-- 3510 or XG1-v3 will work and that I should provided wi...

[mdk]

@DMS100tech -- 3510 or XG1-v3 will work and that I should provided with upgrades with no charge to me

A few points:

1. It is good that both you and Shaw agree that your current DCX3510 will work;
2. No charge -- presumably, if they want to keep you as a monthly-paying customer;
3. If you get a BlueCurve STB, and it is provisioned, then your DCX3510 will stop working. All older STB and the BlueCurve (with its optional "satellite" boxes that connect via WiFi) cannot co-exist, unless you pay Shaw for two connections.  Hopefully, your house is small-enough that the WiFi signals will be strong-enough for those WiFi-using boxes to work.
4. You could ask Shaw for the Arris Gateway PVR, with optional remote boxes (that use MoCA to connect via your inside-the-walls coaxial cables). I don't know if Shaw still has any of those boxes in their inventory, or if you can find one, on a site like www.used.ca that some formerly-Shaw-TV-but-now-Telus-TV customer is trying to sell, for a pittance.

[DMS100tech]

I called the Tech Support line again on Wed and this time reached a tech in Nanaimo who reviewd my lenghty file and who seemed to suspect something was going on in my area, he told me he saw some signal and error issues with other Shaw customers close to my location. He opened an outage ticket  and made arrengments for someone to investigate the issue.    Service Tech came Sat afternoon and told me they found a damaged cable which is leaking RF.  Told me that this is the most likley cause of the OOB system not communicating as other customers also have the 'Hunt' issue and non working DCX3400's in my area. The goal is to have it repaired  this week, they will call me when its done to verify the OOB is working properly.  Hope this will resolve the problem,  I will update later, thanks to all for your input.

[DMS100tech · Accepted solution]

Finally - a solution - At about 11:00 service tech  arrived with bucket truck. He said that the F-connectors at the drop-amp were very corroded, He said that this corrosion was causing problems for the OOB signal that is running at 104.2 Mhz. As we have a FM station broadcasting at 104.1 Mhz the corroded F-connectors pick up this signal , which then  knocks the hell out of the OOB signal. He showed me Spectrum Analyzed signal which showed a  104.1 Mhz spike in my drop. After he replaced the F-connectors this spike was gone. Guess what the DCX3400's are now working. According to the tech they see this issue quite often. As my drop was RG-59 and was really old he replaced it also with RG-6.  Shaw is also working on a damaged RF cable in my area but which is not affecting OOB as previously posted.

Hope this post helps someone who might have a simiiar issue, also thanks to all who chimed in, its been a good learning experience.

[mdk]

@DMS100tech -- the OOB signal that is running at 104.2 Mhz.

That's good to know. In my area, that frequency is "surrounded":

104.10  KAFE Today's Variety  USA, Orcas Island, WA, Mount Constitution

104.30  CHLG The Breeze
└ HD2  Z95.3  Vancouver, BC, Mount Seymour

A similar problem could arise for me (and my neighbours). Thanks.