Shaw vs. Telus Cable TV

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

ahh.. well, then dont use the actiontec as your router :P seriously tho the wireless on this thing is better than my dir 655, and none of what you posted ive ever used or wanted to use since ive had the internet... to each their own i guess

I'd say most Telus customers need nothing other than a wireless signal out of their routers, so it's fine for most.

[theonlywhiteout]

I don't think it's just telus customers, I think most internet users dont need that other stuff. like 98% of the consumers.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

I don't think it's just telus customers, I think most internet users dont need that other stuff. like 98% of the consumers.

I really think that the type of person who really cares about their internet speed has a pretty good chance of having a use for port forwarding at some point in time or another.

You are right though, Grandma and Grandpa Smith checking email and surfing swingers websites don't need it because typical uses are gaming, fire sharing and other 'techie' stuff like remote access.

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I really think that the type of person who really cares about their internet speed has a pretty good chance of having a use for port forwarding at some point in time or another.

You are right though, Grandma and Grandpa Smith checking email and surfing swingers websites don't need it because typical uses are gaming, fire sharing and other 'techie' stuff like remote access.

ok lol I dunno if this is a passive aggressive post or what but, really? Port forwarding is not used by -I would guess- 95% of internet users. I'm a fairly techy guy and I've never once in my life needed it for anything and I've got my home networked quite nicely.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

ok lol I dunno if this is a passive aggressive post or what but, really? Port forwarding is not used by -I would guess- 95% of internet users. I'm a fairly techy guy and I've never once in my life needed it for anything and I've got my home networked quite nicely.

I agree that most people don't need it, but the point of my post was that the number of people who do need it is much higher within the group of people who game, torrent etc than compared to the general population who just get email, surf the net and spank it to porn.

[theonlywhiteout]

to be fair, i am part of the group that use the internet to surf, email, and spank it to porn. also, stream and download videos.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

I'm a fairly techy guy and I've never once in my life needed it for anything and I've got my home networked quite nicely.

Dad?

[OilKiller]

So no static IP with Telus? Is that what I'm reading here? Or have I misunderstood? The first thing I do with any comp is set a static IP. It's quite easy then for port forwarding, etc.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by OilKiller

So no static IP with Telus? Is that what I'm reading here? Or have I misunderstood? The first thing I do with any comp is set a static IP. It's quite easy then for port forwarding, etc.

I'm sure static IPs work. 3 devices on my network are mobile and it's a PITA to have to switch between static IP and DHCP every day.

That, plus a handful of other pretty standard features missing (and the lowest speeds I've seen yet on a 802.11n router) make it a low end router.

But hey, it's free. And it gets you on the Internet. If that's all you need then I'm sure it's fine.

[theonlywhiteout]

mick you're patently false slandering of the actiontec is borderline patently false and slanderous.

in all seriousness it has outperformed the dir-655 d link, a highly reviewed router. these slow speeds you speak of seem ludicrous to me

[Incogneto]

Haven't read the entire thread, but...

I have it on good authority that Shaw will be coming out with their new box in 'about 3 months time'. It will have all the bells and whistles that telus optik offers, new guide, new software, and the ability to record 3HD channels at once.

the next BIG step for shaw will be when their mobile phone service is introduced. It was initially planned for Oct '11, but I think that has been pushed back a bit, probably launching in early '12 in Calgary.

[PsnaP]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Port forwarding is the biggest thing.

I'm also networking an XBox 360, Windows Vista HTPC, Windows 7 Laptop, MacBook Pro, and an iPhone together to use various services. Things just work much more reliably when you're using IP addresses for this instead of depending on the various methods of name resolution.

theres options to enable port forwarding...

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

mick you're patently false slandering of the actiontec is borderline patently false and slanderous.

in all seriousness it has outperformed the dir-655 d link, a highly reviewed router. these slow speeds you speak of seem ludicrous to me

The fact that you are getting 12 Mbs speeds on the router is really nothing special, I could give a few examples of low end N routers getting better speeds consistently but since they are in a different environment it really doesn't matter. If it really was a huge improvement over your 655 then I am guessing there was some other issue with the 655, such as it was using a different, suboptimal channel, firmware or had something wrong with it physically.

The fact that Telus is giving people good wireless on the modem is a good thing though, because like you said many people don't need anything more than that. It also makes sense because it lets them support the one thing they couldn't previously control that influences your internet experience.

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by Rathji

The fact that you are getting 12 Mbs speeds on the router is really nothing special, I could give a few examples of low end N routers getting better speeds consistently but since they are in a different environment it really doesn't matter. If it really was a huge improvement over your 655 then I am guessing there was some other issue with the 655, such as it was using a different, suboptimal channel, firmware or had something wrong with it physically.

