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Review by davidwillis 
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.1 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
 Victoria,BC
 $150 per month
 about 3 days
 "quick cheerful service,24/7 internet tech service"
 "none"
 "excellent service and response times"
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i did consider dsl thru the phone company but i had just to many reports of poor service and relibability.i have a full service internet package with a booster add on which includes my cable as well as my internet. the total comes to approximately $95.00 a month .all it took was a phone call and i had all i asked for with in 4 days .they had a motorola modem.i belive what stuck me the most has been the attention to me as a customer .i feel as they value me and have no hesitation in responding to any request i make ,within reason,and always are able to provide me with a reasonable explaination if something is going to take more time than mentioned and if something is not availible .
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Review by darvin111
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.1 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Edmonton,AB
$47 per month
about 14 days
"Reasonable speed for price-base package 5 meg"
"port throttling, extreme p2p/BT throttling now throttlings MMO-unresponsive level 2 tech support"
"I am seeking alternatives as Shaw is useful only for surfing"
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After 3 days of solid lag free play on Age of Conan, Shaw is now verifiably throttling the server packets in the same manner at BT or P2P packets, with no way to differentiate implemented.
The level 2 tech I spoke to was unresponsive, advising that customers in the area were abusing bandwidth and that they were trying to ensure bandwidth is available for everyone (scripted much?)
Tracert results time out on first hop from modem out and are picked up with 80-90ms latency down the linem regardless of destination IP. Shaw's own website time's out completely after 13 hops.
Level 2 advised operations are "constantly checking infrastructure for congestion" but he has no information regarding whether or not my area has a congestion issue.
I use Teksavvy in Ontario and have NONE of these issues. Should I have access to ADSL in area I will drop Shaw like a rock, because Teksavvy is actively involved in keeping their customers happy.
very unhappy
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Review by KillerWorf
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 5.6 years, 16 visits, last login: 260 days ago
Maple Ridge,BC
$50 per month
"Screaming Fast, Consistantly"
"Reboot the modem every other month"
"Great for gaming"
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The install went without a hitch, plug and play. They hooked me up while I was at work, came home and plugged it in.
Actually bought a kit, with a Motorola modem, which gives me $5 off every month.
The extra $10 for 'extreme' added a speed boost over regular that is very noticeable in gaming and downloading. The huge updates from MS download in a flash. It's actually amazing to watch, having started with a 28.8k modem many moons ago.
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Review by ymtakeda
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 319 visits, last login: 6 days ago
Vancouver,BC
$30 per month
"The broadband Internet access over cable is bundled with cable TV service"
"High-Speed download speed is advertised as up to 5Mbps but is usually less than 1.5Mbps and can be less than 700Kbps for days"
"I want download speeds of 2Mbps or higher at least 95% of the time."
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Internet access over cable was available in my neighbourhood before DSL from Telus so I chose Rogers Wave in 1997. Rogers Cable subsequently swapped its BC assets for Shaw's Ontario assets and I became a Shaw customer. Rogers@Home service was not very good so I considered adding DSL service from Telus but Telus technicians told me the telephone lines on my block were old and noisy so I did not pursue it any further. Rogers Cable originally supplied a LANCity cable modem in 1997 but a Shaw Cable subcontractor exchanged it for a Terayon cable modem in 2001. I am still using the same Terayon cable modem seven years later. I used to lose Internet access for hours or days at a time with Rogers@Home. When I was a Rogers@Home customer it was frequently necessary to restart the LANCity cable modem by unplugging the power and then plugging it in again to get the cable modem working again. I do not have to do this as often with the seven year old Terayon cable modem supplied by Shaw.
Followup comments:  
anonimuz
@shawcable.net | SB5102 Have you ever requested that you get the new Motorola modem? Chances are this will increase your speeds greatly. | |
| | ymtakeda
join:2001-01-13
Vancouver, BC
 ·Shaw
| Re: SB5102 said by anonimuz :
Have you ever requested that you get the new Motorola modem? Chances are this will increase your speeds greatly.
Thank you for suggesting I request an upgrade to a new Motorola cable modem.
