Telus vs Shaw for Internet - who should I choose?

I like Shaw myself. Not a lot of downtime, good customer service and decent speed. ADSL depending on where you are will potentially have higher speeds but even so, I know people that are on it and have more downtime then me and I don't have to mention what their customer service reputation is like.
Kevin

I found Shaw gave interesting comparison about speed and customer support. Shaw looks user-friendlier than Telus,,,,
Take a look at:

http://cable.webworx.ca/telus-shaw-comparison.htm

http://www.dslreports.com/archive

[:0]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated! [:)]

Looks like it's Shaw for me.

Telus offers a great deal at $16.95/month for the first six months. Their support is satisfactory, and the ADSL performance is fast.

Harry,
Open Concept Ventures

Hi all,
As Harry1 said Telus offer competitive price
[;)] ,but Telus customer support is suspicious,,,[:((]
See my friend's story
*****
the problem with Telus internet was that it took about 4 weeks for the package to arrive, and then I couldnt set it up, so I called customer relations and the guy treated me like I was stupid, which really pissed me off. and then he said that he would have to send a technitian, and that would take a few weeks. When they finally did make an appointment, it was between 9am and 4pm, the same hours I work. Then I phoned to ask for another appointment on a sat, but they told me I would have to wait another 4 weeks, leaving me without internet for a total of 2 months.

\I then got really pissed off and went to return the system but had to wait for an hour in line, which only made me more mad.

the reason why this made me so upset was becasue they had convinced me to switch from shaw, yet did nothing to accomodate me.

Wow, Shaw it is fur sure!

Note: Shaw charges a ~$20 relocation fee when you move. Telus has a +$100 new install fee when you move. Nice huh?

Here's my 2 cents ...

One of my friends went with Telus and one fine day they closed his account without warning!

He never had problems with his account, no late payments, etc - just one day BAM!

To make matters worst, he wasted 3 days on the telephone with customer support working the situation out and still had to wait 3 weeks to get the account re-enstated.

"The Future is Friendly" - I think not.

Telus is horrible..


go with Shaw

Wow, telus is really getting slammed. But it's not like they don't deserve it. [:p]

I am not here to defend Telus, but I am here to slam back at Shaw because I think Shaw is getting a little too much love on this thread. Here is my story (in point form) and in a nut shell.

Problems with Shaw
===============

1. Shaw came to install internet and cables.

2. Managed to disconnect the cables and screw up the installation.

3. Television and internet gone for six weeks.

4. No apology, no time to fix, no offer for rebate or refund. Within those six weeks, Shaw failed to come to house eighteen times (between the hours of and the continued to happily charge for the services I wasn't getting.)

5. Took time off work to wait for them fifteen of the eighteen times they did not show up.

6. Insulted by the tech people on the phone when I complained. Was told at one point to "deal with it".

7. When I called the final time (the day they showed up) I told them to come within 30 minutes or I would smash the box off the side of the house and repair the problems myself. The told me I couldn't do that, I said -- "My house. I do whatever I want to anything attached to my house. You have 30 minutes."

They showed up in 15 and all problems were repaired with me standing over the shoulder of the guy. It took the guy three hours to fix all of the cabling, and get the television and internet services repaired.

I called and cancelled the next day, received a refund for the six weeks of offline time they charged me.

Installed Telus the next day and had no problems with performance, installation, or tech help.

I have since moved from Victoria to Vancouver and installed Shaw first (since DSL wasn't offered in the area I was in) and had nothing but problems. Shaw began double billing me (since they assumed for some reason that I lived in Victoria AND Vancouver, thus, should be double billed) and then cut me off when I didn't pay "both" bills -- without any notice. This took four months of idiotic hassles and many calls to the "professional" accounting department. They never did correct the problem, and I never paid them the amount they claimed I owed them.

Luckily for me, Telus called me around the same time and said the service was available and I went ahead and requested the DSL service. I have never had problems whatsoever with Telus.

Shaw was the worst experience I have ever had with Internet service and I would never recommend them -- ever.

[:(]

