Shaw vs. Telus Cable TV

[Mazrim]

I did a comparison today of Shaw versus Telus (Bell didn't seem have any packaging details on their website unfortunately), as I'm looking into going into an HD package.

Shaw's website currently offers the following:
HD Box - $250, HD PVR - $400
HD Plus + High Speed Internet - $116/month

Telus' website offers the following:
HD Box - $150 Regular $200, HD PVR - $250 Regular $400 (Special limited time offers according to their site, and there are varying deals for these depending on contract length)
Optik Your Pick HD + Optik High Speed Internet - $112/month

The one interesting thing other than Telus being slightly cheaper for the channels and definitely cheaper for the HD box is that Telus can do 6 TVs from one HD Box, while I can't tell if the same happens with Shaw. Anyone know? If picture quality is close to the same, and service interruptions on Telus aren't common anymore, I can't see why I shouldn't switch to Telus.

[anyonebutedmonton]

I just wanted to chime in...

I called Telus over lunch and priced out what a comparable plan would look like to my current Cable + Internet from Shaw.

They came in at about $85 dollars which is less than the $117 I am currently spending. If I was willing to sign a 3 year deal for cable I would get a free HD - PVR. If I was able to sign a 2 year deal on internet they were offering a free xbox.

I then gave Shaw a call and went through the motions of canceling my plan. They pretty much handed me whatever it was that I wanted. I now have a plan that includes:

Cable: All my existing channels (All basic and HD packages except movie channels)

Internet: upgraded me to extreme

Phone: added a home phone line with unlimited Canada and USA calling (I really didn't care but she said it was part of the bundle and it was cheaper than if I excluded it).

New Price: $84 a month.

Bonus: Offered me free HDPVR rental for a year (DCX3400), with promise that in a year call back and they would extend it.

I signed no contract so I have no commitment other than returning the PVR if I were to cancel service. Honestly I am really impressed with shaw here, they must be losing a lot of customers if they are willing to cut my bill from 117 to 84 and add all sorts of incentives.

EDIT: I also have Setanta free for 6 months

[IliketoPuck]

So all you had to do was call shaw to go through the motions of cancelling?

I have no desire to actually go with Telus, but $84 a month for all of that is incredible.

I think I'm paying $130/month right now. Will definitely be calling them.

[Scoopdogg]

I'm glad I saw this thread. I will no doubt be calling Shaw to cancel and see what they offer me. I'll post my results.

[IliketoPuck]

Steveo....you are a boss. They just gave me the same deal.

[jammies]

I've never liked Telus, but I see I can get internet, plus basic TV service with the HD sports package and the HD Movie Central/HBO/Encore Avenue package for $87/month with a free xbox360 and a free pvr as long as I sign up for 3 years.

I pay Shaw about $155, including pvr and a crapload of channels I never watch. It's almost not worth calling, and just switching instead, because I doubt they're going to give me it for $100 which is about all the premium I'm willing to pay.

[bradster57]

Originally Posted by jammies

I've never liked Telus, but I see I can get internet, plus basic TV service with the HD sports package and the HD Movie Central/HBO/Encore Avenue package for $87/month with a free xbox360 and a free pvr as long as I sign up for 3 years.

I pay Shaw about $155, including pvr and a crapload of channels I never watch. It's almost not worth calling, and just switching instead, because I doubt they're going to give me it for $100 which is about all the premium I'm willing to pay.

You'd be surprised. If you can get through to their retention line I bet you could get that for less than $100 and maybe a free month too.

[Superflyer]

I called about two weeks ago to Shaw just to see if I could trade in my PVR for a credit to get an HD PVR. The guy looked up the model and said that they cannot give credit for my current PVR as it was to old (almost 3 years old).
He then said what they can do is offer me another deal since I have been a customer for a quite a while. What I got was an upgrade in my internet to extreme, I got an HD PVR plus all the channels (HD and regular) minus the movie channel (but I got a one month preview of them) all for $97 which is about $40 less then what I was paying. This also includes my phone.

So I moved my PVR to my upstairs TV and set up the HD PVR on my main TV. All that just for asking a question.

[anyonebutedmonton]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

So I moved my PVR to my upstairs TV and set up the HD PVR on my main TV. All that just for asking a question.

Ya it seems like they are being told to do just about everything to retain people. I had only been a customer for a little over a year and they still seemed desperate to keep me.

