Internet: Shaw vs Telus

[eap_44]

I am currently with Shaw and having problems with my internet TV --> TFCKo (The Filipino Channel). it always buffering. The TFCKo requires only at least 1MBps connection speed to run efficiently. You think I should be ok with Shaw's advertised speed of up to 5MBps but nah. I can only get normally below 1MBps on the TFCKo network speed test thus it buffers a lot. TFCKo say it has something to do with "traffic shaping."

I am now considering Telus Enhanced High Speed. Is Telus better than Shaw in terms of speed? I also use Torrents so by having Telus will that make any difference? :confused:

[zkyline]

I am currently with Shaw and having problems with my internet TV --> TFCKo (The Filipino Channel). it always buffering. The TFCKo requires only at least 1MBps connection speed to run efficiently. You think I should be ok with Shaw's advertised speed of up to 5MBps but nah. I can only get normally below 1MBps on the TFCKo network speed test thus it buffers a lot. TFCKo say it has something to do with "traffic shaping."

I am now considering Telus Enhanced High Speed. Is Telus better than Shaw in terms of speed? I also use Torrents so by having Telus will that make any difference? :confused:

Telus is usually consistent with their speeds. Shaw had consistent speeds for a while for the past few years, but now my internet is so slow. Btw, I'm using Regular High Speed Internet. I believe Telus enforces a cap on their customers, so if you past a certain about of bandwidth they will start charging you money for it. On the other hand, Shaw will just phone you and warn you first before disconnecting your internet. Torrent-wise, I think both companies offer the same speed because Shaw caps the speed, which will be equivalent to Telus' speed on average.

[macuser]

Shaw for the win.

They don't block any ports but 25

[Impossibles]

Shaw is much much faster than telus, at least based on those 'testing sites'.

I had Telus ADSL for a couple years, tried out shaw because they offered me a free month, and it's much faster.

EDIT: But shaw is blocking my torrents.

[champ91]

Telus is usually consistent with their speeds. Shaw had consistent speeds for a while for the past few years, but now my internet is so slow. Btw, I'm using Regular High Speed Internet. I believe Telus enforces a cap on their customers, so if you past a certain about of bandwidth they will start charging you money for it. On the other hand, Shaw will just phone you and warn you first before disconnecting your internet. Torrent-wise, I think both companies offer the same speed because Shaw caps the speed, which will be equivalent to Telus' speed on average.

telus acutally doesn't really encorce their caps strictly. They will warn you before they charge you extra giving you a chance to stop.

but shaw is faster, no question

[number84]

what sort of speeds are you getting for normal surfing? have you tried running a speed test at the following sites:

www.speedtest.net
www.speakeasy.net

if you are still getting < 1 mbps, then it might be your modem and/or your connection with shaw (you should arrange for a service call if this is the case).

i use both shaw (at home) and telus (at inlaws) and shaw on average is by far faster...at least on their basic high speed service.

[silva95teg]

I work for telus, and have the 6meg package myself, it is plenty fast for me and it is nice because it is always the same. I have had shaw in the past and have had no problem with their service. (i wouldnt personally get anything other than telus at this point because i get a service discount)

I say go with whoever suits you best, or jump back and forth to get promotions ! Both companies have pros and cons ... you just have to weigh out your needs.

[GVRtrader]

I used both before...

Shaw offers higher speed, more bandwidth, but generally speaking will enforce their cap. That said, there are area (with low traffic) where they don't really enforce the cap. Overall they are the better ISP unless you are experiencing problems in your area. Just another note, since Shaw is more of a "shared" connection, the speed varies at times and could actually be slower than telus in some areas during prime time. Its unlikely but can happen.

Telus is consistent... i'll give them that. They don't give you as much bandwidth but they never seem to care how far you go. There were reports that they would actually charge you extra for going above, but its a rare case. With all that said, if all conditions are ideal, Telus is only around 1/3 the speed of Shaw (its just hard to get ideal conditions with shaw... you have to pretty much be in an region where there's little traffic).

[Aske001]

I've tried both side by side, and I ended up keeping Telus because Shaw throttled torrents and certain other services too much. What good is bandwidth if you can't use it for high-bandwidth applications?

Don't sign a long-term contract. Keep in mind that both companies change their policies frequently on things like bandwidth caps, enforcement of bandwidth caps, charging for exceeding bandwidth caps, throttling certain services, blocking certain ports, privacy protection, access to mail servers etc.. Shaw's speed and consistency may vary over time depending on how many people are on your local node - it may start off fine, but be badly degraded after a year.

[eap_44]

can I call Shaw to find out the traffic condition in my area?

that's one thing i noticed with Shaw is that their speed is not consistent. there are times you get close to their 5Mbits and there are times specially during peak hours (dinner time) that i get <1Mbits.

i've been encountering problems too with my internet TV. it creates too much buffering but only with shaw. i called the customer service of my internet tv and they confirmed that most of their complaints about buffering are mostly from shaw interent subscriber.

only thing i don't like about telus is they wanted you to sign-up a contract. but i'm leaning towards signing a contract with them.

[number84]

I've tried both side by side, and I ended up keeping Telus because Shaw throttled torrents and certain other services too much. What good is bandwidth if you can't use it for high-bandwidth applications?

