Telus TV

[EmilyB]

Any customers on here? What do you think of it. We are seriously looking at it for three reasons, three months free, $30 less a month than BellXpressvu, and they include 2 digital box rentals.

[chevyjaxon]

imo cant be good as cable never tried it but a phone line for tv? im skeptical

[ae86ray]

My friend using it ....seems like no problem.....

[michika]

Its so slow...I used it at my cousin's place for 10 days while I house sat. The guide is so slow to come up and respond. Picture, reception, etc. was fine, but the speed at which the guide and its applicable features moved just ruined it for me. She and her husband ended up returning their boxes and returning to shaw for their cable needs.

[hillbillyreefer]

I hate Bell but their service works more often than my Telus phone. The phones have been blanked out in at least a 30 square mile block since early this morning. I sure wish that would happen in a city, betcha they'd fix it. FAST.

[EmilyB]

Thanks guys ! :biggrin: I suspected....

[G1GY]

I hate Bell but their service works more often than my Telus phone. The phones have been blanked out in at least a 30 square mile block since early this morning. I sure wish that would happen in a city, betcha they'd fix it. FAST.

Could be the one phone is just a little better than the other. Telus and Bell piggyback networks with one and other. Unless that's changed recently.

Deb, the biggest drawback that I found when I concidered Telus tv, was that you can only have 2 rigs per houseold at this point. You can't even buy more if you wanted to. The system only supports a max of 2 per home at this point.

That would leave me with 4 tv's on peasant vision.:cry:

[EmilyB]

LOL, that's hilarious Gary ! If I had 6 Tv's I probably wouldn't be wondering about a more economical plan....bwhahahahah ! :lol:

[Patrick1]

I had Telus TV at my old place it was ok digital service. I did'nt have any real issues. I have a HD PVR now with shaw and it acts up more the the telus box did. My old room mate has Telus also and he thinks it's ok, but he was telling me that Telus only has like 2 techs for the whole city.. Mind you not a lot of people using the system yet.

[Treebeard]

Telus.....hmmm, isn't that the same company that brought us the 15 cent per incoming text message charge, including the spam they send?? I swear, after my contract expires for my current cell phone, I will NEVER have another ANYTHING from Telus! Their rates suck, their plans suck and their customer service sucks!

[Pier Pressure]

I have a cell phone with no camera or any of that fancy stuff that I just keep in my purse for emergencies, or to call the significant other (our phones are linked). Every single time I pick it up it has three or four messages from spammers. If they charge me ONE FREAKING CENT for spam I will smash the cell phone with a hammer and never get another one. That is ridiculous.

[mark]

Wouldn't go as far as saying Telus will create spam but at 0.15 can't seeing them discouraging it.

[Pier Pressure]

Ha - at least half the spam I receive is from Telus trying to sell me more products or services.

[spanky]

My contract is up in december and i think i will tell telus to kiss something and go with another company lol.

[Treebeard]

My next phone will be an unlocked phone of some kind, and I will go with whatever provider offers the best deal, with no contract.

My contract is up in december and i think i will tell telus to kiss something and go with another company lol.

[BC564]

The text message charge is only for people that have no text package. They have always charged for outgoing texts but never incoming......so if you have a unlimited text package or whatever....your not charged .....I have never received a text spam from anyone....

[Brent F]

The only spam text messages I get are from Telus and Rogers.

[drydock]

Hi,

I have several friends with Telus TV and they have never complained. I was talking to our IT 'guy' at work and he explained to me the issue with bandwidth. Cable companies seem to be spending a lot more on developing their infrastructure than phone companies. (His opinion, I don't know if it is fact or not) If that is the case, the more people that use the service in a community, the more bandwidth it will eat up from the system - the same argument they make about why you shouldn't go with a cable internet connection. The limited bandwidth and 2 TV boxes per house is their way of delaying the inevitable. If it gets too popular, the system will crash if it isn't updated.

So, if it works for you, enjoy it. (And tell all your neighbors that it is lousy!) I'm sticking with the cable company...

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Well, I finally got my Telus TV installed today.

My installer works for Telus & is NOT a contractor, so that was a huge plus. He's been doing this for 29 years, so he's very experienced. Great guy, easy to talk to & willing to set up everything the way I wanted it. (ie. now I can run a line out to the deck in the back & watch TV in the summer outside)

Tested the speed & I'm gettin 11 mbs on the high speed internet consistently. Woohoo.

Can't wait to use my free PVR.

I got to watch the Canadians destroy the Russians in High Def, as well as Cdn women win Gold & Silver in Bobsledding & Silver in Speedskating Relay.

Awesome. Very, very happy that I made the switch so far.

I'll still be saving close to $700 over the next year over my Shaw bill.

