Shaw Internet - Magical New Speeds and Lots-o-bandwidth, fickle geeks appeased - Page 42 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

photon · 06-08-2011, 06:41 PM

Still getting 85Mbit or more throughout the evening, so that's good.

sclitheroe · 06-08-2011, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

Still getting 85Mbit or more throughout the evening, so that's good.

Same here, I just checked when I got home.

DownInFlames · 06-08-2011, 07:02 PM

I wish I could say the same.

I get 45Mbps downloading from usenet, which is what really matters, but I used to get faster results than that with Warp. If this persists I'll be calling Shaw.

I'm happy with the upload speed though.

TurnedTheCorner · 06-08-2011, 07:17 PM

For those getting the consistent 85-ish speeds - how are you connected to your PC? Wired or wireless?

Rathji · 06-08-2011, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Shaw has also revised their business plans. They cost a bit more, as they always have, but there are now some plans like the Broadband 50 that are available for business. Previously there was a huge gap between Extreme Business with 1 Mbps upload and a server connect package.

The Business Broadband 50 gives you 50 Mbps down, and 5 up for a $20 bucks more per month than the Business Extreme option. A static IP is also included, which costs $10 extra with Extreme, so it is only going to cost us $10 more per month.

The upload speed is essential for us, particularly when 3 of us (3/4 of the office) were VPN-ing earlier this week and sharing a 1 Mbps upload connection. This couldn't have come at a better time for us, so I'll be picking up the new modem tomorrow.

This will make my life at work a ton easier.

sclitheroe · 06-08-2011, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

For those getting the consistent 85-ish speeds - how are you connected to your PC? Wired or wireless?

Wired. Single channel 5Ghz wireless N I can only get about 35-36 Mbps.

photon · 06-08-2011, 07:43 PM

I'm connected wired.

Getting mid-70's now but can't say if that's the connection or if that's the speed-test servers being slammed by Shaw customers testing their new connections.

DownInFlames · 06-08-2011, 07:52 PM

I just tried bypassing the router and now get 85Mbps. Time to upgrade my trusty WRT54GL?

TurnedTheCorner · 06-08-2011, 07:54 PM

I noticed my speed dipped on a wireless connection, even though my router supports N up to 100 mpbs throughput when I had Warp. My configuration didn't allow for a wired connection though.

photon · 06-08-2011, 09:21 PM

Just tried a torrent and it was fun to see it get over 7MB/s the whole time lol.

Rathji · 06-08-2011, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

Just tried a torrent and it was fun to see it get over 7MB/s the whole time lol.

Whatever happens, if your wife says "There is no way you can use X bandwidth in the 5 days left on our billing cycle", don't prove her wrong.

Just trust me on that...

Nehkara · 06-08-2011, 10:12 PM

From this thread I seem to be getting the sense that you guys would suggest not using the router function of the SMC modem/router?

I was going to sell my router but now I'm thinking I might have to ask for the Motorola modem and keep my router.

photon · 06-09-2011, 08:11 AM

I just have a nice router setup the way I want so didn't want to worry about a new one, and people are saying the SMC is a crap router (though I haven't read specifics, just a lot of people saying so).

Rathji · 06-09-2011, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nehkara

From this thread I seem to be getting the sense that you guys would suggest not using the router function of the SMC modem/router?

I was going to sell my router but now I'm thinking I might have to ask for the Motorola modem and keep my router.

Depends what you do with it. Like the Telus Actiontec, it has limited features for the advanced user (as I understand it, I really didn't investigate it completely though)

I wouldn't sell a router I already have but if you didn't have one (or the one you had died) I would try the SMC before I bought a new one.

Jimmy Stang · 06-09-2011, 11:18 AM

I stopped in at Shaw today and swapped my modem for the office. I asked about getting just the modem only (sans wifi) as we already have that taken care of, and she informed me that the Motorola modems are no longer available, and everyone gets the SMC combo modem/router. The can, however, disable the wifi at the account level so that it can be disabled from the get go.

The other small problem is that, because our office is already behind a VPN router/firewall, the modem's built-in router wants to hand out IP addresses, which is obviously a bit of a problem. Somehow, after doing a couple of power cycles and connecting my PC directly to it, it eventually started to act like a dumb switch instead of a router. Then I plugged my router back into it and life is good... and fast. Unfortunately I wasn't able to log into the modem/router throughout all of this despite trying, so whether or not I'll be able to tweak any settings on it if I need/want to remains to be seen. I prefer my modem to be just that, and leave the routing to my router.

I'm in the calback queue with Shaw right now as I need to get my old Static IP address back (hopefully), but other than that, things seem to be working properly.

Jimmy Stang · 06-09-2011, 11:37 AM

^ Shaw guy says that, by default, they have them set to have wifi and routing disabled. Mine may not have been fully updated/provisioned (read: because I was being impatient and wanted to test it out). So if you get one of the SMC modems, hook it up to the cable, wait for a bit, maybe do a power cycle, and it should eventually be just a plain old modem.

Edit: This is acceptable.

You Need a Thneed · 06-09-2011, 11:42 AM

Went to Shaw this morning and swapped our business modem as well.

Upload speeds are up, but haven't got the download speed up yet, its still at about 10 when I do speedtest.

Suggestions, Ideas?

(we switched from business extreme + added Static IP to Business Internet 50)

Bob · 06-09-2011, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Went to Shaw this morning and swapped our business modem as well.

Upload speeds are up, but haven't got the download speed up yet, its still at about 10 when I do speedtest.

Suggestions, Ideas?

(we switched from business extreme + added Static IP to Business Internet 50)

What speedtest? I use speedtest.shaw.ca, which seems to be much faster and more consistent (for downloads) than the servers used by speedtest.net, which tends to cap downloads at around 10 mbits.

Jimmy Stang · 06-09-2011, 12:03 PM

^ My connection tested great with the Shaw speedtest mentioned by Bob, plus with Speedtest.net on some servers. The Edmonton one works well a lot of the time.

If you let it pick the best server based on ping, you'll probably end up with the Eastern Irrigation District one, which doesn't seem to move past 10 - ever.

And Thneed - that's exactly what we did. Extreme with a static to Broadband 50 with the static included.

kermitology · 06-09-2011, 12:05 PM

The Calgary server for speedtest.net is hosted by Platinum Communications and it's slow as molasses. Same thing with their service.. I was a customer of theirs until I got Shaw.