I AM A CCIE AND I LOOKED OVER EVERY THING THAT SHAW HAS IN THE WAY OF INTERNETWORKING EQUIPMENT AND WHAT VENDOR EQUIPMENT THEY USE, THEN I LOOKED AT TELUS SAME THING. TELUS USES A CISCO HIERARCHIAL NETWORK THE CORE OF THAT NETWORK IS IN SAN DEIGO CALIFORNIA, IT IS WELL ORGANIZED AND HAS MEDIUM SECURITY ON ITS DISTRIBUTION LAYER. SHAW USES NORTEL EQUIPMENT AND A MIXTURE OF VENDORS. THE NETWORK IS WHAT IS CALLED A DOGS BREAKFAST. I HAVE A HIGH SPEED 1000 MGS ETHERNET CONNECTION WITH CISCO PIX FIRWALL SOLUTIONS INSTALLED ON MY NETWORK. (THIS IS JUST SOFTWARE ON A ADSL) THE SPEED SETTING CAN BE CHANGED IF YOU KNOW HOW TO ACCESS THE ADSL THE ONLY THING EXTRA I HAD TO GET WAS 3 FEET OF CAT 6 CABLE. WHEN I BOUGHT THE ADSL I TOLD THEM JUST TURN THE LINE ON AND I'LL DO THE REST DON'T GIVE ME YOUR PROGRAM JUST GIVE ME THE ADDRESS AND I'LL CONFIGURE IT MY SELF AND SAVE TIME AND SPACE ON MY MACHINES. I USED THE DNS SETTINGS AND THE COMMAND IPCONFIG /ALL WITH REALESE AND RENEW. THIS IS THE SIMPLEST WAY TO GET CONNECTED. THE PROGRAMS HAVE GLICHES IN THEM BOTH SHAW AND ROGER'S AND MAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DISCONNECTION BUT THAT CAN ALSO BE DONE BY HACKERS/CRACKERS AND SCRIPT KIDDIES (WANT TO BE HACKERS/CRACKERS) NETHIER TELUS OR SHAW OFFER GOOD SECURITY SOLUTIONS, GET A COPY OF NORTON SYSTEM WORKS IN THE ANTI-VIRUS SETTUP TURN ON SCRIPT STRIPING THIS WILL CONTAIN ALL HOSTILE CODE. DON'T JUST USE IT ONCE OR TWICE BUT THE UPDATES SHOULD BE RUNNING ALL THE TIME WITH ANTI-VIRUS IN RUN MODE. TELUS IS FOR IT'S MONEY CHARGE FOR BANDWIDTH UASAGE * DISTANCE IS THE CHEAPER ONE AND THE LINES ARE MORE RELIABLE BECAUSE THEY ARE FIBER. SHAW ON THE OTHER HAND IS USING MANY FEATURES THAT ARE OUTDATED. CABLE IS STILL USED AND WITH FASTEST TRANSFER RATES OF 32 MBPS. MY SLOWEST TRANSFER RATE IS 500 MBPS THAT IS WHEN THE LINE HAVE THE MOST TRAFFIC ON THEM. IF YOU ARE USING WIRELESS CONNECTIONS. REGARDLESS OF WHO THE ISP IS MAKE SURE THAT THEY SUPPORT IPSEC YOUR SYSTEM AT HOME MIGHT BUT THE ISP DOES NOT ALWAYS SUPPORT IT. YOU MAY HAVE TO ASK THEM TO TURN THAT. IF YOU THINK THAT WELL YOU HAVE AN ADSL BUT IT DOES NOT WORK PROPERLY THE WIRING IN THE BUILDING MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SUPPORT IT. SO THESE ARE LITTLE THINGS THAT MUST BE CHECKED OUT BEFORE YOU GET AND ADSL. PARTS OF VANCOUVER HAVE NOT BEEN UPGRADED YET. FOR ADSL SUPPORT. THE COMPANIES ARE PUTING FIBER IN AT THE STREET LEVEL AND IN SOME OF THE LARGER APPARMENT BUILDINGS. THIS TAKES TIME. THE NEXT PHASE IS TO HAVE FIBER INTO YOUR COMPUTER DIRECTLY. YOU WOULD STILL HAVE A BOX LIKE A ADSL WICH IS A ROUTER. FROM THAT BOX THERE IS A CABLE THAT REQUIRES 2 CONNECTIONS AT EACH END. THE NETWORK CARD FOR PCs IS CURRENTLY VERY EXPENSIVE BUT IT HAS A PROCESSOR ON IT AND THE PROCESSOR IS A BUFFER AND SLOWS THE SPEED OF THE TRAFFIC DOWN. FIBER COSTS RETAIL 59 CENTS A FOOT U.S.
TELUS AND SHAW ARE IN A COMITION FOR USERS WITH THE METALITY OF THE CORPERATION WITH THE MOST USERS CONTROLS THE INTERNET. THE INTERNET IS THE FOLLOW: FIRST PRIMARY FUNCTION IS A BACKUP SYSTEM FOR THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OF THE US. THE END USERS YOU AND ME ARE THE PEOPLE WHO CONTROL THE INTERNET IN THE WAY INFORMATION, CONTENT, AND WHAT ISP WILL BE THERE. IF WE DON'T LIKE ONE ISP WE DON'T HAVE TO BUT UP WITH IT WE JUST GO TO SOMEONE ELSE WHO WILL GIVE US THAT SERVICE. RIGHT NOW FOR ME TELUS DOES THAT BUT I WOULD CHANGE IT IN FLASH IF THERE WERE ANY PROBLEMS WITH TO ATT, BELL OR HOST OF OTHER ISP'S. BUT IN BC TELUS DOES NOT HAVE CORE WIRING ALTHOUGH THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THE CORE. THE ELCTRONIC SUPER HIGHWAY RUNS FROM VANCOUVER TO CHICAGO TO HALIFAX WITH LINES CONNECTING TO SEATTLE, SAN FRANSICO, SAN DEGIO, WASHINTON D.C. AND A FEW MORE. THERE IS NO REAL MONOPOLY HERE BY ANYONE BECAUSE THE END USER HAS CONTROL.HAVE A GOOD DAY STEVE [8)]

I actually have worked with (not for) Telus services for years as I am in the communications industry. In the past, I have worked for thier competitors and have used a lot of different didgital line products since the mid 90's.

For HOME use, surfing, email etc. Shaw wins hands down. For business use, I wouldn't even consider anything other than ADSL from SOHOSkyway (http://www.sohoskyway.net) nobody holds a candle to these guys for managed and secure service that is NEVER down, which Telus seems to be much too often.

If your only candidates are Shaw and Telus, I would recommend Shaw. I had both services at the same time, and while Telus was faster (I was on the Office 2.5 service), it also had the most downtime (one lasted 80 hrs) and network access problems (i.e., unable to either renew an existing IP address or obtain a new IP address). Another thing you might consider is that Shaw's webmail uses (secure) https, while Telus's webmail uses plain http.


