I posted a blog entry in June 2010 that I was looking to switch from Shaw to TELUS as my ‘bundle’ service provider. At the time, TELUS was offering a new Fibre optic based service to a near proximity of residences which promised to provide the ultimate experience for Internet and HD digital television viewing experience.
I switched to TELUS as Shaw at the time was not willing to be competitive in the marketplace and didn’t view TELUS as a strong competitor in this area. That view changed within two months as they responded by offering very competitive ‘Don’t leave’ incentive packages. Regardless, I made the decision to switch an in July of 2010 I welcomed TELUS into my home and had their Internet, TV and home phone service installed.
Overall throughout the year, I have been mostly satisfied with the service. In the beginning couple of months, the Internet was rocking! I was obtaining greater than 25Mbps download speeds and everything was very responsive. My family was very happy as they could all be on the Internet and access any services they wished such as Netflix, AppleTV movies, etc. without any lag or bandwidth issues.
One year later and I am shocked to say that the honeymoon is over. In the year, I have experienced four system outages where their set top box (Cisco IPTV) required a complete hard reset which also required that the DSL modem and Ethernet switch also be rebooted. The TELUS support representative did not have any explanation other than to say that this happens sometimes with the only resolution being a complete reboot of everything. Further surprise came today when I received my most recent TELUS bill. Let me first say that I subscribe to quite a few HD TV packs. Not for my entertainment, but rather to provide choice and options for my family. So, over time the TELUS services became more than I originally envisioned but it was still very competitive and reasonable. Back to the TELUS bill that arrived today. For unexplained reasons the cost of my services inexplicably increased by approximately $80/mth! Where I was getting a 12 month “welcome to TELUS” discount for my Internet and Optik TV packages, TELUS is now charging me not only the unsubsidized pricing but are applying a surcharge for both services. Suffice it to say, TELUS… you got some explaining to do.
I went through the scenario of comparing TELUS to Shaw again tonight and of course, being in a competitive and non-monopolistic market, Shaw has evolved and provides many more attractive options. You can now get a standard Internet package which provides 50Mbps download speed. I am currently experiencing approximately 15Mbps on my TELUS service. All in, Shaw is now showing that for an equally configured subscription of services, they are quite favourably lower cost. The only negative factor is that you can not watch PVR content at all television sets. TELUS with the Optik TV service and more specifically with the Cisco IPTV set top boxes let the content on the PVR be displayed on any IPTV set top box. Shaw utilizes a different technology which does not provide a ‘networked’ set top box environment.
I am looking again.. I’m sad to say. I’m thankful that I did not commit to a contract and kept my options open.
Grant, have you checked out the new ‘Gateway Experience’ from Shaw? http://www.shaw.ca/Gateway/ It allows up to 6 televisions.
Hey Ryan… thanks for that. I was not aware of the Shaw Gateway option.
Nice comparison. I’m not so much an Optik fanboy but I have to say to overall experience is like TV 2.0. I think you pretty much said the product was good?
You hit on the worst part of dealing with Telus and that’s the billing. Agree with you there. I would say to anyone write down your agreement, pricing and when that pricing can change. Keep it handy for later on.
You didn’t mention if you bundled everything but I would assume so. From a cost perspective doing anything else is asinine.
People can do whatever they want. I can only say that what I see on the streets are 100 Telus install trucks and next to no Shaw trucks. Just saying. And no I not trying to drag Shaw through the mud. It’s just what I see.
About 50MB download? A big deal compared to the 15MB? Seriously? A big deal is having your own control over your download speed. You can’t control your neighbors habits and you get the cable yo yo speed. A website only loads so fast and 15 vs 50 makes no difference for surfing.
Regarding reboots. I own computers, PVR’s are essentially like a mini computer. A reset is a big deal? A hard reset a big deal? Really? Telus update quite often so at times I’ve had issues. Need a fix? Reboot the modem or the PVR. I certainly hope people out there wouldn’t consider it a deal breaker.
But I’m guessing your price is the biggest gripe. Enjoy the buyers market! I know Telus wants to keep their customers so getting a reasonable solution isn’t hard to do. Good luck.
In closing, seriously you’re considering giving up Optik? There are too many things that I like about it to say here. If they have confusing bills or weak customer support, oh well. The product itself is the best thing ever. Why go with TV 1.0 when you have 2.0 in Optik? Switching back to Shaw for me would be like me driving an extra hour to get groceries because I had a bad experience at the store across the street.
My 2 cents. Thanks for the read and please update!
shaw has no issues, Telus is full of them A-Z
Well.. latest update.
There was indeed an anomaly in my July billing that is being corrected for August. TELUS also directed me to their customer retention department as I was not ‘contractually’ committed and they gladly agreed to give me the Cisco IPTV units for free and reduce my home phone service cost.
My monthly billing is back in line to where it was before – permanently.
