Shaw Internet Questions

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Since over the past year I have seen some questions asked about Shaw's Internet Service I thought I would post on here and say "If you have a question, ask and I will try my best to get an answer for you."

You can PM or just add a post to this thread.

[BlackArcher101]

Is it true that if you go over your monthly transfer limit, and they give you a warning or suspend your account, that they will put a cap/limit on the speed?

And how can I get free internet for a year?

[Yellefan]

Why is my shaw email so slow at delivering my mail all the time? I swear sometimes it takes 2 days for an email to get to my shaw account-- email from same person to my Gmail account takes 30 seconds? I know it's not always this bad but it always seems that when it's an important email it takes forever!

[CaramonLS]

What the hecks up with shaws very inconsist speeds... I've played online games for the past couple years and my pings seem to increase or decrease month by month and the routes which the online game servers use stay the same (well mostly).

[Faid1]

When I unplug my motorola modem the upload/download data is erased right?

[daredevil]

As a SHAW alum I can answer a few of these...

1. Shaw is "primarily" concerned with uploads. If you consistently chew large upload bandwidth, they will put a hold on your account and cause you to call in, where they give you a warning. The dowload tolerance is MUCH higher, but consistant users get the same warning.

2. Free internet? Complain about something huge (aim for credit little bits at a time, think two week credits for say....email server going down). Makes you look like a cheapo but...

3. Shaw's email servers are suspect...some good some bad. They used to go down a LOT, but now they aren't so bad. I believe they did some upgrading also since I left there.

4. Inconsistent speeds are due to so many different factors, including number of users, available bandwidth, the area of the city you live in, even the weather can have an effect of the RF signal you get.

5. Rebooting the modem will clear the stats built up on the modem for testing purposes, but the amount of data transferred is still stored and monitored by shaw's bandwidth reps.
But, unplugging the modem is the FIRST thing I do if I think my connection is getting slow.


Maybe this helps.

[zarrell]

Originally posted by CaramonLS@Oct 28 2004, 03:29 PM
What the hecks up with shaws very inconsist speeds... I've played online games for the past couple years and my pings seem to increase or decrease month by month and the routes which the online game servers use stay the same (well mostly).

Are you still on the old motorola surfboard modem? The newer ones they have now are much more consistent ping wise.

Also if anyone is worried about the amount of UL and DL you do, go with the shaw extreme for 10 bucks a month more. Shaw is not monitoring the traffic for extreme users for now.

[Pagal4321]

My buddy told me that there's a modem he can get where Shaw can no longer track his DL/UL amounts. I think it's BS, who want's to confirm it for me?

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Pagal4321@Oct 28 2004, 08:00 PM
My buddy told me that there's a modem he can get where Shaw can no longer track his DL/UL amounts. I think it's BS, who want's to confirm it for me?

I'd say it's BS because they monitor what's going through the "pipeline" before the modem. Otherwise, it's done at their end.

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101@Oct 28 2004, 02:55 PM
Is it true that if you go over your monthly transfer limit, and they give you a warning or suspend your account, that they will put a cap/limit on the speed?

And how can I get free internet for a year?

This is what Shaw in general says about bandwidth usage. They don't seems to mind the upload as much as they use too. Hence the 30 GB up+down.

Lite-speed: They don't look at because of the bandwidth you have you can't transfer a whole lot.

Regular High-speed: If you stay under 30 GB down+up/30 days (or 1 GB/Day) you will likly never get a call from the AUP team. If you go over then you are gambling. It all depends on the impact in your area.

Extreme High-speed: You pay an extra $10 month and you can transfer 50 GB down+up/30 days (or 1.67 GB/Day). Extreme is only offered if you have a Docsis area. Most of Shaw's major centres are using the old system and the new Docsis system (Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Victoria, Winnipeg). The Okanogan will be next.

[Faid1]

Originally posted by Pagal4321@Oct 28 2004, 05:00 PM
My buddy told me that there's a modem he can get where Shaw can no longer track his DL/UL amounts. I think it's BS, who want's to confirm it for me?

There was a Docksys modem a few months ago that Shaw wasn't able to test, but that's changed since about September 1st.

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Originally posted by Yellefan@Oct 28 2004, 03:26 PM
Why is my shaw email so slow at delivering my mail all the time? I swear sometimes it takes 2 days for an email to get to my shaw account-- email from same person to my Gmail account takes 30 seconds? I know it's not always this bad but it always seems that when it's an important email it takes forever!

I have noticed this as well. I have found out that Shaw new SPAM filters are partially to blame. When you have SPAM filters in place you have two lists. A Black list that have ip address that are not allow to send e-mail to the e-mail servers. Also you have a White list which has a list of other mail servers that are allowed to send e-mail. If you are recieving e-mail from a source that is not on the White list it may cause the mail take longer because it will have to do futher queries against that e-mail. I have noticed 2 days as well. If you notice that this is happen from the same source I would do things to get this resolved.