I now have highspeed wireless internet for my wife and her 11 mbs will NOT slow down my own internet connection.

And after they come disconnect & pick up their equipment, I won't have to deal with those liars at Shaw. This whole situation has really soured me on Shaw.

Can't wait until I can bundle my Telus Mobility & Telus internet/tv/digital phone together & save even more.

Anthony

[bvlester]

Well, I finally got my Telus TV installed today.

My installer works for Telus & is NOT a contractor, so that was a huge plus. He's been doing this for 29 years, so he's very experienced. Great guy, easy to talk to & willing to set up everything the way I wanted it. (ie. now I can run a line out to the deck in the back & watch TV in the summer outside)

Tested the speed & I'm gettin 11 mbs on the high speed internet consistently. Woohoo.

Can't wait to use my free PVR.

I got to watch the Canadians destroy the Russians in High Def, as well as Cdn women win Gold & Silver in Bobsledding & Silver in Speedskating Relay.

Awesome. Very, very happy that I made the switch so far.

I'll still be saving close to $700 over the next year over my Shaw bill.

I now have highspeed wireless internet for my wife and her 11 mbs will NOT slow down my own internet connection.

And after they come disconnect & pick up their equipment, I won't have to deal with those liars at Shaw. This whole situation has really soured me on Shaw.

Can't wait until I can bundle my Telus Mobility & Telus internet/tv/digital phone together & save even more.

Anthony

Telus has only been doing this version of their TV for the last 8-10 months so he is not as expierionced as you thing. IPTV is a whole new ball game I worked fro MTS in Winnipeg and installed their TV. MTS TV is different and is a better product one reciever can conect as many TV's as you want but you can only watch different programming on 3 for the TV's at the same time wireless removes you do not have to be in the same room to change chanels.

Telus TV can only have 2 boxes working at one time because they work on the ADSL network and have to be hardwired to the router that is installed. When I worked at Telus in Edmonton I was one of the first 7 to start getting the training for Telus TV but the union put a stop to Telus TV. Telus TV could be a better produce if they used the Fiber that us contractors have put in and go with active filters run a net drop to the house and then you could have as many TV's as you want on the system. Telus did this in Edmonton and Calgary back in 1995-2000 then Entwhistle scrapted the project. Apparently there was alot of people that were mad over that as the end product was way better than what Shaw had. I even believe that there was one customer that wanted to buy the system off Telus. Telus said no and it sat. I do believe the headend equipment in Edmonton and Calgary are now being used for the new Telus TV project. Telus borrowed one of theguys That Built the head end in Winnipeg to build one in BC. I wish Telus all the best with this project because it can open alot of technical areas for the future.

Telus statalite is supose to be great and is a better deal than what Bell gives and yes Telus and Bell are teamed up on these projects they signed contracts last year.

Bill

[sphelps]

Not sure on telus but sasktel probably runs a similar system, appears to come through the phone line but I believe it's actually fiber-optics and then cat5 through the home. With current setups in older neighborhoods service is slow but as things get upgraded it's suppose to be way faster than coax cable. They say it's the future but it's still new technology. Not sure how much truth there is to that but that's what the install guys keep saying.

However sasktel sucks! Crappy PVR box, service always crashes, and internet is substantially slower than promised. Cost isn't exactly that great either. Plan on ditching the whole system in the short future. Shaw however isn't much better IMO.

[globaldesigns]

My friend tried it because it was free to start. He is an audiophile, he returned it quite quickly, said it was junk. Said Shaw had a better picture.

Personally I don't have it. One of my good friends works for Telus, installing this stuff. Of course he has it... It looks good to me when I am over there.

[bvlester]

Not sure on telus but sasktel probably runs a similar system, appears to come through the phone line but I believe it's actually fiber-optics and then cat5 through the home. With current setups in older neighborhoods service is slow but as things get upgraded it's suppose to be way faster than coax cable. They say it's the future but it's still new technology. Not sure how much truth there is to that but that's what the install guys keep saying.

However sasktel sucks! Crappy PVR box, service always crashes, and internet is substantially slower than promised. Cost isn't exactly that great either. Plan on ditching the whole system in the short future. Shaw however isn't much better IMO.

Sask Tel uses a similar system as Telus they are testing the fiber to a active filter at present. Thier system works better than the one Telus is using, Telus was going to go with the same system you can have up to 3 TV's with Sack Tel I believe I'll check on that and up date.

Bill

[bvlester]

There is nothing wrong with Telus TV the quality is just as good as Shaw and no worse than Shaw. They both use digital systems so there is no real difference in picture quality comming out of the converter box. The TV it self may interprit the signal differently and produce a pricture that is different. When I was installing MTS TV we had to setup the picture controls on alot of the TV's as the were out a bit as the TV was interpriting the signal it was getting differently from the other provider.

