Shaw v Telus

[undercoverbrother]

We are currently, with Shaw, but I am thinking of jumping to Telus.

I have concerns about being tied in to a 3 yr contract, but I can't see rates dropping.



I would love to hear some experience(s) from both users.

[GoinAllTheWay]

TV, internet or both?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

TV, internet or both?

TV, Internet and home phone.


Sorry I should have said as much.

[strombad]

For phone, Telus is much better, my Shaw experience was a disaster.

For TV and Internet I'd go with Shaw every day. You're going to get warts with both places, but Shaw is often more reliable, pretty much even in cost (even if Telus offers you a wicked deal, I've found that their programming is actually more expensive in the end if you're getting an identical package to Shaw), and you don't have to sign a contract, you can come and go as you please, add or drop anything you want, and you can use your own box or rent from them.

Personally, I'd stick with Shaw. Telus was awful, and I just had a buddy switch from Telus to Shaw for Internet and cable and he's already much happier.

But hey, grass is always greener...

[Russic]

Everybody has horror stories, but my experience with both was pretty solid. I was with Shaw for years, got a sweetheart deal from Telus and went with them for the last year, and will be returning to Shaw once this deal is over. I don't actually hate either service. Optik TV is pretty nice, and the phone is pretty standard. For me the big differences:

• Shaw Open Wifi is great for client meetings
• I've received 3 copyright infringement letters from Telus for movies I've never stolen (just warnings, but it's odd)
• Shaw speeds seem to be much better

[ken0042]

You can also go with Telus without a contract. You just don't get a free $500 TV.

Personally I have found Telus better for home phone (especially overseas calls.) Shaw is better for TV; just for the HD picture quality. Telus has improved lately, but Shaw still has them beat. For internet, Shaw has faster speeds available, but I have also heard more stories of speed dropping at peak times.

Years ago Shaw was better for customer service, but switched to Telus due to some serious screw-ups by Shaw. I've had nothing but positive with Telus since switching 6 years ago; including a service call as recent as last month. (Upgraded internet and needed a newer modem.)

Currently I have the following:
Internet- Telus
Home Phone- Telus
TV- Bell

[Sinny Darino]

HERE WE GO!!!

I have Shaw Digital Cable with Best of HD, High Speed 25 internet, and Personal Home Phone (Top Tier) and I pay just over $150 a month for all 3.

I compared the same (or closest equivalent with telus) and the introductory price was $120 a month for 2 or 3 months, but afterwards that balloned to $220 a month.

Shaw in my opinion is more reliable, cheaper, better, and faster. As an added bonus, so far I have not seen that they outsource their tech support to India either. In the last 3 years, my bill has only increased $6.00, and if I have ANY issues it is fixed within the hour...

I have had Telus and that was a NIGHTMARE from HELL. No tech support, no care for their customers, no help whatsoever. Once you sign on the dotted like they have you for 3 years and do not give 2 craps about you as a customer.

*EDIT for additional info*

When I had Telus I had their internet for 1 year, I was calling in 2 - 4 times a MONTH due to the reliability and the services being down. They also refused to comp my bill for their screw ups.

In the last 7 years with Shaw, I have only had 2 outages, and that was due to 1) Some meatstick driving over the cable box and knocking it out for everyone (24 hours to fix that) and 2) a furry 4 legged rodent had partially eaten through the cable connecting into my house. Neither of these were Shaws Fault and they did everything in their power (including COMPING my bill) to help me out.

Shaw customer FOR life

[habernac]

I'm set up the same as Ken. I have had Telus internet for 15 years, I've had issues only twice and they were taken care of immediately.

[GoinAllTheWay]

I have everything with Shaw so really only have one side for you. Gave them my phone line about a year ago and I freakin LOVE it. I think there were some issues when Shaw first started doing home phone but I completley forget at times the phones are now with Shaw, notice no difference in call quality at all. Only difference is price, $15 forever and free calls to anyone in Canada that has Shaw phone as well, handy for family I have on Van Island.

My only experience with Telus is supporting my g/f's dad at his shop. He as internet and phone with Telus and I HATE the freakin wifi/modem combo they gave him. Always dropped connections. Finally had them bring a dedicated modem and supplied my own router, seems better now.

Long story short, I HATE contracts, so for that reason I stay away from Telus. I have no interest in a cheap $500 tv or xbox or whatever, not a good enough reason for me to sign a contract.

If I had to pick one thing bad about Shaw that bugs me, it's their lack on innovation. I bought the Gateway system when it first came out (what was that, 3 yrs ago now?) and they've done very little with it. It was supposed to have DLNA, wifi access, smartphone apps to schedule shows but none of this has shown up yet. They've released a few updates to they system to improve performance but that's it. Kinda dissapointed. Other than that, I'm pretty happy. Internet connection is always good, no issues with the phone at all.