Thanks for all of your info on this game playing we must do. We are in the “which one should we go with” situation also. Paying $200/month now that our loyalty discount is over is a bit much to swallow.
If I may ask, what are your monthly payments now? And how did you get to be with Telus without a contract & get a “permanent” fee? It all sounds perfect.
Glad to hear that Grant. Nothing baffles me more than my Telus bill quite honestly. My dad was asking why his bill just went up. Sheesh.
I did go read your other posts regarding Optik and seems like you felt or still feel the same way as I do about Optik TV.
I’m not a saleman by any stretch but I can’t imagine anything much better. Gotta love the 2x, 3x and 4x smart reverse or whatever you call it. What a pleasure to use.
Thanks also for posting my long semi rant.
I’ve been bugging Telus to create some type of affiliate program. They should, Optik is pretty amazing imo.
i love your blog, i have it in my rss reader and always like new things coming up from it.
I can not thank you adequately for the posts on your web site. I know you’d put a lot of time and effort into them and hope you know how much I appreciate it. I hope I’ll do exactly the same for someone else at some point.
Telus TV works great as long as you leave the modem on all the time. Had issues with the PVR synchronizing back to the modem if it had been turned off, so now we leave the modem on 24/7.
Hey Grant, thanks for the insight int Telus, Im currently trying to decide if I should switch from shaw, I cant stand Shaws billing system, the whole billing one month in advance is total b.s. for me because Im a very high strung individual and when I open that shaw bill its like “WTF AGAIN I JUST PAID THAT!”. Its like the bill is always over 300.00 bucks man. Cant stand it. So maybe you can do a blog on that one day. Ok man you rock take it easy!
Nobody in the forums seems to pick up on the picture quality. I tried telus for a year and am going back to shaw based on picture quality alone. We watch a lot (way too much) tv. The quality at telus is inferior to what we previously had with shaw. Banding in the picture, divisions between shades of the same colour, is horrible with telus. Faces look like paint by numbers. FYI my first choice would have been Bell Expressvu. Had it for years but after a move we now have trees blocking the satellite signal. Went with Shaw and really had no problems what so ever. I did not go with a package deal because of the very poor reputation shaw has with their party-line type internet and I have since seen the problem personally. Subsequently tried telus monthly due to cheaper rate. Because we do watch so much tv I have a top of the line set and it’s been calibrated. The banding I see is just plain lack of bandwidth response. Multiple trouble calls aimed at improving the picture have all ended in zero improvement. I’m less than 150 yards from the distribution pedestal so that’s not a problem. The technology is different. I’ve seen others tv’s who think telus is great but they are comparing it to what they had before in non-hd. They haven’t seen what a truly great broadcast picture is like.
I’ve had a Shaw package for 6 months and I have real package envy for Telus. My dad has it and is having a way better experience. My Shaw internet is slowing all the time and really costing me (when I have 30 minutes to get some work done it doesn’t include burning 20 minutes waiting for the internet) and I find the Telus TV menus way better. The big key is the option to NOT have channels that I don’t get in my menu. We watch 3 or 4 channels most of the time with about 10 or so that we look for occasionally. Why do I always have to scroll through 400 channels? The VOD set up seems much more robust and intuitive.
And then there’s even smaller things like the fact that Shaw’s website can’t be viewed with IE9 or Opera. That seems bizzare. I have to have a third browser just to check their website. This month that was particularly important because they cut off my VOD due to my lack of payment. They had not sent a bill so I had to go online to find my bill.
We’re still waiting for Optik TV to come to our neighbourhood. When it does… we’re switching.
I am also thinking to switch to Telus from Shaw, however I had such bad experience with Telus before, talking over 8 years ago but it feels like yesterday, that even with all the incentives they are offering their billing and customer service is stopping me to switch right now. I talked to Telus this afternoon and the guy told me I have to get their 3 years contract….Grant, how did you get their service without a contract?
Wow very interesting comments posted here. Now I’m a long time Bell Satellite subscriber and just recently switched to Shaw. Bell always had the best programming and picture. With the new Shaw system in place I must say the picture is crystal clear in HD. However, I do miss my favorite HD channels which Shaw does not have and talking to a Shaw customer service person I found out that Shaw will not have the specific channels I like. Now, I’m switching to Telus, better price and more HD Channels included in my package. My question is, I’m a little bit worried what I’m reading about Telus and their HD picture quality. Does anyone has a flawless perfect picture? How is the sound quality?
