Shaw Internet - Magical New Speeds and Lots-o-bandwidth, fickle geeks appeased

[Raekwon]

Yeah I calle to switch and because I have the promotional pricing until September I couldn't do it without increasing my bill by $70 I will wait and then its on!

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

What is the regular DOCSIS3 modem? Fortunately, I don't have to deal with the crappy router side of the SMC I have, since it was disabled out of the box.

It's a Motorola modem that looks like this:



I could have disabled the router on the SMC, but Shaw was charging an extra rental fee for it, so I swapped it for the free modem.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

It's a Motorola modem that looks like this:



I could have disabled the router on the SMC, but Shaw was charging an extra rental fee for it, so I swapped it for the free modem.

You were renting the SMC? That's confusing - I was told its included free as a part of the monthly fee. From what I've been reading, you pay extra for the wireless/routing portion of the SMC (like $2 a month, I think?), but if you don't want it, they simply disable it in your profile at their end.

[DownInFlames]

I initially got the wireless router because they didn't have any DOCSIS3 modems in stock when I upgraded to Warp. I figured a few extra bucks was worth satisfying my need for instant gratification instead of waiting. They didn't mention that they would waive the fee if I kept the SMC and disabled the wireless.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Yeah I calle to switch and because I have the promotional pricing until September I couldn't do it without increasing my bill by $70 I will wait and then its on!

Damn, that'll be the boat I'm in then. Pretty sure my promo runs until September as well.

[Rathji]

Well at least you still get the increased caps and speeds of Extreme, so its not like you are hurting bad.

[The Yen Man]

The CSR I talked to didn't budge on giving away any promos. I was thinking of switching from High Speed to Extreme, and she wouldn't even give me the $29.95 promo pricing for 6 months that they advertise for new customers. I guess they're confident their pricing will beat Telus's for now and that I wouldn't be switching.

[Shazam]

Thank or blame Jim Shaw for the changes. Apparently he's somewhat horrified at how the company was run by his drunkard brother (and no, that's not libel).

Further changes will come, or so scuttlebutt says.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Thank or blame Jim Shaw for the changes. Apparently he's somewhat horrified at how the company was run by his drunkard brother (and no, that's not libel).

Further changes will come, or so scuttlebutt says.

You mean Brad Shaw.

[Jimmy Stang]

Shaw has also revised their business plans. They cost a bit more, as they always have, but there are now some plans like the Broadband 50 that are available for business. Previously there was a huge gap between Extreme Business with 1 Mbps upload and a server connect package.

The Business Broadband 50 gives you 50 Mbps down, and 5 up for a $20 bucks more per month than the Business Extreme option. A static IP is also included, which costs $10 extra with Extreme, so it is only going to cost us $10 more per month.

The upload speed is essential for us, particularly when 3 of us (3/4 of the office) were VPN-ing earlier this week and sharing a 1 Mbps upload connection. This couldn't have come at a better time for us, so I'll be picking up the new modem tomorrow.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by kermitology

You mean Brad Shaw.

Jim, Brad, Jeb... All you whiteys look alike

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by kermitology

You mean Brad Shaw.

Brad Shaw?

[photon]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

One interesting note - you can ask for the modem as either a wifi router, or as a straight modem. As far as I can tell, you get the same SMC DOCSIS3 box either way, but the wifi and routing functions on mine are very definitely disabled - it doesn't hand out DHCP leases, I can't get to its web interface, and my Airport Extreme picks up an externally routable IP address. Further, the Airport Extreme does not report a double NAT condition, which it normally does if its tucked behind a NAT device.

Do you know if this is a user configurable option? I don't see it in the menus anywhere. I can disable wifi or the firewall, but not NAT.

Called Shaw and they were clueless, he just had me disable the WIFI and then do a factory reset (um won't that reenable the wifi), and then wait 15 minutes and call back if any further problems.

So did that and back where I started, double NAT.

*sigh*

ETA: Finally got another call back, the guy I talked to understood what I was talking about thankfully (the previous one I don't think understood what NAT was or why I wouldn't want 2 layers of it). He said that they don't have the codes in the system yet to have the SMC routers working as a router changed to work as a bridge.

He said they had a temporary fix I could try, so he did that and I reset it and now it looks like it's operating in bridge mode.

So for anyone getting it and wanting to operate in bridge mode (i.e. have your own router), make sure you specify that you want one with the routing disabled, or be prepared to spend some time on the phone. Or ask for the Motorola one I guess.

[photon]

[TurnedTheCorner]

Back in the day when I had Warp, you needed the DOCSIS to get any speeds over 50 mbps dl. I would ask for the Motorola one, it worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by photon

Be prepared to get closer to 50 mbps more often than not.

[photon]

The SMC is DOCSIS 3.0 so it works, it's just getting it into bridge mode that was the hassle.

Yeah I'll do some testing during busier times to see, but even 50Mbps is fine, I was more interested in the 5Mbps upload, when doing server development uploading files to remote servers takes time, and having to wait 20 seconds instead of 2 minutes makes a difference to me.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Excellent. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just trying to manage expectations. Sounds like you're going to get what you need out of the service.

Where did you pick up the SMC?

[The Yen Man]

Hmm, looks like I spoke too soon. As soon as I said Shaw wasn't giving me any promo's, someone at Shaw calls me and offers a 6 month trial of Broadband 50 at no extra cost plus 6 months of TV for $5 bucks more a month. No reason not to take them up on that offer I suppose.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah I'll do some testing during busier times to see, but even 50Mbps is fine, I was more interested in the 5Mbps upload, when doing server development uploading files to remote servers takes time, and having to wait 20 seconds instead of 2 minutes makes a difference to me.

Yeah. It's the upstream thats important to me too, and so far in testing that seems to be pretty consistent, although I haven't had a chance to check during peak hours today.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Shaw's ul speeds are always rock soild, consistently within 90-95% of advertised speed.