Might switch from Shaw to Telus but got a question...

[em2ab]

I'm on Shaw Extreme-I right now and here are the positive negative things about my service:

Good;
- port 80 is open for uploads
- download speeds at 1.5 megs per second or more
- my dynamic IP never changes

Bad:
- They fucked up my bill and want me to pay for their mistake
- $65 per month

I told them if they didn't credit me I'd switch to Telus even though I don't want to so there's some stuff I need to know about Telus before I think about it. I just called them and they said port 80 is open for uploads but I've heard other people say different. Can anyone here confirm this? Also is it as fast as Shaw or anywhere near it? I know Shaw has the bigger pipe in the ground so they might win there. And what about the IP? Does your dynamic IP change a lot? My Shaw IP hasn't changed in years.

Thanks.

[eblend]

NOWHERE near as fast, when I was with them I was maxing out at 165kb/second.....with shaw i am at 1.5megabytes/second

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by eblend
....with shaw i am at 1.5megabytes/second

Megabytes or megabits? That's hurt if it's megabits, call them, you might need a signal booster or something.

[FullMetal]

Originally posted by eblend
NOWHERE near as fast, when I was with them I was maxing out at 165kb/second.....with shaw i am at 1.5megabytes/second
im on telus extream i run 2 lap tops my pc and 2 x box 360s and a psp on 1 line and i can still down load at 500kb a sec from movies and such and i have it as free wireless lan:thumbsup:

[Mibz]

Why are you paying $65 a month for it?

[B4tMan]

Telus has lower speeds / lower rates.

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by Mibz
Why are you paying $65 a month for it?

:werd:

High speed extreme, 15Mbps, $52/month.

[B4tMan]

and less with a bundle ...

maybe that's why he;s upset cause "they fucked up my bill"

[bball2]

Originally posted by Hakkola


Megabytes or megabits? That's hurt if it's megabits, call them, you might need a signal booster or something.

Definitely Megabytes I'm guessing. I have shaw extreme and I always get very close to 2.0mB/s ~ (15mb/s), 3+mB/s with powerboost for the first minute of the download.

PS. If you go to university you can always pay in advance and get their student discount. Basic cable / shaw high speed extreme for ~ $50/month.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/520943758.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[Carl64]

This is in Hanna with Telus Highspeed 3.0mb:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/520939461.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

They do offer 6mb, and "10-15mb" just not here. By comparison your shaw is 15mbps. Divide by 8 to get your download speed (not including overhead) in megaBYTEs per second(and what IE/Firefox shows).

[eblend]

Originally posted by Hakkola


Megabytes or megabits? That's hurt if it's megabits, call them, you might need a signal booster or something.

I spelled it out just so that there would be no confusion..guess it didn't work.

I am talking Megabytes....as in 1.5Megs per second...wouldn't it not make sence if I said that Telus is alot slower and then said I get 1.5Megabits....which would make me just a few kb per second faster then the telus speed..

I am with Cybersurf by the way, get Shaw extreme speed for $40 bucks a month, free voip included

[ipeefreely]

Sounds like you want to run your own server...

Give TekSavvy (http://www.teksavvy.com/en/content.asp?ID=1&mID=1) a try, they don't block any ports, you can get a static ip.

I've been with them since January and have no complains!:love:

They use Telus lines but everything else is controlled by them.

You get 200Gb/month (I've alway been over and never charged :angel: )
and you can buy 100GB chunks for $10.

Slower than Shaw but better otherwise.