Thank you,
Andreas
After more than a decade with Shaw (and Rogers before that) I switched to Telus Optik just over a year ago and surprisingly (cuz I generally don’t like Telus) I’m quite happy with it overall. This is not what I expected at all. First off, I made the switch as a form of consumer protest over Shaw’s ever increasing prices and rapidly declining services (my “high speed internet was averaging around 3.5 mbps after I moved into an apartment building), but I honestly expected and hoped that Shaw would eventually get their *$&# together and I would switch back. Instead-I’m feeling like I dodged a bullet and even managed to get more for my money than I ever would’ve imagined. Ok, so I had to sign up for a 3 year contract but that got me the equipment for free…good start. My internet speed is now 25mbps ALWAYS! That alone would make me satisfied but then I also get better and more channels (I only watch hd hd) 802.11bgn wifi, multi room Pvr, way better guide and menu, an app for my phone to record shows when I’m away and didn’t already have a series record setup, no more audio drop outs,etc. All this for less than I was paying for Shaw. There is one down side that d doesn’t affect me and that’s support. Telus support, if it exists at all, really sucks. Fortunately I’m a network engineer and the install tech was competent enough so I haven’t needed their support (just reboot if something isn’t working.
Last fall I briefly worked at Shaw as a TSR and got to see “behind the scenes” which only confirmed that I’ve made the right choice for me, at least for the foreseeable future. The gateway or exo service is crap so far and while the motorola boxes are decent enough, Shaw still won’t consider enabling the Pvr networking capability that’s built into them. So there’s my experience so far and thank you to everyone else who shared theirs too. It helped me make a tough choice with great results.
Your experience inspired me to include mine. I have a very similar point of view to you. I switched from shaw to telus under similar circumstances, tho telus isnt great either. While their PVR is easy to use, esp for my senior mother, their customer service is crap, hard to reach, and i notice a decline in my internet speed, which i have come to understand, is from the fact it is via OpTik. Its ok with me, as i am not a heavy user. With shaws mistreatment of us, i was ready to jump ship regardless of service.
I forgot to add, REBOOTING works like magic! Any issues i have had with the PVRs, so far, rebooting solved them all! (crossfingers).
Long time Shaw customer and mostly happy … not so much now.
I was pitched the new EXO service and agreed to purchase the equipment. I was assured that I’d have the agreed to rates for the 3 years that I’d be given to pay off my equipment. Guess what happens 3 months in??? Yup, the note on my bill that the EXO base rate is going up by $5 and my Family pack by $2.
I called up, and after the requisite 30 minutes of ‘… our lines are unusually busy, thank you for waiting …’, I talked to a kid just out of high school who could do nothing more than read out the statements that were prepackaged for people like me – basically ‘too bad, so sad’.
When I was sold on the package and the equipment, I asked specifically twice whether I’d have the rate for the 3 years, and was assured both times that I would.
Of course it is not the end of the world, but it does make me feel that Shaw are a bunch of stinky liars.
We recently switched from Shaw to Telus.We never received any of the sign up incentives that we were promised.The first bill was very high. Picture quality is great but if I had to do it over again I would not switch. Too bad I signed a two year contract. I`ll be switching again when that runs out.You may want to rethink.They did not cancel Shaw like they promised so I was double billed. Not impressed.
After reading the entries here, i have to include my experience with shaw late last year, as i am still in disbelief: My parents were with crap shaw from the beginning, when Rogers was taken over by Shaw in the west. I dont remember when it was done, but if i include their contract with rogers, they have been with shaw for nearly 40 years. They had their tv service first then we added on the internet. I dont know how shaw defines “long term customer” but apparently 40 yrs or so does not qualify. My parents received a letter from shaw stating they we going to INCREASE THEIR MONTHLY RATES by $1.30 or so. My mom and i phoned them to give shaw a chance to retain their loyal contract with us by eliminating the increase, otherwise we were going with telus and their current promo at the time offering an HP laptop in bundles. The CSR we got from Shaw flatly refused to our request, and when i stated then we r terminating our sevice with you and going with telus and their promo, he said that the telus promo is going to cost us more because in the fine writing, there is a $17 charge per month in addition to the bundle, for the laptop. I had my ipad infront of me, as i do have wifi (i dont know why this rep did not realize IHAD WIFI WITH THEM, i would have devices that can instantly access the internet, hence information). I had already had telus site on there and scrolled down to the bottom an read the fine writing to him that said the $17 was applied IF YOUR CONTRACT WITH THIS PROMO IS TERMINATED EARLY (later, i also confirmed this with telus-no additional costs). At the end of the conversation, there was no solution!!! No proposal or counter offer from Shaw. Shaw basically has no interest in keeping their customers, nor do they have competent CSR, or they have CSRs who think you dont use the services you subscribe with them, or have the capacity to do so. In a nut shell, i advise people to read the fine print, educate yourself inside-out on the offer, assume there is no such thing as longterm loyality and get ready to put ur lawyer’s cap on when dealing with shaw. Also have all the info of all parties you are considering. And finally, assume the CSR have no idea what they are taling about.
Your as dumb as you are ignorant.
