Shaw vs. Telus Cable TV

[4X4]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

What do you think of the Telus Hardware/Software? I actually switched from Telus to Shaw becasue I got tired of the slow and buggy equipment form Telus. Only thing I miss is the ability to schedule recordings remotely.

The hardware and software is the reason I switched back. I had no problems with Telus for the last year that I was using optik. The first couple of years it was really buggy, but it seemed that all the bugs were worked out. I switched to shaw because I moved to a house where I could buddy up on cable with my basement roommate, so I bought the gateway system. It was complete crap for me. Now that I've moved again, permanently, I am happily back with Telus. It's only been a couple of days, but the hardware is working perfectly fine, just like it did 8 months ago.

I'm sure that the gateway system just needs to work out the bugs or something, but I'm too impatient. I gave it 8 months and it still sucked giant balls.

[Old Yeller]

What issues/bugs are you guys noticing with the Gateway system?

I'm wondering if it's the luck of the draw with the hardware or if I'm just so used to the bugs that I don't even notice anymore.

The last real issue that I can say I noticed is last October when the system didn't update the time properly after daylight savings time which I thought was a little absurd but definitely wasn't a deal breaker.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Old Yeller

What issues/bugs are you guys noticing with the Gateway system?

I'm wondering if it's the luck of the draw with the hardware or if I'm just so used to the bugs that I don't even notice anymore.

The last real issue that I can say I noticed is last October when the system didn't update the time properly after daylight savings time which I thought was a little absurd but definitely wasn't a deal breaker.

The quick list of things that pissed me off about gateway is:

1) having to aim the remote with military sniper precision to get it to do anything

2) how the guide would freeze up for a few seconds while scrolling through screens

3) not being able to view my pvr recordings in a chronological order

4) the remote not having an exit button

5) while watching pvr recordings, sometimes the ffwd button wouldn't work until after turning off the machine, and restarting the show

Mostly a bunch of minor annoyances that snowballed into rage. For $120/mo plus the $15/mo to pay for the system, I kind of expected equipment that worked 29.5/30 days. And then to top it off, calling to get it figured out was just such a waste of my time.

[red sky]

Re: Gateway

1) I agree about the remote issues. No IR option as well
2) I find menu scrolling speed to be much faster
3) Interesting, never noticed that you couldn't do it
4) Zoom button FTW
5) No issues with this

I guess it depends on what you pay. I pay $116.45 all in (including the $15 a month to pay system). This was just increased by $7. I get Broadband and home phone as well. While not perfect, I am a satisfied customer.

[PsYcNeT]

I personally have noticed 0 remote issues with Gateway, but then again I use a Harmony 700 because I don't like having 3-4 remotes on my table.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by 4X4

The quick list of things that pissed me off about gateway is:

1) having to aim the remote with military sniper precision to get it to do anything

2) how the guide would freeze up for a few seconds while scrolling through screens

3) not being able to view my pvr recordings in a chronological order

4) the remote not having an exit button

5) while watching pvr recordings, sometimes the ffwd button wouldn't work until after turning off the machine, and restarting the show

Mostly a bunch of minor annoyances that snowballed into rage. For $120/mo plus the $15/mo to pay for the system, I kind of expected equipment that worked 29.5/30 days. And then to top it off, calling to get it figured out was just such a waste of my time.

The first 3 are issues for me on Telus Optik as well.

[Old Yeller]

Yeah the remote that comes with the gateway/portals is a piece of crap for sure, especially since the older PVR remotes were universal and just had a lot more functionality. That basically forced me to get a Harmony remote but I'm glad I did as it seems to have less issues talking to the portal than the original remote did.

Also I don't know why Shaw hasn't put in an option to view your PVR recordings differently from alphabetical as it seems like it'd be an easy to implement but what the hell do I know.

I've also read (probably on here) stories of people having to power cycle the portals or gateway on an almost weekly basis... but I can't remember the last time I had to restart my boxes.

I'm not sure how often Shaw is pushing out firmware updates but the stability of the entire system seems to have gotten a lot better... it'd be nice if they started pushing out new functionality as the gateway system is capable of a lot more than it's currently doing.

[Pacem]

Been on Telus for 2 years now. I don't download a lot of stuff so their internet is fine for me.

I've found customer service to be great. I've saved a lot of money for a some minor annoyances. Easily saved a couple hundred over the 2 years.

I was having issues with the remote not responding fast and menu's being exited out when I didn't want to. Changed the batteries in the remote and all the problems went away.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Old Yeller

What issues/bugs are you guys noticing with the Gateway system?

I'm wondering if it's the luck of the draw with the hardware or if I'm just so used to the bugs that I don't even notice anymore.

