Shaw Thread

[I-Hate-Hulse]

When I moved to TekSavvy, I started getting targetted ads from Shaw - $60/month for 300 service and $70 for 600 service (on 2 year contracts) which I then took pics and sent to Telus.

Telus matched the price for 300 Pure Fiber service and since it was 2x the speed (when Shaw/Teksavvy worked..) it was really a no brainer to switch. They wouldn't match the price for 600 service as they only offered 750 service as the next step up.

That and I just don't need 750 service.

I can't help but think if Shaw's 30% workforce reduction didn't have something to do with this....

[dino7c]

Internet is wonky at times no matter what ISP you go with...that is why I could never totally cut the cord and go with streaming for live sports, reliability is just not there yet.

buffering or delays during a Flames game? oh hell no

I'm supposed to be getting 600 but still test just over 300 with shaw tops...not a huge deal but, still kinda annoying. They just say "you should be getting 600, have you unplugged and plugged your modem back in" oh thanks Kevin Mitnick, never would have thought of that one

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

When I moved to TekSavvy, I started getting targetted ads from Shaw - $60/month for 300 service and $70 for 600 service (on 2 year contracts) which I then took pics and sent to Telus.

Telus matched the price for 300 Pure Fiber service and since it was 2x the speed (when Shaw/Teksavvy worked..) it was really a no brainer to switch. They wouldn't match the price for 600 service as they only offered 750 service as the next step up.

That and I just don't need 750 service.

I can't help but think if Shaw's 30% workforce reduction didn't have something to do with this....

How does this work? The offers I can see on Telus' website is either 55 per month for 6 months for internet 300, then $110 per month for months 7-24 which is way more expensive than Shaw for internet 300. or 750 for $105 per month for 24 months. Did you just call and email them a pic or something?

Yeah, I wonder if getting rid of a chunk of workforce is screwing up a bunch of the infrastructure maintenance stuff.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

From an ISP *not* Shaw, browse around on the Shaw.ca website looking for plans (try Telus's too). You'll find Google targetted ads showing up on websites extolling the virtues of Shaw and giving you teaser 2 yr Valueplans as per my last post. (At least this was 3 weeks ago)

I took a picture of this and used the online chat feature with Telus and after 30 minutes of waiting nicely asked if they would match Shaw's deal for new subscribers. The guy was nice and asked me a few questions before referring me to loyalty and retentions. I made it clear I was with Teksavvy and was considering either Shaw or Telus. Being nice is key here to get the magic referral. Who you get is also key to getting to the next step. If you get an agent who isn't going to play, try calling again and getting a different agent.

L&R called me 2 days later (I had given up hope to be honest) and a friendly guy answered. I went through the same story and I was prepared to send them the pictures but they didn't ask me to send them (they hate giving out direct means to contact them) as they knew of the deal already. He would match the 300 service, but not the 600 service price. Since I was battling Shaw's mysterious outage at the time I jumped and could have had installers in as soon as the next day.

So it takes a bit of patience but good deals can be had. I hate that this is the way you have to deal with telcos to not get ripped off and genuinely wanted to support Teksavvy because of this. Unfortunately, in this day and age, outages with only indirect support to resolve them aren't going to fly with the angry mobs of family members with "no internet" and that's not worth $10 a month.

I can send you the pic if you want, but it might be better to try and get one of your own to see if the deal is still going or not. These L&R guys seem to have some good market intelligence going on.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Internet is wonky at times no matter what ISP you go with...that is why I could never totally cut the cord and go with streaming for live sports, reliability is just not there yet.

buffering or delays during a Flames game? oh hell no

I'm supposed to be getting 600 but still test just over 300 with shaw tops...not a huge deal but, still kinda annoying. They just say "you should be getting 600, have you unplugged and plugged your modem back in" oh thanks Kevin Mitnick, never would have thought of that one

For the record since I switched to Telus I haven’t had a single internet issue. It was constant with Shaw though.

[jschick88]

Last night I was able to stream Twitch and Netflix with no buffering issues. Speeds were normal.

[chid]

Did anyone successfully break their 2 year contract due to this nonsense?

[DoubleF]

For those with issues, are you using hitron or XB6 modems?

I called in tonight and asked about upgrading the Hitron to XB6 and it was offered for free. I read before it's better than the Hitron so I took them up on the offer.

[DownInFlames]

There was an update today for the Freerange TV app that uses GPS to check your location. So if you were using a VPN outside Canada to watch then this might affect you.

[GoinAllTheWay]

They seem to be catching on to VPN use period. I was at home the other night with PIA active on my MS Surface and got an error saying "I'd flown to far away, this service can only be used in Canada". Which was odd as I was connected to a Vancouver server. Worked fine when I deactivated PIA. What a drag, have a trip to Mexico this weekend.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by chid

Did anyone successfully break their 2 year contract due to this nonsense?