Bill

[StirCrazy]

If telus runs there tv setup like there phone set up run fast and hard. I will never have another telus product as long as I live excluding a cell phone and if shaw gets into the cell market I will switch that also. but that is because of some underhanded things telus did to me about 10 years ago. one thing I do not like about Telus is there is no such thing as free. if you have a problem you pay for the service call, where with shaw it is all free. I just had shaw over in the fall. they did 3 calls, one to hook up my services, one to rewire my whole house and one to replace the wire from the road to my house. what did it cost me.. nothing. the only reason these things needed to be done is it was original 40 year old wires in my house as the previous owners only had basic cable so there were no problems. I come along and get HD digital cable, internet and shaw phone so some upgrading was required. last time I had tellus out to fix something they charged me 120 for a 1 hour service call.

Steve

[globaldesigns]

There is nothing wrong with Telus TV the quality is just as good as Shaw and no worse than Shaw. They both use digital systems so there is no real difference in picture quality comming out of the converter box. The TV it self may interprit the signal differently and produce a pricture that is different. When I was installing MTS TV we had to setup the picture controls on alot of the TV's as the were out a bit as the TV was interpriting the signal it was getting differently from the other provider.

Bill

Actually Shaw is not completely digital. Some of there channels are still analog, and if you cancel or reactivate them, they still have to go to the box outside your house/neighbourhood to actual remove the filter from the line, or add it if you cancel. I know this from experience.

These analog channels run through the digital cable box, but are not digital sound or picture.

[StirCrazy]

Actually Shaw is not completely digital. Some of there channels are still analog, and if you cancel or reactivate them, they still have to go to the box outside your house/neighbourhood to actual remove the filter from the line, or add it if you cancel. I know this from experience.

These analog channels run through the digital cable box, but are not digital sound or picture.

ya thats your tear 1, 2 and 3. all the rest are digital or HD it would be stupid to go 100% digital as if some one only wants tear 1,2 and 3 they don't need a special box so all they need is there tv and they are good to go. so only 1 remote, and 1 piece of equipment to run. I know from the elderly inlaws this was a saviour as I had to explain about 3 times a week how to use the VCR/DVD but never had to explain how to watch tv.

Steve

[globaldesigns]

ya thats your tear 1, 2 and 3. all the rest are digital or HD it would be stupid to go 100% digital as if some one only wants tear 1,2 and 3 they don't need a special box so all they need is there tv and they are good to go. so only 1 remote, and 1 piece of equipment to run. I know from the elderly inlaws this was a saviour as I had to explain about 3 times a week how to use the VCR/DVD but never had to explain how to watch tv.

Steve

True enough, makes sense. What I hate is that they market all digital in true fact it isn't. I have Shaw, but I do love my FTA (Free to Air), all the Dish Network Digital channels I want.

[StirCrazy]

but I do love my FTA (Free to Air), all the Dish Network Digital channels I want.

except when they go down....

I was going to get one but then they were down for almost a year, then equipment changed and there up, then there down again and so on..

Steve

[globaldesigns]

except when they go down....

I was going to get one but then they were down for almost a year, then equipment changed and there up, then there down again and so on..

Steve

Actually my box was up for over a year straight, it went down just before xmas for about 3 weeks. Dish Network created a good ECM to take down FTA, but after 3 weeks it has been up flawlessly.

All I can say is that it works well for me, much more stable than the days of DTV and cards. I am a programmer so use to program those cards and systems.

There is always a chance it will go down, but I can tell you I have had my moneys worth and it is far superior to any Canadian TV Provider.

[bignose]

Don't go with telus tv. I had it for a while and had nothing but trouble.

We just moved and canceled everything to do with telus. Were going to go with shaw this time around.

[bvlester]

FTA is not Dish Network it is different and you can pickup any and all satilites that transmite in the C band or K band. In Winnipeg a friend of mine uses a older Bell dish as they were in the C band. If you change satalites you do hae to download the decoding program for that satilite off the new. FTA is the way to go if you have extra money the better decoder boxes cost a couple hundred theb theres the different LNB's you can buy they cost about 50 each With FTA buy the best you can get.

Telus is alright I have not had any troubles they just charge to much as far as I am concerned. Shaws little Pasive repeater out side your house is just that they use 2 different filter on it a band pass and a digital filter. They use to use a third filter which was also a band pass but was only for the basic chanels.Only shaws basic chanels or analog everything else is digital to the box they are working on changing it so all chanels are digital. The company that I was layed off rom was doing testing for this up grade.

