Shaw Thread

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

The Bluecurve app now has Chromecast support.

I was hoping for AirPlay as well, but I am pleased for the Chromecast people.

[cral12]

For those with Shaw internet, which modem do you have? I see on website they advertise this "Gateway" modem. I'm still on an old Hitron modem which seems to suck.

[photon]

Hitrons were good IMO, or at least mine was, but I think the max speed on them is like 300Mbit or something.

To get the Gigabit I had to get the XB6 modem. Works fine though I don't use the Wifi in it I have it bridged with an external router.

[Fuzz]

I think the Hitron maxes at 150. I had to get the XB6 for 300.

[Hockeyguy15]

I have a hitron and get 300-ish

[Fuzz]

Ah OK. Oh, right, I had the old Motorola SB before, requiring the upgrade. Hitron in the office does 300.

[Hockeyguy15]

Some tech guru you are.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Some tech guru you are.

Forgive me. I shall commit seppuku using shattered DVD's.

[Inglewood Jack]

sometime in the past few months they pumped the upload speed for the 300 plan to 100mbps. but I couldn't get any higher than 15 up on the Hitron so they sent me the BlueCurve gateway. I am also using it just as a bridge with my own router, but the upload improvement has been super impactful in terms of stuff like remote work and cloud sync (e.g. OneDrive).

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I think the Hitron maxes at 150. I had to get the XB6 for 300.

Nope. I have 300 and the Hitron. Bridged of course.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

sometime in the past few months they pumped the upload speed for the 300 plan to 100mbps. but I couldn't get any higher than 15 up on the Hitron so they sent me the BlueCurve gateway. I am also using it just as a bridge with my own router, but the upload improvement has been super impactful in terms of stuff like remote work and cloud sync (e.g. OneDrive).

Lame, I just called Shaw to see if I could swap my modem for the increased upload, but apparently I'm on a "grandfathered" internet 300 plan, not the Fibre+ 300 plan, so the faster upload doesn't apply. I could always change the plan of course, but then the 2-year deal I signed to get Internet 300 for $70/mo goes away and I have to pay full price. Guess I'll just stick it out until the end of the deal and go to Telus fibre

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Has anyone had any luck with Shaw retentions lately? A couple of years ago I got a smokin’ deal on 300 internet, small TV (for the Flames), and home phone (old alarm) for $100/month. I am starting to get renewal messages and $100 will only get me internet, and $170 will get me what I currently have, and that’s not going to happen.

I have always flirted with the idea of TekSavvy, but would have to then add-on Sportsnet Online for hockey (or go to the dark side), and I’d still need a landline or a new alarm.

I suppose that I could switch to Telus if they have some good promotions. But Shaw internet is steady in my area and I have no complaints aside from the potential price.

Has anyone else renewed lately and not felt violated afterwards?

A quick update on my renewal journey (quoted above). I used the live chat feature to try and negotiate a new value plan for the past month. Initially I was only able to get them down to $131/month for the same level of service that I was currently getting, minus call waiting. Not entirely pleased, I tried a few more attempts but was never able to get much movement. I got a separate email saying that one of my old purchased Pace cable boxes was being depreciated, so they offered to throw in 3 free rental boxes with the Blue Curve hub central PVR thing. Not bad considering one of my boxes was being depreciated, one was ancient and didn't record anymore, and one was still working well. But considering how often I watch cable TV (Flames games, mostly), new boxes was neither here nor there.

To be fair, I would have accepted $131 and grumbled about it a bit, which isn't actually terrible if my last negotiation didn't get me $100/month, which was surprisingly good.

Tried again yesterday - no blinking from Shaw.

Tried again today - the last day of my value plan, and coincidentally Black Friday, and he instantly offered me $120 for everything that I already had or was promised, but also threw in "Total TV" instead of "Small TV". So yes I am paying more, and while I am just getting a bunch of channels that I may not ever watch, at least I am getting more. And even with "Small TV" I would've taken it because I haven't seen any better offers from Shaw or Telus posted anywhere, and getting the equivalent products somewhere else would've cost more anyway. Two years ago, Telus had an comparable deal for $100 that I was ready to whip out, but never had to. So I think that it really depends on who you get, and what the "market" is like.

I asked the agent to tell me honestly why he was able to do something today that previous agents, including the one yesterday, couldn't. He said that the offers were there, but he just had to do a bit of digging and had the experience to apply them. He didn't think that it had anything to do with Black Friday or it being the last day of my existing plan.

So my advice: Start chatting a few weeks prior. Check in often to see if any new deals were available, and express light regret and "I'll have to think about it and get back to you". Be polite and build a rapport. Don't be afraid to let your plan get near the end or even expire, because even if you're on a higher month-to-month rate for a few days, it all gets prorated anyway.

So I wouldn't say that I "won", but I don't feel I was the victim of a screwjob either, so... I'll take it.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

A quick update on my renewal journey (quoted above). I used the live chat feature to try and negotiate a new value plan for the past month. Initially I was only able to get them down to $131/month for the same level of service that I was currently getting, minus call waiting. Not entirely pleased, I tried a few more attempts but was never able to get much movement. I got a separate email saying that one of my old purchased Pace cable boxes was being depreciated, so they offered to throw in 3 free rental boxes with the Blue Curve hub central PVR thing. Not bad considering one of my boxes was being depreciated, one was ancient and didn't record anymore, and one was still working well. But considering how often I watch cable TV (Flames games, mostly), new boxes was neither here nor there.

To be fair, I would have accepted $131 and grumbled about it a bit, which isn't actually terrible if my last negotiation didn't get me $100/month, which was surprisingly good.

