Shaw Thread

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Seems quite expensive for the speed. Shaw gave me the 700/100 plan for $65/mo on a 2 year contract when I went into their Market Mall store in May. And I didn't even ask for it, I was just there to setup a new phone. When they pulled up my account they saw that my previous 2 year contract had expired so they asked me if I wanted the faster plan on a cheaper price. Maybe I just got really lucky

According to the Shaw website, the plan I got was $95/month regular priced. I was actually kind of surprised that I got the deal for this price and was expecting to pay more. I guess the service rep I had was in a good mood that day.

The last time I was with Shaw I was paying around $90 for 300/15. When I moved to the EU a couple years ago where obviously prices are infinitely better, I was paying $12 for 300/100 internet AND a full digital tv package with all the channels.

When I moved back to Canada recently it just made me more angry at how we get hosed in this country for rates

[DoubleF]

I got an extension to an existing deal for a 750 plan and upgraded modem rental for $90/month for 24 months (previously on 600). Normally $120 regular/ $110 promo per the website. Early cancelation for the 24 months is $15 per month. Honestly, I feel like I probably could have argued for lower, but I was having a blah day and I was OK with the plan.

$65 per month that Hemi got is ridiculously good, but I think it has to do with the fact he has a phone plan as well which technically helps to subsidize the internet rates. I don't have any services with Shaw other than internet. A $25 plan brings it to to $90 which is basically what I pay.

Shaw also seems to offer some strange perks that aren't advertised. Hemi's situation is one, but earlier this year, my parents upgraded their Shaw plan. They have 750 + Modem rental + cable. I don't know what price they pay, but I recall it was reasonable ($130-150 or something). On top of that, they received a free sim card from Shaw for a cell phone. I don't recall the details exactly, Shaw gave them a sim card with a phone plan that had like 20 GB data or something (it was their $20 or $30 plan at the time I think and it wasn't the basic one) for no charge as long as they kept the internet portion of the package. My parents already have cell phones, so they didn't bother using the SIM card and probably misplaced it by now.

In hindsight, it seems like some of those offerings were to help pad the numbers for the calculation for the Rogers deal (ie: Subscribers for diff categories like internet/phone)

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

According to the Shaw website, the plan I got was $95/month regular priced. I was actually kind of surprised that I got the deal for this price and was expecting to pay more. I guess the service rep I had was in a good mood that day.

The last time I was with Shaw I was paying around $90 for 300/15. When I moved to the EU a couple years ago where obviously prices are infinitely better, I was paying $12 for 300/100 internet AND a full digital tv package with all the channels.

When I moved back to Canada recently it just made me more angry at how we get hosed in this country for rates

well put 10 times the population in canada and the infrastructure costs probably come way down per capita.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

$65 per month that Hemi got is ridiculously good, but I think it has to do with the fact he has a phone plan as well which technically helps to subsidize the internet rates. I don't have any services with Shaw other than internet. A $25 plan brings it to to $90 which is basically what I pay.

They gave me that deal before I signed the phone plan. We do/did have 2 other cell plans through Shaw, but they were the free ones with no data (phones for my wife's parents visiting from Vietnam). If that's what triggered the internet deal, it might be worth it to snag a $0/mo sim card from Shaw if you're already with them for internet even if you don't use it. Those phones are also why I stuck with Shaw even though Telus fibre is available in my neighborhood, having to pay for those phones separately would be at least $30/mo in addition to the increased price for a 1GB connection from Telus

[Jimmy Stang]

I just noticed that Shaw has silently increased my upload speeds. I was subscribed to 300 download, 15 upload, although I would consistently get about 320/16.

I tested last night and I was getting about 350/100. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I think that it must've been sometime in the past couple of weeks.

It will improve my VPN experience when accessing my home network remotely, though I barely ever do that these days anyway because I work from home exclusively. My connection at home is pretty rock solid and I have no complaints (even when upload was 15), but hey - I'll take it.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I just noticed that Shaw has silently increased my upload speeds. I was subscribed to 300 download, 15 upload, although I would consistently get about 320/16.

I tested last night and I was getting about 350/100. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I think that it must've been sometime in the past couple of weeks.

It will improve my VPN experience when accessing my home network remotely, though I barely ever do that these days anyway because I work from home exclusively. My connection at home is pretty rock solid and I have no complaints (even when upload was 15), but hey - I'll take it.

Yea suddenly my big desire to move to Telus fibre isn't so big anymore. I might still switch when my Shaw contract is up, but if they want to give me another stupid deal to stay then I'm fine with these speeds.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I just noticed that Shaw has silently increased my upload speeds. I was subscribed to 300 download, 15 upload, although I would consistently get about 320/16.

I tested last night and I was getting about 350/100. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I think that it must've been sometime in the past couple of weeks.

It will improve my VPN experience when accessing my home network remotely, though I barely ever do that these days anyway because I work from home exclusively. My connection at home is pretty rock solid and I have no complaints (even when upload was 15), but hey - I'll take it.