Illiterate people shouldn’t call others dumb and ignorant…
In response to kate’s post, you do realize that both shaw and telus raise their prices. Telus currently runs there optik tv at a loss, and has their mobile department subsidize those losses. Eventually they will start raising their prices.
Oh wait, this just did start that
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27155247-BC-Telus-increasing-theme-packs-from-7-to-9-
Now for shaw. They are not out of the woods either since in the last yesr they have increased their prices at least three times.
Only reason why i am commenting is because your complaining about a $1.30 increase and that warranted you to complain and switch to telus thinking that the same thing won’t happen? I sense that you might be a little nieve. Not to be a personal attack or anything, just basing it on your comments based on price. If you left for other reasons like customer support i can see why you may have switched.
Hope you have better luck with whatever provider, just don’t be surprised if you start seeing price increases in general 😉
I’m definately learning the hard way that shaw must be the way to go.
Telus home phone has been down for going on 3 days now! I’ve also been on Telus optik tv and it crashes and burns more than any service I’ve ever had.
I can’t believe this actually. What a bad experience. The tech helpers just say ”no estimated time yet for repair” …I asked if this could take a week…they said maybe.
Wow…!! I’ll be glad when my term is up 🙁
Blah
I have had a bundle with Telus for almost 2 years. I am extremely happy with their Optik T.V. I have 2 regular old T.V.’s and the colour is much better than when I had Shaw. Any problems just pull the plug from the wall. No waiting for cable to be restored or having to be on hold or waiting for a call back. I have never had to wait more than 5 minutes for tech support whereas Shaw can leave you on hold up to 45 minutes.
I am saving over $30.00 a month with Telus whereas Shaw would not even consider lowering their rate to keep a customer.The remote is easier to use for seniors and most won’t find themselves unable to get out of the pay per view like what I have seen with Shaw. Imagine being billed for movies that you didn’t want to watch and couldn’t figure out how to get off your T.V.
I never have had a problem with the billing. Shaw raises their rates at least 3 times a year. They always have done since I received my first bill.
Packages with Telus are still much better deal than Shaw.
An IT professional friend of mine changed to
Telus awhile ago and his is quite happy with Optik T.V.
I think it all comes down to 3 things for me:
Ease of use, price and quickness of tech support.When you live in a condo building often the whole building was down with Shaw and now we have a nice mix of both.
hi guys!
don’t ever go with shaw cable, they have the worst customer service(not enough training i guess)
not just their customer service is bad, yet they have too many technical issues with their gateway and internet service.
just little over two months ago i bought the new gateway unit along with hd box for over 600$. last month didnt have the cable for 3 weeks for technical issues, waited too long for someone to come and fix it and yet again for two days no service on gateway cable system.
i m also using broadband 50 mbps but dont feel much speed specially the modem they give out is not good at all.
and when call shaw they actually put me on hold for more than an hour back and forth.
shaw has no contract but its no worst than three years contract. i have actually purchase hardware for little over 600$. and now i am struck with it. because i could only returned it within 30 days.
i never used telus but more than happy to sign up a new contract with all that free stuff.
btw trying to sell my gateway unit and one hd box for 400$. if anyone interested.(with box)
email(sikenderali@yahoo.com) or call 604-897-7347.
gateway is a 2-way internet tv. the reason why its failing in your house is because of the power in the outlets, and the house itself. i have the gateway and it works great for me. if you have old aging house, or cheap cookie cutter house built cheaply or in a mass block, chances are you may have weak power support for the premium level of the gateway.
Hey, only sad part is you have to pay for your Gateway monthly, otherwise you have purchaes it. If finance with shaw again you stuck with them for three years. Always a catch.
I am kinda a shaw fan boy. They have been great to me. Hell they sent me a 500GB HD PVR for free. Any issues I might have are easily handled by using the instant messge customer support. As far as internet slow down, I have no problems their, but I also have a 100mbit connection (suck it Telus).
I was helping a friend at his parents house last weekend. They have Optik TV. If one tv is on a HD channel to watch another HD channel on a different tv you have to interrupt the first tv and basically knock it off the HD channel. Screw that!
if only people actually knew the difference in RAW power between the two. the only reason why telus has any fighting chance is the money they spend in advertising has drilled it into consumers hearts. if shaw spent the same amount of ad power, there would be absolutely no way to compare telus service up to shaw, shaw wins on all angles, except giving away shitty laptops, they lose there… telus wins that one.
I will actually say this, optik tv user interface is nice and quick and the picture in picture with grey out background is very stylish and chic. mobile pvr is cool, facebook tv and skype on screen is pointless and drives you away from the point of your tv… its to watch tv, not to be tweeted on. but free equipment offers also nice for small budgets and easily won over people who hop between promo offers to lower the costs… and the marketing power and presence, is an amazing business model. the service is horrible and the product sucks too, its amazing how much they have convinced the general public that they are even a competitor lol. the reason why they are going to lose ground very quickly is because of the increase in the demand of power per household. after 2 recording HD streams, and one person using netflix, your maxed out at 25mbps with telus for the household as a MAX for all devices, internet and pvrs, which take up to 12mbps when wacthing/filming hd streams on one tv alone.. with shaw, you can safely game, browse, torrent, stream, skype, face chat, record up to 6 times at once, share recordings, and have independent $10 phone service…. um…. for under 200 bucks… thats ridiculous. and you get to own your hardware, which then gets offered for upgrades, trade ins, and no rental fees or contractual obligations.
