Shaw Thread

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

I got an old fashioned letter in the mail. It was quite direct and a bit nasty..

Did they give a date for when service will end in Calgary/ Alberta and you need to make the change?

I am wondering how much runway I have here and if I need to buy some additional backup Shaw boxes in case they brick my old ones.

[Ironhorse]

The letter said that the boxes need to be replaced by Sept 30. If I don't call them or action on this, "some services" will be removed from my devices on that date. It did not explicitly say the service was ending though. I guess I'll find out next week when I call.

Giving someone 7 weeks notice on EOL devices is very poor form IMO.

[TorqueDog]

My Shaw contract recently ended and my bill for 1 Gbps internet and basic-ass TV jumped to $166/month after tax -- TV I don't use.

Sooooooo I just filled out the form and signed up for TekSavvy, $78.70/month after tax and any rebates for 1 Gbps. After a year, the monthly will increase to $131 at which point I'll see if I can re-up and get that rebate again, otherwise I'll review my options again.

Oxio was a close runner up, $90 with Eero 6 (non-Plus, unless the website is outdated) versus TekSavvy's $74 with the Hitron CODA-5610Q (WiFi 6 gateway/modem); I still have my UniFi wireless gear in a box if I decide to beef up my apartment's WiFi coverage again, so the Eero 6 was less of a draw.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

The letter said that the boxes need to be replaced by Sept 30. If I don't call them or action on this, "some services" will be removed from my devices on that date. It did not explicitly say the service was ending though. I guess I'll find out next week when I call.

Giving someone 7 weeks notice on EOL devices is very poor form IMO.

So I called and the deal is that TV service to my boxes is definitely ending with a hard date of Sept 30; there is no negotiating beyond that. I'm in the SE of Calgary. They are sending me new wireless Ignite portals (at no cost) to replace them, and I can do a self install. My recorded PVR shows will not transfer over, but I can keep the old gateway hooked up to the TV as an extra device for as long as I like, and it will continue to play the recorded shows from its drive. They don't want the old equipment back. The new Ignite PVR is cloud based, and some of the channel numbers will also be changing.

If anyone is helping old ones with this, there will be a learning curve on the new remotes and new channels.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

So I called and the deal is that TV service to my boxes is definitely ending with a hard date of Sept 30; there is no negotiating beyond that. I'm in the SE of Calgary. They are sending me new wireless Ignite portals (at no cost) to replace them, and I can do a self install. My recorded PVR shows will not transfer over, but I can keep the old gateway hooked up to the TV as an extra device for as long as I like, and it will continue to play the recorded shows from its drive. They don't want the old equipment back. The new Ignite PVR is cloud based, and some of the channel numbers will also be changing.

If anyone is helping old ones with this, there will be a learning curve on the new remotes and new channels.

The type things piss me off to no avail. On my most recent call with the executive level regarding a hard cut off, I was told there was no specific date for the Calgary area. Other parts of the country have officially ended their service.

I was told that support and technical assistance has officially ended and that pricing may change.

Looking at the service page I don't see an official notification for Calgary as outlined here.

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/service-u...hern%20alberta


But you do see it for other communities amongst others

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/service-u...-tv/ta-p/57716

Fingers crossed it is more lies and empty threats and that the service will continue past September 30. I can't deal with all the negative stuff that people talk about with Ignite TV. I like the simple things and don't want to deal with this nonsense for my parents.

[Jimmy Stang]

For what its worth, despite many reasons to criticize Shaw/Rogers, my Ignite TV isn't one of them. It has been solid for me for a few years. Of course, I can't speak to how they've handled the changeover for you, but it sounds annoying.

My father-in-law (73) had an old coaxial box that was crapping out, but no other services - even internet. They came, replaced it with an Ignite box (plus their special TV-only router thing), didn't charge him for it, and didn't increase his monthly price.

And best yet, I haven't heard any complaining from him about it, so he can't be hating it too much.

[Fuzz]

You really are making a tempest in a teapot. Have you tried it out? It's easy and works well. You have a guide. You have recordings. You have a remote. You can even manage recordings from a web browser, so you could manage them remotely if you need to. It also has much lower power consumption for money savings. You are going to have to do it one day, so why not now?

[Mazrim]

Still not sure about this new Rogers Shaw thing. Their VP seems a bit blunt, but they really went straight to the point here:


(Yes, that's the entire email)

[Ironhorse]

I got a same but different email, with the usual multiple paragraphs of text. Maybe yours got cut off.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

I got a same but different email, with the usual multiple paragraphs of text. Maybe yours got cut off.