I'm getting what would have cost me like 170 a month before, for $84...

[teamchachi]

I'm a relatively happy Bell subscriber. Aside from the fact that I can't get Sportsnet One at the moment. I'm sure it is coming, but wondering if I can use the current situation to my advantage?

Has anyone called Bell and threatened to cancel since they don't have Sportsnet One? How did it go?

[teamchachi]

Originally Posted by fotze

LOL. Calling Bell and threatening to cancel. Tell us how that goes. I think Bell employees get bonuses based upon the amount of people who cancel.

The last time I called Bell to cancel (about a year ago) they offered my 50% of my entire bill for a year and a 1 year HD PVR rental. Pretty good deal I thought. Shaw had just given me 2 free Motorola PVRs so I turned them down. Cancelling was actually really difficult. I had to get stern with them and ended up getting passed to a manager to finally get it done. Not sure if things have changed in the last 12 months...

[Antithesis]

I think Shaw is deathly afraid of the "T" word right now ... mention their competition by name and you'll have them begging for you to stay.

[Jawbone Hill]

I just finished up talking to Shaw as well, and managed to get the $85 phone/tv/internet retention package for the next 12 months. All I had to do was tell them Telus was offering me $85 for internet/tv, and I was either looking to cancel or see if Shaw would compete. I'm pretty happy!

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Got 20% off a whole year with Bell, went from $99 to $79, and got a $20 credit to use on PPV movies and such.

[gottabekd]

I received an offer in the mail from Telus for:

Telus Optik TV - $15 /mo
Telus Optik High Speed - $15 /mo
Telus Home Phone - $15 /mo

...for the first 12 months, when "combined with one or more TELUS home services".

My reading of this means I can get TV + Internet for $30/month for 12 months, plus any hardware rental fees. I pay Shaw $55 just for Internet. Can anyone suggest a reason not to switch?

[Johnny Canuck]

My wife and I have wanted a HDpvr for sometime, but the 399 price tag + 100 dollar installation fee has always been holding us back.

Today, I phoned Shaw and told them I had received a terrific offer from Telus which included a free HDpvr, and was thinking about canceling my account and switching to telus.

After a few minutes dealing with a sales representative I was transferred to the Supervisor who was VERY accommodating. Not only did he give us a free HDpvr rental (HDPVR 630)for 12 months + free installation and the opportunity to buy a new one for half price when the free rental expires, he gave us more channels for less money (paid 70 a month now pay 52) as well as offering us free HBO along with The Movie Network for 12 months.

What literally took all of 30 minutes (10 of which was on hold) I saved hundreds of dollars and lowered my monthly bill. They really are afraid of losing customers to Telus and are willing to do whatever it takes to keep your business.

[fundmark19]

If anyone has recieved the 15/month for a year offer from telus would like to give me the number on it I would really appreciate it. I went to go sign up last weekend but did not have that promotion code so they would not give it to me. My street seems to be the only one in New Brighton and Prestwick that hasn't gotten it

[anyonebutedmonton]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

I received an offer in the mail from Telus for:

Telus Optik TV - $15 /mo
Telus Optik High Speed - $15 /mo
Telus Home Phone - $15 /mo

...for the first 12 months, when "combined with one or more TELUS home services".

My reading of this means I can get TV + Internet for $30/month for 12 months, plus any hardware rental fees. I pay Shaw $55 just for Internet. Can anyone suggest a reason not to switch?

2 Reasons:

1. You have to lock into a 3 year contract and after the first year your rates are jacked up.

2. Since your TV is through the internet it can cause a serious drain on your bandwidth when watching HD channels (slows down your internet)

Its a much better deal to call shaw and tell them what telus is offering, guaranteed they match it.

[Rathji]

A lot of these plans Shaw is giving here in this thread are better than the stock "customer save' plans that retentions will give out. A CSR I know was amazed how much 'extra' over the save plan is being given. She said that some of these are nearly equivalent to her staff plan.

This is good news.

[Scoopdogg]

So I just got off the phone with Shaw. I phoned them up and told them that Telus offered me TV, Internet, and Phone for $85 per month. They hooked me up with a free upgrade to Extreme Internet, free movies for a month and all of the same HD programming I had before for $95 including tax. That saves me $55 per month. 20 mins on the phone just saved me 660/yr. Not bad.