[Discuss] Shaw regular average speed vs. Telus?

[R. McFarlane]

On 1/21/07 7:29 PM, Murray Strome wrote:

<snip>

> I have been working with a system (not mine) on Telus ADSL, and I find 
> it really annoying. Frequently, when the computer is turned on, there is 
> no internet connection. Sometimes that can be fixed by releasing and 
> renewing the IP address, but other times you have to turn off the modem 
> for a while, try again and if that doesn't work, reboot.  That system 
> has ADSL Lite, so it would be unfair to compare the download speeds with 
> Shaw, but they seem to be OK for what the owner is trying to do.  The 
> technical support is not as responsive as Shaw, either. To give an 
> example, I called their technical support the other day from my home, 
> and after the usual long delay in getting to talk to anyone, they said I 
> would have to call back from the computer location. I did that today. 
> After waiting twice as long for their call back as they had estimated, I 
> barely got to say about five words before they disconnected!  I couldn't 
> hang around all day, so guess I will try again some other time. A second 
> example.  No internet connection:  finally got through and after a lot 
> of fooling around, disconnecting the router, etc.  they told me I would 
> have to reinstall the network software (on a Windows machine).  Of 
> course, the owners of the computer have no idea where their original CD 
> might be, so a couple of days later I took my own Windows 98 CD in.  
> However, this time, I got someone who had a better idea as to how to 
> correct the problem (release then renew using something like winipcfg), 
> but this was after removing the router/firewall which they concluded was 
> faulty. I didn't need the CD.  I took the router home, connected it to 
> Shaw, no problems with it.  Turned out to be something funny with the 
> Mac address.  However,  this need to release & renew and/or power cycle 
> the modem is extremely frustrating, especially for the users of the 
> computer who are trying to get some work done and don't need to waste 
> 10-15 minutes every day or so mucking around with getting a working 
> connection.


	These problems sound exactly like what shaw had in their "early days". 
It always boiled down to a flaky "cable modem" which was only replaced 
by shaw when the customer complained enough. I say that because I know 
many users just put up with it. :(
	I think both shaw and telus have about a 3% - 4% failure/flaky rate of 
their broadband devices. Both companies have "upgraded" to different 
devices over the years as well. I seem to recall that the ADSL use to be 
a USR/3Com ADSL modem, then they added to dlink to the mix, eventually 
completely switching to dlink (which make a very annoying high pitch 
whine) and now they utilize some very small device made by thompson I 
think it is. The same thing happened at shaw. The first cable "modem" 
was a huge external black box, then they went to a larger but flatter 
external box, then they switched to what I like to call the blue shark 
fin and now for their latest service, they have "supposed" DOCSIS 
compliant "modems". I say "supposed" since Cisco has had one for years 
but shaw won't allow it to work on their network even though the CRTC 
told them to open up.

	As for this users problems, I would have them call up telus and request 
a new "modem" as theirs keeps "crashing".

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