I wound up testing mine about 3 or 4 weeks ago and upload was 150. I thought that was high but couldn't remember what it used to come in at. I'm on the 1.5 gig internet. They offered it to me for only $5 or $10 different than what I was previously paying for 600Mb (which I was bumped up to for free from 300Mb because they sent me 2 bad modems when I signed up for 300). I've been lucky with Shaw's pricing, especially since their main competitor can't compete with speeds in my area (no telus fibre on my street).

[Hemi-Cuda]

Anyone in the north having issues? In Panorama there was a power blip around 1am this morning, took out my internet. Now it's back on but extremely slow, speedtests are all under 5 Mbps. Shaw says it's an area issue they're looking into, just wondering how far it might be affecting things

[Mazrim]

I got Shaw's "new" modem and TV box for Fibre+ yesterday and was really disappointed that it only has 2 ethernet ports. I need 4 ports. Now I'm gonna have to work out how to make the wireless TV box communicate through my router and the bridged Shaw modem since the ethernet port on the TV box is disabled. What a mess.

[Fuzz]

You can get cheap 4 port switches. I know, another thing, but easy fix.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You can get cheap 4 port switches. I know, another thing, but easy fix.

For some reason that never occurred to me. I might give that a shot. Any recommendations on a decent brand for a 4 port switch?

[Tyler12]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I got Shaw's "new" modem and TV box for Fibre+ yesterday and was really disappointed that it only has 2 ethernet ports. I need 4 ports. Now I'm gonna have to work out how to make the wireless TV box communicate through my router and the bridged Shaw modem since the ethernet port on the TV box is disabled. What a mess.

Sounds like the Xb6 Modem, You could try calling Shaw up and plead a case for needing the Xb7 Modem (4 ethernet ports)

[photon]

The last few switches I got (5 port for my office, 8 port for utility room) were both Netgear.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Tyler12

Sounds like the Xb6 Modem, You could try calling Shaw up and plead a case for needing the Xb7 Modem (4 ethernet ports)

Definitely ask for the newer white, xb7, modem as it has wifi 6 which is supposed to be significantly better in multi device environments.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Definitely ask for the newer white, xb7, modem as it has wifi 6 which is supposed to be significantly better in multi device environments.

I'll try to make this work first since I bet I would pay a lot more to rent an XB7.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

For some reason that never occurred to me. I might give that a shot. Any recommendations on a decent brand for a 4 port switch?

Originally Posted by photon

The last few switches I got (5 port for my office, 8 port for utility room) were both Netgear.

I have a Netgear GS305 switch doing the exact same thing. Small, metal, relatively cheap, does the trick.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Tyler12

Sounds like the Xb6 Modem, You could try calling Shaw up and plead a case for needing the Xb7 Modem (4 ethernet ports)

I called them instead of placing the order online (save me money too!) and I asked about the modem because I still had a few wired devices and they made sure I got the XB7... chances are good that I was getting the XB7 anyway but he assured me.

[Mazrim]

Thanks for the help everyone. In reality I should have asked when getting my new Shaw plan about exactly what equipment I was getting. That would have avoided the ethernet port issue and besides that, there was no wireless TV box. It's an older box (XG1v4) and not the newer wireless box. The Shaw website is useless for figuring out what you'll get.

To be on the safe side I still bought the switch (the GS305 that Jimmy Stang mentioned) since it was a cheap solution and then I'm using Shaw's setup as they intended. If it sucks I'll bridge the XB6 and go back to my ASUS router.

I've never had a modem/router with a fan in it before, so I'll be curious to see how long the XB6 lasts before the fan gets annoying.

[Jimmy Stang]

I just finished the greasy, terrible task of renewing my 2-year plan with Shaw. I was actually caught off guard and just realized that it was set to end this month before going to an absurd price of $261/month once my promotions were removed.

I was paying about $130/month for:

- Internet 300/100 with modem rental
- Total TV
- Home phone (my old-ass alarm requires it)
- 3 IP TV "cable" boxes
- 1 extra IP address for work-related needs

I'll admit that's a pretty decent deal, and I do want to keep TV because it is cheaper than trying to get my hockey fix through legal subscriptions elsewhere. Cheaper to bundle.

The best that they could do for me is $149/month for the exact same level of service (which is plenty for me). They did throw in a one-time $50 credit, 12 months of Disney Plus which can be applied to my existing subscription ($12/month value). So that softens the blow a little.

I really wanted to keep my monthly cost as low as possible, but paying $19 more per month (after the Disney promo runs out) for the same feels like I got hosed a little. But it always does. On the other hand, I can't get close to the same price from Shaw or Telus off the rack, including their so-called Black Friday "deals".

So I'm partly whining, but mostly wanting to post what the current "market" is like if anyone else is looking to renew anytime soon. I always make the hollow threat to switch to Telus, an indie ISP, etc. but it would still cost me more to get what I want/need and I am actually pretty happy with the reliability of Shaw. Maybe in two years I'll punt them, but I said that two years ago and two years before that.

[Ace]

Do we have any Shaw reps on here? I’m getting all cold shoulders on chat, just to get the same deal they offer new customers.

Or Telus reps that can put together a great package?