Changes to Shaw's internet bandwidth

[whitev70r]

Anyone else experience periodic no signals? It's as if there is a rotational blackout. It lasts for about 20-30 seconds.

[willystyle]

Shaw planning to revive metered internet billing: critics

Andrew Weichel, ctvbc.ca

Updated: Sun. Apr. 24 2011 10:17 PM ET
Critics of usage-based Internet billing say Shaw Communications is moving forward with the much-maligned pricing scheme, despite widespread public opposition.
The system, which would see customers pay a flat rate for Internet then surcharges for exceeding their monthly data limit, was proposed by the company early this year. In February, amid a mounting chorus of disapproval, Shaw agreed to stall implementation pending a series of customer consultations.
Now, OpenMedia.ca, a non-profit advocacy group, has released a purported recording of a Shaw executive conference call hosted by CEO Bradley Shaw to discuss findings from the meetings.
In it, Shaw says customers have shown "a recognition that the principle of ‘if you use more, you should pay more' holds true."
Related: Listen to the recording here
He then attests that customers professed little willingness to switch providers if usage-based billing is imposed. "We are of the mind that we still have a tremendous upside in terms of pricing power on our Internet services," he said.
The recording, dated April 13, 2011, outlines a May or June date for clarifying pricing and packaging plans. It is unclear whether those plans are to be made public at that time.
Phone and email requests for comment from Shaw were not returned by Sunday evening.
Steve Anderson of OpenMedia said Canada already has among the highest fees in the world for Internet and phones – and the change, if implemented, would mean even higher costs for heavy web users.
"People could end up paying, you know, double their Internet bill if they watch a lot of videos, for example," he said.
Anderson said a gigabyte of data costs between one and eight cents to deliver, but some companies have proposed charging between two and 10 dollars per gigabyte downloaded above a user's data limit.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall told CTV News his company will also be implementing usage-based fees later this year for anyone exceeding their monthly cap.
"It's going to be really customer friendly," he said. "You'd be forgiven for the first month you go over. You'd get lots of warning, lots of notice that you were going over with options of moving to other plans."
Telus says most of its customers use an average 15 gigabytes per month. For about $35 per month, they offer 75 gigabytes – suggesting few people would be affected by the change.
"It's only fair that people pay for how much Internet capacity they use," Hall said.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has spoken out against usage-based billing, while NDP Leader Jack Layton has promised to ban it outright if elected to power.
The prospect of usage-based billing has proven wildly unpopular among the public; an OpenMedia petition against the practice has been signed by more than 484,000 people.
Bell Canada, of which CTV is a subsidiary, also proposed usage-based billing in 2011. Plans were pulled in late March, also in response to public outcry.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Brent Shearer

No point of jumping to Telus in hopes of unlimited Bandwidth. Teksavvy is the ONLY solution for unlimited internet.

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/l...shColumbiaHome

[Peturbo]

^ I'm changing over to telus anyways now since it will save me A LOT of money.
I'm signing up with no term contract so I can change over to something else when ever I want.

[!MiKrofT]

I'm on Extreme 19.95 retention for a year. I'll look at teksaavy after June depending on what the charges from Shaw will be.

[canucks_fan2]

It's been like this in the US for a while, we're lucky in Canada not to have it yet, but you guys should be careful because the bills will actually rack up fast if you're not aware you're over

[J____]

i hate shaw's interface. i can NEVER log in. either gives me "something went wrong" or "your login info is incorrect" when it is.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Time to steal someone wirless network!

[rich80]

A bit off topic but I'm trying to access www.thepiratebay.org and I can't access it......getting a page not found error. I'm wondering if shaw is blocking their site which will really piss me off if thats the case.

Anyone else having problems accessing www.thepiratebay.org and on shaw?

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by rich80

A bit off topic but I'm trying to access www.thepiratebay.org and I can't access it......getting a page not found error. I'm wondering if shaw is blocking their site which will really piss me off if thats the case.

Anyone else having problems accessing www.thepiratebay.org and on shaw?

Calm down, site might be down.

[rich80]

Originally Posted by willystyle

Calm down, site might be down.

I don't think the site is down because I can access their website from my iphone on rogers.

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by rich80

I don't think the site is down because I can access their website from my iphone on rogers.

Ok, you may be right. I think Shaw is blocking access to thepiratebay.org, as I successfully got on using a VPN.