1- technology. no body can touch the speeds at shaw. period, slow speeds are problems with the house, the setup, and the user. never the line. and if it IS the line, shaw will pay you discount on your internet until they resolve it. i know this first hand having experienced tech issues with both providers both at times when it was all me, and when it was actually the service provider. 8 out of 10 times, its the user, not the service with shaw. and telus, almost all the time, the issue will be that you are not getting enough power to share across everyones computers.
2- optik with a k isn’t optic fiber. its a telephone wire. thats why the tv and the internet are on the same bandwidth. telus maxes out at 25mbps with tv’s included. Shaw gives you up to 250mbps for the internet ALONE, with plans for 1gbps in the future. the telus hd is poor quality and theres shades all over the place it looks choppy and crispy and fried up to squeeze the picture through a cheap hd not even legit 720p that doesn’t have the full picture quality in 1080p that shaw provides. Shaw has the hugest pipe that runs across canada and the united states. telus sets up by proximity by area and shares with the neighbors. Shaw shares with the country. and its more than enough for your house to handle. they say its optik, its a marketing word to make you think quality. Shaw has the actual optic fibre which will one day power the country with 1gbps, which is already being used in chilliwack and novus buildings. so stop it telus.
3- power levels equal, shaw never misses a price war. telus is unable to provide the same channels at the price. and they give you like 8 versions of ctv and global each. their channels are $4, theme packs include less than 10 channels. Shaw gives basically $1 a channel, and theme packs have like 10 or more channels. the basic shaw cable includes HGTV YTV FOOD HISTORY TSN. telus essentials doesn’t include this in their lineup, and see how much timeshift you get of local stations in telus with their inflated lineup.
4- free laptop, tablet, pvr, xbox, advertising EVERYWHERE. this is where your money goes when you pay telus contract. into garbage equipment and advertising to make you feel comfortable using the substandard service. shaw upgades, digital network upgrade has allowed 1080p HD, 250mbps BROADBAND, and 8000 video on demand titles with shaw exo.
5- contracts lock you in and shiny deals lock you in so that you can’t complain when things go awkward. shaw is month to month, and you pay for something, and then you get it. like in normal businesses everywhere, its advanced billing. even the 3 year equipment contract is separate of the account so you can close it out separately with no penalty.
6- free technical support, equipment replacement, and service calls. telus charges for these guys.
7- ability to own your equipment, keeps the costs down, shaw gets to spend money on upgrading the quality, better HD, thousands of VOD titles, and fastest internet ever.
8- shaw will give you their rental devices if you’ve been with them for long enough, they will give you upgrades and bonuses and benefits in many creative non promotional ways, but as loyalty gifts for staying with them, after you pay on time and spend good money with the company, they are ready to give back and help in times of need.
9-have you ever had to deal with anyone there at telus??…. they hide behind their ‘service agreement’ that you agreed to verbally over the phone, dancing aronud the fact that channels start to charge on a sliding scale. the reason why they dont explain the rate increase is because they dont have to. the terms you agreed to were that they can change the rate at any time and is subject to increase without notice. shaw does this in accordance with legislative mandate, not as a term of our business.
10- the best reason to go with shaw: its a family owned, canadian operated business, no outsourcing, local reps, no contracts, best HD, shared pvr, most VOD, fastest internet, friendly service, lowest price. the money is spent on quality program, its not confusing you with sneaky offers, your services are independent of each other. the hold times have gone so far down, people talk to you quickly now
There’s a reason why shaw is considered a monopoly to some really confused people, there are no other companies out there who can touch the level of technology, and the amount of consumer control. everyone is angry about the price, but they compare rates based on promotional rates. SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE AND REALIZE THIS IS WHAT THE PRICE IS. NO HOUSEHOLD NEED TO SUFFER TELUS QUALITY OF SERVICE. dont get me started on bell… you think you have wifi issues getting your tablet to work in the basement? try putting your entire hd lineup through the air…
it isn’t worth the free laptop.
its not all the same channels.
you can’t actually record and watch and go online at the same time
the price increases
your money goes into more advertising
the HD isn’t quality, theres no mpeg4
you cant actually USE the telus service after a limited extent
my personal timeline:
i had rogers cable service analog
then we had 33.6kbs modems internet on my bcTel line
then rogers turned into shaw,
bctel turned into telus
then we got their internet with shaw, as it was this new cable internet, but i would have problems with it, tech support always would say it was me and to turn it off and on again and it should work.. i got fed up and went to telus thinking shaw sucks because my internet doesnt work for me… what a noob… spoiler alert, it was me all along, growing up… anyways..