For additional savings, you can purchase your Shaw cable modem outright.

If you'd like to save more money, take a look at www.3web.com. They're offering cable Internet (not the Lite version) for $19.95/mo.

For ADSL, I'd recommend either 3web (lowest price) or Uniserve (their Terms of Service allows the operation of a server).

I know this thread is a bit old and I rarely do this, but I can't really let the BS information that stevegb7777 said lay around uncontested. I read though the post and his resume may times over and even though I still think he's just pulling a joke, he might infact be beliving his own crap and sharing it with us.

"TELUS USES A CISCO HIERARCHIAL NETWORK THE CORE OF THAT NETWORK IS IN SAN DEIGO CALIFORNIA, IT IS WELL ORGANIZED AND HAS MEDIUM SECURITY ON ITS DISTRIBUTION LAYER."
No Steve, the center of the internet or Telus' network is not San Diego. The internet has this amazing property that you can connect to networks all over the place in different cities. Telus, Shaw, and every other decent sized network will peer in cities across North America.

"SHAW USES NORTEL EQUIPMENT AND A MIXTURE OF VENDORS. THE NETWORK IS WHAT IS CALLED A DOGS BREAKFAST."
Shaw doesn't have any Nortel gear. How do I know this? Because I worked there in a position where I would know that.

"I HAVE A HIGH SPEED 1000 MGS ETHERNET CONNECTION WITH CISCO PIX FIRWALL SOLUTIONS INSTALLED ON MY NETWORK. (THIS IS JUST SOFTWARE ON A ADSL) THE SPEED SETTING CAN BE CHANGED IF YOU KNOW HOW TO ACCESS THE ADSL THE ONLY THING EXTRA I HAD TO GET WAS 3 FEET OF CAT 6 CABLE."
Ok the G is close to the B, so maybe you ment 1000Mbps. But since gigabit DSL modems don't exist, you probably ment 1000Kbps. Or is it 1000KBps? Or did you mean 1000Megs?!? I don't understand what you are trying to say, but changing your cable from cat5 to cat6 on the 10Mbps link on your DSL modem isn't going to change a thing.

"TELUS IS FOR IT'S MONEY CHARGE FOR BANDWIDTH UASAGE * DISTANCE IS THE CHEAPER ONE AND THE LINES ARE MORE RELIABLE BECAUSE THEY ARE FIBER. SHAW ON THE OTHER HAND IS USING MANY FEATURES THAT ARE OUTDATED. CABLE IS STILL USED AND WITH FASTEST TRANSFER RATES OF 32 MBPS"
Last I saw, I only have a copper pair from Telus. If you mean fiber into the neighbourhood, well throw out your networking textbooks from the 1980's and look up "Hybrid Fiber Cable" on google. And you are telling me that with all the digital video traffic plus cable modem traffic, that the maximum rate on coax is 32Mbps? There is still lots of room on the cable spectrum.

"BUT IN BC TELUS DOES NOT HAVE CORE WIRING ALTHOUGH THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THE CORE. THE ELCTRONIC SUPER HIGHWAY RUNS FROM VANCOUVER TO CHICAGO TO HALIFAX WITH LINES CONNECTING TO SEATTLE, SAN FRANSICO, SAN DEGIO, WASHINTON D.C. AND A FEW MORE."
I'm not sure what map Steve is looking at, but I'm positive it was just hypothetical in a textbook or just one company's network. There are many large networks that span all over North America and they interconnect with each other multiple times in various cities.

Everyone who I know who has seen this link can't stop laughing at his post...I just felt the need to actually say something about it before people started to believe him.

haha, I didn't even read stevegb7777's response after the first sentence. If he says he is a CCIE that means he is tech savvy. To post in a tech forum this fact and then type in all caps is beyond dumb IMO.

Hi ilee,
Waaao! The discussion is getting excited!Which did you choose eventually? Tell us how it is?

I guess I should add something that pertains to the actual discussion too.

I have both the Telus server 2.5 package and Shaw at my residence. With Telus I twice had packetloss problems for more then a day and one 12h outage with my Telus over the past year. The packet loss issues were due to something in the area and didn't require a house visit. The other outage was basicly my modem accidently removed from the system. Low latency which makes it great for online gaming, and the upstream is consistantly faster then Shaw.

As for my Shaw, it has been very stable. Only had a couple times where the modem reset itself and that was it. Found downloads much faster then my Telus line, but since we have different modems in Calgary then you have in BC, that might not be true there. One nice thing about calling Shaw support is the person you speak with can check to see if your modem is ok. When you call Telus, they have to send it to a different group to check that and can take more then a day for them to call you back on it.

Also if you use a long distance carrier other then Telus, I'd probably stay away from DSL. Telus doesn't like to even test your line for noise if you are on another carrier and often will say you have to switch back before you can accuratly have it tested. It's more hassle then it's worth.

So I'd say there isn't really any significant edge to either service. If you do experience any problems with one, the other service is just as good.

I think its a practical joke response from stevegb7777 myself.

I'd ignore it and let it pass and not give it any more attention than it deserves.

Both Telus and Shaw in my opinion own a monopoly here but it boils down to the fact that I need highspeed access and no one else is coming forward yet. I have both employed in my business since I work virtually and cannot afford downtime.

