Shaw/Telus Deals and Frustrations

[Doug]

BLAH. Telus or Shaw. Whats the difference, Both have similar packages & charges. All Telus people with a package similar to mine with Shaw, are so close in channels & price its not even worth discussing.

I look forward to and/or if ever we get to do our own selection & packages. I can't go minimum as TSN in their wisdom and their 5 channels, put all the stuff on the extra channels ,[ such as some sports talk show & a big one for me Nascar ], So the only way is to buy their whole package.

I would like a really basic package with the sports package & movie package. Good enough. Or even cheaper, just a sports package & movie package. and other channels over a rooftop antenna.

[Ulmo]

Shaw's WIFI network is awesome, and is the deciding factor IMO.
Also, I dislike traffic shaping.

[MKLKT]

I had a brief period of time where I was suffering on Shaw due to node saturation but since that was resolved it's been great. 15 years or so of good service except the occasional contractor who wasn't knowledgeable enough. I'm still on a BB100 package at a reasonable price so I won't touch it.

I've heard bad and good experiences on both sides with both providers and a lot of it has to do with where you specifically live and the type of gear you use. I've heard complaints that were aimed at the provider when really it was the cheap router, cable, etc. that the customer was using. I've also known people who got months of runarounds with no acceptable solution.

Not a fan of the 3 year contract stuff though, if the service was appreciably better you wouldn't need that. And yes I know it's usually to cover some sort of 'bonus' item.

[monocus]

get rid of tv cable and just use internet,you can watch any tv show on the internet on putlocker,primewire etc anytime you want and whole series at once

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Dendromad

I use Over the Air for TV, its free and HD! Sure you don't get tons of channels, but we do get Global, CTV, CTV2, City, CBC and a few others all in HD and uncompressed so even better picture than cable. We just spend $73 on internet.

I almost never watch local television.

Originally Posted by monocus

get rid of tv cable and just use internet,you can watch any tv show on the internet on putlocker,primewire etc anytime you want and whole series at once

Unfortunately the shows that I watch (some need real time live) are only available on cable or Telus. Don't watch a lot of movies, or series (PVR is full of stuff with no time to watch).

Shaw has what I want, just don't like paying so much....

[reefwithareefer]

I was never to happy with Shaw prices, but the customer service was always good for me. Telus was going door to door one dayand offered the same channels etc as Shaw, but for half the price, so I took it.

Biggest mistake I ever made. It has been just about 2 years and with out a word of a lie, I have logged approx 20hrs on the phone with them and about the same, if not more waiting for them to repair the service over and over. They have been to my house over 34 times in those two years. They have re-wired the entire house for Optik tv and internet and still, at least twice a day the Optik stops working and and/or the internet slows to a snails pace. They have burned out 3 modems and 2 boxes. The wifi does not even get upstairs to my room, even when they added a 5g box. I could not even get xbox to work, they finally got it going, then we bought one for the other daughter and hers would not work ..It took them 2 weeks to get it going and within a week it would drop connection etc. The last day they were there, there were 6 guys trying to get it to work. The funny thing is, I rent the basement and pay for the separate Optik tv down there and not once has there ever been an issue, only with the upstairs has there been issues.

I have 2 months left on the contract and I will never go back. Yes they offered huge discounts etc, but are you serious. It is like the old days when companies would send out software that was not complete or full of bugs and you had to constantly update etc.

Not sure if anyone has ever had issues similar to mine, but I would be curious...

Roku and downloads for me, from now on. I have a fishtank to look at now...

[mike31154]

Shaw TV & internet since moving to Vernon 2004. Daughter & Son in law are on Telus. Not sure how Telus bills customers, but Shaw is the only 'utility' bill I have that charges you for service a month in advance. Make you pay before they actually deliver the goods. Not sure how they qualify for that, but clearly we as customers allow them to do that by continuing to be customers. Can't really complain about the service delivery, it's been consistent with no real glitches. Daughter seems pretty happy with service from Telus.

Ok, so delivery of the product has been fine, but I too have had a problem with the TV content for a number of years & what they charge for the trash currently provided. The CRTC is finally moving to force cable providers to give customers a better deal with respect to programming choices rather than have packages shoved down their throats & charging even more for the "premium" channels. I'm old enough to remember that the reason you paid for cable TV was to enjoy commercial free programming, generally a couple of movie channels. Cable TV providers have in effect been double dipping by charging cable customers for programming saturated with commercials.