In the end it is all up to the individual customers prefference and how they precive the service they get. In Winnipeg MTS also sack Tel is kicking Shaws but when it come to TV and Telephone but they are different companies one is still goverment owned the other just got into TV faster than Shaw got into Telephone and MTS TV is supierior.

Bill

[hlywd]

From what I understand, anytime you have a cable feed coming into your house that feeds both internet and tv, it will slow down both processes. With that in mind, I was a customer of Telus for both internet and tv, but couldn't get fast speeds on my internet which drove me crazy. My friend informed me that Telus has a ridiculously bad history of moving too much of your allotted bandwidth to feed to your tv, and cutting it away from your internet, rather than just giving you alot for each function. I've switched to Shaw, for both services, and couldn't be happier!!!! Anytime you use HD services, they obviously take up alot of your bandwidth as well.

[bvlester]

From what I understand, anytime you have a cable feed coming into your house that feeds both internet and tv, it will slow down both processes. With that in mind, I was a customer of Telus for both internet and tv, but couldn't get fast speeds on my internet which drove me crazy. My friend informed me that Telus has a ridiculously bad history of moving too much of your allotted bandwidth to feed to your tv, and cutting it away from your internet, rather than just giving you alot for each function. I've switched to Shaw, for both services, and couldn't be happier!!!! Anytime you use HD services, they obviously take up alot of your bandwidth as well.

You see with Telus there are many things that will afect your speeds that you get the first and formost ofender is how far you are from the box that is feeding your house. Telus has problems with their internet not for this reason they don't have enough bandwidth to feeding their conection to the internet. Telus has to install more chastas I think that is how you spell it anyways it is a piece of equipment that pops you onto the internet after the gateway. Yes all Telus equipment sits behind a firewall and Shaws does not that is why I use Telus a bit more secure. If you do on line banking or make purchases over the internet with Shaw it is very posible for your information to be duplicated while you are making that transaction. I did an install in Leduc Albert for a guy that was using Shaw he was run an ani-virus scan and in the time he went to the shopping store and back his entire hard drive was downloaded by someone. He had to change all his bank accounts and cancel his credit card and have new ones sent out. He found out that who ever did it had tried to use his credit card and access his on line bankig info after he had canceled them.

I believe it is consumer beware out there and that is why there are so many programs for firewalls and security.

Bill

[StirCrazy]

. I did an install in Leduc Albert for a guy that was using Shaw he was run an ani-virus scan and in the time he went to the shopping store and back his entire hard drive was downloaded by someone. He had to change all his bank accounts and cancel his credit card and have new ones sent out. He found out that who ever did it had tried to use his credit card and access his on line bankig info after he had canceled them.

I believe it is consumer beware out there and that is why there are so many programs for firewalls and security.

Bill

I suspect he is telling you a story on that one. yes they can get info, but it is very hard and if your running any anti virius at all it is unlikely. if you have a firewall then that is another hurdle. also online banking ect is 128bit encription, it is going to take a super computer a week to break that, so unless a group is specificly targiting you not to much to worry about there.

Shaw also has firewall, anti virius and e-mail filters you chose to use them or not. telus internet is slow unless you are close to where they have there main equipment, the farther away the slower it is. in outlining comunities it is almost painfull.

Steve

[BMW Rider]

I have Telus TV too, we've been with them for a little over a year now with no issues at all. We have three TVs, each with its own box. The downside is that to get the third set, we had to pass on HD. It does depend on the signal strength at your house too, ours is very strong according to the installer who set it up.

I have an aquaintance who is a director with Telus in Networking. He indicated that Telus will soon be able to supply as many as six boxes and HD to a customer. His timeline for this to start rolling out was very soon, likely February or March. He indicated that current customers would be getting the upgrades first.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Yup, they just installed the fibre optics system in my neighbourhood & started the new protocol this month. I can run up to 6 TVs now, not 2 and it doesn't affect my internet speed. Getting 11 mbs on my computer & my wife's laptop (wirelessly) as well. The installer even ran an extra long line to my back so if we ever want to hang out on the deck to let Felicia play in the backyard while we watch tv or surf the net, no problem. And more computers using our connection will NOT slow down my internet speed, so I'm happy.

With Shaw, my internet speed fluctuated constantly, depending on time of day (ie. around 3pm it was superslow).

I now have far more channels, excellent HD sports coverage to watch the Olympics, a free PVR, faster internet, wireless internet for Irene, same digital phone service, ability to watch HD tv out back & will still save about $700 this year.

I know that the earlier Telus TV service was crap. They tried to go too fast before their system was fully up to speed & they used crappy contractors who screwed things up & POed alot of customers.

I tested the internet speed & watched Telus TV at a friend's place first before switching. My internet is almost 4 times faster and so I'm a happy camper so far.