[Mazrim]

I've been with Shaw for almost a decade now, and they haven't done me wrong. For a while I never heard a peep from them about any deals, but in the last couple years they've called me offering a 6 month discount and additional TV channels, which I've taken.

My biggest complaints for them is that their modem/router combo is terrible (seems to be similar to Telus that way) and that every time I make a change to my plan, I have to contact them to fix something they input the wrong way. The last time I did have to contact them, however, I used their live web support and it was excellent.

The lady who I was in contact with also emailed me a couple days later to ensure that everything was in working order, which I was very surprised and impressed by. I made sure to give her a positive review and Shaw emailed me to let me know her review wouldn't go unnoticed.

It's rare that I feel like my internet speeds are lagging, and now that I've got my own router attached to their modem, pretty much all of my complaints are gone. Yes, their TV guide is lagging behind Telus (don't have gateway), but it doesn't seem to have the issues Optik has.

[PsYcNeT]

The biggest issue with Telus is the left hand never knows what the right hand is doing. It can be very frustrating.

Also Shaw Open rules.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

My biggest complaints for them is that their modem/router combo is terrible (seems to be similar to Telus that way)

Get them to "bridge" the modem/router combo for you. That way, it's just a modem. Go out and buy any one of the number of superior choices for standalone wireless routers that is out now.

[zhulander]

You don't have to sign 3 year contracts with Telus. Try them out for a year and see how their services work for you in your area, Telus just isn't that great in some areas. If it works good for you then stick with Telus, their customer loyalty department will give you great rates to stay. I renew every year and currently paying $45 for 25mbps internet and home phone with unlimited long distance to select asian countries.

Been with Telus for internet and phone for a long time and never had any complaints. 25mbps has always been steady and stable, never had any extra cost for bandwidth overage. 2 service calls in the last 6 years.

Can't comment on OptikTV because I don't have it but if I were to get it, Telus would offer it for an extra $40/month and compared to the guy above paying $150 for all 3 services with Shaw, I wouldn't be complaining about it too much.

[PsYcNeT]

If you care about latency and dropped packets, DSL is awful.

[an hero]

I've been gaming on DSL 9 out of the last 13 years on broadband. Never had any issue with ploss or latency. Whether it's DSL or cable is irrelevant when it comes to those factors. If it was satellite broadband of ten years ago then one might have valid criticism of a broadband technology.

I had Telus internet and TV in Mount Pleasant and it was awesome. I move only 1km away to Winston Heights and Telus' internet and TV sucks. In Mount Pleasant Shaw's internet and TV service is awful, in Winston Height's it's amazing.

I have no idea why in certain neighbourhoods there's such a disparity between the services, but I would ask around where you live. Important factors for net are:

- For DSL, the distance from CO, to determine connection reliability and speed.. if they (Telus) don't offer any more than like 10mbps (and especially don't offer TV services) to you then you might be wired too far and might want to consider cable internet.
- For cable, how reliable the connection is during peak hours, as I've experienced good and badly supplied nodes as far as bandwidth is concerned. It depends on how much bandwidth is supplied to that node and how much the neighbourhood uses. Generally nowadays it's more than sufficient, but if you talk to people around and they complain of downtime, speed drop offs, not being able to stay on game servers, etc., consider DSL given the previous criteria.

[OutOfTheCube]

The most surprising thing is how many of you still have home phone lines. Really?

[zhulander]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

If you care about latency and dropped packets, DSL is awful.

Never had issues with latency or dropped packets.

It's not as awful as you make it out to be
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r282...ncy-and-Jitter

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

The most surprising thing is how many of you still have home phone lines. Really?

With shaw my basic landline costs me $15 a month but having a "triple play" combo of phone/internet/TV gives me a $25 savings credit every month.

So cancelling the landline would actually cost me $120 a year... instead I just totally ignore the landline and delete around 10 messages a week on the answering machine about improving my credit score, or donating clothes/blood.

[bossy22]

I was with Telus for Internet for 5 years. I switched from Shaw back then because of a number of issues. With Telus, only one issue in the 5 years. I got a job with Shaw a few years back, got their phone, internet and tv because of employee pricing and had nothing but issues with phone and internet. I left Shaw, and then went back to Telus for internet and phone, and am pretty happy. I don't know what it is in Cochrane, but Shaw was never happy there.
Customer service has been decent a both. Just the internet connection sucked with Shaw.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

The most surprising thing is how many of you still have home phone lines. Really?

Much of Calgary still has spotty at best coverage. My folks used to be in Sundance and got barley 1 bar coverage, and now they are in Royal Oak area and same thing (and neither is on the real fringe of Calgary). I am on Rogers, and my parents on Bell, totally the same signal. Can barley make a call, and when you can, it drops in the first two minutes.

Honestly, if you live next to a tower it's a no brainier but service is just not there for a lot of people.