Telus: Cheap for first 6 months but their customer support and wait time for installation is long. Downtime is more than with Shaw. I find it faster than Shaw

Shaw: Installation time is fairly quick. Price is higher. Slower speed than Telus it seems. Customer service is quicker, better than Telus.

Tawnya

I've used Telus for a few years now and have had no problems in terms of speed. Rarely has the service gone down for me in my area.

As far as problems, I guess I'm at an advantage in the sense I tend to enjoy fixing the problems myself.

No one here has managed newsgroups...

What is the retention time like for both services?

In Ontario, its Rogers vs. Bell Sympatico.

Rogers had a rough start in 2000 but they have been rock solid now with good retention levels in the newsgroups. Bell sucked in my opinion..

I'm going to grab Shaw in May when I move out there...

Anyone use Shaw for newsgroups?

Well, I have had both services and have good and bad experiences with both, but here's an article which exposes some of the hidden problems one may encounter with Shaw...

http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=2059

Telus's problems are not customer service but management and process problems. If Telus has more than 1000 customer respresentatives severing great van area or evenmore, it is still not enough because each of his functional department are making trouble within his organization structure. I saw the big boss of telus promise Telus will improve his service quality many time. But, the problems are still there.

I had experience talking with one of resp guy last year when I moved here. I complaint that the service was very worse and... The guy told me that nobaby forced you to buy telus's service. you can throw your telephone away by using other vendor's cellphone and internet service. I was shocked very much . However, it is my mistaken being so surprise after telus drove me crazy several times. Two months later, I needed to move another place . when I checked the new address with resp. They were very confident to tell me that the line in the address was three year old and they needed to send someboby to repair. I asked them whether they were for sure the physical line did not work. They said yes. I waited for a month and I happened to connect telephone to the incoming line. It did have dial tone and worked well. A guy from telus arrived my house at that day and prepared to do something. I told him the line was ok and there was nothing needed to do so... when I claimed to refund %100 service charge. Telus told me they sent somebody over for service. I told them that the guy did not do anything and the line was ok. but, big arguement. Telus insisted that they send somebody over and they spent time and gas for my service.
Come on, you made a mistaken and I have to pay for your mistaken.


Still, I paid %100 for that mistaken. I have time to dial the number which normally take three hours to connection. as well, I try to save face for not being throw out from their service desk and ,,, they do not care their face at all...

I still use Telus fix line, but I cut off all servcies except basic voice communication.

Unlike other product, telephone product is a product with high customer service content. Customer consumes your service firstly and evaluate your service quality . if stastified, they might be continue to buy. otherwise, they will stop or turn away.

Having worked with both ISP's, the recommendation would go to Shaw for High Speed Internet Services, if you take into consideration where the pops are located, bandwidth, network speed and customer support. Shaw's new deal with Motorola promoting the Surfboard Cable Modem is an additional incentive. The downtime of a Shaw connection (which is rarely) is far better than Telus. Telus has experienced throughout Canada, too large of a network demand in Telephony & Wireless, which they are unable to manage. The only problem encountered with Shaw thus far, is when there is a city wide outage, it is apparently impossible to get a hold of them through any means of communication, but as it is city wide, they are working on problem resolution, which in our minds, is a good thing!

As a tech, I setup and repair internet etc. for clients using both services. Both companies offer good services, right now Telus is giving free anti-virus and free spam filtering. Shaw is offering a lower speed option for about $10. less or their new "ExtremeI" service that is about 3x there standard speed for $10. more. So for right now, if you want raw speed, shaw has the edge. Good luck

stevegb7777: you stated "CABLE IS STILL USED AND WITH FASTEST TRANSFER RATES OF 32 MBPS"
This is a lie, the theoretical speed for cable is 10 mbps and can only be achieved in the best conditions.

The other question to aske when you're talking to the sales rep is: Are my downloads limited? How much bandwidth am I actually getting for what I pay. Shaw offers Internet-lite but it has a lower speed (I think) and definitely if your downloading lots of files they'll get you on that as well. Telus has no limits htat i know of. The higher priced accounts offer higher speed and more discrete computer connections.

A lower price may come with restrictions you don't like. I like to run my own webserver and mail server, so these are questions I'll definitely ask if I change ISPs. Telus hasn't limited my ability to do any of these things other than ADSL's inherent bandwidth limites.

ive alway used shaw and thought the service was excellent. and when extreme speed came out i noticed a huge difference. i get up to 5mb d/l speed and 1 up.
but.. when i moved to my new place and got all hooked up there was a drastic difference. ive had techies come over to figure it out after i had tried everything i know to correct the problem. they all assured me everything was fine. it wasnt.
i call every second day to tell them about my slow speeds and there always seems to be a new excuse. they even went as far as telling me they will credit me a free month of service when i get my first month free anyways!
ive decided to wait 3 weeks before i take any further action. im waiting that long because one of shaws reps said that the work that is being done in my area will take that long, which is complete crap. cuz i called back the same day and and talked to a different rep and asked about the repairs in my area and he had no idea what i talking about. but i will still wait... for them to do a month and a half of repairs in this area.
anyways, ive called telus and asked them about internet service and i wasnt impressed with what they offer. they have nothing close to the speeds shaw offers(which i did get at my old place) telus was 1.5mb compared to 5 from shaw at the same price. and the upload was half the speed. the next step was 2.5mb at a price much higher than shaws. i didnt bother asking about the next step up cuz i know ill end up getting it if shaw doesnt dummy up.
so overall, which is better? i will let everyone know in 3 weeks.