it was, not as fast, but not as wavey unstable, adsl was stable, okay cool!
got my telus cell phone
then shaws TV started to get better, and it became apparent that cable internet was faster and more stable with shaw and to bundle with a good price was good too. the adsl started to not work again, and at this time, i still wasn’t the primary decision maker, and it was shaw internet back into the house again now, after they worked out stuff, it was a better internet hands down.
telus started to get really lame on the cell phone side, and pushed me to rogers for my cell, and total bundle with shaw. phones never been better or cheaper. dedicated digital phone rocked.
always was in the sales business, ended up applying at telus and shaw for work.
telus interview didn’t go so well.
I work for Shaw now.
the people i work with are amazing, the customers are amazing, i love my job. its so bright and open and the energy is productive and i love going to work and i miss it after days off. the amount of times i save someone and address any challenges properly, its an experience to brag about. i recommend it to all my family and friends, and wouldn’t wish telus on my worst enemy. there is no contest. i hope you find this helpful.
shaw
XO
remember when you saw picture slides in science class about how big the moon is to the earth… and then you see how big the earth is to the sun…. in this case, you are the moon, the telus is the size of the earth, and moves closely around where you are, and shaw is the sun. the robust unlimited power that we all circulate around in harmony. let that analogy wrap around your mind the next time you think you are even making a fair comparison
We currently pay $166 for Shaw bundle but I was just thinking … the provider doesn’t really matter. What is important here is that these amounts of money are ridiculous. If we all stopped paying for anything but internet (which you can watch TV on) … and we each got a free Skype account for long distance and then used our cell phones for local calling what would the costs be? $75? This is yet another bloated industry that is out of touch…
WHERE IS THE NED TO THESE CRAZY ROCKETING $$$ PRICES FOR AVERAGE SERVICE..? THESE TWO COMPANIES ARE BOTH NUTS WITH THESE CURRENT PRICES AND NO ONE CAN STOP THEM BECAUSE WE DO NOT CARE ENOUGH !!! SHAME. THE SYSTEM IS EATING US ALIVE AND WE WATCH IT LIVE. INTERNET+BASIC PHONE+BASIC TV SHOULD BE LESS THAN $50 !!! YOU PAY $50 FOR YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE !!! YOU WANT TO TELL ME THAT STUPID ENTERTAINMENT ID MORE EXPENSIVE THAN OUR HEALTH AND LIVES..? ARE NOT WE STUPID ENOUGH TO REBEL AGAINST THIS..? YES WE ARE. Thanks for reading.
There is NO such thing as a permanent rate. Be advised on that one.
Nice article Batman! Always remember one thing – SHAW IS QUALITY & OTHERS ARE QUANTITY
Well this just confused me even more. Shaw? Telus? Shaw? Telus. I want just cable for now. A PVR would be nice. do I rent or buy? Can I have one I buy on my own for Shaw or Telus? or do I have to buy theirs? I don’t need fancy. I also don’t need a phone or internet at this time. Now what?
First to address buddy who said you maxed out at 25 MBPS with Telus ya if you only have 1 phone line, i got them to install a dedicated line for my Internet and a Dedicated Line for my TV and Phone service. ( btw this was back when it maxed out at 15 i had them do this as 2 tvs on and surfing the net killed the speed) So anyone facing the issue of there internet getting slower when watching tv tell them to install a dedicated line for your Internet they did it for me at no charge. Also upgraded my set top boxes quality of the TV is just as good as Shaw there is no difference in the HD picture quality plain and simple. Free pvr on board with the set top boxes my friend has Shaw and was paying them every month to rent there HD pvr what a load of shit your paying for HD channels the least they can do is provide you the equipment for free.
Now i personally was curious to see the power of Shaw’s internet my family uses the Telus internet and when i leech the whole connection they were not happy so 6 months ago i got Shaw broadband 50. Now although Telus max is 25 i was getting closer to 30 most of the time and it was steady any time day or night. At first when i got the Shaw broad band 50 i was paying 55 a month then price went to $65 within 2 months by summer time it was $70 then i notice they had changed the price to $75 for everyone else and i called and they told me i got grandfathered in but there was no Guarantee that i was going to keep paying 70, eventually it was clear to me i would be paying $75. So at this time i decided to try out broadband 100 paying $85 whole idea was i wanted to feel the power of the speed. Experience with broadband 50 was i would get average 20 to max 40 and once in a blue moon i would get the 50 i was paying for. Now with broadband 100 speed is not any better then broadband 50, bitch the lady who i spoke to change it over was a real bitch i wanted to try it out and see if the speed was going to be good if not i wanted to go back but i was told if i go back i pay $75 i loose my $70 price.
