yes, we tested the wired connection, and it was at full s...

[JyL]

yes, we tested the wired connection, and it was at full speed, but just no wifi, I had to factory reset the modem to get the wifi back, 

[Phazetic99]

I've been having this issue with shaw for years. I know there is degraded wires leading to my house but shaw won't admit it. I've changed routers, modems and more. The last 6 months have gotten increasingly worse. I am waiting for telus to install fiber to my house and the switch is set. I wish I didn't have to switch but with the more devices that rely on a stable internet connection, I see no alternative. 

I am not writing this to bash shaw or to be negative. I want to share my experience and some of the things I've done. Maybe if more people can identify this problem, the problem will get fixed.

One thing to test your connection is to download a free program called PingPlotter. There are versions that are better that you pay for, but it has a free version where you can just monitor your internet connection. 

I've had PingPlotter running for days and I get lag spikes a few times a minute and occasionally the lag spike gets so severe that there is a total internet disconnection for up to 20 seconds. This will cause videos on Netflix and Youtube to crash, it will cause my Chromecast to disconnect, and make my online media unwatchable. This makes online video games unplayable at times. This occurs on non-peak hours. For example, I observed this at 5am this morning.

This lag spikes increased a lot since the first snow hit. But even before I was observing Chromecast outages and video buffering once every couple hours.

Additionally, I have a computer that is always LAN wired to the modem and PingPlotter observes lag spikes and disconnects on a hard wired line too, so its not just the wifi. 

I used PingPlotter to identify lag spikes and outages years ago, and I have changed many modems through shaw, and even buying my own. The current one worked pretty good for a couple of years, but this degradation has increased to this point. 

I have called Shaw many times over the years. There was one time that the technician admitted there was some issue with something outside of my house, and that he was going to investigate. He never got back to me. Somehow, things got better afterwards, but then it will slowly erode again, causing lag and outages.

I no longer trust shaw, and I am looking for internet alternatives. It is quite frustrating that there are not a lot of choices. I feel if there were more competition, this issue would be fixed real fast

[mdk]

@Phazetic99 -- I do not understand why your Chromecast device would go "down", because it is a "local" device on your LAN (Local Area Network). If you are playing a DVD on your computer, and "casting" the computer's output to the Chromecast, you do NOT need to have an active Internet connection -- you just need a "solid" WiFi connection from your cable-modem to your Chromecast, and a "solid" connection (Ethernet or WiFi) from your computer to your cable-modem.

You did not mention if any Shaw Agent has remotely logged-on to your cable-modem, to view its statistics, including "signal-strength". 

> lag spikes increased a lot since the first snow hit

That suggests that all the networking hardware (including Ethernet and coaxial-cables) inside your home is OK, and that the issue is somewhere "out there" (from the Shaw "demarcation box" on the outside of your home, out to the nearest telephone-pole, and the Shaw infrastructure up-and-down your street). Only a service-call from a Shaw "line technician" can trouble-shoot that part of their network.

[shaw-tony]

@Phazetic99 I'm sorry to hear of your ongoing frustrations. Checking your account the signal looks solid to all of your equipment with no errors showing up. From what you are saying the degradation in service tends to start due to weather-related issues (snow or rain)? It's possible the connection within your home or to your home around that time is unprotected or potentially submerged. Flooded lines can affect your signal connections. I don't see any issues in your area or active problem tickets at this time. If this happens again next time, I'd recommend contacting technical support to book a service visit to investigate if there are any potential submerged lines/connections around, outside your home along with the street equipment.

[Phazetic99]

I've worked with technicians for about a month when I first moved in here 7 years ago-is. I proved that there was something funky with the signal by using Ping Plotter.

He even put a temporary cable from the box at the sidewalk in front of my house and ran it all the way along my fence to inside, with no difference..

What did work was buying my own modem and router and using that. 

Years later I did get a Shaw modem when I moved up to Shaw 300 plan. It has been mostly good but the lag and disconnects have been steadily getting worse. 

Shaw seems unable to find a solution so I guess they assume its with my desktop computer hard wired to modem, and brand new laptop, or all the other devices that all go out at the exact same time, corresponding with Ping Plotter showing dropped signal. 

The way I see it, the only other way to troubleshoot is to see how my devices work with Telus. It is what I told the technician I talked to last time I had to call in

[mdk]

@Phazetic99 --  the lag and disconnects have been steadily getting worse

Can you show some "numbers" that show the lag to a specific IP-address, such as the numbers from using the Windows TRACERT command to a specific IP-address?  Where are you physically located? Vancouver? Calgary? Edmonton? Out-of-town with the nearest "big-city" some Km away?

[Kinetic]

I have the exact same problems with Shaw wifi dropping so frequently. It becomes a big issues when we are using it for online classes and work. We should have a class action lawsuit in place to force Shaw to do something. Looks like Shaw is just taking the money and doing nothing.

[Phazetic99]

So the top portion is the trace route, the bottom graph is what has happened in the last hour. The red bars are outages, and you can see how I'm spiking constantly. While playing online games, those spikes will cause lag in the game.

[Phazetic99]

oh yeah, and I live just outside of Lethbridge, in a small town, coaldale

[mdk]

@Phazetic99 -- the values to your cable-modem - Docsis-Gateway.LB.shawcable.net - are:

   Avg=91.4, Min=2.4, Cur=4.2, PL=9.2

Yes, the "LB" in the name is Lethbridge. If you check "70.75.192.2" (not ".1"), you also see ".LB." as part of the host-name.

It is a little strange that the "average" is extremely high.

It is quite strange that the values to your cable-modem are not "1" or "2" milliseconds.

I find it very strange that "PL%" is 9.2; this implies that 9.2% of the packets from your computer to your cable-modem are being dropped. 

The output from PINGPLOTTER seems to show that no other routers, down to the one in "SEAttle", are not dropping any packets -- almost all the "drops" are inside your home - between your computer and your cable-modem.

I would:

1. try reseating the current Ethernet cable, at both ends, 
2. swap to a different Ethernet cable,
3. connect to the other Ethernet port on the BlueCurve cable-modem,
4. try an Ethernet connection on a different computer, with your current Ethernet cable,
5. try an Ethernet connection on a different computer, with a different Ethernet cable,
6. try a WiFi connection, instead of an Ethernet connection, on some computer.

Please share your results from the above tests.