Cable providers now own the broadcasters, the TV stations, not a very healthy environment for a competitive market. That & the fact that the CRTC is moving too slow, prompted me to cancel the TV portion of my Shaw service just over a year ago. Since then I've been watching OTA TV, which in Vernon gives me 4 channels, all with the same programming. 2 SD channels & 2 HD channels, Global CHBC, owned by Shaw & CHAN CHKL, whatever that is. Quite limited, but I get local news & the signal quality is excellent. Uncompressed HDTV for free. I'm close enough to the transmitter that a rabbit ear antenna with amplifier in the living room has no problem capturing signal. I recently installed a larger antenna in the attic & pull the signal fine with no amp or boost required.

Current bill for "High Speed 10" internet service + tax comes in at just over $66. There are certainly beefier & more costly internet plans from Shaw, but on checking my use, I've never been anywhere near the 125 GB limit. I purchased a new TV with ATSC/QAM tuner recently & signed up for Netflix free trial. This will likely boost my internet usage closer to the limit, we'll see how that goes. Once the free trial is over, it'll be about $10 a month. So far I've watched some movies I really liked. If I were to use Shaw video on demand, it would cost considerably more, they really gouge you for that service. No way I'm willing to fork over $200 a month or more for TV & Internet.

Slowly but surely, the cable providers are feeling the heat of competition from on-demand/streaming providers like Netflix. Offering Shomi now to compete. Downside is that they provide the internet service & will continue to crank up the price of that as more customers bail from their TV packages. If you live in a larger metropolitan area anywhere near the US border I would highly recommend looking into OTA HDTV asap. For the price of an antenna & a bit of fiddling, you could save a bundle instead of paying for those "bundles" the providers like to lock you into. Check out the following site, type in your postal code or address & you should get all the info you need to see what's available free OTA in your neighbourhood.

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=29

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Check out the following site, type in your postal code or address & you should get all the info you need to see what's available free OTA in your neighbourhood.
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=29

Thanks, Mike that is very interesting and useful info. I live in Langley, on the south side, plus we are up on a hill, so looks like we could also get a lot of the US stations. The list even includes Seattle channels, but might be hard to pick those up (in grey).

But unfortunately still wouldn't get some of my fav cable channels (like Live Nature, formerly called Oasis).

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Thanks, Mike that is very interesting and useful info. I live in Langley, on the south side, plus we are up on a hill, so looks like we could also get a lot of the US stations. The list even includes Seattle channels, but might be hard to pick those up (in grey).

But unfortunately still wouldn't get some of my fav cable channels (like Live Nature, formerly called Oasis).

Well yeah, I like similar channels, PBS, nature etc. but am learning to live without. I'd love to be able to choose a channel that features soccer, but no such animal from Cable providers without having to pay for the whole bundle + sports bundle, +++++. They've had that stranglehold with their packages for a long time, but with any luck the proposed changes by the CRTC will change that. In the mean time, there is life without TV. More & more the internet is providing the things I miss on TV. All about choices, or lack thereof.

It certainly won't cost you much to check into the OTA possibilities where you are. If you can find or borrow an old rabbit ear antenna, you're all set to give it a go. Don't get sucked into buying the so called 'digital' room antennas, they don't do anything special that $10 rabbit ears from the flea market can't. You can easily do that before making any decisions about cutting TV service from your cable company. Your TV does need to have a built in ATSC tuner though, or you'll need to buy a separate unit such as the HomeWorX converter. If you purchased your TV within the last several years, it should have the tuner built in. Smaller TV may not. I used a HomeWorX box for a year since my 1st gen flat panel only had an analog tuner. It crapped out almost on cue a few weeks ago just after the 1 year warranty expired. Nevertheless, for $70 & a year of free TV, I reckon it was worth it. I might try to fix it so I can use it in another room with the old TV.

[Wretch]

No more $200+ cable bills for me. I cancelled my tv and phone from Shaw and just kept the internet. So now I pay $75 a month and watch all my tv through a android tv box. Never had a problem with Shaw service just their prices.