Shaw vs. Telus Cable TV

[PsnaP]

Originally Posted by OilKiller

Settle down there newbie.

You work for Telus?

Relax.

Perhaps take it easy with the shots and calling people stupid.

I wasnt calling you stupid... perhaps you should do your homework before spouting off BS on a public forum... being a seasoned veteran on here you think you would know that.

[PsnaP]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Can you still not get Telus Satellite TV? Because that is what he was talking about in response to the question about Telus being the same as Bell.

Seems to be a lot of anger over a simple answer he gave.

TELUS sat TV is available in most areas. I simply asking him to explain himself on a post he made.

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by PsnaP

I wasnt calling you stupid... perhaps you should do your homework before spouting off BS on a public forum... being a seasoned veteran on here you think you would know that.

Perhaps you should just settle down. It was simply a miscommunication. Now go bother someone else newbie.

[PsnaP]

Originally Posted by OilKiller

Perhaps you should just settle down. It was simply a miscommunication. Now go bother someone else newbie.

No no.. a miscommunication is telling someone youre going to meet them at the corner of 5th St and 12th Ave, when it should have been 12th St and 5th Ave. You just simply dont know what youre talking about.... Vet

Just admit it

[OilKiller]

Oh FFS, what I meant was the fact that just about anyone with Telus TV prior was on Telus Satellite and was getting a rebrand of Bell, hence the miscommunication. Now give it a rest...no one cares. Go back to your desk at Telus.

[Rathji]

Hold on folks, this isn't a Mac vs PC thread!

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by OilKiller

Oh FFS, what I meant was the fact that just about anyone with Telus TV prior was on Telus Satellite and was getting a rebrand of Bell, hence the miscommunication. Now give it a rest...no one cares. Go back to your desk at Telus.

no they werent. telus IPTV came long before tstv.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

telus IPTV came long before tstv.

Telus IPTV was released in 2005 if I remember correctly. The Satellite TV was available in 2009, and is only available to people who cannot get Telus IPTV. (usually rural areas).

[OilKiller]

Well there you go, everyone has all the info they need now...let's move on. Anyone I ever talked to that had Telus for their TV, had the rebranded Bell, so that's where I got my info from.

[Damage]

Telus sat tv (stv) was only available to people who didn't qualify due to limited bandwidth capabilities for minerva and now optik services. Telus stv wasn't around in the imagic era, and only hit the market after the minerva and just prior to the media room/optik platform.. Now most people who are getting telus stv are rural areas or the small portion of the cities who cannot recieve the required bandwidth to power optik tv, as optik is a superior service in all aspects of telus tv products.

And yeah imo telus optik looks and responds way better then shaw's platform. They need to re image their system because it looks far too retro.

[Coys1882]

Anyone have some more feedback since they switched from Shaw to Telus? I'm thinking about making the move but would like a few more anecdotes please!

[Sliver]

I pulled the trigger on cancelling cable today. For the first time in my 34 years I don't have cable or satellite. It'll be a strict diet of Netflix, Blu-Ray & Internet-based TV viewing for me from now on (unless this experiment flops and I need cable again).

I have my PS3 for my upstairs TV, and I'm going to buy an Apple TV this weekend for the downstairs TV. Wish me luck.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Anyone have some more feedback since they switched from Shaw to Telus? I'm thinking about making the move but would like a few more anecdotes please!

You've probably seen my posts already but if not, here's the summarized version of the switch.

- The tech from Telus Optik beats Shaw's in every conceivable way, IMO. I happen to live in an excellent location for Telus service. The girlfriend even loves the new system and she usually doesn't care at all, as long as it works. The Mediaroom software is light years beyond where Shaw is at.
- The service itself has been rock solid since I had it installed.
- Do not get an installation on the weekends if you switch. The contractors work on weekends and mine was awful. He was rude, fed me all manner of bull####, and didn't complete the installation. The official Telus installer that came during the week to finish up was excellent.
- Telus customer service has been as painful as advertised. Shaw's wasn't all that much better though, in my opinion. Telus has given me several bill credits (and a free HD box) for issues I've had with them, though.
- Shaw made no real attempt to keep me as a customer when I informed them I'd be switching.
- Telus multi-room installation was free and had several incentives (free XBox360, free HD-PVR, half price bill for 6mo) for the contract.

IMO it's a no brainer right now to switch to Telus. Neither really has good enough customer service to give either a big advantage. Shaw says they're coming out with a multi-room PVR system and updated software - until then they cannot compete, IMO.

[Coys1882]

^^ Thanks Mick!!

[babs]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

You've probably seen my posts already but if not, here's the summarized version of the switch.

- The tech from Telus Optik beats Shaw's in every conceivable way, IMO. I happen to live in an excellent location for Telus service. The girlfriend even loves the new system and she usually doesn't care at all, as long as it works. The Mediaroom software is light years beyond where Shaw is at.
- The service itself has been rock solid since I had it installed.
- Do not get an installation on the weekends if you switch. The contractors work on weekends and mine was awful. He was rude, fed me all manner of bull####, and didn't complete the installation. The official Telus installer that came during the week to finish up was excellent.
- Telus customer service has been as painful as advertised. Shaw's wasn't all that much better though, in my opinion. Telus has given me several bill credits (and a free HD box) for issues I've had with them, though.
- Shaw made no real attempt to keep me as a customer when I informed them I'd be switching.
- Telus multi-room installation was free and had several incentives (free XBox360, free HD-PVR, half price bill for 6mo) for the contract.