Oh.. Hello i am a new member here

Just to let you Shaw Internet Users know, in South Vancouver and East Vancouver and maybe some other cities, Shaw implemented traffic shaping, which restricts the amount of bandwidth that can be used, usually during peak hours. If you have noticed ugly speeds, that is why you are seeing it. The network management team will not lift the traffic shaping. Why? They are simply overselling their services by degrading our services. Talk about cheapskates! If I were the boss of the network department, I would fire the employees off the bat! The technical support people *has* not acknowledge this traffic-shaping activity because the network department did not release these information to them.

In some parts of Greater Vancouver Area, they installed this hardware to certain hubsites, making Bittorent unusable especially the upload. I guess they really have bad impressions on power users eh?

I have both Shaw and Telus and Telus is more reliable when it comes to using the bandwidth for downloading/uploading files =)

Bottom line, Shaw sucks in Vancouver for downloading!

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I have had the opportunity to have BOTH Shaw and Telus internet connections at the same time for 3 months, and I had problems with both.
But that was not always the case. My first Telus connection based in PoCo was very good, and then my second Telus from N.Burnaby was even better, but when I move just across the Number 1 highway I started having Trouble with the Telus service. It was slow and would cut out every 5 minutes. The modem itself would go offline and reset every 5 minutes. In the same house at the same time I had a Shaw internet connection and that connection was slow and cut out as well, but not quite as often. I ended up having to install a free download manager program because the downloads would quit when the internet went down.
I called Telus many times and changed my ADSL modem twice, the last time was a brand new modem. Telus was helpful on the phone (after bypassing the computer voice and waiting for a human) but the problem was never resolved.
This is the only time I have ever had problems with Telus, I have managed many companies with Telus ADLS access and never ran across any issues like this.
Once Telus is running properly the bandwidth is consistent all the time, but with Shaw the bandwidth will come and go depending on what time of day it is, but this is a symptom of the system that Shaw uses, (Shaw is like a Hub based network and Telus is like a Switch based network) and is to be expected in a shared collision domain environment. But the Shaw network is capable of higher bandwidth (ADSL modems have design limits).
When all things are equal, Shaw will give you inconsistent, but higher speeds, and Telus will give you consistent speed. When compared over time, they end up being equal, so it depends on what you require.
It is my opinion that both companies throttle bandwidth.

Well I honestly hate posting on these this inet is better then this inet commentary in forums, but I thought I'd give some incite into what you where getting on the shaw network vs the telus network.

A few things impact the speed of your connection obviously, some being out of the control of the ISP, and others not. The first base factor that will impact your service on both is signal level. Each system has a different degree of tolerability and this will vary from area to area.

I'm just going to give a very high level overview of what might be happening with your original shaw modem and why there was such a difference. On the Shaw system, you have a forward and return path to each modem, the forward path(the one to you) runs about what you would see as a mid level signal path and the return is a low level band path(the one going to the internet). Each of the modems on the shaw system need to be within a certain dB range in order to properly transfer the anolog to digital signals from the plant system to your modem. If those levels are off you can have 1 of 3 things happen.

1) super crappy connection, connections drop all the time. (really low signal or noise on the line (noise being ingress, harmonic signal problems, or electrical noise on the line))
2) really slow speeds, connections never seem to be fast. generally either low levels or out of scope levels.
3) really super fast connections for brief periods then having to powercycle the modem to get your connection back. Levels are too too high.

These three scenerio's contribute to your base connection speed, and yes there are tonnes of other issues that can add to it like floresent lights, paralell cables to power lines, etc.

With Bittorrent, shaw regulates those ports, if you used a torrent client like bit comet where you can change your port on the fly, you would notice that your connections would fly way up.

The reason why this is, is that, like most isp's, as more people understand and use torrents and the clients, the impact on the network is tremendous, and even though many feel that they should be able download as much as they want when they want, the internet is a shared resource. In turn many companies are starting to streamline how quickly people can upload and download from peer to peer resources. Not only your local isp, but the backbone networks as well like UUnet, bigpipe, and supernet. If you don't know these names, probably look them up because it'll offer further incite.

If you called Shaw and said things where slow on your modem, and then boom it got faster, it was probably the shaw tech changing what frequency the modem was working on. As stated in the 3 scenarios above, you would see some increase or stability if you where experiencing unreliablity before, and then it seemed to pickup a bit. The change may only be a 1 Mhz change or a 1dB increase, but that might be the difference from being out of scope to in scope.

Also, you need to realize that torrents are peer to peer, meaning you are relying on the other persons connection to maximize your download.

For the increase over to telus, well the answer is simple, they don't block/monitor that port at the same level as Shaw at the moment. Trust me though, they will, and it is coming.

As well there was someone who mentioned cable was limited to 10Mbps.... Wrong. Cable covers a spectrum of 1000Mhz and a cable modem only uses about 20Mhz to run. On a 20Mhz band you can push through about 50+Mbps, do the math. Realistacally though, you wouldn't make a modem use the entire frequency range, so in turn, speed comes down to "backbone link+routing capability+error checking+compression=your speed". If you where wondering what that black motorola box can do, check out the website for motorola and do some reading. As well when you do, understand the difference between a bit and a byte. Mb/s is 8 times slower then MB/s. Or there are 8b(bits) in 1B (Byte).

