Shaw internet

[Mayer]

Who on here uses Shaw for their internet? Any complaints?

We've decided in this household to switch from Telus DSL to Shaw because of the large price difference, and they told us that it's much better from a functioning standpoint as well, but I have no doubt everybody says that.

And on that note, any recommendations on a wireless router? With telus their modem (or whatever it is) had built in wireless network capability so I never had to buy a wireless router. With Shaw apparently I will. I want it to work well (good range, strong signal, fast etc) but I have no idea how much to spend to ensure those things.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Mayer

Who on here uses Shaw for their internet? Any complaints?

We've decided in this household to switch from Telus DSL to Shaw because of the large price difference, and they told us that it's much better from a functioning standpoint as well, but I have no doubt everybody says that.

Shaw might have problems with HD stuff, but their internet is second to none.

As for the router question, do a search on these boards as this question has been asked many time. I would get a dual band, gigabit router possible with share port ( or equiv ) as network storage/ printer connection.

If you plan on streaming media, or having many wireless devices, then an N router might be a good idea for long term planning, however without an N wireless NIC in your machines it is pointless. G alone will be able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it for normal internet use, though.

[Dion]

No complaints from this end. Shaw works great for me.

[ken0042]

I made the opposite switch about a year ago- from Shaw to Telus. (For customer service reasons.)

Shaw is definitely faster. I don't notice it when surfing CP or working from home over VPN; just when I go to download a 300 MB service pack.

I can't say either is better from a "functioning" standpoint- on both I have had to re-boot my modem every couple of months for no real reason. Telus' modem is faster to come back up though.

[silentsim]

FYI my friend got telus to match shaw's offer on the extreme service..the 10 a month for the first year, you can try that if you don't want to switch. i use the 15mbps telus connection and i get the quoted speed, its excellent

[TheU]

call telus and ask they waht they can do for your pricing, they will def help out

[Buff]

Been with Shaw for 9 years now. No complaints. I had good customer service, in terms of effort, but on one issue I experienced some techs who were too easily stumped as to what the problem was and/or just not thorough enough (but in their defense... the issue was a bad cable and not even I found that cable until the last tech stumbled upon it).

I've helped out friends and relatives with their internet issues and Telus was always 2nd tier compared to Telus. My friend and I even compared our plans which were similar at the time and Shaw blew Telus out of the water in terms of download and upload speeds.

[Mayer]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Shaw might have problems with HD stuff, but their internet is second to none.

As for the router question, do a search on these boards as this question has been asked many time. I would get a dual band, gigabit router possible with share port ( or equiv ) as network storage/ printer connection.

If you plan on streaming media, or having many wireless devices, then an N router might be a good idea for long term planning, however without an N wireless NIC in your machines it is pointless. G alone will be able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it for normal internet use, though.

I have no idea what any of that stuff means. Basically, I have 2 computers that will use wireless, 3 on rare occasions. 90% of it will just be for normal internet use.

[TheU]

if you want a great wireless router get a linksys wrt 310 N. be sure its that exact model. it has amazing range and strength for both N and G. some routers if you put a G on them they stink or, dont have n capability.

[Mayer]

Originally Posted by TheU

if you want a great wireless router get a linksys wrt 310 N. be sure its that exact model. it has amazing range and strength for both N and G. some routers if you put a G on them they stink or, dont have n capability.

Ok, out of curiosity, what is a "N", and a "G"?

[TheU]

G is the typical wireless standard used by 99% of laptops. N is the newer standard, the way wireless connects and transmits. N is faster and has a better range, but to use it you have to have the N adapter on your laptop and the N router.

[wooohooo]

How can you check if your router is running on N or G?

[Mayer]

Originally Posted by TheU

G is the typical wireless standard used by 99% of laptops. N is the newer standard, the way wireless connects and transmits. N is faster and has a better range, but to use it you have to have the N adapter on your laptop and the N router.

So if I have no idea if my laptop has the N adapter I should just get something that has the G thing?

Or if I get the router you suggested then it will work with my laptop no problem?

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by TheU

G is the typical wireless standard used by 99% of laptops. N is the newer standard, the way wireless connects and transmits. N is faster and has a better range, but to use it you have to have the N adapter on your laptop and the N router.

Yes N is 'faster' but you need to understand that in most cases it wont change the speed of your internet access.

From About.com

802.11g

...

802.11g supports bandwidth up to 54 Mbps, and it uses the 2.4 Ghz frequency for greater range.

...

• Pros of 802.11g - fast maximum speed; signal range is good and not easily obstructed
• Cons of 802.11g - costs more than 802.11b; appliances may interfere on the unregulated signal frequency

802.11n

The newest IEEE standard in the Wi-Fi category is 802.11n. It was designed to improve on 802.11g in the amount of bandwidth supported by utilizing multiple wireless signals and antennas (called MIMO technology) instead of one.

When this standard is finalized, 802.11n connections should support data rates of over 100 Mbps. 802.11n also offers somewhat better range over earlier Wi-Fi standards due to its increased signal intensity. 802.11n equipment will be backward compatible with 802.11g gear.

• Pros of 802.11n - fastest maximum speed and best signal range; more resistant to signal interference from outside sources
• Cons of 802.11n - standard is not yet finalized; costs more than 802.11g; the use of multiple signals may greatly interfere with nearby 802.11b/g based networks.

The max for G is 54Mbps and for N is 100Mbps. Chances are your SHaw internet will be 7.5Mbps, possibly up to 25Mbps, so there is little or no possible bottleneck unless there is a large amount of interference( this is where the 2.4Ghz of G comes into play) The only ways N will be of benefit is if you plan on having a lot of internal network traffic, such as streaming movies or audio to a PS3 or Wireless media terminal etc or if you are expecting (or experienced) interference with your Telus wireless.

[luloo]

I have Shaw and I love it. I download a lot and my speeds are pretty fast. Don't have any complains.

[Mr_Hockey]

I use Shaw. Never had one problem with it in almost 2 years. No outages or anything.

I had the 10MB I-Extreme or whatever it's called and I guess they upgraded everybody's speed a while back.

No complaints from me.

Anybody know what their bandwidth limit per month is? I've gone nuts the past month. At least 50 Gigs worth of downloads easily, but haven't heard anything from Shaw.

I get over 1 MB/S a lot when downloading things.

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by Mr_Hockey

I use Shaw. Never had one problem with it in almost 2 years. No outages or anything.

I had the 10MB I-Extreme or whatever it's called and I guess they upgraded everybody's speed a while back.

No complaints from me.

Anybody know what their bandwidth limit per month is? I've gone nuts the past month. At least 50 Gigs worth of downloads easily, but haven't heard anything from Shaw.

I get over 1 MB/S a lot when downloading things.

Yeah I love shaw, 8gb in 40 min makes me happy. Shaw extreme has a 100GB/month limit although i'm at about 200-300gb this month before I slowed down and still haven't heard from them at all.

[luloo]

Is the Xtreme worth it? Is it THAT much faster?

[mykalberta]

How much are you paying that Telus is more expensive than Shaw?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

How much are you paying that Telus is more expensive than Shaw?

That's what I was wondering too. At my performance tier, (15 down 1 up), the price difference between Telus and Shaw is like $2 a month. And Telus doesn't call and accuse me of piracy when performing large uploads to Mozy for offsite backups