Shaw is selling unstable, unusable internet

[dongboka]

I have shaw 600 bluecurve plan since feburary and since about 2-3 weeks ago, the internet has been downright UNUSABLE.

The internet constantly chokes and dies for several minutes every 10-20 seconds (Then goes back up to 200mbs and dies again). I cannot load any web pages as they give me the "No Internet" page. I got 600 mbs plan because I'm a heavy gamer and needless to say, I cannot play ANY online games with this internet. I have a free telus 30mbs internet that's included with my place and that works far faster and stable than shaw's 600 mbs garbage.

I've talked to shaw's web agents many times, and all they can suggest is restart the modem, reset the modem, check the cables, and update your computer while saying everything looks fine on their end and the modem. I've also had a replacement modem, which still had the same problem. Then they scheduled a technician to come this morning, and... nothing. Just nothing. Yet shaw have the audacity to charge me $300 for contract cancellation fee and monthly internet fee. It's a scam, really.

To any of you who happened to come across this post before getting internet with Shaw, consider twice. also, do NOT get into any contract with Shaw no matter how sweet the deal sounds. You will end up wasting your time and money.

[Burman]

I had similar problem 2 days ago. Shaw web agent couldn't help me either. So, I did a little research on internet and found out that there will be wi-fi interference between 2.4 & 5 G. So, I set 2.4 wi-fi channel to 11 manually, and 48 on 5 G manually. It is now working flawlessly. Just give it a try. 

[dongboka]

I have wired connection to my PC, but I tried as you suggested anyways and did not resolve the issue.

[dragonstone634]

first don't use fast.com. The issue is "depending" shaw then eventually over to fast.com. You don't know how many hops it goes to get from shaw to fast.com. 

use speedtest.net. Shaw does have a few servers, it should be to there main center then to the web. Also I am on 600, I never get the full 600 on any speed test. I do get it on some sites but is rare to max out my connection using single service. ie downloading from google drive

[mdk]

> You don't know how many hops it takes to get from Shaw to "fast.com".

I do:

TraceRoute to "fast.com"

  #     time    Host-name & IP-address

_______________________________

  5    15 ms  rc1wt-be40.wa.shawcable.net [66.163.68.18]
  6    11 ms  six.zayo.com [206.81.80.19]
  7    12 ms  208.185.102.158.IPYX-120988-900-ZYO.zip.zayo.com [208.185.102.158]
  8    10 ms  a23-212-92-115.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com [23.212.92.115]

The answer is "eight" -- 4 from my computer to my cable-modem in B.C. into Washington State.

Note that "fast.com" is "co-located" -- just one "exit" off the "Internet Superhighway".

Many sites that expect huge amounts of traffic, such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, also "co-locate" their servers.

Use Shaw's server:  http://SpeedTest.Shaw.ca  because it finds the server closest to your location, to give you the biggest speeds.

You need a really-fast computer to run the SpeedTest at full-speed on your computer. For example, a dual-core computer running at 2.0 Ghz is not fast-enough to get a "300 mbps" result, much less an actual "600 mbps" result.

Note that you need a "CAT 5e" or a "CAT 6" Ethernet cable, to get more than "100 mbps".

Also, you need a network adapter inside your computer that is "10/100/1000" -- an older "10/100" adapter will connect at 100 mbps.

In actual use, you need to connect to a server that can "push" data out at a sustained 600 mbps, if you want to receive 600 mbps. Those servers are rare.

[dongboka]

Speed testing ultimately doesn't matter here.

I've used all of the speed test websites that's mentioned above and all yield the same garbage result. (shaw.speedtest.net, speedtest.net, fast.com)

Looking at the forum, I'm not the only one having this issue and it seems to be the Blue Curve modem's issue, as in the technology itself.

[mdk]

@dongboka - I've used all of the speed test websites that's mentioned above and all yield the same garbage result.

Quantitative results please, not just qualitative.

What numbers do you get from the Shaw SpeedTest?

What are you paying Shaw to get? Internet 75? Internet 300? Fibre+ Giga (1000 mbps) ?

Do you have a coaxial-splitter between the wall-port and your cable-modem? If so, temporarily bypass it, by connecting the cable-modem directly to the wall-port, and rerun the test.

You should be using "CAT 5e" or "CAT 6" Ethernet cable between your modem and your computer?

Does the Ethernet adapter inside your computer support "10/100/1000", or just "10/100" ?

How fast is the processor inside your computer? You need at least 3 Ghz per processor to run the Shaw SpeedTest at its full speed -- to get the best numbers on an "Internet 600" (or faster) plan.

Have you contacted Shaw (online-chat or telephone), and gotten the technician to remotely logon to your BlueCurve, to view the "signal strength", and other values?

[Zeebar]

Do you have a Intel Puma Chipset box? If so then I would tell them you want the broadcom Chipset modem as the Intel Puma Chipset has major latency issues and drops packets.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/c9v3wq/2019_are_the_puma_6_modems_fixed_yet/?utm_so...

[mdk]

@dongboka -- they scheduled a technician to come this morning

On this forum, I have seen reports from three formerly-unsatisfied customers who each got a successful resolution, i.e., the full speed that they were paying for, because:

1. Shaw fixed a problem with their infrastructure (up-and-down the street on which you live) that affected several customers;
2. Shaw replaced a frayed and kinked coaxial-cable between Shaw's "demarcation-box" on the side of your home and the nearest telephone-pole;
3. Shaw replaced a coaxial-cable, again between the demarcation-box and the telephone-pole that was "strung too tightly".

Perhaps, that technician who visited was not trained to diagnose and repair such a "wiring" problem, but they have scheduled a more-qualified technician to make the repairs. Contact Shaw, to see if there is an outstanding work-order related to your account.

[rickatk]

---

@mdk wrote:

@dongboka -- they scheduled a technician to come this morning

On this forum, I have seen reports from three formerly-unsatisfied customers who each got a successful resolution, i.e., the full speed that they were paying for, because:

1. Shaw fixed a problem with their infrastructure (up-and-down the street on which you live) that affected several customers;
2. Shaw replaced a frayed and kinked coaxial-cable between Shaw's "demarcation-box" on the side of your home and the nearest telephone-pole;
3. Shaw replaced a coaxial-cable, again between the demarcation-box and the telephone-pole that was "strung too tightly".

Perhaps, that technician who visited was not trained to diagnose and repair such a "wiring" problem, but they have scheduled a more-qualified technician to make the repairs. Contact Shaw, to see if there is an outstanding work-order related to your account.

---

Well put @mdk I have been running a 600Mbps connection for almost a year and just recently upgraded to Fibre+ Gig. I had two techs walking around my house checking things related to early installation of pods. They did some minor changes to cables, tightened up a few connections test all the pods - all good! This on a service that was running really well. They were interested in my experience as an early pods user.

Using speed tests of a variety of flavours I consistently got reports of 640Mbps on my fastest device over wifi. Recently I upgraded to Fibre+ Gig. Again, in response to a few inquires I worked with a senior tech to test everything because download speeds weren’t the usual high speeds over what was promised. I have concluded that speed tests are only so good. My home network is very stable and I do get upwards of 750Mbps download over wifi and is likely not capable of gigabit download over wifi yet. More important, all my devices run well, the wireless tv players work perfectly and my sometime fussy Bose gear has been trouble free thanks to Fibre+ Gig and a good home network. 

I have been accused of being a “Shaw shill” or employee for Shaw in response to making positive posts on this forum. None of that is true. In fact I have every reason to post positively. I feel compelled to comment to posts from frustrated customers when their gear isn’t working. My message continues to be, exercise patience, work with the tech support folks and be kind.