I've used both telus and Shaw... Survey says Shaw is a better choice for home internet. I've never really had a problem with the service.. Every now and then my router drops the signal(once a month). I wouldn't even think about using Telus or Shaw for business services...Many of my clients in the past have alwasy complained about there services. Not Stable enough. I recently joined Metrobridge Networks and have found that they provide a really good service. Only draw back is that I can't get it at home. Were only B2B. What are the details on Shaw Extreme?

telus is the one i choose

I have been using Shaw and was happy until I ha a problem yesterday taht was handled very poorly.
I have now decided to switch providers.
I have thebundle TV/Internet and Digital phone with Shaw. They had a scheduled upgrade in Riverbend Sept 23, 2009, and infrimed us that we will experience disruption in oru internet service from noon to 2 p.m. during the week. Yesterday my internet wasn't working even after the tiem range we were given , it was 4 p.., afetr phonaing and being put on hodl for over an hour, I was told teh problem was on my side, and they will send someone to have a look at it and that woudl take few weeks.
After I insisted that the problem coudln't be on our side since the internet was working in teh morninbg just prior to the scheduled equipment upgrade Shaw did. I asked to speak to one of teh supervisors on duty, after refusing my request for variosu reasons I was todl a spot pned up and someone would come within an hour.
No one showed up but somehow the internet started working again (which proved the problem was on their side not mine like I was told). But today, Sept.24, 2009, nothing has been working since 7 a.m. I have no phone service, internet or TV.
I can handle not having a TV work, but not an essential service like the phone which is crucial in an emergency.

I have decided not to stay with Shaw anynmore. I will swaith providers as soon as my services are back again when I can use the phone.

I signed up for e years with telus to take advantage of the Lenovo computer promo. I thought it was a good deal. The lenovo didn't arrive for more than 1 month after signing. When I finally got it I find that it was a piece of crap. Its slower than a snail. I couldn't return it and I'm locked in with the 3 years plan. After a few months I gave up with the Lenovo and bought a laptop. I was paying $45.95 per month when Shaw was only $29.95. I had my mind set to pay the cancellation fee but Telus offered me their current promotion of $19.95 per month for 1 year if I don't cancel, wow that was a good deal, so I took it. I never check my bills with because it is automatically deducted of my credit card so I didn't realise until I downloaded my past years ebill that Telus charged me the $480.00 cancellation fee even though my internet is still with them. When I called them, they said they can reverse the $120.00 but not the $360.00 so I said fine since you already took the cancellation fee then cancel my line. They are more willing to cancel my line than return my money. Their customer service could definitely use an improvement.

I had Shaw before switching with Telus so I can definitely say that Shaw internet is better.

I have had Telus for about 4 years and it works great. Not sure why everyone else seems to hate it. We have Telus at work also and it works great too. I agree their support reps are inexperienced and always pass off problems as equipment or computer related. The only thing i don't like about Telus is their silly contracts all the time.

You should RUN away from Telus. I HAVE Telus and can NEVER get connected in the mornings or late afternoon because I think they are thyrottling their home customers to favour their business! Right NOW I have been unable AGAIN to connect, and RIGHT NOW, I am going through the wall in my apartment building to connect to my neighbor's SHAW connection for this response! YOU DO NOT GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR WITH TELUS!
I am supposed to be on what they call EXTREME high speed which is really NO speed. This was set-up by a Telus technician AT MY HOME.
On my own website I have a speed check, Telus is consistent at about 5100 kbps and Shaw is consistent at 13,000 kbps! Which would you choose?
And then you can NEVER get through to Telus to find out what they are doing, and theY JUST assume you are not plugged into the wall. They are the worst internet service you can get! Let your contract run out and go to SHAW or Novus!

I prefer Shaw to telus, shaw is very user friendly and they give great support , 24/7, even their light speed, seems to be just fine for me,

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What I would give to have "crappy" service from Shaw or Telus.....In my part of the "hinterland" it is dialup only.......Telus and Shaw are close but no cigars.....My dialup got up to 49.2k today.....Sometimes I can only connect at 35k.....Regards, Royce....

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As the starter of this topic in 2004, I am posting back in 2006. Who do others use now? I think Shaw has much better customer service than Telus... by far!

I just got word from Telus that their increasing my bill by $1.
Now $44/month [:((]

I play video games online competitively and latency wise I feel that Shaw is the better choice. (I have never used Telus, but a lot of the people I play with online complain about Telus.)

I use Shaw Xtreme-I

Well after too many years of enduring dialup internet our village finally moved out the "hinterland" and got Shaw Internet service.....It has been an absolute gift.....

Regards, Royce.....
www.businesscardmagnets.ca

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On 11/24/2004 9:37:02 PM, Zagato wrote:

Just to let you Shaw Internet Users know, in South Vancouver and East Vancouver and maybe some other cities, Shaw implemented traffic shaping, which restricts the amount of bandwidth that can be used, usually during peak hours. If you have noticed ugly speeds, that is why you are seeing it. The network management team will not lift the traffic shaping. Why? They are simply overselling their services by degrading our services. Talk about cheapskates! If I were the boss of the network department, I would fire the employees off the bat! The technical support people *has* not acknowledge this traffic-shaping activity because the network department did not release these information to them.
In some parts of Greater Vancouver Area, they installed this hardware to certain hubsites, making Bittorent unusable especially the upload. I guess they really have bad impressions on power users eh?
I have both Shaw and Telus and Telus is more reliable when it comes to using the bandwidth for downloading/uploading files =)
Bottom line, Shaw sucks in Vancouver for downloading!
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wow haha this is the post quoted in the globe and mail... its from 2004... i bet chat forums must be really "ripe" for them to dig back that deep for a quote ahhaha [:p]

Just to add another data point to the debate; last week Shaw's mail server (yes, reportedly they have only one) went down for around half a day.

