Shaw Thread

[Flamenspiel]

Deleted

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Blargh! I've been tearing my hair out for the last week experiencing the same exact thing as Aleks. I've swapped out every piece of my home network diagnosing this (routers, switches, cables).

It's been utterly maddening.

Your magic reset routine would have been great except I'm with Teksavvy. While I love to support the underdog, there's very little they can do except to pass on a request to Shaw... I threw in the towel and am going Telus Purefiber ($10/month cheaper and 2x the speeds so its still a win)


The crazy thing? A week later and it seems to have been resolved on it's own. Really leads me to think it was a Shaw problem all along.

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I was running into a situation like this at my place as well. Everything went bonkers and haywire at a specific time each day and the speeds would drop to the point where nothing transfers (thus I have no wifi or ethernet).

A Shaw tech I spoke with had me reset the modem in a very specific manner. I don't recall off the top of my head what method I used (as I spoke with several tech and used several methods), but I do recall him saying that the method to reset must be that method, because they had been testing modems and noticed that certain reset methods was not resetting the cache or memory in the modem or something. I thought he was BSing me and just doing the typical, "did you restart the hardware?" spiel at first, but after doing that reset, it did seem to resolve the issue (the other methods didn't) and I haven't had issues with speed drops or complete disconnections.

I think it was a combination of disconnecting the optical cable, pushing the reset button for 30 seconds, then disconnecting the power cable, waiting 30 seconds and reconnecting everything or something.

[Aleks]

My problem remains. Shaw tech came out and replaced the modem with a Hitron, insisted that was the problem and it would be fixed. Low and behold, the problem remains. Continually having to go through the tech wheel and chats, and relaying the same info, and waiting another week for another tech visit is getting old and they are minimizing my concerns. I can't believe how frustrating these guys are to deal with. By the time my next tech comes out it will be 3 weeks with no properly functioning internet. What a clown show.

[Wormius]

Are you sure there is nothing on your network that is causing the decrease in throughput for particular devices? Like some torrent sharing that only turns on in evening or scheduled updates?

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Are you sure there is nothing on your network that is causing the decrease in throughput for particular devices? Like some torrent sharing that only turns on in evening or scheduled updates?

No, I don't torrent, and nothing should update and suck bandwidth entirely for 6-8 hours daily, or I'd notice it in my data meters.



Still happening, happening right now, started ok when I got home an hour ago, I could get by on most stuff, now everything is unusable again. Speedtests are ok (of course, each shaw tech wanted a different speedtest. One even pushed me to the speedtest.shaw and I said no, thats not realistic in the least, of course that hits 300, its direct to your server. My modem is fine)


Of course, shaw can't send someone out for another week, so it will be 3 weeks of (for my purposes) unusable internet. The next tech (a "senior" one) will again have the same results, and I'll show him the behavior, and they will have no answers, and I'll be stuck with an ETF

[Diemenz]

and You absolutely do not think this is a VPN or sources issue?

It’s just odd that speed tests are fine but on VPN streaming IPTV it goes to a crawl. I would instantly assume it’s either the VPN or your sources. If it was Shaw based you would think non VPN and other items would slow.

[bossy22]

Last night Shaw was horrible for me. Worked great in the day, but last night it was unusable. Speedtests were showing 260Mbps. Unfortunately in my neighbourhood, we are stuck with Shaw for high speed. My neighbour had the same issue last night as well.

[Jimmy Stang]

For those with fast speed tests but shoddy performance, have you tried using alternate DNS servers? Slow DNS servers can impede performance, even when a speed test looks good. OpenDNS and Cloudflare are a couple of options if you want to rule out Shaw's DNS servers as the culprit. Even Google has free DNS servers.

Also, are you hardwired or using wifi? And if wifi, is it your own router or Shaw's poor excuse for a router (in their router/modem combo)? An under-powered router could start to slow down as multiple devices connect in the evening, or if other sources of interference start up at a certain time of day. Baby monitors, depending on what frequency they operate on, can really destroy your wifi.

That being said, interference and a weak router should also inhibit your speed tests. Which is why I'd consider looking at DNS as a good starting point.

[andy_521]

Originally Posted by bossy22

Last night Shaw was horrible for me. Worked great in the day, but last night it was unusable. Speedtests were showing 260Mbps. Unfortunately in my neighbourhood, we are stuck with Shaw for high speed. My neighbour had the same issue last night as well.