So here i am with broadband 100 and on my best Day i got on a speed test 91 mbps, real download speed best i ever got was 70.
Pretty much have decided to go back to Telus will have a 3rd line put in for my dedicated internet so my family gets there own 25 mbps i get mine and the tv gets its own.
I want Novus in EDM just reading about there service right now made me very happy to see that there is real progress coming and i want it to spread bring this new vdsl 2 which is capable of 250 up and 250 down vs telus and shaw upload speed is crap. I like to give as much as i take.
Thats my 2 cents.
I have been with Shaw and Telus. And now I am back to shaw, I love shaw cable. In MY opinion shaw is wayyyyyy better. For what I do , I NEED fast internet. fastest telus can offer is 50mbps, which is pitiful, My Shaw connection is BLISTERING fast at 250mbps. it absolutley blow its competition outta the water. I have NEVER had any slow down I can notice. Because when my internet is “slow” its still pushing 150mbps at its lowest. which is insane. I’m a very very happy customer. And I also have to say shaws customer service is phenomenal!
I have had shaw…no good.
I now have telus…really good…except for the now constant $1.00 hike every other month????? WTH
But the best service I have had when I lived downtown was Novuscom…yes boys and girls Novuscom Rocked both telus and shaw…great custmer service, comparable rates to telus, smoking fiber optic…if your building had it…mine did..
this is old but does no one know you have to share your internet on shaw for their so called “50mb” internet speed
The cost of TV and Internet whether it be dish or cable is way to expensive. The way the have there system set up to get it all you hve to purchase near all the packages. Dish or cable alone could cost you $100.00 plus per month. Internet is no better. Recall back in the late 1960’s into the 1970’s TV’s came out with the UHF tuners. Down the road we were to get all the free channels. Then Cable started popping up and all the TV anntenas were coming down. Greed to the best and look at costs today. Some of these ownners became the riches in the County.
I couldn`t agree with you more Mac. I`am a senior and I don`t know much about this new technology, but the root of these rising costs between telus and shaw is pure downright greed, and the subscribers like ourselves line thier pockets with our increasing cable costs and deceiving contracts as well. I remember the good old rabbit years in the good old days in the 50`s growing up and costs were next to nothing as well in fact I don`t think my parents even paid for cable back then . I was just mentioning this problem the other day to my grown children with thier expensive bundles they pay each month with no end in sight.
jackie
I used to pay about $170-200/month (after taxes) for TV/Internet/Phone. This was with either Shaw or Telus. Since then, I’ve analyzed my viewing habits and found that some premium channels and some packs where hardly ever watched. So I dropped them. Then I found Netflix… and a month later, the movie pack was dropped. Then I found VOIP, and a couple of months later, I ported my number over and dropped the Telus phone service.
Dropping the movie pack saved me $16/month.
Dropping phone service saved me $25/month.
Dropping specialty channels saved me $12/month.
Adding Netflix cost $8/month
Added VOIP cost approx $1/month for phone number and $0.80/month for E911. Calls cost $0.005/min (1/2 a cent/min) to anywhere in Canada. So since I hardly make any phone calls that would make a minimum of $1.80 to max. $5/month.
If Telus keeps raising prices, I will keep dropping services. It’s as simple as that. Next price increase, I will drop Hollywood Suite ($6/month). Next increase after that, I will downgrade from Large combo to Medium. etc. etc. etc. Hopefully, by the time I drop Telus all together, all my TV viewing needs will be through the Internet connection. If that’s the case, then I have more choices besides just Telus and Shaw.
Telus? OMG. For the sheer inconvenience alone relating to hours spent on the phone complaining, I will dump Telus THE MOMENT my three years is up. At this point they could offer me any incentive and it simply would not be enough. My PVR freezes, forcing a reboot. my TV guide locks and won’t allow channel changing. My PVR won’t allow program deleting or recording at random times. No particular reason, just “PVR busy” messages.
My bill jumps and is never the same in any given month. The bill has doubled in some cases. After logging hours of complaint calls I now have a “loyalty discount” lol. Big deal. I am still paying $40.00 more per month than the discounts the last rep promised me.
I have been dealing with Telus for 40 years….DONE.
Have internet and phone services for a 3-year contract with Telus with price of $32 + $21. Then they gradually increased the price. Two months before expiration, now the price is $42 + $25.
Emailed Telus about the pricing, was told I had to call them or live chat with them. Live chated with them, the guy said they only deal with technical issues. Called them, after enjoyed about 10 min music, the lady picked up and said “………. the contract is no guarantee of the price………”.
I don’t understand what the contract is for. If I terminate it early, they will charge $17 per month for that. On the other hand, they can increase price whenever they want and I can do nothing but stuck with them for 3 years till it expires.
