions to the community. 

- Has anyone faced an issue like this before? My home was build in the 70's and I do agree its old but I mean people are still living in it. 
- Does Shaw have a signal/bandwidth threshold test for these new routers? There are thousands of buildings in Metro Vancouver area that are probably older than mine. Would these buildings face similar issues? Does Shaw have a test plan in mind?

- Since then I am running my old Hitron CGNM-2250 and its working just fine. I guess the signal quality coming in meets expectations but, I am still curious to know what quality is good enough quality for these new routers. Has Shaw or anyone tested this in detail? I am sure some advanced testing beforehand can save Shaw and other customers some time instead of sending technicians back and forth. 

The new townhouse has 3 floors and the router is in the basement. I barely get good WiFi on the top floor so I am debating in either switching to Telus or bridging the router with a 3rd part ASUS router. 
Anyhelp in this topic would be appreciated. 
Thanks 

[#2]

Hi!

I live in a old townhouse (built in the 70's), and have no issues with the XB6. One would think that if the Hitron worked fine, the XB6 should also. I know I had endless connection issues with mine when they first installed it. It was due to the MoCA network being enabled in the XB6 (it doesn't actually use it at this time). I went into the router settings and disabled it. It's been running flawlessly since.

[rajatdixit007]

Hi techjunkie,

Thanks for replying. I just wanted to check on where you were finding problems with your case. 
Everytime my XB6 was booted up  it would go through its LED power cycles explained here
Hardware Information - XB6 Advanced WiFi Modem 
My devices always failed after the RED led phase. I expected a solid white but always got a solid AMBER state thereby suggesting that the router power cycling itself. 
Did you face similar issues or is it a different scenario than mine?  
I could try to checkout an XB6 from the Shaw downtown office in Vancouver and try it but I wanna make sure it works else I won't have internet for a day. 
Thank you for your help

[#4]

Hi rajatdixit007;

It's been a while, so I don't remember exactly. It generally worked for me, but it would randomly drop connection and have the amber light (like a power cycle) issue that you mentioned. When Shaw looked at it, they could not see any power cycles or dropouts on their end, which is weird. This went on daily until I went into the settings and disabled the MoCA network (which was suggested by the third tech support rep I talked to). I haven't had an issue since.

[rajatdixit007]

Hi techjunkie,

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know about this MoCA network issue. I will see if I can checkout a Technicolor XB6 from the downtown Shaw office in Vancouver. One thing I have noticed is that my townhouse has the old RG59 coaxial cables instead of the new RG6. Does different type of coaxial cables makes a difference?

[#6]

Aaaahhhhh. That may be it. RG59 is 20 AWG copper wire coax, whereas RG6 is 18 AWG (thicker). Your cables may indeed not be able to handle the bandwidth.

[#7]

The cable size doesn't affect the bandwidth.  It affects the attenuation, how fast the signal weakens as it travels though.

Higher frequencies attenuate faster than lower ones do, MoCA is at a higher frequency than cable channels are.

[#8]

Aahhh. That makes sense.

TL:DR still screwed. 

[rstra]

Especially over copper braid 59 cable. 

[#10]

See any type of RG-59 cable..  Throw it out..