Same issue for me last night, It's been really bad since the beginning of January every evening after 6 or 7. Throughout the day I get 300mbps but in the evening it goes down to less than 5mbps and it's causing buffering in Netflix and Twitch as well as disconnections when online gaming. This is using my own router and on both wired and wireless connections. I also did a speedtest with a device connected directly to the modem and it made no difference.

I wonder if the oversold my area which is Spruce Cliff and the free speed boost they gave is causing congestion during peak hours. I contacted them and did some troubleshooting but it made no difference and they don't seem to think there's an issue my my neighborhood.

[Sgrath]

Fast during the day and slow in the evening is pretty typical of contention and with cable these days that is likely a badly wired cable node. Nothing the user can do from their side of the modem to fix it. All I can suggest is to try and convince them to send a tech out to look at the node wiring.

[DoubleF]

Question, for those of you that are having issues, were you upgraded from 150/300 to 300/600?

If you are still on 150/300 instead of 300/600, try resolving that first. As mentioned, the tech I spoke with said some type of cache or something wasn't clearing correctly.

If you are getting the correct speeds, then I am not entirely sure what else to look into. My issue was sorta resolved on its own (no longer drop speeds around 11PM-1 AM ish till 3-5AM ish), but I'm dealing with an entirely new issue that I don't believe is related to Shaw (networking stuffs). However when I called shaw in the past, I recall they denied they were doing work on nodes in the area (inner city).

[Bill Bumface]

Something is up with mine. Speed test.net keeps picking up Olds instead of the normal shaw one, and speeds are 10mbps instead of 300. One test tonight did pick up the usual shaw server and hit 300.

Edit: Axia is the normal server. Manually selecting that gets full speed. Nothing else. Fast.com shows single digit mbps.

[Aleks]

I appreciate all of the replies, but think some of you aren't reading the posts entirely hahaha. I'll just touch on everything one by one

Originally Posted by Diemenz

and You absolutely do not think this is a VPN or sources issue?

It’s just odd that speed tests are fine but on VPN streaming IPTV it goes to a crawl. I would instantly assume it’s either the VPN or your sources. If it was Shaw based you would think non VPN and other items would slow.

Yes, its not a VPN or sources issue. I know this because a) I don't use a VPN (I just have one for if I need to use it, and used it just to test another variable), and b) I can hotspot every single source (3 IPTV subs and Kodi) from my cellphone to my shield or fireTV and have it run immediately and never buffer.

Originally Posted by bossy22

Last night Shaw was horrible for me. Worked great in the day, but last night it was unusable. Speedtests were showing 260Mbps. Unfortunately in my neighbourhood, we are stuck with Shaw for high speed. My neighbour had the same issue last night as well.

What neighborhood?

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

For those with fast speed tests but shoddy performance, have you tried using alternate DNS servers? Slow DNS servers can impede performance, even when a speed test looks good. OpenDNS and Cloudflare are a couple of options if you want to rule out Shaw's DNS servers as the culprit. Even Google has free DNS servers.

Also, are you hardwired or using wifi? And if wifi, is it your own router or Shaw's poor excuse for a router (in their router/modem combo)? An under-powered router could start to slow down as multiple devices connect in the evening, or if other sources of interference start up at a certain time of day. Baby monitors, depending on what frequency they operate on, can really destroy your wifi.

That being said, interference and a weak router should also inhibit your speed tests. Which is why I'd consider looking at DNS as a good starting point.

I have not used alternate DNS's, mostly because every other aspect of testing has been exhaustive, but that would be the one thing I didn't try. As in my previous posts, I have a Netgear Orbi AC4400 with amazing coverage, custom channels on clear ones using wifi analyser. In an effort to ensure it wasn't my router, I did all of the following: DMZ'd my devices, used a different router, used no 3rd party router, and LAN cable direct to modem. With the last 2 options there were no other devices connected because the SSID was different for the wifi test, and the wifi radios were disabled for my LAN cable test. In each of those, I was able to do the same thing again, stuttering and failures to load, but when switched to my cell hotspot those issues went away immediately. I could even upload a video showing it.

Originally Posted by andy_521

Same issue for me last night, It's been really bad since the beginning of January every evening after 6 or 7. Throughout the day I get 300mbps but in the evening it goes down to less than 5mbps and it's causing buffering in Netflix and Twitch as well as disconnections when online gaming. This is using my own router and on both wired and wireless connections. I also did a speedtest with a device connected directly to the modem and it made no difference.

I wonder if the oversold my area which is Spruce Cliff and the free speed boost they gave is causing congestion during peak hours. I contacted them and did some troubleshooting but it made no difference and they don't seem to think there's an issue my my neighborhood.