Don't sign a long-term contract. Keep in mind that both companies change their policies frequently on things like bandwidth caps, enforcement of bandwidth caps, charging for exceeding bandwidth caps, throttling certain services, blocking certain ports, privacy protection, access to mail servers etc.. Shaw's speed and consistency may vary over time depending on how many people are on your local node - it may start off fine, but be badly degraded after a year.

i don't get throttled by shaw with torrents...depending on seeders (of course) i can get all the way up to 400kb/s...although that's not the full 5mbps on shaw high speed, but i'll take it.

[happyplato]

I don't understand what this "throttled torrents" are about. Does it different from area to area? Cause I have Shaw and I don't think I have any problem. Do people know what torrent is all about or how it works? Do you know how to setup your torrent client properly? When it is a good seeded torrent, I get over 500kb/s download.

I've tried both side by side, and I ended up keeping Telus because Shaw throttled torrents and certain other services too much. What good is bandwidth if you can't use it for high-bandwidth applications?

Don't sign a long-term contract. Keep in mind that both companies change their policies frequently on things like bandwidth caps, enforcement of bandwidth caps, charging for exceeding bandwidth caps, throttling certain services, blocking certain ports, privacy protection, access to mail servers etc.. Shaw's speed and consistency may vary over time depending on how many people are on your local node - it may start off fine, but be badly degraded after a year.

[importpsycho]

shaw is not always faster, it depends on location and time of the day
I have shaw extreme yet during busy hours my down speed can get below 1mb and I constantly have insane lag spike during online games before midnight
I was with telus regular for almost 4 years and never seen a lag spike in games.
only reason I'm went to shaw is because of student prices and i play/download at late night

[eap_44]

the only reason i am thinking of signing up with Telus is to have my internet TV (TFCKo) run efficiently as they are the one with consistent network speed.

i still hate signing up for 3 years but they have a good deal right now as part of employee purchase plan. if i sign-up for 3 years, i get 3 months free, $10 off for next 12 months aside from the lenovo pc or $300 Amex credit and free wireless gateway.

what brand or model are they giving away for their wireless gateway so i can have a look at their specs?

[Aske001]

Torrent throttling is a complex issue, and Shaw obviously doesn't advertise what they're doing. I recommend that you visit the Shaw forum at BroadBandReports.com and do some reading. But here's a few of the issues that cause variability:

1. Shaw says that they are throttling torrent uploading, not downloading. This is because the current cable internet scheme assigns only a small capacity to uplinks, shared between all users, on the assumption that most people are downloading way more than they are uploading (unfortunately that turned out to be a bad design assumption in the modern internet environment). However most torrent trackers assign download priority based on upload performance in order to keep things relatively symmetrical, and that means that your download performance suffers too.

2. Not all torrent trackers balance the download with the upload, so the above may not affect your torrent download speed with some torrent trackers.

3. Shaw says that they turn throttling on and off depending on the load on the local node, so it depends on the time of day and how busy your local node is.

4. Throttling is implemented by downloading a throttle setting your own cable modem, which wasn't possible with the old pre-DOCSIS 2 modems (i.e. the Terayons). People with old modems that haven't been upgraded may not be affected yet.

5. Shaw does not implement throttling in all areas yet, since it costs them money to buy the Ellacoya system that implements the throttling.

6. The Ellacoya system uses Deep Packet Inspection to figure out which packets are to be filtered, but it can be fooled by the encryption technology employed by some bittorrent clients - for the moment (it's a technology race).

7. People often have trouble with their computer configuration for bittorrent, particularly with port forwarding, causing them to think that their torrents are being throttled when they aren't. Anecdotal reports are therefore often wrong.

There's probably some other factors I've forgotten, but as you can see it's not a simple issue.

[Keas]

years ago i had telus and i played ultima online lake superior from vancouver. i had during the day pings of around 78-85 and at night it would jump to 120-130. because of multiple downtimes with telus that ruined a lot of playtime i tried shaw and found i had a constant 100 ping both day and night and decided that was better.'

since then i have kept with shaw and i get downloads on good sites of 600kbs+ and rarely any downtime while playing internet games.

i have a lot of complaints about shaw but none about their internet service.

also with telus you need to really be close to the hub to get the best performance (unless that has changed recently).

[silva95teg]

what brand or model are they giving away for their wireless gateway so i can have a look at their specs?


the wireless gateway is the 2-wire modem / router. it is a 2700HG-E


"also with telus you need to really be close to the hub to get the best performance (unless that has changed recently)."

To get the best you need to be within a certain distance(18000ft max for the basic connection), that is true. Alot of places now are extended with fibre to the distribution box in the neighbourhood so it is not too much of a problem any more (in the city anyway).

[Sgt_Strider]

I've been with Shaw for five years (2001-2006) and for the most part they were good. Then when they started throttling BT connections, I decided to switch to Telus. I've been happy with Telus until they started advertising charges for the use of extra bandwidth. So far no one has been hit with these surcharges so I'm going to say that Telus is still worth it. Once they do then you would want to stick with Shaw. I find Telus' speed to be quite consistent and good. I don't experience significant slowdown even when two computers are using BT.