Anthony

[bvlester]

I suspect he is telling you a story on that one. yes they can get info, but it is very hard and if your running any anti virius at all it is unlikely. if you have a firewall then that is another hurdle. also online banking ect is 128bit encription, it is going to take a super computer a week to break that, so unless a group is specificly targiting you not to much to worry about there.

Shaw also has firewall, anti virius and e-mail filters you chose to use them or not. telus internet is slow unless you are close to where they have there main equipment, the farther away the slower it is. in outlining comunities it is almost painfull.

Steve

this was alittle while ago about 6 years ago but anyways if you do not keep your ani-virus program up to date then guess what there is no way you can detect all viruses also there is no ani-virus program out there that will 100% of the viruses that is why i run 2 anti-virus program simotainusly. Fire walls are only as good as the person that sets them up if you leave anything open it leaves away for others to hack in. I had a very good firewall that had a sandbox incorperated in to it. I found at least once a month someone wouldget by the fire wall and then get stuck in the sandbox. A sandbox works by throwing endless passwords at an intruder cink of like a dog chasing his own tail around. I had one guy in there for over an hour trying to hackin, relentless if nothing else. then the company that I got that product from sold out and stopped providing security software for the home user, now all of the gateway and chastas equipment and WAN use thier software.

Bill

[Piscez]

Actually Telus TV just launched Microsoft Mediaroom
Record shows from up to six TVs in the home with a single Personal Video Recorder (PVR)
Watch and record three programs simultaneously, with up to two in High Definition (HD)
Replay, pause, fast forward and rewind recorded shows on any TV in the home
Connect TELUS TV on up to six TVs
Experience picture-in-picture channel browsing and instant channel changes
Plan TV viewing easily and quickly with the new Interactive Programming Guide
Combine High Speed Plus with our new TELUS TV service and surf twice as fast as with regular High Speed

I have Telus Satellite TV which is same a Bell ExpressVu, yes Bell and Telus partnered up on this and the 3G+ cellular network

[bvlester]

Telus did try and buy Bell canada last summer and CRTC said they could not as they would become a monopily anyway in The cell service world now there are a couple othe cell service providers out there they will be making anouther play at buying Bell canada. As far as hacking a friend of my departed brother was one of the first in Canada to offer security program evaluating to corporations. He would charge a yearly flate rate and hack thier system tell them what they needed to do to improve on what they had for security software. he built a program called gone in sixty seconds. It did most of the work in the begining. Now he has become a recluse as he hates big corporations as you are just a number to them. He has moved to Whitehorse with his family and is enjoying retirement. Yes hacking is hard but there are alot of people out there that do it just to see what they can get off a persons computer. With Shaws internet system you are sharing a hub with other computers it maynot be as bad as it once was but you still share your network with others. A shared network makes it easer for some one to hack your computer you can do a IP tracerout to determin if others are on a network with you. its not as hard to hack as some believe. Nortons security software is one of the most sold software packages but is is also one of the easer to hack because most people don't know how to set it up properly. Alot of univercities in the satates use it and they get hacked constanly. Good thing student records and test and such are on a seporate network.

Bill

[CDNPiper]

Hey All.. Long time lurker, but this subject is something I have some knowledge about (unlike reefkeeping - still leeching knowledge)

I have had TelusTV for about 4 years. I've had no real problems with it, but I'm in a new area of Edmonton. I recently upgraded to the new Telus TV that they are currently advertising and am very happy.

One of the downsides of it before was the limit to a 3mbps internet connection and 2 Set top Boxes. Now I can have up to 6 Set Top Boxes, all of them HD capable and my internet is 15mbps (when all the TV's are off) and around 7mbps when they are on. I have 3 set top boxes in my house right now and all are HD capable. The PVR is 320gig and ANY tv in the house can access content from it, and even the old school analog TV's can display recorded HD content. Convenient when my kids want to watch Spongebob, I can send them upstairs and they can access the PVR from there when we have people over.

Last night my wife wanted to watch a movie that was on the PVR and I wanted to watch the game. She went to the bedroom and watched it while I was downstairs watching the game live using the PVR. Both were HD and it worked solidly. Also, I told her she HAD to watch the last 5 min of the 3rd so I went upstairs, paused her show, joined the game and rewound it to the last 5... Something I can't do with any other provider right now.

Shaw doesn't offer the "Whole Home PVR" and charges at least $400 for a HD PVR.

Disclaimer: I used to work for Shaw and really can't stand them so I am biased. Nor will I ever have any Shaw/Starchoice products in my home.

Also, it's well known that Shaw uses bandwidth throttling on their internet connection, and Telus doesn't. I'll stick to Telus because I don't need an ISP deciding the priority of the traffic that I want from the internet.