Tried again yesterday - no blinking from Shaw.

Tried again today - the last day of my value plan, and coincidentally Black Friday, and he instantly offered me $120 for everything that I already had or was promised, but also threw in "Total TV" instead of "Small TV". So yes I am paying more, and while I am just getting a bunch of channels that I may not ever watch, at least I am getting more. And even with "Small TV" I would've taken it because I haven't seen any better offers from Shaw or Telus posted anywhere, and getting the equivalent products somewhere else would've cost more anyway. Two years ago, Telus had an comparable deal for $100 that I was ready to whip out, but never had to. So I think that it really depends on who you get, and what the "market" is like.

I asked the agent to tell me honestly why he was able to do something today that previous agents, including the one yesterday, couldn't. He said that the offers were there, but he just had to do a bit of digging and had the experience to apply them. He didn't think that it had anything to do with Black Friday or it being the last day of my existing plan.

So my advice: Start chatting a few weeks prior. Check in often to see if any new deals were available, and express light regret and "I'll have to think about it and get back to you". Be polite and build a rapport. Don't be afraid to let your plan get near the end or even expire, because even if you're on a higher month-to-month rate for a few days, it all gets prorated anyway.

So I wouldn't say that I "won", but I don't feel I was the victim of a screwjob either, so... I'll take it.

It was weird for me, they randomly called me a few weeks before my plan expired and offered the same internet with more tv (total tv) for $110 ($7 more a month). Easy to say yes and not have to go through the hassle of calling around.

[Jimmy Stang]

Does anyone have any experience with an XB6 modem in bridged mode AND wireless XI6 TV boxes?

Searching the web shows mixed levels of success. Some say that it is possible to set up your XI6 boxes first, then bridge the XB6 modem. Apparently it keeps a couple of hidden wireless networks for the exclusive use of the XI6 wireless TV boxes, but otherwise bridges as you’d expect.

Can anyone confirm? My new equipment is apparently on the way.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Does anyone have any experience with an XB6 modem in bridged mode AND wireless XI6 TV boxes?

Searching the web shows mixed levels of success. Some say that it is possible to set up your XI6 boxes first, then bridge the XB6 modem. Apparently it keeps a couple of hidden wireless networks for the exclusive use of the XI6 wireless TV boxes, but otherwise bridges as you’d expect.

Can anyone confirm? My new equipment is apparently on the way.

I'll answer my own question, just in case it helps anyone searching in the future.

The interface on the XB6 modem allows switching to bridge mode very easily. It does, unfortunately, disable the ability for the XI6 TV boxes to connect to it. I haven't used a stumbler yet to see if hidden networks are broadcasting still, but the TV boxes can't find it automatically and the interface of the modem doesn't provide any hints.

You can, however, pick your own network to connect the XI6 boxes to. So I joined them onto my main wifi network/router and they work great.

Bridging is essential for me as I have a persistent VPN connection to my office, and also because I have a VPN server at home that I need to connect to occasionally from other places. So this is a reasonable compromise. I could probably fiddle a bit and use both routers as routers, but dealing with the double NAT, port forwarding, etc. is not really something I can be bothered with.

The only downside that I have noticed is that I am unable to watch a recording in progress on the Shaw iOS app because I am not on my "home network". Well I am, but I'm not letting the XB6 handle be anything more than a modem, which is probably the issue. Not a dealbreaker for me though, as I must use bridge mode, so this a small side effect. And completed recordings work just fine - just in-progress ones are strange because of rights issues, so they require you to be on your home network.

And, of course, the only other small annoyance is that I'm giving my own router more of a workout and not Shaw's equipment. Throughput seems to be unaffected I would imagine that Shaw does some sort of QoS on the traffic), as I can have multiple HD TV streams running and can still get 320/16 on a speed test, which is pretty normal for me. Bandwidth is unlimited anyway, so that's a non-issue.

I will also add that, after all of the dancing around about rates, I was impressed with Shaw's service. I sealed the deal on Friday at suppertime, got an email that my stuff was shipped on Saturday night, and Purolator rolled up on Sunday morning at about 10am. They included pre-paid labels to ship all of my old gear back, although I might inquire about dropping off downtown because that's probably easier because I've got 3 big cable boxes and a modem to send back, and by the time I find a box and pack it up, take it to the post office, etc. I could probably doing it quicker myself.

[CroFlames]

Ha. I was shopping for internet recently and I found it such horse#### that Shaw calls their traditional coax internet "Fibre+" now. Way to mislead the public holy.

[Flamenspiel]

How is TELUS 150, the place we are moving into has that. I have Shaw till August but will look into alternatives at that time.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Lame, I just called Shaw to see if I could swap my modem for the increased upload, but apparently I'm on a "grandfathered" internet 300 plan, not the Fibre+ 300 plan

Is it just the plan that needs to be changed or do I have to turn in my Hitron and get one of the new Gateway modems? If so, can the new modems be bridged too?

[GoinAllTheWay]

Turns out you do need to upgrade the modem. No biggie. Pulled the trigger on that. New modem being sent out by mail.

Been waiting years to get better upload speeds.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Is it just the plan that needs to be changed or do I have to turn in my Hitron and get one of the new Gateway modems? If so, can the new modems be bridged too?

Bridging is easy on the new modems. Just have to log into it when connected wired and click on the bridge option from the admin interface. I'm using Nest Wifi at home since my modem is in a metal networking distribution box down in the basement.

You'll get a return shipping label to ship your old modem back to Shaw, just box up the old modem and slap the label they have you on the box and you are good to go.