Holy crap rathje no offense but your posts are getting super obnoxious and really passive agressive.
1) I know what I'm doing with computers.. my dir 655 was getting me 9 megabits download wireless when my wired was 12.75... I hardly consider that to be a poorly setup or faulty router.
2) The Actiontec is getting me 12~ megabits when the wired connection is now 14. I call that a great performing router. You're categorization of the actionetc as a low end router is simply incorrect. That's what I'm trying to get across, nothing else. Furthermore, all these other little tweaks you mention about are not needed or used by the vast and sweeping majority of all users. Not just grannies.

Originally Posted by Rathji

The fact that Telus is giving people good wireless on the modem is a good thing though, because like you said many people don't need anything more than that. It also makes sense because it lets them support the one thing they couldn't previously control that influences your internet experience.

Yeah it's a great thing I agree. The Siemens was a piece of junk and still is. The actiontec is a top notch N router that performs as good or better than any high end router I've used in my home.

If this comes off as aggressive posting or me attacking you I apologize, it's not my intent. I'm just getting a little tired of reading posts that I consider to be super passive aggressive; littered with what I've perceived as jabs at me grouping me in with old people who use the internet for email surfing (even tho I don't game anymore that hardly disqualifies me as a knowledgeable user).

[oilyfan]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...articlecontent

Good article in the globe and mail about the telco vs. cable war, talks specifically about how the cable guys looked at IPTV and didn't see a threat till about last year. Now Shaw has moved its wireless launch out a year so that they can launch a more interactive TV service in 2011. It will be interesting to see what transpires here over the next few months.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...articlecontent

Good article in the globe and mail about the telco vs. cable war, talks specifically about how the cable guys looked at IPTV and didn't see a threat till about last year. Now Shaw has moved its wireless launch out a year so that they can launch a more interactive TV service in 2011. It will be interesting to see what transpires here over the next few months.

Shaw has also slashed departmental budget 10% company wide, which screwed with a lot of projects that were already in progress. they'll be spending a lot of money soon to try and match what Telus has, but this time they're playing catchup which they've really never had to do

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

Holy crap rathje no offense but your posts are getting super obnoxious and really passive agressive.
1) I know what I'm doing with computers.. my dir 655 was getting me 9 megabits download wireless when my wired was 12.75... I hardly consider that to be a poorly setup or faulty router.
2) The Actiontec is getting me 12~ megabits when the wired connection is now 14. I call that a great performing router. You're categorization of the actionetc as a low end router is simply incorrect. That's what I'm trying to get across, nothing else. Furthermore, all these other little tweaks you mention about are not needed or used by the vast and sweeping majority of all users. Not just grannies.

If you don't want to discuss the router, don't post about it on a message board.

These little tweaks, or features as most people know them as, are part of what determines if a router is low end or not. If it can port forward, that is a feature. If it has Shareport, or some other similar thing, that is another feature. If it has a print server, that is yet again another feature. If you can block IP addresses, you guessed it, another feature. If you can have guest wireless log in, that's one more. Dual band? You guessed it. Not all routers have these features, and just because you don't use them doesn't mean they are useless for determining if a router is high end or not. If you just want wireless throughput and nothing else is important to you, then the router is perfectly suited for your needs. This doesn't mean you are a "granny" or some other type of idiot, but it also doesn't transform a router that lacks these features into a high end router

I do not think for a second that your new router is worse than your old router, I am just saying that your experience with the DIR-655 and my experience with the DIR-655 (and other mid range N routers) is different. Also because I need many of these features, I personally wouldn't want to use the Telus (or Shaw's for that matter) supplied wireless modem.

[theonlywhiteout]

getting back to the TV itself.. the ability to remove channels you dont want and dont watch (channels you dont buy and french channels., music channels etc) literally is amazing. I can't say how much I hated scrolling through hundreds of channels on shaw. ugh. so wonderful.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

getting back to the TV itself.. the ability to remove channels you dont want and dont watch (channels you dont buy and french channels., music channels etc) literally is amazing. I can't say how much I hated scrolling through hundreds of channels on shaw. ugh. so wonderful.

That is a nice feature. Currently the only option for Shaw is to have a favorites list of all the channels you have.

[PsnaP]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

getting back to the TV itself.. the ability to remove channels you dont want and dont watch (channels you dont buy and french channels., music channels etc) literally is amazing. I can't say how much I hated scrolling through hundreds of channels on shaw. ugh. so wonderful.

Yes but with the old platform you could just select subscribed channels and not have to 'turn off' the ones you arent paying for.

There are a lot of new features coming this year and I think this is one of them. Also, you will be able to pause live tv on the 330 box, not just the pvr.