I too had the XB6, which they installed when I moved to a new location, on my internet 300 service. I just bought a really too expensive house, and I could not stand being anywhere on the main floor due to the continual high pitched almost subliminal whine. Shaw was NOT helpful at first, they replaced it twice with the same, and each time it was the same or worse, and it just was wasting a lot of my time having to reprogram the modem/gateway with the prior passwords so I didn't have to re-password over a dozen devices in my home. In both cases, when the installer came, they told me they could not hear it, and they were at least 20 years my junior, so I guess they cranked their metal music up too high on their earbuds. To the installers' credit both tried arguing with head office about installing a XB7, which resolves the issue because the power transformer is no longer inside the gateway box, but head office refused.
Then Telus called me with a great offer, and while I really didn't want to change providers, since my Shaw email addresses were decades in use, I decided I was going to pull the plug on Shaw if they didn't remedy this. I was not about to live in only half of the sq footage of my house. By the way, I tried half a dozen ways to resolve the noise issue, I tried putting it on foam, I tried putting a foam circle around it - nothing helped. The best I was able to do is I placed it so that it was not near any walls. I had it "floating" on a shelf in the middle of the room. That helped because the noise didn't have a surface to bounce off of, but it was still unbearable.
I finally called Shaw and told them point blank they fixed t or I was moving to Telus. They did come up with a solution, they moved me from internet 300 to internet 500, which then qualified me for the XB7, at basically the same price (really, I don't get internet 500 anyway, I'm lucky if I get 300 at the gateway location).
I could not believe the difference that change in gateway model made in my life. I didn't realize just how oppressive that sound emanating from the XB6 was until it was gone. It had been like having one of those mosquito (noise emitting) crowd control devices in my house.
I was not even aware of the potential fire risk, so I'm glad its gone for that reason, also. By the way, that sound with the XB6 almost never was off, but Shaw tech support claimed that the fan wasn't on "all that much" and that the box temperature was in the range for the specs, according to their feedback from the gateway device. I don't believe them. I heard it almost all the time, and my house has a heat pump, so it was air conditioned during the warmer days.
I'm just glad it is GONE! If you are having this issue, replacement with the same device won't fix it unless they somehow redesign the units. Just make a lot of "noise" with Shaw/Rogers, and maybe that noise will go away.
Proud-boomer