Despite that, in my neighbourhood they're still clearly better than Telus. Telus has been ratcheting up its hate score by calling me repeatedly pestering me to switch back, too.

<snip duplicate post>

I wonder why this thread stayed buried even after we added to it...

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The best way to get better customer service out of Telus is to go directly into a cellular store. Even though it is Telus Mobility, they are in the process of combining the two companies. So if you want person to person help for ADSL, then contact myself ;)

Your friendly Victoria Telus Mobility dealer =)

cheers

Dude could u come and do that at my house?

I was on Telus and I switched to Shaw. Shaw is much better in every way.

Here are some of my many compaints about Telus

- Customer service sucks. In the outside chance that you actually get through, you'll find they have 2 groups... phone and internet which are 100% independent of each other and they will not communicate with each other. I had a problem where my phone + internet were 100% dead and each group blamed the other one.... therefore, they both refused to look at the problem.

- Stupid hidden fees. Lots of them.

- Frequent (10 second) hiccups in internet connection. It sucks when you're online gaming and once every 45 minutes you get booted off your favorite server... then you spend an extra 10 minutes waiting to get back in 'cause someone else grabbed your place.

- Lots of downtime... like, an average of an hour per day.

- Takes them FOREVER to change your connection when you move. I was waiting about 5 days and had to keep calling back.



I switched to Shaw and I'll never look back. Way more uptime, way more reliable, way cheaper, way better service. They send someone to your home on the day that you move, and they give you a free Cable Modem if you surrender your worthless ADSL modem to them. I still get great pings on all my gaming servers so speed isn't an issue. Bandwidth is maybe marginally slower, but not enough to really notice.

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I tried Shaw and had it for several months here on Capitol Hill in North Burnaby. The speed was good when it worked, but the service would disappear most afternoons, around the time school gets out, and be gone for the evening. Weekends were also problematic.
Shaw service, despite what's printed on their trucks, usually took about a week. All they did when they got here was to switch aound the passive splitters on the side of the house. It never solved the problem. I think that Shaw has simply oversold their service above the capabillity of their infrastructure to support it.
Rather than go with Telus, I've tried one of the smaller suppliers, Infinet, for a package of adsl and voip. It took a month for Telus to vacate the line. My second-hand Telus Linksys adsl modem didn't seem to like the non-Telus adsl. I had to use the D-link modem supplied free by Infinet. I've since found that this Linksys model ADSLME3 does not exist on the Linksys website.
The limits on my package are 8Gb down and 2Gb up. Not aware of any disconnections yet; it seems steady.
My $39.95 package actually totals $54.09/month after taxes and two charges I was not told of, an ADSL access fee of $4.95 and a Network access fee of $2.95. I'd be interested in hearing from Telus adsl users if there are comparable fees above Telus' advertised rates. I'm guessing one of my fees could relate to voip.

personal i always go with the ADSL, ive used telus adsl in surrey bc in 2 different houses for about 6 months each and it's just like any other dsl serivce should be.

shaw on the other hand is all talk, they look and sound great but profurmce will differ place to place and at different times of day.

telus; you're capped at 2.5m down, not too sure up.
Shaw highspeed, you're capped at 7 depending on your area, xtreme speed, you're capped at 10
nitro.. you're capped at 25. GOod lord.


Shaw is deffinitely beating telus for internet, plus service calls for telus.. you have to pay a fee. Shaw, you dont have to pay anything.



(i work for shaw, can you tell?)

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I download a very MINIMAL amount of music and have gotten a written warning from telus that if I didn't stop that they would be forced to take legal action, yet since switching to Shaw, and since getting a new computer with a DVD burner and downloading music and movies haven't heard a single thing from Shaw, certainly no written threatning letters... I say Telus can kiss my A$$!

I use bittorrent, and have never had a single problem with Shaw. As for speeds, Shaw at it's very worst beats Telus at it's very best... don't believe me? Check an unbiased source at dslreports.com &(http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,15440892?hilite=shaw)

Not to mention customer service is not so great when it comes to telus and should you need someone to physically come out and fix something, there going to charge you by the hour, call them and ask yourself... with Shaw all service calls are FREE of charge.

And to top it all off... what kind of company needs to give you a free computer to get you to sign up for their service?! (Maybe one that needs to lock you into a three year contract, that by the way costs you like $500 to get out of... yep call them and ask them that too!) Have Fun!!

I download a very MINIMAL amount of music and have gotten a written warning from telus that if I didn't stop that they would be forced to take legal action, yet since switching to Shaw, and since getting a new computer with a DVD burner and downloading music and movies haven't heard a single thing from Shaw, certainly no written threatning letters... I say Telus can kiss my A$$!

I use bittorrent, and have never had a single problem with Shaw. As for speeds, Shaw at it's very worst beats Telus at it's very best... don't believe me? Check an unbiased source at dslreports.com &(http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,15440892?hilite=shaw)

Not to mention customer service is not so great when it comes to telus and should you need someone to physically come out and fix something, there going to charge you by the hour, call them and ask yourself... with Shaw all service calls are FREE of charge.

And to top it all off... what kind of company needs to give you a free computer to get you to sign up for their service?! (Maybe one that needs to lock you into a three year contract, that by the way costs you like $500 to get out of... yep call them and ask them that too!) Have Fun!!