[dub.g]

its 8:18, and i cant access piratebay either

im with teksavvy........ piratebay been randomly going down alot this past 3 months

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by dub.g

its 8:18, and i cant access piratebay either

im with teksavvy........ piratebay been randomly going down alot this past 3 months

Teksavvy rents Shaw's line, so I am not surprised that it doesn't work. However, I am on Shaw and was able to access it using a VPN.

So, Shaw is definitely restricting their users access.

Screenshot: http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/8...epiratebay.png

[!MiKrofT]

Works fine for me. I'm on Shaw.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by rich80

A bit off topic but I'm trying to access www.thepiratebay.org and I can't access it......getting a page not found error. I'm wondering if shaw is blocking their site which will really piss me off if thats the case.

Anyone else having problems accessing www.thepiratebay.org and on shaw?

It's not Shaw works fine for me. The sites been having some problems.

http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-offe...te-bay-110512/

[Mr.HappySilp]

When are they going to start this UBB? Coz as soon as they start I am doing to crazy on download first month, then swtich the acct to my mom's name and use that for one month, switch to my sister name, then my name then back to my dad's name.

I won't pay a penny for any over limit SHAW have impose.

[Meowjin]

comcast? te same comcast who merged with NBC universal?

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by rich80

A bit off topic but I'm trying to access www.thepiratebay.org and I can't access it......getting a page not found error. I'm wondering if shaw is blocking their site which will really piss me off if thats the case.

Anyone else having problems accessing www.thepiratebay.org and on shaw?

I signed up for Telus Optik Highspeed Turbo and found some sites were being blocked.

I changed my DNS server to Google's DNS server settings and pages would load fine afterwards

[rich80]

Update: So I called shaw tech support last night and told them how I could not access www.thepiratebay.org. She told me they don't block any sites. When I tested it this morning...it was working again. No idea what happened if it was Shaw or the site's problem...but my iphone was acessing it no problem last night. Oh well....all is good now!

[-| TIRAMISU |-]

Questions to anyone who's with Teksavvy now:

1. Were there installation charge for starting the service with Teksavvy? (Besides the $49.99 activation fee)
2. I've been to Teksavvy site and gone through the online submittion forms. I'm questioning about the transferring process from Shaw, were there transferring fee and how long was the process to take effect?
3. I also have noticed that the billing cycle starts on the day you sumitted the forms, is this correct? Or is the billing cycle starts on the first day of activated service? (5~7 buisness days after submittion of the forms)
4. How stable is the connection and did anyone verified the down/upload speed using speedtest or its alike?

Thanks

[JesseBlue]

1) only the activation fee
2) no clue as i was going from tek dsl to cable...better to just call them but usually there is a long waiting time
3) when you submit the form technically but when i asked them they said it was the first day of service...conflicting but meh...i'm saving $12/month doing what i did
4) for 7.5 / 0.5 profile, done a few seconds ago

[-| TIRAMISU |-]

Originally Posted by JesseBlue

1) only the activation fee
2) no clue as i was going from tek dsl to cable...better to just call them but usually there is a long waiting time
3) when you submit the form technically but when i asked them they said it was the first day of service...conflicting but meh...i'm saving $12/month doing what i did
4) for 7.5 / 0.5 profile, done a few seconds ago

wow that dl speed of urs looks awsome on a 7.5 line, and thanks for ur reply

[JesseBlue]

this is usually the worst case result...there is a teksavvy topic that i created then and it was usually 23+ during non-busy times and 0.49 upload

[Gh0stRider]

http://shaw.ca/newpackages/?WT.mc_id=C995A2047S98

Today we are excited to share our new direction on Internet pricing and packaging with you, our customers. With your help, we’ve created a model that we hope you’ll agree is fair, flexible and offers a variety of options for customers today and into the future.

We’d like to thank the hundreds of customers who took time to come out to the 34 sessions and those who shared their ideas online. Many of those who participated are the technology innovators who told us they wanted an Internet experience that worked not only today, but for the needs of tomorrow. We also heard that our customers wanted transparency, more choice of internet speed and data options, increased flexibility to meet their varied needs, and above all, fairness.

The decisions we have made coming out of those sessions are far reaching. We went into the session thinking it was a discussion about pricing and packaging, and came out with a new vision for the future.

One of the biggest decisions we have made is to undertake a major upgrade of our network by converting our television analog tiers to digital. In making this move we will triple the capacity of our network, freeing up space for more Internet, HD and On Demand programming. This conversion will start in June and will take sixteen months to complete. As a result of this upgrade, it will open up opportunities for Shaw to offer industry leading broadband performance.

[!MiKrofT]

Woot. I just saw this on twitter.