Shaw Bluecurve - many IOT devices causing a massive breakdown, need advice

andsoitgoes
Grasshopper

Hi everyone,

 

so I’m struggling with Shaw as a whole. I think I’ve finally figured out what’s going on, the blue curve can’t seem to handle all the devices connected through it and once it hits a certain amount the modem just craps out and dies. For example last night my internet was fine. The second I would go and try to play a 4K movie on my Apple TV, the internet would disconnected. Enter 5 minutes of the modem rebooting. I’d get it playing again then I’d have to pause it for whatever reason, internet dies. 

I unplugged and unhooked a few wireless devices and fancy that, not a single stall into the red. At all. It’s been fine since that. 

so I’ve decided I’m sick of the blue curve trying to rule the roost here and I’m just going to add a WiFi 6 router to bridge the gap as I cannot trust my deco mesh network, it’s too flakey and while it works great, I’m having massive connectivity issues when trying to use that network. Plus this allows me to add a WiFi 6 router into the mix. 

what I want to know is the best solution here. I was planning on bridging the modem but I have 2 WiFi cable boxes and it seems that the last tech was doubly wrong in that bridge mode will kill those boxes. 

My plan is this:

 

blue curve modem. Remove most (all?) devices from it and keep it to the bare minimum. I’ll basically use this as a cordoned off network that will power secondary devices like my in laws computers and such. I want to change this to a 192 network subnet (my internal one is 10., as I didn’t think this could be changed on the Shaw modem when I first got the service last year. The more you know). 

Since I can’t bridge, I plan on connecting my WiFi 6 router to the port on the back and providing that dmz access. On the WiFi 6 router I will have all the necessary security settings and willl connect all my main floor iOt devices directly to. I will then connect my WiFi mesh network to this router to work as repeaters through the house. They are already set in AP mode so this seems like a no brainer solution. 

I understand this will leave 3 networks fighting around my house but I honestly have no idea what else to do. It’s clear the blue curve can’t handle what I’m throwing at it. It’s obvious the WiFi network just isn’t capable of fulfilling the needs and there’s no eta on sorting anything out as the new WiFi 6 blue curve modem is still not available in my area. 

Is there any advice on setting my network up like this? Maybe is there a better situation I’m just missing out on utilizing?

 

thanks in advance 

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-- I was planning on bridging the modem but I have 2 WiFi...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@andsoitgoes -- I was planning on bridging the modem but I have 2 WiFi cable boxes and it seems that the last tech was doubly wrong in that bridge mode will kill those boxes. 

Think of a situation where one lives in an apartment block, and every occupant has their own Shaw (or Telus) Internet service. Each of those boxes broadcasts their own WiFi network. If you "view available WiFi networks", you will observe that your device can "see" many of those networks.  So, in your case, having only TWO boxes should not be a problem.

However, note that "bridging" a Shaw cable-modem will disable (or "kill")  its built-in WiFi network. Is that what the Shaw Agent meant?

> I understand this will leave 3 networks fighting around my house 

No more "fighting" than somebody living in an apartment/condominium.

> Since I can’t bridge, I plan on connecting my WiFi 6 router to the port on the back.

I see no reason why you cannot bridge, unless you want some WiFi devices to connect to the BlueCurve's WiFi.

Note that the BlueCurve has two Ethernet ports, and Shaw allows each customer to have two "public" IP-addresses. If you "bridge" the BlueCurve, then you can connect, via Ethernet, to two WiFi-capable routers, and each router will take one of those "public" IP-addresses. Or, of course, you could connect one router and your "mesh" device to the BlueCurve.

You do have to ask Shaw to provide a second IP-address for your account.

When you write about having "two WiFi cable boxes", do you have two separate Shaw accounts -- your "main", and a "secondary/in-law" suite?

 

 

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I see no reason why you cannot bridge, unless you want so...

andsoitgoes
Grasshopper

I see no reason why you cannot bridge, unless you want some WiFi devices to connect to the BlueCurve's WiFi.

I thought the wireless cable boxes couldn’t connect to the blue curve in bridge mode? what the tech told me is that I could bridge and the wireless boxes would still work, but after doing some reading on the forums and from posts you made that it wouldn’t. Is that not the case? 

No more "fighting" than somebody living in an apartment/condominium.

fair point!

 

When you write about having "two WiFi cable boxes", do you have two separate Shaw accounts -- your "main", and a "secondary/in-law" suite?

nope just the one account, I just have one box on our tv upstairs and one on their tv downstairs  

Note that the BlueCurve has two Ethernet ports, and Shaw allows each customer to have two "public" IP-addresses. If you "bridge" the BlueCurve, then you can connect, via Ethernet, to two WiFi-capable routers, and each router will take one of those "public" IP-addresses. Or, of course, you could connect one router and your "mesh" device to the BlueCurve.

I thought when you bridged the modem it disabled one of the ports? If not, that’s very interesting and I may consider that, but I prefer to have my network all as one just for simplicity sake so…. Maybe not. But that’s good to know down the road. I know the Shaw tech did confirm I had 2 ip addresses but seemed completely out of his depth on how that could be used 😑

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-- what the tech told me is that I could bridge and the w...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@andsoitgoes -- what the tech told me is that I could bridge and the wireless boxes would still work, but after doing some reading on the forums and from posts you made that it wouldn’t. Is that not the case? 