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If you care about speed in the Vancouver area, I would go with Shaw. As the TELUS ads plastered around the city will allude to - the Shaw connection does slow down during busy times. However, I have the "Extreme-I" version which is actually 10Mbps downstream and even at it's slowest it's still faster than the 2.5Mbps TELUS version at its fastest. What the TELUS ads also fail to mention is that TELUS suffers the same fate during busy times.

Most of the time the I can consistently get speeds of 500K/s to 750K/s downloading from well connected sites (or 4Mbps/6Mbps if you prefer) with Shaw.

The other thing about the TELUS consumer ADSL packages (and even their standard - i.e. unmanaged - business ADSL packages) that just sucks is the fact that you have to register the MAC addresses of any devices you want to plug in through their OCA web registration interface. This is absolutely junk, and honestly seems like a ploy to fabricate a customer service nightmare. I imagine it is there as a security "feature" but I can think of at least 5 better ways to do this.

That's my 2 bits...

Chris Day, CTO
CDot Networks Inc.
http://www.cdot.ca

Shaw is much better. if you have a router all you just need to do is to plug and play unlike for telus, you need to clone the MAC address of the registered computer.

D-Link tech guru

I am your local Commercial Sales Rep at Shaw.
If you would like to try our service out give me a call at 604-720-4034 and I will be happy to assist you.
We are presently offering 1 month free on business Internet packages (starting as low as $49.95)!
We also offer incredible rates on our Digital Phone service.
We also have a great referral program - and are happy to offer a $50 credit off your existing Shaw bill to those of you who refer Shaw to others, and they sign on.
Please pass me your referrals and I will be certain to reward you for your assistance with this offer.
I can also be reached at jaki.laga@sjrb.ca.
Thanks [:)]

First of all FACT -- do you think you would get better service with a telephone cable? or a tv cable?
Obviously the answer is the phone service are inferior cables, smaller - and even at top fiber optics - fewer.
RIGHT?

Second of all - FACT - I took both companies. First TELUS - internet. It crashed 3 - 9 times a day.
I phoned to cancel service after a 2 month period when they would not fix or improve their crappy High Speed Internet - and I'm not talking dial up!

I was made to feel stupid and constantly had my computer blamed by the technician . l shot that one down.
Best quality from one of the top 3 computer wizards in all of Vancouver. I knew it was provider. Now - here's the worst.

Third of all FACT - I got a free digital camera with the service. Plastic camera sprayed with metallic finish.
It was still in the box, they would not take it back even thought the plastic was still on it. It took 8 weeks to get it. I had just got it the day before. I waited a hell of a long time for a freebie.

Eventually - I cancelled. But they refused to take the phone back. And I had to pay $250 for the phone to cancel the internet service from TELUS. I fought hard and got them down to $150. As the phone was crap.
I took it out of the box - 4 weeks later to take to Thailand. The camera was so poor that the humidity in the shoulder season shut the camera down. I had top quality batteries for digital cameras. Replaced them 3 times. Worst ever! Then the memory stick in the camera was so poor all the humidity corrupted the 400 pictures and I had nothing to return with from my vacation.

TELUS - you have over loaded your service with untrained technicians. THey have poor social skills.
TELUS - you have bad service technicians that are just rude - when I'm getting testing saying ...
YOU TOLD ME TO DO THE SAME THING 4 TIMES! IT DOESN"T MAKE SENSE TO DO IT A 5th TIME!
The technician can't deal with stress or problem solving.
TELUS - you treated me badly, screwed me with a piece of crap phone, and poor internet service and
a really really longer wait for technical help and home appointments then SHAW.

I went to SHAW. Sometimes I have to wait - a maximum of 10 minutes. TELUS was 10 - 40 minutes.
I went to SHAW. I have never once in 2 years had the internet service brown out, slow down or just kick me off the service so that other customers could get on - TELUS - you stink, you lie and you have cheap gifts
that are so poor - they aren't even available in Canada for sale. They are chinese imports that are below standards in some cases and can't stand up to short term use. My camera silver spray paint peeled off
the camera a little at a time from the 2nd week in Thailand until the present. I think that's shameful when you lie and tell me it cost you $250 for a camera that in Thailand they sell for $65. That's a middle high priced store that sells things at only 10% then the same costs in Canada. A rip off. Because a great camera is not something you can get cheap cheap cheap in Thailand. Quality will always cost.

So - long and short - write me to verify my 8 weeks of horrible service with TELUS.
AND I will communicate my 3 years with SHAW that has been peaceful and carefree.
I had a few problems with my router - but never my shaw cable service.

Experiencia docat. Experience is knowledge.

who do you work for and what kind of crap is this ? i've had shaw for atleast 6 years and had nothing but good service. when i phone 4 help i usually get someone right away and when i had it hooked up the tech showed up on time and hooked everything up PROFESSIANALLY. their tech support will even help you out during early morning hours , when they are not busy, with computer related problems (not internet) they have been so helpful i wouldn't change . i think your story is full of ****!!!!!!

WHAT??????????????

"stevegb7777" that's what i call a computer geeks kids...lol

I originally started off with Telus and was a primarily happy DSL customer for 4 years. But I had 2 occasions where Telus tech support caused problems and the 2nd occasion was the last straw. I switched over to Shaw last year and have been problem free since. Performance wise download speed is quicker with Shaw despite there being more Shaw ISP subscribers in my neighborhood.