The 3-year contract is a trap! Don’t go with it!
Not to sound like a cynic, but I disagree with you frank.
I live in a small city, roughly 10000 people in BC. My shaw package says I should be getting 20 mbps. When no ones on 12:00am-3pm I get around 15 mbps, great. At around 4pm-10pm I get speeds as low as 0.8mbps. I’m paying 55$ I need more then that. I have also noticed that it get’s consistently worse to the point of not loading a 240p video on youtube. That’s worse than my school WiFi. For 2 months I couldn’t even connect to webpages half the time even though it said I was connected. My friend in the same area has the same problems with shaw. I wish they would just try to get better rural connection.
WE JUST SWITCHED TO TELUS. WAS WITH SHAW FOR MANY YEARS. BOTH COMPANIES FAIL WHEN IT COMES TO COMMUNICATION. I AM STILL TRYING TO RESOLVE WHAT I AM GOING TO PAY. THERE WAS NO INVOICE OR ANYTHING IN WRITING. I WAS PROMISED A “FREE” 40″ TV SET AND $100. TO PAY SHAW. NOW THEY ARE TRYING TO RENEGE.
I switch to Telus 4 month ago and I had nothing bad problem with the system, no WiFi, no TV signal, slow system, etc.
Telus try very hard to make the system work but with no success.
I’m going back to Shaw.
Just got hooked up to optic tv 2.5 weeks ago. Haven’t had tv for the last 5 days. No help from Telus so far. Never had a problem with Shaw!!
I didn’t get their free TV offer either. 3 years will be up soon and I will go back to Shaw. I never signed any contract
either.
As usual, poor communication. What business is Telus in??
In the past few years Shaw has come out TV boxes that let you watch recorded shows on any TV.
I’ve heard Telus has improved the stability of their product too.
I am looking for a cheaper alternative from shaw by going to the android tv boxes. What can you let me know about how the android boxes compare to having shaw or telus? Thank you
Anyone in rural areas please note that there are no gateway or optic options, get splitters and buy extra boxes….thats the cheapest option. Now telus/bell vs shaw…..for satellite no contest. We had shaw, were told to try telus/bell as they supposedly had more reliable equipment….in 3 years we had to have 7 replacements for our 5 pvr boxes….plus each time we call telus they make you go through a lengthy explanation as to what is wrong then the technician who shows up will waste 2 more hours of your life you will never get back proving once again that the pvr is not working without physically unplugging it and plugging it back in (eventually it just buzzes and wont record anything but they tell you you are able to watch tv ….not a pvr any more) Finally they will replace your box however no apologies for all your lost content every time it happens. We are sorry we every left shaw satellite. Plus the pvr or shaw is so much more intuitive, color coded guide for movies, sports and regular programming plus when you want to set recordings you will love shaw engineers and curse the day telus entered your home. We had shaw for years with no issues, only changed because we built and installed a big sound system and component room and wanted to listen to our installer….stuck it out for 3 years and now have 3 boxes not working…..hung up on telus rep when they started to ask me to explain each box’s issues for their notes….phoned shaw and voila….also $30 cheaper than telus for our 5 boxes monthly, actually $50 for the first 6 months as a promotion! Shaw all the way for satellite….telus and bell have engineers from the dark ages and their newest boxes are about 4 times the size of a shaw pvr….if you can try both before choosing you will very quickly see telus/bell are severely lacking. fyi we have never had a shaw box break down in over 15 years, 3 years with telus and we have had 7….reliable?!?!?! Never again. Now city regular cable may be different but never go without the best programmed boxes available, the difference is shocking.
I just want to say that Telus is way better than Shaw in so many respects. The picture quality is absolutely stunning with Telus as is the Audio sound which is mind blowing. I have been with Shaw for decades and had nothing but troubles but I stuck with them because of my email which was associated with business and I was concerned about switching that over. But I took the plunge and went to Telus because I was tired of huge bills and no quality. Shaw was forever having problems with my gateway and my internet was a gong show. I was supposed to have 50 internet speed and I would do speed tests and would get 4, and 7 for download and upload speeds…..just a gong show. I should not of waited so long. I now have 150 internet speed and I do speed tests and I always get 165+ upload and download speed. I have internet, phone and TV bundled together and it is phenomenal, the user interface is a joy to use and everything is beyond my expectations. Mind you, I did have about a week before everything was running smooth but it was well worth it and Telus is so awesome at Customer service that they gave us 8 free movie rentals to compensate for the week or so of challenges getting started the first week. This also does not even touch on the 4K channels and content with Telus. I don’t know how Shaw will stay in business with this kind of competition.
May 2017……….we are paying much more for our “bundle” through SHAW than what TELUS is offering us BUT, we have been with SHAW for years and we are reluctant to change. What are the recommendations out there?? Should we approach SHAW for a “loyalty” reduction on our monthly bill?