No, and I've been working evenings so I don't even know if mine has been resolved yet. I've been watching things on public wifi still with no issues. I won't know until probably Monday if its resolved. I will be having them comp my month for sure.

Originally Posted by DoubleF

For those with issues, are you using hitron or XB6 modems?

I called in tonight and asked about upgrading the Hitron to XB6 and it was offered for free. I read before it's better than the Hitron so I took them up on the offer.

I had a Hitron on my first Shaw contract, which had lots of drop outs (like brief ones, and then would just reconnect again). I couldn't get them to replace it, because of course they just do the remote look and say "everythings fine here", and they blamed 3rd party routers and everything despite me unbridging it and moving the modem to the main floor and using it as the router. I broke my contract with them for 4 days, paid the ETF and they asked me to come back with a SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper deal than I had, repaid my ETF and gave me a bill credit. I stipulated that I wanted the XB6, which I then had from Apr until a couple weeks ago, and I'm back on a Hitron now. The XB6 was fine, I didn't find it any better than the Hitron overall.
Pros for the Hitron: boots faster, dual IP's, same speed, smaller footprint, more LAN ports if you keep it in modem/router mode Cons: can't bridge and unbridge yourself, they have to remote in to do that, so that limits your ability to self troubleshoot.

Pros for the XB6: ability to self bridge and unbridge. Thats all. Cons: only 2 LAN ports, and only 1 active when bridged, LONNNNGGG and inconsistent boot up. Would often times just hang on up or downstream registration, require multiple boot cycles before it would start up. I'm talking 5+ minutes. Really awkward footprint.



I get 300 fine on either of them.

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

There was an update today for the Freerange TV app that uses GPS to check your location. So if you were using a VPN outside Canada to watch then this might affect you.

Thats funny because the tech told me that the regional restrictions is "no longer a thing", after I said I was miffed I couldn't watch some free range stuff while travelling.



The second tech also told me Shaw is focusing on being a connectivity company, and less of a content provider.

[Aleks]

Still having buffering issues today, speed tests build up slow (similar behavior to the evenings, weekdays midday they are instant). I see some maintenance is scheduled for the 11th, am waiting to find out if thats what they are repairing. In the meantime, I'm trying now to get my month refunded. Its been 1 month. ridiculous.

[Aleks]

I've now been told there is an even older issue with video media streaming having intermittent (read: peak time) problems, and its affecting my entire area node (and probably more). The best part, its an older problem, its been worked on longer, and they don't have an ETA on resolution. So I've been told to just wait it out but who knows if its days, weeks or longer. This level of customer care incompetence is completely new to me, so I'm stuck on what to do.


EDIT: I should say stuck because most other options I believe piggyback on the shaw infrastructure, so I would assume on any service other than Telus or any DSL offering the issue would still be present. Can-Com, Tekksavvy, nucleus, primus, etc. Although it looks like Can-com is the next best option pricing wise for 300Mbps service, but it is resold shaw

[malcolmk14]

I've been having serious issues with Shaw internet in Rosscarrock for longer than 2 weeks. It started before January 30, because the 30th was when I finally cracked and contacted them.

They gave me some response about how it was being looked in to and I could follow the progress on the community page. They linked me to a page which is now not functional.

My speeds fluctuate between 2 Mbps and 30 Mbps by the minute & I have not been able to stream any video in over a week.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

I've been having serious issues with Shaw internet in Rosscarrock for longer than 2 weeks. It started before January 30, because the 30th was when I finally cracked and contacted them.

They gave me some response about how it was being looked in to and I could follow the progress on the community page. They linked me to a page which is now not functional.

My speeds fluctuate between 2 Mbps and 30 Mbps by the minute & I have not been able to stream any video in over a week.

Sounds like the same problem. Same problem they can't come up with even an approximate ETA on.

[Aleks]

And of course Shaw's twitter team says that this incident has been resolved. So there's alot of right hand/left hand issues going on here

[andy_521]

Originally Posted by Aleks

And of course Shaw's twitter team says that this incident has been resolved. So there's alot of right hand/left hand issues going on here

I’m getting 100 mbps down tonight on a 300 mbps connection with Shaw, not what I’m paying for!!!

[Aleks]

I can't stream anything right now. Except netflix and prime video, and even then they won't hit UHD, and it takes them a long time to get to anything resembling 720. Everybody needs to hit the customer care line, they can't fix things if they don't know people are pissed about it.

[bossy22]

I'm getting 70 down right now with Shaw. Pay for 300.

[DownInFlames]

The internet here in Strathmore was down for most of the morning and it’s down again now. I rarely have issues at my place in the Beltline but this is all too common out here in the sticks.