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

[Bill Bumface]

Congratulations Shaw, you just converted me from "Angry and eager to cancel" to "Content, and willing to continue forking $120 per month your way".

[La Flames Fan]

Wow, I am blown away to be honest. I'll take my words back from a few pages ago, and cheers Shaw for doing what is good for the consumer and what is good for them too.

[Mazrim]

I'm very impressed, and glad that I didn't make a knee-jerk reaction switch in providers now. Perhaps the thread title should be changed?

[Cain]

So what is the actual cost for some of these plans? I have never subscribed for TV so I am a bit lost.

With Legacy TV, what does that mean? Is it a basic cable plan? Kind of lost, but the prices are intriguing and look to be pretty good even if you toss in 30 bucks for basic cable so I'm wondering.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Not gonna sign up for more than 50 Mbps, since it's likely that will rarely go over 30 Mbps anyway. I bet their 250 Mbps plan rarely gets over 150, and their 100 Mbps plan rarely goes over 50.

The cap bumps seem fair.

[La Flames Fan]

Originally Posted by Cain

So what is the actual cost for some of these plans? I have never subscribed for TV so I am a bit lost.

With Legacy TV, what does that mean? Is it a basic cable plan? Kind of lost, but the prices are intriguing and look to be pretty good even if you toss in 30 bucks for basic cable so I'm wondering.

I believe it's just having TV bundled with internet. I was considering cancelling my cable as I watch NO TV at all these days, but I will keep it now based on these new packages.

For reference, my basic cable with sports HD channels is about $30-40. My whole bill with Extreme internet is $99.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by La Flames Fan

I believe it's just having TV bundled with internet. I was considering cancelling my cable as I watch NO TV at all these days, but I will keep it now based on these new packages.

For reference, my basic cable with sports HD channels is about $30-40. My whole bill with Extreme internet is $99.

I must be on some **** plan. My bill with cable + HD and extreme is $130/month. I just called to suspend my TV for Jul-Sep, as like you I watch NO TV, but just over the summer. So my Extreme will be $59/month for the summer. I plan to bump up to Broadband 50 next month, so I think that will stay $59? I'll check for sure when I call. I hope my TV is next less fall, it sounds like I'm paying $30/month more than you for no discernible reason.

[DownInFlames]

I think the new packages, like Broadband 50, are on top of the Extreme price, so it's more like $120 unbundled. It wouldn't make sense to offer twice the service for the same price.

[TurnedTheCorner]

I dunno - it still shows the 'With Personal TV (SPP)' price as $84.90 for Broadband 50, which is the same as for Extreme. I can't see them doubling the price for including it with "legacy TV", either - that would be $30/month more than the current Warp plan, but with a cap of 400 GB instead of 175.

We'll know more next month I guess. They weren't able to say much on the phone when I called today, they don't have the codes in their system to start adding the new packages into the billing system yet. Or something.

[Mazrim]

Haha, I love the new thread title! It's perfect!

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

I must be on some **** plan. My bill with cable + HD and extreme is $130/month. I just called to suspend my TV for Jul-Sep, as like you I watch NO TV, but just over the summer. So my Extreme will be $59/month for the summer. I plan to bump up to Broadband 50 next month, so I think that will stay $59? I'll check for sure when I call. I hope my TV is next less fall, it sounds like I'm paying $30/month more than you for no discernible reason.

He's probably using the new Shaw Plan Personalizer. I'm using it now, getting Internet + Basic HDTV + Sports 1 + Entertainment 1. I lose a few channels I had before (the fiance can't watch all the girly reality shows anymore boohoo) but save a bunch. $130 a month to $99 a month.

[Hack&Lube]

I love the bumping up to the next tier if you go over the cap. Yeah, you have to pay the penalty in a more expensive bill at the end of the month but at the most it will be $20-40 and you actually get something for your money in the form of faster speeds.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

I must be on some **** plan. My bill with cable + HD and extreme is $130/month. I just called to suspend my TV for Jul-Sep, as like you I watch NO TV, but just over the summer. So my Extreme will be $59/month for the summer. I plan to bump up to Broadband 50 next month, so I think that will stay $59? I'll check for sure when I call. I hope my TV is next less fall, it sounds like I'm paying $30/month more than you for no discernible reason.

Call and say you're considering switching to Telus because they're offering you $15/$15/$15 for TV/Internet/Phone (standard Optic TV offer). They'll likely drop their pants and offer you a considerable discount. Worked for me.

[Azure]

Wow.

Even I'm impressed.

I guess if the consumer complains long enough, we finally get what we want.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Haha, I love the new thread title! It's perfect!


He's probably using the new Shaw Plan Personalizer. I'm using it now, getting Internet + Basic HDTV + Sports 1 + Entertainment 1. I lose a few channels I had before (the fiance can't watch all the girly reality shows anymore boohoo) but save a bunch. $130 a month to $99 a month.

I'm already suspending the TV for the summer until October and hockey season, so I'll only pay for the internet over that period. I'll see what they have when I go to reactivate it. But thanks for the info, I suspect that's the case.

Also, the new title is win.

[Azure]

250mbps is pretty insane. Not to many people in the world get that kind of speed.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I love the bumping up to the next tier if you go over the cap. Yeah, you have to pay the penalty in a more expensive bill at the end of the month but at the most it will be $20-40 and you actually get something for your money in the form of faster speeds.

That's the key right there. People don't mind paying more and getting more, generally speaking. But paying a disproportionate amount as a penalty for going over an arbitrary line was a poorly conceived idea. Us nerds... I mean "power users"... shouldn't be alienated because we're the most likely to pay for premium service, provided the options are fair.

Speaking of getting bumped up to a higher plan... will this be done automatically when you go even a megabyte over your limit, or will they take into account your history? If you're safely under month-to-month but then you have a month where your usage spikes unusually (torrenting house guests, extra time off of work, etc.), what will they do with you?

[photon]

Those who go over their data consumption will be placed in the next higher package for the remainder of the month. The following month's data will be reset and customers will return to their original package unless they choose to stay at the higher level.

So that seems reasonable, bump up for the rest of the month, back to what you were at at the beginning.

[Sr. Mints]

What is Legacy TV and Personal TV?

[Mad Mel]

Originally Posted by Azure

250mbps is pretty insane. Not to many people in the world get that kind of speed.

Most likely, you won't either. Consider that most people's office networks are 100mbps. It'll be strange, but the bottleneck won't be the internet connection between you and your ISP any more.

[Jedi Ninja]

Originally Posted by Mad Mel

Most likely, you won't either. Consider that most people's office networks are 100mbps. It'll be strange, but the bottleneck won't be the internet connection between you and your ISP any more.

I would think that the processors on most home routers (even those with gigabit LAN) would not be capable of handling that kind of bandwidth on the WAN/routing side.

Also to echo Sr. Mints question, what is "personal TV"?