The last real issue that I can say I noticed is last October when the system didn't update the time properly after daylight savings time which I thought was a little absurd but definitely wasn't a deal breaker.

I had some issues when I first had my Gateway installed. One portal would crap out all the time, then another started so they had to come out and replace the whole Gateway.

Don't think I have had an issue in about 8-10 months.

The interface is different, that's for sure. When I switched from a regular PVR, I was pretty upset at how hard it was to do things, but that was resolved after using the system for a week or so. It is so simple that my 3 year old can turn on his favorite show.

[OldDutch]

Ya I had a lemon Gateway as well, would lose connection all the time and I would to reboot.

After 3 calls over 18 months they finally gave in and swapped it. Total POA. They comped me 6 mo HBO and 2 months fee cable for the hassle so I was fine with that.

4 months in I have had zero drop outs or reboots. I'll never go back to the standalone box.

[oilyfan]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Ya I had a lemon Gateway as well, would lose connection all the time and I would to reboot.

After 3 calls over 18 months they finally gave in and swapped it. Total POA. They comped me 6 mo HBO and 2 months fee cable for the hassle so I was fine with that.

4 months in I have had zero drop outs or reboots. I'll never go back to the standalone box.

Yes having a centralized recording box with access on all TV's is nice. I think a gateway system is best if you have 3 or more TV's and tend to watch in more than one room. I have liked the system better than the Telus system, and defintely better than the standalone Motorola boxes.

[fundmark19]

Does anyone know why live sports on telus lags 8-10 seconds behind shaw? It is really annoying talking about the game to my buddies and always getting yelled at for spoiling the plays. To me this is unacceptable for a company to deliver content that delayed

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Does anyone know why live sports on telus lags 8-10 seconds behind shaw? It is really annoying talking about the game to my buddies and always getting yelled at for spoiling the plays. To me this is unacceptable for a company to deliver content that delayed

This may possibly be a byproduct of the transcoding process into an IPTV stream, depending on where the signal is sourced from it may need to be transcoded and may introduce slight delays? Speculation on my part though.

[Brannigans Law]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Does anyone know why live sports on telus lags 8-10 seconds behind shaw? It is really annoying talking about the game to my buddies and always getting yelled at for spoiling the plays. To me this is unacceptable for a company to deliver content that delayed

I think it's unacceptable that on Shaw you can't automatically remove channels from your guide you don't subscribe to. To the hyperbole-mobile!

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Brannigans Law

I think it's unacceptable that on Shaw you can't automatically remove channels from your guide you don't subscribe to. To the hyperbole-mobile!

Actually you can on the current Motorola boxes, it's automatically done when the guide loads up based on your subscription info on those ones. Problem is you won't get that if you are on the older boxes.

[Brannigans Law]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Actually you can on the current Motorola boxes, it's automatically done when the guide loads up based on your subscription info on those ones. Problem is you won't get that if you are on the older boxes.

My folks have those and there's a tonne of content that they dont get that shows up in the guide...

[PsnaP]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

[ken0042]

If you are 8-10 seconds ahead of them, pause the game for 8-10 seconds to be back in sync with them.

Back in the days before signal subbing, I was living in a small town with great cable. Some prime time shows would be on 5 or 6 channels at a time. I had figured out the delays, and could flip from one channel to another and have the actor repeat the same line 5 or 6 times. Really annoyed my girlfriend at the time. But it was handy, I could watch on the first channel, and then if I missed what somebody said quickly flip to the most delayed channel.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by ken0042

If you are 8-10 seconds ahead of them, pause the game for 8-10 seconds to be back in sync with them.

Back in the days before signal subbing, I was living in a small town with great cable. Some prime time shows would be on 5 or 6 channels at a time. I had figured out the delays, and could flip from one channel to another and have the actor repeat the same line 5 or 6 times. Really annoyed my girlfriend at the time. But it was handy, I could watch on the first channel, and then if I missed what somebody said quickly flip to the most delayed channel.

I do that and then every time I flip back and forth during commercial breaks it goes back to live. So I forget about the pause. It is also really annoying to get a notification update that someone has scored before it actually happens on the TV when I am watching at their house.

I just think it is ridiculous for a company who advertises the super high speed and quality of fiber optics yet they can't even send a remotely close to live signal.

[ken0042]

Would you rather it be poorer quality but less of a delay? The one thing I have noticed is the quality of the Telus HD channels has improved significantly over the years. Basic networking tells me that one way to do that is to ensure all the packets get delivered before the picture is displayed.

As a few others have said, I think you may be making a much bigger deal about it than it needs to be.