[StirCrazy]

The PVR is 320gig and ANY tv in the house can access content from it,
Shaw doesn't offer the "Whole Home PVR" and charges at least $400 for a HD PVR.



My PVR is 1TB and cost 150.00 from shaw. I will admidt that the whole house things is cool, the best I can do is record two different shows at once while watchign a third. would be nice to be able to access that from my upstairs tv also, midn you all I have to do is run a cable and I can..

My issue with telus isn't there services but rather there buisness practice and lack of customer service.

also people don't realize that there is an quazi monopoly on celphones in canada, there are two major companice,, Telus and rodgers. they work hand in hand to set pricing and eliminate compatition. people are going to say what about bell, and the other little guys.. they are controled by either telus or rodgers.

this is why all the plans when you realy look at them end up costing about the same thing for the same services, one company might give you one thing a little cheeper but the other stuff costs more. untill they let the big NA cell companies into canada we will never have fair pricing or services. it is pretty sad when I can pay 60 bucks in the US and unlimited everything to any number accross NA. my cousins don't have home phones anymore they just use there cells. In Canada you can't do that as they have no all invclusive LD plan.. and even my fave 5 nation wide is only good in canada if I am in the US I am payign roaming charges and also air time and LD I calculated that if I used my phone like my cousins do it would cost me about 585.00/month to get the usage they pay 60 bucks for. its good being in Canada where our goverment lets companies screw us eh :cry:


Steve

[bvlester]

StirCrazy

"also people don't realize that there is an quazi monopoly on celphones in canada, there are two major companice,, Telus and rodgers. they work hand in hand to set pricing and eliminate compatition. people are going to say what about bell, and the other little guys.. they are controled by either telus or rodgers.

this is why all the plans when you realy look at them end up costing about the same thing for the same services, one company might give you one thing a little cheeper but the other stuff costs more. untill they let the big NA cell companies into canada we will never have fair pricing or services. it is pretty sad when I can pay 60 bucks in the US and unlimited everything to any number accross NA. my cousins don't have home phones anymore they just use there cells. In Canada you can't do that as they have no all invclusive LD plan.. and even my fave 5 nation wide is only good in canada if I am in the US I am payign roaming charges and also air time and LD I calculated that if I used my phone like my cousins do it would cost me about 585.00/month to get the usage they pay 60 bucks for. its good being in Canada where our goverment lets companies screw us eh"

There are about 6 cell companies in Canada 3 of which piggy back on either Telus or Bell's networks. Rogers has thier own network which they have been working endlessly to upgrade I believe all of Alberta is finished now and They have started on BC.

Price setting is illegal in Canada and the companies can get hug fines for it, In there defence when one company changes their service the others have to follow suit to be competitive. so they undercut the other company. They have seen what this does to them in the 90' when they all brought in unlimited longdistance calling. they lost a tunn of money and now that Shaw is cutting into there phone profits they need to look to the futur insted of just reacting to te present. This is all theyare doing right now just reacting to what is happening with Shaw. Video phone is the way for the future and fiber to the home. Telus has tried many projects in Vancouver with no real seccess with fiber to the home. Ed Tel tried also and Telus after they bought EdTel. We are moving forward slowly one day we will get there, it is looking like things are getting closer.

Bill

[StirCrazy]

There are about 6 cell companies in Canada 3 of which piggy back on either Telus or Bell's networks. Rogers has thier own network which they have been working endlessly to upgrade I believe all of Alberta is finished now and They have started on BC.

Price setting is illegal in Canada and the companies can get hug fines for it, In there defence when one company changes their service the others have to follow suit to be competitive. so they undercut the other company. They have seen what this does to them in the 90' when they all brought in unlimited longdistance calling. they lost a tunn of money and now that Shaw is cutting into there phone profits they need to look to the futur insted of just reacting to te present. This is all theyare doing right now just reacting to what is happening with Shaw. Video phone is the way for the future and fiber to the home. Telus has tried many projects in Vancouver with no real seccess with fiber to the home. Ed Tel tried also and Telus after they bought EdTel. We are moving forward slowly one day we will get there, it is looking like things are getting closer.

