Network Communication on bridged XB7 modem's LAN ports is choked almost completely

[dennis369]

I recently upgraded my service and received an XB7 modem (CGM4331SHW) to upgrade from a hitron modem.
After installing and activating the new modem in bridged mode I discovered a couple of networking related issues:

1) 6in4 tunnels via IPv6 tunnel broker no longer work.
Issue has been acknowledged per this post https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-discussions/xb6-blocking-6in4-ipv6-tunnel/m-p/32143#M11333

2) network communication/throughput between two Internet nodes connected to the modem's LAN ports is choked almost completely.

My setup
Ethernet connection from the modem is to my router which serves my LAN.
A second connection is to a standalone web server.
Each connection receives an Internet IPv4 address assigned by Shaw's DHCP.

Connections to the web server's external FQDN or IP address do succeed, but the resulting communication between the 2 nodes averages around 14KB/sec and only in 2 second bursts every 10 seconds. I am unable to successfully establish any type of encrypted connection between the two nodes such as SSH or https: as it appears TLS encrypted sessions time out during the handshake process.

Connecting to web site unencrypted via port 80 does work but very slowly. The web site which normally loads in a couple of seconds with encryption, took almost exactly 10 minutes to load without encryption. Running an indefinite ping between the nodes shows a clean consistent 14ms average response time with zero dropped packets. Everything connects and communicates fast and normal from any other external Internet connected node such as when browsing to the web site on my cell phone or from work.

The problem is only the communication directly between the Ethernet nodes connected to the modem's LAN ports.

My hope is that I can get confirmation that another Shaw customer this issue or perhaps someone could test this internally and submit another escalation to the vendor if confirmed. I too would be happy to test any firmware fixes/updates.

Update: Reverting back to my previous hitron modem immediately resolved both issues without any configuration changes. I'll revisit Fibre+ and the XB7 modem later on when presumably the firmware bugs are eventually ironed out.

[ksihota]

Thank you!!!!!
I have been dealing with this issue ever since I got my Hitron upgraded to a CGM41415SHW
First problem was having to switch to Bridge mode in order to access the 2nd IP and then losing the WIFI router, requiring me to purchase my own.
Second problem was not being able to access the 2nd IP (Server) from any device using the first IP Local wifi LAN
I thought I was crazy. The only way I can connect to my server on the 2nd IP address assigned is to use a VPN. outside connections are fine. Anything inside does not work. I thought there was no connectivity at all but it appears that I can get a very slow access at times but it eventually times out. My server requires secure access so I thought it might be a certificate issue. I do get a message returned using the IP address indicating that it does not match the certificate name however, if that was the case then I should not be able to connect using a VPN or from an external network such as using my Cell provider's network.
To be sure the issue wasn't something to do with my own router I connected a computer directly to one of the CGM41415SHW ports and used the IP directly. Same issue.
I tried to access Shaw support but they said they can't help me. It is either an issue with the device or something else in the shaw setup as far as I can tell.
I don't think I have my old Hitron anymore so that's not an option for me and besides I am paying top dollar for the higher speeds. I figure it should be dealt with.

[mdk]

@ksihota -- First problem was having to switch to Bridge mode in order to access the 2nd IP and then losing the WIFI router, requiring me to purchase my own.

I don't think that you needed to "bridge" your cable-modem.

I have a second "public" IP-address from Shaw, and my non-bridged HITRON cable-modem "passes-through" that IP-address to one specific computer. The first IP-address is consumed by the HITRON.

After bridging your cable-modem, the cable-modem no longer consumes the first IP-address. So, that first IP-address can be allocated to your own router - no need for a second IP-address.

[ksihota]

Thanks for the response mdk
With my Hitron modem/router there was no issue and I did not have to go into bridge mode. However, when I switched to the better Shaw connections 600 (or better) the Hitron modem would not support these and I needed to have an upgrade. With the new modem, the only way to get access to the 2nd IP (after me fighting with it and dealing with several Shaw techs) was to put it into bridge mode. Worked right away (1 IP to each of the ethernet ports on the modem) but by putting that particular modem into bridge mode you lose the WIFI router. I had to get my own router to deal with this. 1 ip to my server and 1 ip to my router.

I quite liked the passthrough IP on the Hitron as I could assign it as I saw fit using the software. I seem to recall that I could select the device when I logged into my Hitron control panel.

So, are saying that, with the new modem, I will have access to a 2nd IP address on the wired port that is different than the one that goes to the WIFI if I don't have it in bridge mode?

Its been some time since I set this up (around a year) but I don't recall being able to get access to a 2nd IP on either of the ethernet ports on the new Modem when it was not in bridge mode. I believe they were DHCP provided IPs of the internal LAN.
I have 2 totally separate networks. My local home LAN and my server that I do not want associated with my internal home network.

[ksihota]

@dennis369Have you had any success at resolving this issue?

[dennis369]

I fully switched back to the hitron modem and 300mbits lower speed service which does resolve the issue.

I shipped the XB7 modem back to Shaw.

Disappointing but for now this will have to do until there's a proper firmware fix for the XB series modems.

[ksihota]

Not sure why, but mine appears to be working now. I can connect to my server without using a VPN. The only thing that I know has changed is that I switched to the Fibre+ GIG service (up from the 600) in order to get the cheaper mobile phone accounts ($25/phone rather than $45/phone)
Not sure why that would make a difference and I am pretty sure that I was still having the issue after i made that change but I really can't remember if I checked it. I also reset my server and obtained a new IP address for it but again, that shouldn't have changed anything either since its on the same subnet as the other. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe Shaw updated the firmware on the modem at some point in the last month or so, or the power outages we have had in the last few weeks did something.😲
I guess i should check and see if Shaw rolled out a firmware fix that I wasn't aware of.