You can also bond two line using MLPPP for $4 per month. How To (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBoJ12ByutY)

Check out DSL Reports (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/teksavvy) for more details!:thumbsup:

[em2ab]

Thanks, sounds like I have to go back on my threat and stick with Shaw for the speed. I rarely do more than maybe 5-10 gigs of bandwidth a month, probably less so the amount is not an issue, I just want to be sure I have an IP that rarely changes and I can upload on port 80 for a web/file server I have. I've got servers running media centres, home security and home automation. If they close that port on me I'd have to mess around with forwarding and I don't want to get into that.
Oh well, I put them into the Better Business Bureau so maybe I'll at least get my money back. :dunno:

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by em2ab
Oh well, I put them into the Better Business Bureau so maybe I'll at least get my money back. :dunno:

:facepalm: The BBB should be limited to actual problems like getting scammed or some company outright stealing your money. Your billing beef is not exactly something needing the attention of the BBB. With a large corporation like Shaw I don't think they stole your "cash". Why don't you explain the error/problem here(There are some CSR/TSR on the forum) or hell why not call them and ask to speak with a supervisor? Perhaps in a polite manner?

[em2ab]

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
:facepalm: The BBB should be limited to actual problems like getting scammed or some company outright stealing your money. Your billing beef is not exactly something needing the attention of the BBB. With a large corporation like Shaw I don't think they stole your "cash". Why don't you explain the error/problem here(There are some CSR/TSR on the forum)
See below.

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
or hell why not call them and ask to speak with a supervisor? Perhaps in a polite manner?
I've called and politely spoken with 2 different supervisors on 2 occasions. They decided my money is more important than my continued business.

March 2009, I get a call from Shaw asking me if I'd like 2 months of free cable because I only have internet. I've never had cable before and I don't even watch television but sure, I kind of like watching Jeopardy so I said yes. They don't tell you you have to call after the 2 months and cancel but I was smart enough to ask them that on the phone and I made sure it was otherwise completely free. The guy came out to my apartment, hooked me up, gave me a cable box, remote and took a void cheque in case I kept it after the 2 month promotion. I don't have cheques for my regular account so I gave him the last one I had from an account I don't use that has no money in it. They won't be charging me anyway. Remember this.

May 2009. So I have 2 months of free cable and I call to cancel because I didn't really use it. Here's how the conversation goes:
me - I'd like to cancel
CSR - Oh, why?
me - Well I don't really use it. And it's not high definition, kind of hard to watch 480i on a projector.
CSR - Well we do have high definition packages available.
me - Right but I haven't seen those working yet, all I used was the basic.
CSR - Well we can give you 6 months of free high definition and a PVR box if you like.
me - Oh......uhhh........well sure. Ya, that sounds good.
CSR - Great, so we can have a technician come out and install it for you and set up your box. So you'll get 6 months of free high definition cable, a PVR which you can buy after 6 months if you want, and a free HD television.
me - Cool, do I have to buy the box after 6 months?
CSR - Certainly not, there's no charge if you don't want it.
me - GREAT!

So I get hooked up and a month goes by. June comes around and I'm talking to my dad who is a joint holder on one of my bank accounts and he asks me if I know why Shaw is debiting money from my account. When I logged into my online account I see they charged me for 1 month of basic cable when I was supposed to have both months free and have charged me every month since then as well. Plus there are Non Sufficient Funds (NSF) fees galore because my accounts were empty, plus overdraft interest charges. And since my dad's a joint holder, they went into one of his other accounts which is a savings account set up for my 6 year old niece and took the money from there. Plus they're not only taking the cable money from that account but my internet payments as well, I usually pay these online. I didn't authorize that. So I've been paying my $60 internet bill online every month plus they've been debiting my account for it so I've paid twice.

So I called back and got credited for the 1 month of basic cable that I got charged while I was on the basic cable promotion. But all the other charges stayed because their explanation is that I have to pay for the basic cable, they just added a free high definition package on top of it. WTF? How the hell was I supposed to know this? I said nobody told me I had to pay for the basic package underneath and she told me nobody said I didn't have to. What a bitch. So I got 4 months of NSF fees and overdraft charges plus 2 months of basic cable charges that they won't credit. So I canceled the cable and now they're still taking my internet payments out of my niece's account when I only gave them the void cheque for cable.

So ya, I'm a little upset. And yes, they're stealing my cash.