There may be a difference between the "hidden" WiFi network between the BlueCurve and the XI6, and the "visible" WiFi network. The latter certainly does get disabled when the BlueCurve is bridged.

> I just have one box on our TV upstairs and one on their TV downstairs  

It depends on which boxes you have. With the XB6/XI6 boxes, any content recorded on one device can be viewed on the other device. With the older PVRs, anything recorded on a PVR can only be viewed on that PVR.

> I thought when you bridged the modem, it disabled one of the ports?

Yes, if Shaw has provided your account with just one "public" IP-address, it is either allocated to a "non-bridged" BlueCurve, or it is allocated to one device connected to one of the two LAN ports on the BlueCurve. However, for no additional cost, Shaw will provide your account with 2 "public" IP-addresses -- one per LAN port on the BlueCurve.

With two "public" IP-addresses and a "bridged" cable-modem, the two LAN-connected devices each get a "public" IP-address. Use it any way that pleases you. One of the connected devices could be a router, and that router could be capable of "WiFi 6".

 

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I'm confused here.    According to this post:   https://s...

andsoitgoes
Grasshopper

I'm confused here. 

 

According to this post:

 

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-discussions/how-to-solve-this-question/td-p/22017

 

Bridge mode according to you disables all wifi/wireless shaw cable boxes. Is that not the case?

 

As for the boxes, I have whatever comes with the default Blue Curve network. To be honest I don't use them, I only have TV service for my brother-in-law who lives downstairs. If it weren't for him, I would have cut the cord years ago, but he needs it therefore I keep it active.

 

So again, I'm confused. If I enable bridge mode, will that disable the ability to use these wireless boxes? Or can I still use them? This is something I need the answer to clearly before I proceed.


If they will still work, then I am happily ready to bridge the modem and kick the Blue Curve to the curb. That said, I also would not mind just adding a router down the line, I plan on getting a tri band wifi 6 modem and leave the majority of IOT devices on either the shaw modem or spread them throughout.

 

What I cannot figure out is this:

 

On my Mesh network, a select group of devices simply don't work. It could be something as simple as a 2.4ghz camera, while others work, or a 2019 iPad. They connect directly to the blue curve fine. But the minute I try to connect them to the mesh network, I lose the ability to in any real way connect to the internet. I can sometimes get a minor amount of data up/down, but it's not even enough to load a basic webpage or even run a speed test.

 

Now tonight I figured out a solution, if I enable the guest network on my Shaw modem, magically things completely work again. The ONLY difference that I've found, all other settings the same and even specifying to not exclude it from the main network, is that my devices have a different MAC address when connecting to the guest network. So for example my iPad that wouldn't connect no matter what I tried, connects flawlessly and at full speed to the guest network.


I know I could just leave that network active, but for one I should not have to. It's illogical to make this a requirement to get my network operational. And I can ONLY come back to the issue being with the Blue Curve modem and it doing something to screw me over. It's the only thing that seems to square the circle, but I can find nothing on the modem to address that. I'm trying everything I can to not have to wipe the modem and change my SSID, but I'm getting very close to doing so. It doesn't answer why something like my Xbox still cannot connect in any way wired to the modem, unless again there's something that's lived through the factory reset that is causing issues.

I would love to figure this out and shaw support has been less than stellar doing so.

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-- my devices have a different MAC address when connectin...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@andsoitgoes -- my devices have a different MAC address when connecting to the guest network

Most WiFi-capable devices have a MAC-address that never changes.

The exception is Apple devices running the latest Apple OS, because that software routinely changes the MAC-address, to reduce the ability for the device to be tracked (by following a "static" MAC-address everywhere that ones goes and makes a WiFi connection). You may disable this option.

See: https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-discussions/my-kid-keeps-by-passing-the-wifi-restrictions-on-the...  where a son routinely changes a MAC-address, to deliberately bypass hours-of-usage restrictions set by his father.

 

 

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I noticed that the most recent update does provide that....

andsoitgoes
Grasshopper

I noticed that the most recent update does provide that.

 

However unfortunately that did not solve it. I tried by turning off the "Private address" toggle and even with a different MAC address, I could not establish a connection unless I specifically joined my  mesh network's Guest network.

And in the end I still have NO IDEA why it will only connect to the mesh guest network. The real trial will be my father-in-law's iPad air, as that will be a huge factor in whether or not this whole system is just going to continue being a nightmare. I really wish I could just get the mesh network working, or that Shaw would just send me out the newer modem with wifi 6 and more bandwidth for my IOT devices. 

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Also I'm still trying to figure out one SUPER important i...

andsoitgoes
Grasshopper

Also I'm still trying to figure out one SUPER important issue:

If I bridge my modem, will the cable boxes still work?

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'course you could bridge your old wifi modem and connect...

Howzer
Grasshopper

'course you could bridge your old wifi modem and connect it to the blue curve and connect your guest and IoT devices to it...

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