My email was the same as Mazrim and just says "Add Bravo to your TV package." Clicking the link in the email to open it in a browser shows the same message.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You really are making a tempest in a teapot. Have you tried it out? It's easy and works well. You have a guide. You have recordings. You have a remote. You can even manage recordings from a web browser, so you could manage them remotely if you need to. It also has much lower power consumption for money savings. You are going to have to do it one day, so why not now?

I have used it a few times at friends homes or on vacation at a hotel etc. I don't have too many issues with it aside from getting used to the UI. I am comfortable. My parents and their situation is completely different, especially for recording shows. I guess recording on Ignite is awful and virtually everybody says it's awful and a massive step back. I don't really record so I am ok in that regard.

As for changing technology or replacing things that work just fine, it's just how I am wired. I like the simplicity of things. I really do think a lot of things with an "old is gold" mindset I can't stand innovation in some aspects of our life when it reality it isn't really any innovation at all, it's just complications and more points of failure in our lives that just costs us more.

It's like clockwork in some ways. A lot of friends of mine have cut cable in order to save costs but then routinely spend a lot of time trying their IPTV and illegal stream to work properly. Go over to see a Flames game and it becomes a technology joke with cutting in and out, poor synched sound/picture , wifi down and more. They laugh that I still have cable and the old box but when we watch it at their house, we hear Rick Ball announce a goal before the puck goes in. This is progress?

The other thing is, have a very close look at your current bill and previous bills. A large number of friends of mine have noticed a large increase in their Ignite TV box rentals. They are not part of the contract price, it's part of a value add on the terms and conditions. What used to be $5 a month per box is coming in at $39 for 3 for some people.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

For what its worth, despite many reasons to criticize Shaw/Rogers, my Ignite TV isn't one of them. It has been solid for me for a few years. Of course, I can't speak to how they've handled the changeover for you, but it sounds annoying.

My father-in-law (73) had an old coaxial box that was crapping out, but no other services - even internet. They came, replaced it with an Ignite box (plus their special TV-only router thing), didn't charge him for it, and didn't increase his monthly price.

And best yet, I haven't heard any complaining from him about it, so he can't be hating it too much.

That's pretty much how it happened for my mom. She is 84 and doesn't do well with change. She never got used to using the guide and surfs channels like you would back when you plugged the coax directly into your TV before cable boxes in the early 90s and before. It is annoying to see her do that. I tried to teach her how to use the guide and she can't understand simple instructions and just doesn't get it right.... I don't hang out and watch TV with her anyway so that doesn't really matter.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I have used it a few times at friends homes or on vacation at a hotel etc. I don't have too many issues with it aside from getting used to the UI. I am comfortable. My parents and their situation is completely different, especially for recording shows. I guess recording on Ignite is awful and virtually everybody says it's awful and a massive step back. I don't really record so I am ok in that regard.

I guess I don't understand what you're saying with that. I have never heard anyone say that and my experience has been completely different from yours and your your friends/family. Recording programs with Ignite is pretty simple and straight forward. Very similar on the Rogers partnered with Shaw Ignite box as it was with the Shaw box I had for the previous two years before upgrading to Ignite.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Buff

I guess I don't understand what you're saying with that. I have never heard anyone say that and my experience has been completely different from yours and your your friends/family. Recording programs with Ignite is pretty simple and straight forward. Very similar on the Rogers partnered with Shaw Ignite box as it was with the Shaw box I had for the previous two years before upgrading to Ignite.

Don't quote me but it's pretty much standard that the recording capabilities with Ignite are nowhere near where they used to be with a traditional PVR. People online through various forms and friends have described it as not being able to

1) Record from the start of a program that has started 5-10 minutes ago as Ignite doesn't allow you go back that far on the started program

2) Record a show and surf channels to the same degree as before?

3) Lot's of issues with recording a show that indicates red dot but doesn't actually get recorded. Speculation it has to do with distribution rights and Rogers not allowing specific shows to record.

4) The amount of simultaneous shows you can record at the same time.


As I said before, I may record maybe 5 programs a year but some people record 5 programs a day and are complaining like crazy about some capabilities. My mother records a lot and this is a key piece I am trying to avoid.

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by curves2000

The type things piss me off to no avail. On my most recent call with the executive level regarding a hard cut off, I was told there was no specific date for the Calgary area. Other parts of the country have officially ended their service.

