Telus is rolling out a fibre optic network...

[morgin]

... and their staff are absolutely clueless

https://fibre.telus.com/

I signed up to get notice of availability. They called me today to check my address and mentioned it would likely be this fall. So I ask the all important question, which is what sort of top end speed are we looking at. I'm already on Internet 50.

The answer?

Spoiler!

"Well sir, our packages start at 15Mbps!"

I literally spoke to 5 different agents through phone and on their chat, and no one could answer the question of whether the fibre network would have a plan > 50Mbps. On the phone, I went through regular internet support, to "fibre" internet support, and I got as far as the agent understanding that I already had Internet 50 and they wanted to know if I was having technical problems with it (after about 10 minutes of looking up my account and trying to figure out why I was on the fibre support).

I tried the chat option, and the agent was kind enough to paste an article about the difference between fibre optic cable and copper cable, but couldn't understand that my question was simply "Hey, will there be a fibre plan that offers a faster internet connection than your current top plan of 50 Mbps?" They did however inform me that fibre is a better cable and my television would appear more high definition due to less eletromagnetic interference with the signal. So, there's that.

I did, in the end, get my answer. I sent telus support a tweet. It took less than 3 minutes to find out that yes, they do plan on rolling out a 100Mbps plan.

What a joke.

Also, apparently if your postal code is in the right area, the webpage actually says right on it 100Mbps.

Anyway, we'll see. I was really hoping for Google Fibre speeds of 1000Mbps, but I guess 100 is better than 50.

[Hack&Lube]

Its still nothing compared to the Olds network...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/sm...oost-1.1382428

[TjRhythmic]

My mom has some close friends that are into numerology, whether or not you believe in that, and they checked the numbers for Telus as they have had many a conversation much like the OP. I found it pretty funny that it stands for "lack of communication, trouble communicating."

Carry on with you day

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TjRhythmic

My mom has some close friends that are into numerology, whether or not you believe in that, and they checked the numbers for Telus as they have had many a conversation much like the OP. I found it pretty funny that it stands for "lack of communication, trouble communicating."

Carry on with you day

Um, what?

[corporatejay]

Why bother even phoning anymore, I use twitter exclusively for shaw and telus.

[psicodude]

While I believe putting fibre into the ground is a good thing for the future, getting 1GB to your house is currently a waste. I can't see most people using 50mbps, let alone 1GB. I bet the entire town of Olds (personal use only) could run off of 2 GB.

The larger issue that Joe consumer isn't aware of is that there are a ton of factors that play into your internet surfing experience. Simply increasing your bandwidth isn't going to help once you get beyond 25 or 50 mbps.

[BsFaninCGY]

Originally Posted by psicodude

While I believe putting fibre into the ground is a good thing for the future, getting 1GB to your house is currently a waste. I can't see most people using 50mbps, let alone 1GB. I bet the entire town of Olds (personal use only) could run off of 2 GB.

The larger issue that Joe consumer isn't aware of is that there are a ton of factors that play into your internet surfing experience. Simply increasing your bandwidth isn't going to help once you get beyond 25 or 50 mbps.

Interesting. I would like to know more about getting the most out of my bandwidth and personal network if you're willing to share or point me in the right direction. I was finding that my MLB.TV streaming experience was lagging at times so I ended up hardwiring my computers and that seemed to do the trick on the download side of things. My upload speeds seem very weak however.

As an uneducated cord-cutter I've kind of pieced my network together. I have the Telus internet 25mbps package, using a Apple Time Capsule as my router, hardwired to all computers and running Plex (definitely not to its full capabilities) on a MacMini.

I don't really have a specific question, but I'm looking to learn and figure out what I can do to optimize my setup and get the best streaming experience with as little lag as possible.

Sorry for the thread hijack OP.

[TorqueDog]

I already have a 100 Mbit plan from Shaw, if Telus Fiber is going to top out at 100 Mbps, what the hell is the point?

My router has both gigabit switching and a gigabit WAN port, so I'm one of those who could theoretically take advantage of it.

[Tyler12]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I already have a 100 Mbit plan from Shaw, if Telus Fiber is going to top out at 100 Mbps, what the hell is the point?

My router has both gigabit switching and a gigabit WAN port, so I'm one of those who could theoretically take advantage of it.

Network Congestion on Nodes.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Tyler12

Network Congestion on Nodes.

Which I've never had an issue with - I routinely see downstreams in the high 90 Mbps range. [shrug]

[PsYcNeT]

Also, never having the deal with Telus support is a pretty fantastic advantage.

[Mass_nerder]

I had bell fibre op in Halifax, and really miss it. If only it wasn't telus doing it here.

[CampbellsTransgressions]

I'm a little skeptical of fibre optic improving HD quality. Wouldn't the majority of interference come from within the TV itself, and not from the line?

[photon]

Originally Posted by CampbellsTransgressions

I'm a little skeptical of fibre optic improving HD quality. Wouldn't the majority of interference come from within the TV itself, and not from the line?

It's not about interference, it's all digital so interference isn't a really factor (at least not in the way you mean).

Fibre implies more bandwidth which means you can compress the HD video less, which means higher quality video.

[morgin]

Originally Posted by CampbellsTransgressions

I'm a little skeptical of fibre optic improving HD quality. Wouldn't the majority of interference come from within the TV itself, and not from the line?

It was them giving me a load of BS in the context I was told it. Photon is right, as a general overall improvement to their system they will have increased capacity and won't have to compress the HD streams as much (which they won't bother with, they'll just cram more channels into the excess space). In the context of my question regarding how their fibre internet plans stacked up speed wise to current plans though, I'm not necessarily going to have a better HD experience (which I didn't care about in the first place) on a 15Mbps fibre plan vs a 50 Mbps "copper" plan.

[GP_Matt]

I have had Telus fibre for the last four years and the fastest speed they have offered me is 50 Mbps. I have the 25 Mbps plan and consistently see 20 Mbps download speeds.