[Tarrantula]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/522093304.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Boo yeah upload!

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by em2ab
Plus there are Non Sufficient Funds (NSF) fees galore because my accounts were empty, plus overdraft interest charges. And since my dad's a joint holder, they went into one of his other accounts which is a savings account set up for my 6 year old niece and took the money from there. Plus they're not only taking the cable money from that account but my internet payments as well, I usually pay these online. I didn't authorize that. So I've been paying my $60 internet bill online every month plus they've been debiting my account for it so I've paid twice.

You realize it's the bank moving those funds? That's why joint accounts are bad news. The bank will balance your accounts for you even if you do not(hence the taking money from any account tied to your joint accounts). Anyways you gave them a void cheque. No offense but I can almost guarantee you signed something allowing direct withdrawal when you gave them the cheque(A void cheque is 100% useless unless you sign those forms so odds are amazingly good you signed up for direct withdrawal).

It is not really their fault you authorized direct withdrawal and you continued paying your bills online. Other than you getting confused about the whole thing I don't quite follow how they stole your money. You agreed to get the "free HD and PVR" which was exactly what it sounded like. It's like Telus calling you and offering you free long distance for 6 months. I would not assume my local calls are now free as well.

If you are still bothered about it I would call in and explain that you felt you were misled by the CSR/TSR and you would like to have all TV removed from your account and ask them to credit your internet bills. They will likely be far more willing to do this than to give you back cash that as far as they are concerned payed for services you were receiving.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by em2ab
Also is it as fast as Shaw or anywhere near it? Does your dynamic IP change a lot?

I get about 1.2 megabytes using torrents on Telus, and my IP only seems to change when if I reset my modem.

[Doozer]

I'd be pissed too .. although I'm with Shaw for the same reasons it seems you are. The dynamic IP which is really static, and the speed is better than I had with Telus.

I understand your frustration with the billing, but it underscores the reasons I rarely accept any free promotion of any type. Just the other day some dude came by the house selling books. He leaves the book with you, you fill out some receipt thing, and comes back in a week to pick it up if you don't want it. Otherwise, you keep it, and you can get more. Some of the books actually looked useful, but I didn't want any part of it. Sometimes it's hard to see how things can go bad, but I'm not one to take that chance. If I want a book, I'll get it from Chapters.

Hopefully you didn't get hooked on the HD TV while you had it...

[kenny]

I've had Shaw and Telus at multiple houses in Calgary and there is no comparison. Shaw internet is consistently faster and reliable.

Just look at how much Telus has to promote their service by giving away laptops, computers, TVs and locking customers in for 3 years so they don't switch back to Shaw.

[snoop101]

Wow on those speed test i get like 25 mb/s. I download torrent at around 1.5 megs a second. For a torrent thats damn good.

[em2ab]

I'm not here to debate what they did wrong/right or if I should be complaining about it but I'll explain a few of these.

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
You realize it's the bank moving those funds? That's why joint accounts are bad news. The bank will balance your accounts for you even if you do not(hence the taking money from any account tied to your joint accounts).
I realize it's the bank, I'm not mad at Shaw for taking money out of another account, I'm mad at them for doing anything and causing me this much of a headache from their stupidity and incompetence.

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
Anyways you gave them a void cheque. No offense but I can almost guarantee you signed something allowing direct withdrawal when you gave them the cheque(A void cheque is 100% useless unless you sign those forms so odds are amazingly good you signed up for direct withdrawal).
I did, I signed it only for cable, not my internet charges. I still wanted to pay for internet online, I just didn't specify that. I guess they assumed they could take it all from that account.