Thank you! This is exactly what I'm talking about, and I told them I've spoken to people in Springbank Hill that have the same, and you're close to me as well, we may be on a large shared node for the west side. Your timeline is the same as mine, as well. Everytime I say things like "my Netflix takes a long time to get to UHD, and my Prime Video spends time flipping between UHD and HD during the stream. They insist that's normal, but its just not. It shouldn't take 30 seconds to a minute to hit UHD when I can pull a 4k stream immediately on Kodi from my phone. Keep hitting them with the calls, something is up. My tech denied adamantly that the pipe can't handle the increases.

Originally Posted by Sgrath

Fast during the day and slow in the evening is pretty typical of contention and with cable these days that is likely a badly wired cable node. Nothing the user can do from their side of the modem to fix it. All I can suggest is to try and convince them to send a tech out to look at the node wiring.

Its never been an issue, none of my habits or practices have changed in the last 3 years at least, but this is an issue for the last few weeks

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Question, for those of you that are having issues, were you upgraded from 150/300 to 300/600?

If you are still on 150/300 instead of 300/600, try resolving that first. As mentioned, the tech I spoke with said some type of cache or something wasn't clearing correctly.

If you are getting the correct speeds, then I am not entirely sure what else to look into. My issue was sorta resolved on its own (no longer drop speeds around 11PM-1 AM ish till 3-5AM ish), but I'm dealing with an entirely new issue that I don't believe is related to Shaw (networking stuffs). However when I called shaw in the past, I recall they denied they were doing work on nodes in the area (inner city).

I got my 150 to 300 upgrade the day it happened on Dec 3. That said 2 weeks ago I had everything reprovisioned to see if that was going to resolve the problem. I'm also on a new modem (Hitron now, Arris before that), so that shouldn't be an issue for me.

[Aleks]

Changed DNS servers, no change. Was working fine tonight all the way to about 650pm, then stopped working. Yesterday was 530pm not working.

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by Aleks

Changed DNS servers, no change. Was working fine tonight all the way to about 650pm, then stopped working. Yesterday was 530pm not working.

You need to call them and get them to switch you to another node. Happened to me before, switched me to a less populated node and all was good. They may say it is not possible but be insistent.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Aleks

Changed DNS servers, no change. Was working fine tonight all the way to about 650pm, then stopped working. Yesterday was 530pm not working.

If you don't mind my asking, what region are you in?

When I was getting drops in the inner city (Tuxedo), I asked around and my colleague's sister was also getting drops in the same area, but not at the exact same time (Winston Heights).

A similar issue happened once upon a time when they were doing some work on the nodes, so I assumed it was something like that which would pass after a period of time. However, when I asked Shaw claimed that they weren't working on nodes in the area, but I have my doubts. But honestly, even if they were working on nodes, I don't think it's a big deal and I don't understand why they would lie about working on the nodes if that's the case.

I'm leaning towards it might be something to do with the node. Maybe ask around and see if others are experiencing similar issues in the area?

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by keratosis

You need to call them and get them to switch you to another node. Happened to me before, switched me to a less populated node and all was good. They may say it is not possible but be insistent.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

Wait, what? About a year ago and a half ago, I was chatting with a Shaw tech (casually, not a tech call) who said that they upgraded the nodes to the point where most nodes (even in high traffic areas) should not reach more than half capacity. He was specifically talking about the node I was connecting to in Tuxedo too.

I just kinda assumed over populated nodes were no longer a thing. I agree, it's worth asking Shaw to do it to see if it resolves Aleks' issue.

[Aleks]

I'm in cougar ridge. As noted above someone in spruce cliff is having issues, and I know someone in Springbank hill (also on IPTV services) is having the same issues too.

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Wait, what? About a year ago and a half ago, I was chatting with a Shaw tech (casually, not a tech call) who said that they upgraded the nodes to the point where most nodes (even in high traffic areas) should not reach more than half capacity. He was specifically talking about the node I was connecting to in Tuxedo too.

I just kinda assumed over populated nodes were no longer a thing. I agree, it's worth asking Shaw to do it to see if it resolves Aleks' issue.

It's still a thing.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

[bossy22]

Originally Posted by Aleks

I'm in cougar ridge. As noted above someone in spruce cliff is having issues, and I know someone in Springbank hill (also on IPTV services) is having the same issues too.

I'm in Elbow Valley. Wasn't bad last night. Only buffered a couple of times. We can only get Telus 50 out here, so everyone is on Shaw.