1. E-mail Shaw's Internet Help E-mail address and send them the message headers and tell them that you are seeing very slow e-mails from this server. You can get the message headers from the message properties. The message headers is the information that should the messages path through servers with time stamps.

2. E-mail the source of the e-mail and have them contact Shaw regarding the slow e-mail and then the two companies can work out gettting on the White list.

Both methods will get the same results but the second one in most cases will be faster. I know AOL went through the same thing around 18 months ago and by the end their e-mail service had a huge reduction of SPAM. Less SPAM sounds great to me. Also if you let Shaw know of every e-mail that is slow and they see a trend of a number of customers have slow e-mail they may change or upgrade the system to work better.

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Originally posted by CaramonLS@Oct 28 2004, 03:29 PM
What the hecks up with shaws very inconsist speeds... I've played online games for the past couple years and my pings seem to increase or decrease month by month and the routes which the online game servers use stay the same (well mostly).

You may notice this on the old cable modem system but if you have a DOCSIS modem you shouldn't have this problem. I switch around 8 months ago and my ping times stay under 10 ms and my speeds are always the same to the same site. If you online game you should switch to a DOCSIS modem. I know Shaw doesn't have DOCSIS is all systems yet but if you live in a major center like Calgary you can get them. I would call tech support and complain about your high ping times and bad speeds. Then ask if you can get a DOCSIS modem because you heard it really help for both of these problem. More then likly Shaw will book a service call to swap the old for the new. If they don't just e-mail them proof of the problem. Show high ping times and slow speeds over a week period. If you ask enough it will be easier to just swap the modem then have you complain every couple days right?

If you can't get a DOCSIS modem then I would still send them your proof of slow speeds or high ping times and there may be a problem with the device is your area that is causing this or they may have to do upgrades. If you keep showing you are having a problem and they see other users with the same problem they will try to find a solution but they can be slow to act because if upgrades are needed it could be awhile for them to plan it and do it.

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Originally posted by Faid1@Oct 28 2004, 04:46 PM
When I unplug my motorola modem the upload/download data is erased right?

I know when you power cycle a cable modem the information is lost that is on it. Shaw may still have a idea of how much you transfered I have been told.

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Originally posted by Pagal4321@Oct 28 2004, 06:00 PM
My buddy told me that there's a modem he can get where Shaw can no longer track his DL/UL amounts. I think it's BS, who want's to confirm it for me?

I have found out that the new DOCSIS modems do not have bandwidth monitoring at this time. I was also told that this will be changing in the very near future. So takes your chances as to how long it will be...

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Dirty Mr. Clean+Oct 28 2004, 10:18 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Dirty Mr. Clean @ Oct 28 2004, 10:18 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Faid1@Oct 28 2004, 04:46 PM
When I unplug my motorola modem the upload/download data is erased right?

I know when you power cycle a cable modem the information is lost that is on it. Shaw may still have a idea of how much you transfered I have been told. [/b][/quote]
The info is available on their website and you can view it yourself (just sign up).
Gives you graphical and numerical download and upload totals.

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101+Oct 28 2004, 08:23 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (BlackArcher101 @ Oct 28 2004, 08:23 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

I know when you power cycle a cable modem the information is lost that is on it. Shaw may still have a idea of how much you transfered I have been told.

The info is available on their website and you can view it yourself (just sign up).
Gives you graphical and numerical download and upload totals. [/b][/quote]
I guess people could test then how much of a difference it makes to unplug a cable modem. Download a big file and power cycle the modem. Does the website show that much was transfered?

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Dirty Mr. Clean@Oct 28 2004, 10:27 PM
I guess people could test then how much of a difference it makes to unplug a cable modem. Download a big file and power cycle the modem. Does the website show that much was transfered?

I think it shows in increments of one day. I can't check it since I'm sharing someone elses account now. Only thing unplugging the modem does is keep you from surfing the net. Shaw keeps a running total of the account and resets every last day of the month, and anytime the modem is unplugged, it will just keep the previous total.

[CaramonLS]

Originally posted by zarrell+Oct 28 2004, 11:32 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (zarrell @ Oct 28 2004, 11:32 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-CaramonLS@Oct 28 2004, 03:29 PM
What the hecks up with shaws very inconsist speeds... I've played online games for the past couple years and my pings seem to increase or decrease month by month and the routes which the online game servers use stay the same (well mostly).

Are you still on the old motorola surfboard modem? The newer ones they have now are much more consistent ping wise.

Also if anyone is worried about the amount of UL and DL you do, go with the shaw extreme for 10 bucks a month more. Shaw is not monitoring the traffic for extreme users for now. [/b][/quote]
I have the black surfboard, which is upgraded from the white one... 3years ago?

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

So everyone knows what a DOCSIS modem looks like here it is:



This modem will give you the best internet experence that Shaw can give you IMO.