Bill

Bell and telus share systems and are in the middle of merger talks which willbe completed with in the next two years. rodger has its own network. so there are two major players in reality. now the other 3 or 4 companies are all leasing space off of telus/bell or rodgers systems which means they have to agree to pricing scheams or they get there access cut.

yes price fixing is ileagal and when it comes to cell phones in the 16 years I have had a cell phone the rates have only gone up since digital has come along. every now and then there will be a good deal on a plan, but it is replaced befor the next cycle so you have to stay with the one you have or pay more for a better plan. no cell company in canada has price wars, I agree undercutting and such is happening with the cable and home phone side, but thats because the CRC opened thes sides wide up for compatition and busted the monopolys that were in place. in the cell side, in canada there is no compatition and rodgers and telus/bell are happy to keep it that why that is why they are sinking a ton of money into fighting the laitest CRC proposal of letting new cell companies have garentees access to the celular infastructure for a modest CRC regulated price which the big 2.5 companies cannot regulate. also the fact that you will be able to take your phone with you to a different company soon to. so I can keep my storm and go to rodgers and use it there. so the goverment is making steps in the right direction but I think they need to do like the US did and declair the celualr system a national infastructure, compensate telus and rodgers and then the CRC control the sales of system access. I know there are 3 US companies just waiting for the final ruling so they can move into canada and undercut the hell out of the cell companies we have now.

Steve

[bvlester]

outw west Bell pioggy backs Telus's network and out east Telus piggy backs Bell's network they alway have from the start of this moving into each others teritory. They both figured if you can't stop them then charge them a rate they can't refuse. Bellwest has put up a few cell sites of their own and so has telus out east but for the most part they piggy back. Telus bought qubec Tel a couple years ago is as stated in to posts in talks now or will be. I do know managers and ex manager of Telus they are not to say to much about things prtaining to talks with Bell. Things have slowed down a bit with the talks recintly they will go through in the end but Bell Now wants more money since Telus shares took a hit 1.5 weeks ago or so. Telus does not want what happened with AT&T too happen again. Too much gets out and the deal will be off and then someone else will scoop bell up. There are a few player out there that can make a play at Bell now they are lossing ground to the likes of Telus and Rogers ect....

Bill

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

yes price fixing is ileagal and when it comes to cell phones in the 16 years I have had a cell phone the rates have only gone up since digital has come along. every now and then there will be a good deal on a plan, but it is replaced befor the next cycle so you have to stay with the one you have or pay more for a better plan. no cell company in canada has price wars, I agree undercutting and such is happening with the cable and home phone side, but thats because the CRC opened thes sides wide up for compatition and busted the monopolys that were in place. in the cell side, in canada there is no compatition and rodgers and telus/bell are happy to keep it that why that is why they are sinking a ton of money into fighting the laitest CRC proposal of letting new cell companies have garentees access to the celular infastructure for a modest CRC regulated price which the big 2.5 companies cannot regulate. also the fact that you will be able to take your phone with you to a different company soon to.

Steve

Actually, my cell bill is now as cheap, if not cheaper, than when I first signed up in 1997 with Telus Mobility. Having stayed with them this long, they offered me lots of free perks for being a loyal customer. My monthly bill is under $50 and I have free LD North America (always had this since I worked in Powell River when I first signed up).

I'm blown away that for the next year, my High Speed Internet/HD TV/Digital Phone bill will be almost exactly the same as my cell phone bill. Now I will have all 4 telecommunications services through Telus for $90+tax. Woohoo!!!!


It would cost me $1626.11 to stay with Shaw this year or $554.40 with Telus TV. That means a savings of $1071.71

After the lower rates are over at the end of 1 year, and I pay regular Telus TV rates, I will still save $443.39 a year (and still free PVR & Wireless modem).


Anthony

[StirCrazy]

It would cost me $1626.11 to stay with Shaw this year or $554.40 with Telus TV. That means a savings of $1071.71

After the lower rates are over at the end of 1 year, and I pay regular Telus TV rates, I will still save $443.39 a year (and still free PVR & Wireless modem).


Anthony

yup, but you could always go to shaw and say Tellus is going to give me this for this price, what are you going to do to keep me? I know quite a few people that have done this and gotten very substantial deals in a permant price breaks that made it hard to switch.

the only problem I have is telus has a history of sucking you in with a fantastic deal and by the end of 2 or 3 years it turns into not so good of a deal. they did this to my daughter who had there internet and phone in victoria, she switched to shaw because all of a sudden she found her internet and phone changed on her so that it was almost double the cost.. and that was only last year.

I left telus because we had there free long distance evening and weekends unlimited in the 90's when they started that. then 2 years later they capped it at 2000 min with out notifying it. most people never know about that as it is a lot of min.. we had two teanage kids who called people all over the frigging country but we still stayed under 1900 min so I let that slide. although I did phone and complain and got the "thats the policy nothing we can do. then less than a year later they changed it again to 500 min cap with out any notification and all of a sudden I got a 400 buck phone bill. so I called to find out why and guess what I got.. to bad so sad.. thats the policy nothing we can do about it. next day I talked to shaw and they said there phone service would be available in my area in 3 days time. I never talked to telus again about that except when they called to find out how they can get me back.. I told them in a blunt strait to the point way they couldn't and somthing about the temp in hell and to put me on there do not call list.