IMO it's a no brainer right now to switch to Telus. Neither really has good enough customer service to give either a big advantage. Shaw says they're coming out with a multi-room PVR system and updated software - until then they cannot compete, IMO.

I switched from Shaw to Telus back in November, and had pretty much the same experience as Mick. The only difference is that mine was a weekday install, so I can't comment on the contractor aspect.

The technology is waaaay ahead of Shaw. The PVR Anywhere works great, and we have made good use out of the Remote Recording feature. Customer service is kind of a wash between Shaw and Telus. All depends who you get on the phone I guess.

We also managed to save a few bucks by going to Telus. Once they heard we were willing to completely ditch Shaw, we got sent to their "win back" department and were able to get a pretty good deal that included free rental of a couple of receivers and a reduced monthly rate for the first year. Even in year 2 and 3 of our contract, we are still saving money over Shaw, but it all depends on what channels you get. Even if you choose to go without the contract, the equipment is still fairly reasonably priced. I believe you can get the PVR at Futureshop for $250 and HD receivers for $150. They also go on sale occasionally. I believe this is cheaper than Shaw equipment, but I could be wrong as I haven't looked in a while.

One thing to consider before ordering is what kind of service you qualify for. We were lucky enough to qualify for their top service (3HD streams, 1SD stream) as we are in a newer neighbourhood, so we have had no bandwith issues. It sounds like all neighbourhoods will eventually be capable of the same service, but as of now, many are still 2HD, 1SD. You should be able to check Telus' website to see what you qualify for. If not, you can call them and they will be able to tell you right away.

This may have already been mentioned somewhere in this thread, but a good place to learn more about the service (good and bad) is on the Digital Home forums. I spent a lot of time there before taking the plunge.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=187

[Barnes]

Shaw announced during it q1 results conference call a couple days ago that they are working on a media room system that will allow 6 dcts access to the main pvr and features that will 'leap frog' the competition. Spring time maybe. Shaw cellular is delayed a year.

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Shaw announced during it q1 results conference call a couple days ago that they are working on a media room system that will allow 6 dcts access to the main pvr and features that will 'leap frog' the competition. Spring time maybe. Shaw cellular is delayed a year.

I find it hard to believe that such a thing could be released by spring. Even if they do manager to get it out during spring/summer the network is still bollocks. Random freezing, black picture, sound anamolys, and the terrible motorola boxes are all issues that have me just fed up with shaw cable tv. none of this will be fixed by networking boxes together.

[Flabbibulin]

My shaw PVR can suddenly rewind back more than 30 minutes... Even when I'm not recording (it still only goes back to the point I tuned in)

Can anyone explain this? An update with Shaw?

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

I find it hard to believe that such a thing could be released by spring. Even if they do manager to get it out during spring/summer the network is still bollocks. Random freezing, black picture, sound anamolys, and the terrible motorola boxes are all issues that have me just fed up with shaw cable tv. none of this will be fixed by networking boxes together.

Why is it hard to believe? The freezing, etc issues are firmware, middleware, software issues. If Shaw is to do this they would most likely be switching platforms. The DCX3400 is just as capable as the Cisco boxes Telus uses if not more so as I don't believe the the Cisco box can natively handle a 1080p broadcast stream. I could be wrong though but not that there are any 1080p broadcasts anyways.

If Shaw wants to compete with the MS MediaRoom platform, Shaw will need to ditch Rovi/TvGuide and go with something like Tru2Way with OCAP applications so of course it could be soon.

The DCX Moto boxes can support Tru2Way.

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Why is it hard to believe? The freezing, etc issues are firmware, middleware, software issues. If Shaw is to do this they would most likely be switching platforms. The DCX3400 is just as capable as the Cisco boxes Telus uses if not more so as I don't believe the the Cisco box can natively handle a 1080p broadcast stream. I could be wrong though but not that there are any 1080p broadcasts anyways.

The freezing can be any number of issues, and from what I understand from some experienced shaw techs they have no idea where in the network the black screen and noise anomolys are coming from.

Also, 1080p as for home tv is a long way away. THe bandwidth requirements are high and I don't see telus/shaw/bell/rogers in any hurry to increase the bandwidth per station.

If Shaw wants to compete with the MS MediaRoom platform, Shaw will need to ditch Rovi/TvGuide and go with something like Tru2Way with OCAP applications so of course it could be soon.

The problem is that these kinds of fixes and releases aren't just a couple months of coding, it's a huge ground up network change. Shaw has proven themselves to be a dinosaur in upgrading their tech, am I to believe now all out of the blue they're going to be the cutting edge in tv service?

Frankly, on a side note, I'd rather cancel all my TV and just get 35~ stations of high def thru another source. All I watch, really, are hte major networks, TSN, sportsnet and SN1, and hte occasion showcase/a&e. For the pleasure of watching 10 stations in high def I get to pay shaw 75 bucks (classic cable 60 bucks or so +15 for all high def), or, wow, imagine the coincidence, telus 75 bucks (your pick HD with all the hd included) . It's as if there's some type of price fixing in place!