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
It is not really their fault you authorized direct withdrawal and you continued paying your bills online. Other than you getting confused about the whole thing I don't quite follow how they stole your money. You agreed to get the "free HD and PVR" which was exactly what it sounded like. It's like Telus calling you and offering you free long distance for 6 months. I would not assume my local calls are now free as well. You have to remember I've never had cable before, I've never in my life watched high definition cable, I don't even own a television. I can't stand sitting in front of a television for 2 hours while rotting my mind but I figured I'd try it to see if there's anything educational on there. So from someone that's never had cable and they're told they'll have "6 months of free high definition cable", that sounds to me like it's free. She said it's free, not that confusing. So using your example, if you say to someone that's never owned a cell phone in their life that they'll get 6 months of free long distance, of course they're not going to realize they have to pay the basic plan fees. How would they know?

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
If you are still bothered about it I would call in and explain that you felt you were misled by the CSR/TSR and you would like to have all TV removed from your account and ask them to credit your internet bills. They will likely be far more willing to do this than to give you back cash that as far as they are concerned payed for services you were receiving.
I explained a few posts up I already did this. I called in and spoke with 2 separate supervisors exactly what it was the CSR said to me and exactly how I misunderstood her because I've never had cable and didn't know how it worked. She didn't care, she said I should have known anyway. She wouldn't credit my internet account at all, wouldn't give me anything. She just canceled my cable and let me go.

I want to say I'm not attacking you or arguing with you even if it sounds like I am with anything I just posted. It's just stressful to even think about.

[em2ab]

Wow, I'm stuck between 2 of the stupidest companies in Canada.

I've escalated my calls to Telus about my Blackberry so far that the Office Of The President called me yesterday about my concerns. Her points with my concerns were as follows:
- she doesn't have answers to any of my questions
- she doesn't have any suggestions where I can get the answers
- I'm not going to be able to change it so I should stop trying

Wow, that's great. now I have a phone that doesn't do what I want and nobody can help me.

So on to Shaw, they called me today about my Better Business Bureau submission and I managed to get 1 month credited but he wouldn't do the second. He didn't believe me that I wasn't told how the billing works. The rep I was talking to noted the account that she explained it to me so he decided to believe the notes over me. What happened to this city since the economy went into the dog shitter? I also found out they've been debiting funds from my account for both internet and cable when I only gave them the blank cheque for the cable so I paid internet online for 3 months, causing me to pay twice every time. Although my bill only shows once because they simply didn't receive my online payments, they're apparently lost. His solution was for me to call my bank because Shaw doesn't make mistakes and it must be someone else's fault.

I've never had so many problems with customer service as I have since the economy took a dive, it's like if you owe someone a dollar, they'll fight you for it but they won't admit to their own mistakes when they're responsible. Is there a third option for internet? Wi-Max?

[legendboy]

telus has latency issues with xbox live big time


there really is no comparison, shaw kicks ass

i was with telus for many years, switching to shaw extreme and phone was a great move!

[Kobe]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/531131914.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[livinlarge89]

A friend of mine tried to get a telus tech to his house for 6 or 7 months, having called at least half a dozen times. When I called on his behalf they said they had no record of the calls, then when I had the call escalated to a supervisor they "found a record of the last call in a different location." They then showed up and told him that their problem was a bad modem which was their responsibility to diagnose and needed to be replaced our of their own pockets. That friend also has his internet disconnect quite frequently, and this is in the newest part of evergreen estates, just a few years old.

At both my house and my dads house shaw techs have consistently came with one days notice, once even going as far at my dads old condo to run a new line from one side of the building to the other (150ish feet) above ground. His modem has been replaced several times and it's always been completely free.

I don't want to jump to any conclusions but based on personal experience I'll be sticking with Shaw. I've also noticed that the hold times for Shaw are way shorter than Telus, and I dunno about Telus but the call center for both Shaw and Shaw direct (Starchoice) is located in Calgary and the CSRs actually know what they are talking about.

TLDR: Stick with Shaw

[GMC99]

Never switch to Telus. You will regret it. Their telephone service personnel, truck service personnel, and billing will leave you appalled. Stick with Shaw. They are honest.

[em2ab]

This is upsetting. What do you do when you're getting bad service from a company but your only other option is even worse?