I had another beef with telus in early 08, where my truck was ripped off while I was playing hockey. the cops called telus security to get them to do a trace onb my cell phone as it was in the truck and on and they said they can't do it unless it is a mater of life or death, so instead of getting a location on my truck 20 min after it was taken they never found it till the next night where it had been driven into a lake up island. so in the end because of telus' refusal to co-operate with the police it ended up costing me 20K to fix my truck by the time I am done. the worst was I had a fancy darn cell phone that was not avilable any more that did everything I wanted a cell to do.. they couldn't care less. it took me 5 months and threating leagal action (good to have a friend who is a lawyer) to get them to be gracious enough to get a 3 year price on a replacment phone. still paid 300 for the damn thing. and then they lied to me as I was looking at the BBerry phones and asked when they would get one that was wifi enabled as my starcom was and I used the wifi alot. I got told it woul dbe at least 5 years befor a wifi bbery would be out and guess what.. 1 year after I get my storm the storm 2 is wifi enabled.. :twised:


where as I had to call Shaw the other day and ask why my bills seamed so hi, when they reviewed it they found none of the 1 month promo channels were cancled and I told them I cancled them 2 days befor the end of the first month which I did. since they screwed up and never did they credited my account 448.00 I didn't even have to get upset or anything. bang taken care of like that.

ok now.. sorry for the rant, but I think that explains my dislike for telus. now I need a drink :wink:

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Actually, my cell bill is now as cheap, if not cheaper, than when I first signed up in 1997 with Telus Mobility. Having stayed with them this long, they offered me lots of free perks for being a loyal customer. My monthly bill is under $50 and I have free LD North America (always had this since I worked in Powell River when I first signed up).



Anthony

ya in 94 I paid 50/month for 150 min no long distance, no nothing else, and If I remember right it was 0.65/min back then for overage.. so usaly my bill was around 100 bucks. it did get lower for a while but then they suck you in with the "you've been a good customer for so long we want to give you a free data device".. and you go "cool, I always wanted one but couldn't aford the 500.00 for one" and then you pay the same 35 bucks for your voice plan, but oh wait it is another 40 for the data.. so now I have 250 min and can surfe the web but I am paying almost 80 bucks.

now a 5 more years later I have the BBerry realy cool phone, pay 35 for a deicent plan, but also pay 25 for the smart phone package, and then 15 bucks for MF5 nation wide (canada) then 5 bucks for 911 enhanced and 7.50 for some acces fee that was suposed to be removed as the crc said it was not leagal to charge that but something happened there to.

yes the plans give you more for your money than they used to but they find new creative ways to suck your money out of you. tellus has been trying to get me to change my phone plan for 2 years now as they don't offer this one and I was advised not to change it as it is a smokin deal as I do not pay for any incomming calls get 250 anytime min 35 min of free LD and some other stuff. it ued to include evenings and weekends but some how they cancled that one me and when I complained they said the normal telus answer " oh well" so we'll see what happens when I am done this tearm.. there will be a few changes in the next couple years I think.

Steve

[bvlester]

hay after talking to Shaw you can then talk to Telus and say hay Shaw just offered me this what are you going to do. lots of people are doingthis exact thing and getting great deals only if they are a loyal customer of Telus that is...

Bill

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

yup, but you could always go to shaw and say Tellus is going to give me this for this price, what are you going to do to keep me? I know quite a few people that have done this and gotten very substantial deals in a permant price breaks that made it hard to switch.


I tried that. They offered to drop my monthly bill to $90 and leave me with everything I already had, which I agreed to, but when I called back & talked to someone else, it turned out the first guy LIED and just cut my cable to channels 2 to 28 (instead of up to 58) to get my price down. Lying flat out to me when I asked him several times if I would keep my services in full.

Only when I got totally POed did they offer to give me my internet for $19.99 for the next six months. What they didn't know is that I had one of their pamphlets that Shaw sends out to non-customers offering them $29.95 for internet/cable/digital phone for 6 months (3 months on the phone). So their "DEAL" still stunk compared to Telus' and to what non-Shaw customers are offered. So, yeah, I tried but they LIED then gave me a half-ass offer that comes nowhere close to what I am getting with Telus TV.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Just a quick update:

After 3 months, still very happy I made the switch to Telus TV. Good picture quality, way more channels, including 30+ in HD, good internet speed, wireless modem & PVR.

I'm told on June 8th, they're having the launch of their PVR Anywhere system which will mean far higher bandwidth available into my home so faster internet, more TVs & better PVR service (at no extra charge).