^ Well, that was much ado about nothing, I suppose. Shaw responded very promptly, and to paraphrase:
- It is not part of their new wifi network
- It is simply a second modem to provide open wifi through a completely separate connection
- They are offering it to business customers on Broadband 50 and higher just as an added perk (or maybe they are overstocked on modems!!)
So, it turns out that I'm not so special after all.

It doesn't really provide us with any added benefit as we already have an open wifi spot for clients, guests, and neighbours that is physically separated and on the outside of our main firewall, so it would just be another device on the rack.