[RndTbl] Issues encountered with the Shaw BlueCurve modem and app

[Brian Lowe]

Hi all,

Following is an information dump detailing all the issues I've encountered with the Shaw 
BlueCurve gateway and app since I got it installed back in September.

The intent is to add this as a detailed attachment to a short (paper) letter I intend to send to 
Paul McAleese, president of Shaw Communications, outlining my disappointment with the 
BlueCurve service and asking him to follow up with his residential internet division to 
implement improvements. 

Also, after much discussion with various Shaw technical support departments, it looks like I 
finally have a way forward:

 1. Switch out the current WiFi-only TV player device for an older coax unit
 2. Put the BlueCurve gateway into bridged mode and use the D-Link router Alberto gave me to 
act as my home router.

For those willing to wade through its 1,250 words, I'd appreciate any comments you have. 
Remember, it's intended to be an attachment to the main letter. I'm not expecting Paul 
McAleese to read through it, although he may glance at it. I am hoping he'll pass it along to the 
residential internet services division.

Brian


Issues Encountered with the Shaw BlueCurve Gateway and App

* I was supplied with a CGM4141SHW gateway with custom Shaw firmware; the device's 
Hardware page reports it's a CGM4140COM and the Software page says it's running 
CGM4140COM_5.3p16s3_PROD_sey.

* The gateway's built-in DHCP server cannot be disabled. This is a big problem for me because 
I want to run my own DHCP server that tracks devices to which it has assigned IP addresses, 
and supplies the IP address of my ad-blocking DNS server instead of Shaw's servers. I've 
managed a partial work-around by running my own DHCP server along side Shaw's, but giving 
the Shaw DHCP server a range of only two IP addresses and ensuring both of them are 
assigned. However, often times my devices end up getting no IP address, Shaw's DNS servers, 
and a bad default route. (The inability to disable the DHCP server is probably needed for the 
Shaw BlueCurve Home app to work—much more on that later.)

* Some very important configuration items on the gateway--SSID and password, port 
forwarding, DMZ, parental control--are not available through its web interface and must be 
managed using the Shaw BlueCurve Home app. The app is available only for Apple iOS and 
Android devices, and specifically not available for Windows, MacOS, or Linux.

* Using an Apple/Android app is suboptimal because the standard way to configure a modern 
gateway/router device is to use its built-in web interface. This works for pretty much any 
modern small computer operating system such as Windows, MacOS, Linux, BSD, legacy UNIX 
(HP-UX and AIX), VMS, Android, and iOS, because they all have access to capable web 
browsers. But this is not an option with the CGM4141 because its web interface has been 
eviscerated.

* The app is available only on Apple's App Store or (officially) Google Play.  However, the only 
way to get the app from Google Play is to set up a Google account and link it with an Android 
device. This is a problem for me because I see Google as a huge user-hostile American 
advertising company that's not subject   to Canadian privacy laws, and I desire to do as little 
business with them as possible. To me it is unacceptable that Shaw, a Canadian company, is 
compelling its customers to business with American companies in order to use basic 
functionality for its services.

* There is an unstated assumption that all users have access to a device that will run the app. 
While it's likely a safe assumption for today's parents and computer-savvy users, as usual it 
fails to take into account various edge cases:
    - People who are uncomfortable with smartphones and use a feature phone instead
    - People who have a supposedly compatible device but its operating system has fallen 
behind and can't run the app
    - People who value their privacy and don't want to download an app that can't be audited so 
see if it's sending information to servers outside of Shaw, or even sending information to Shaw 
that's not related to the application's use

* Shaw support can set the SSID and password for the customer, but by policy cannot assist 
with port forwarding and DMZ issues. For this they always tell the customer to use the app.

* Additionally, the app has issues:
    - It's enormous! It weighs in at 204 megabytes, making it one of the largest non-game apps 
I've ever seen. By comparison:
        - WhatsApp: 41 MB
        - Facebook: 56 MB
        - Instagram: 63 MB
        - Facebook Messenger: 72 MB
        - SnapChat: 126 MB
        - TikTok: 183 MB
    - As a seasoned programmer, the app's size in relation to its capabilities raises red flags:
        - It looks like the development team has pulled in a huge number of libraries from all over 
the Android development ecosystem. I wonder why they used so many libraries instead of 
developing at least some of the functionality in-house. It makes me wonder about the overall 
capability of the development team.
        - The large number of libraries runs the risk of becoming a maintenance nightmare down 
the road because inevitably some of these libraries will become outdated, deprecated, and 
possibly disappear altogether.  The development team could end up spending as much time or 
more trying to keep on top of the library dependencies as they will making improvements to 
the app.
    - Bug: Setting port forwarding in the app appeared to work, but packets were not getting 
through to the forwarded device (more on this 3 points down the list.)
    - Bug: Attempts to set up a DMZ were consistently met with "We're Having Some Trouble. 
Please try again. If the problem persists, check back later." (more on this 3 points down the 
list)

* On Google Play, complaints about the app are legion:
    - Overall, the app is buggy, difficult to use, and does not work as advertised
    - Users are often unable to sign in
    - App often shows the BlueCurve gateway as being offline when in fact it is not
    - App forgets configuration options that were previously set
    - Parental controls are unreliable
    - A video showing how the app works has not been updated for newer versions

* Google Play gives the app a score of 3.5/5. Independently, I computed an overall approve/
disapprove score based on 1,318 reviews. Reviews with 1, 2, or 3 stars were "disapprove" 
(even three star reviews had a tendency to point out problems) while 4 and 5 star reviews were 
"approve." The result was 287 approve and 1,031 disapprove, for an overall disapproval rate 
of 78%. The average rating from those 1,318 reviews was only 2.1, well below Google's 3.5.

* Attempts to engage various Shaw support departments on the port forwarding and DMZ 
portions of the app were consistently met with "Port forwarding/DMZ is something we don't 
support because we haven't been trained on it," even though the problem I was attempting to 
report was with the failure of the app to work as advertised.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://muug.ca/pipermail/roundtable/attachments/20221121/a3701cde/attachment-0001.htm>