I was told that support and technical assistance has officially ended and that pricing may change.

Looking at the service page I don't see an official notification for Calgary as outlined here.

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/service-u...hern%20alberta


But you do see it for other communities amongst others

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/service-u...-tv/ta-p/57716

Fingers crossed it is more lies and empty threats and that the service will continue past September 30. I can't deal with all the negative stuff that people talk about with Ignite TV. I like the simple things and don't want to deal with this nonsense for my parents.

Honestly, you're better off going with the updated equipment. Especially if the old equipment can become obsolete at any time. Ignite TV is not that much different, and most likely easier to use. The amount of time you've taken up on the phone with Shaw/Rogers you could've used to help your parents adjust to the new equipment since you might have to do it any month now.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Don't quote me but it's pretty much standard that the recording capabilities with Ignite are nowhere near where they used to be with a traditional PVR. People online through various forms and friends have described it as not being able to

1) Record from the start of a program that has started 5-10 minutes ago as Ignite doesn't allow you go back that far on the started program

Yes, that's an annoying limitation. The other drawbacks are that you are limited to a few hundred hours, which is significantly less than the gateways that supported external drives; and the recordings expire and are deleted after 1 year.

2) Record a show and surf channels to the same degree as before?

4) The amount of simultaneous shows you can record at the same time.

Similar to the Gateway in that you can record 6 shows simultaneously. However, it's not as clever as the Gateway which will automatically record recent channels so that you can swap between them and be able to rewind.

3) Lot's of issues with recording a show that indicates red dot but doesn't actually get recorded. Speculation it has to do with distribution rights and Rogers not allowing specific shows to record.

Haven't seen that happened though sometimes it may pick a later timeslot or get confused if the description doesn't clarify if it's new.

As I said before, I may record maybe 5 programs a year but some people record 5 programs a day and are complaining like crazy about some capabilities. My mother records a lot and this is a key piece I am trying to avoid.

For the first few months, you can add your phone/tablet to their account and use the Ignite TV app to schedule shows for her while she gets used to it.

A significant advantage of the new boxes are their excellent integration with Video on Demand and streaming services, which gives you another option of watching shows anytime without recording them. Most channels will provide recent episodes (generally with fewer commercials) and the specialty channels often have a decent back library. I like Discovery especially, which has many seasons of its most well known shows and most of them run commercial-free.

[Fuzz]

Ya, the on demand library has helped cut back on recordings. Older shows often don't even have adds. New ones do, unfortunately they are forced so you can't skip, but it is usually just a 30 second spot.

[TorqueDog]

TekSavvy setup did not go quite as smoothly as I'd hoped.

When TekSavvy's equipment activates on the Shaw network, it is usually automatically provisioned. For some reason, my equipment got bumped to manual provisioning, which means it's going to take a day or two for some halfwit at Shaw to click a button that allows my TekSavvy modem to fetch the provisioning file.

There's nothing TekSavvy nor I can do, because if I call Shaw, they'll just tell me I have to call TekSavvy, who have already said it's out of their hands.

F--k you Shaw.

[TorqueDog]

TekSavvy has already shown their support to be superior to Shaw's. On Monday, I finally got my TekSavvy equipment setup and connection switched, the specific technician I had talked to on Friday called me back to confirm that he saw my modem had activated on the Rogers end and was ready to go. Everything is working great. I don't think I've ever had service from Shaw that was that good.

I contact Shaw to put in the disconnection request. Instantly, they offer me $60/month on a 2-year term for my gigabit service. I tell them if their prices were this reasonable to begin with, I wouldn't have been looking elsewhere, so no, disconnect my services.

Fast-forward to today, someone from Shaw Retentions calls and offers me:
i) Gigabit internet $55/month for a 2-year term;
ii) $300 bill credit for 6 months free service, and;
iii) to include TV service for that price.

Again, the time for more reasonable prices was when I called to remove the TV from my plan and mentioned I wanted to see if I could reduce my monthly cost somehow. The fact that now they can offer to reduce my month payment by more than 50% only because I've decided to leave and go elsewhere is a f--king insult after I've been a loyal customer for over 17 years.

F--k you, Shaw.

I pay $78 after taxes for my Gigabit TekSavvy service, and I feel much better paying that than I would paying Shaw $55/month after they come crawling after me in their ingratiating tone.

[Jimmy Stang]

^ Due to my wife's stubborn attachment to her shaw.ca email address, my threats will be mostly hollow. But I'm going to push those bastards to the brink in November and see if they call my bluff.