I sent an email to Shaw Customer Service on 25 September 2008 and received a reply back by email from Shaw Internet Vancouver Help within a couple of hours. I was told my Terayon cable modem would be exchanged free of charge at any Shaw retail store, open 7 days a week 9 am – 5 pm, but if that was inconvenient a technician can be sent to my home to swap the modem. I went to the Shaw retail store in downtown Vancouver a few days later on a Sunday afternoon and my old cable modem was exchanged for a MOTOROLA SURFboard Model SB5102 without any fuss.
I did speed tests at DSL Reports, Shaw Speed Test, and Speedtest.net after I connected the MOTOROLA SURFboard Model SB5102 to my Belkin F5D9230-4 Wireless G+ MIMO Router v5000. The download speeds were indeed much faster but speed tests were frequently not completed because of dropped connections. I also found that I was unable to view more than a couple of minutes of streaming video from PBS, NBC, CNBC, BNN and other news sites before it was no longer possible for my computer/ router/ cable mode to re-establish a connection with the web site. Computers connected to the Belkin wireless router through Netgear powerline Ethernet bridges kept on becoming disconnected as well.
I connected the cable modem directly to my desktop modem and determined that the dropped connection problem lay with the Belkin wireless router. I went back to using a 3Com Office Connect 3CRWE52196 wireless router and dropped connections are no longer an issue. My computer now boots up and loads programs on startup more quickly. Windows Explorer and Outlook 2003 used to sometimes fail to load, stop responding, or crash when I was using the Belkin wireless router but these problems seem to be a thing of the past now. Internet Explorer 7 still sometimes stops responding the first time I try to load it but it loads okay on subsequent tries during the same session on the computer.
I had assumed that routers were a mature technology when it came to physically connecting computers to the router but was surprised to learn that it is not the case. The Belkin wireless router had the latest firmware that is not Beta (Firmware Version 5.01.16).
Downloads with the Motorola cable modem connected directly to my computer are between 4.5mbps and 5mbps. Downloads with the Motorola cable modem connected to the Belkin wireless router are about 2 percent slower but connections are dropped frequently. Downloads with the Motorola cable modem connected to the 3Com Office Connect wireless router are about 8 percent slower than a direct connection to the Motorola cable modem but the connections are much more reliable – download speeds are between 4.1mbps and 4.6 mbps.
There is something else I discovered while I was trying to figure out the problems I was having with my almost four year old desktop computer. My computer needs to warm up for a minute or two before Windows XP Professional booting up Windows XP Professional to run as well as it did when it was new. I pause the computer once there is power running through it and it has completed its diagnostics and do a hard reboot a few minutes later and the computer boots up more quickly than if the computer was cold from having been off all night. If my computer is cold, it takes longer for the computer to load the operating system and startup programs, and the computer may slow down to a crawl and pretty much hang up with a lot of hard disk activity. This problem has been noticeable since I replaced the internal hard drive and the one inside the external hard drive enclosure with Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA2 500GB and 1TB models in July 2008. I have not experienced these hard drive activity “freeze ups” since I began letting the components warm up before allowing the computer to boot up Windows XP Professional.
I have another four year old computer, a Dell Dimension XPS Gen 2, that experienced hard drive “freeze ups” after I installed Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA2 drives internally and externally so I swapped the hard drives with Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA2 drives and that computer is working fine now.
Again, thanks for suggesting that I request that my Terayon cable modem be exchanged for a newer MOTOROLA cable modem. I am getting download speeds that are within 8 percent of the advertised “up to 5mbps” download speed around 90% of the time so I am now a satisfied Shaw Internet customer. | |
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Review by dpjball
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.9 years, 4 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Edmonton,AB
$40 per month
about 7 days
"decent speed"
"Bad CSRs Going linkdead often"
"Better off with dial up"
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Up to 5 Mbps download speed
Up to 512 Kbps upload speed ------- speeds are close
60 GB/month data transfer --------never came close to using this
10 Personal email accounts ---- one used
7 No Cost Extras
Up to two IP addresses**
24/7/365 technical assistance ------ no way usually get a CSR not a Tec
bundled
Classic Cable ------ all chanels below 13 are snowy, have more then 1 chanel or completely messed up
High Speed Internet ---------- dropped often
Digital Phone ---------rarely works
$150.00+/month including taxes ------ Never adjusted for any down time like a CSR said it was going to be
I am getting dropped in Edmonton every 5 min to 1hr. Called Shaw they were far less then helpfull. Called 12 times 4 times I got through before my Shaw phone cut out. 3 of the 4 times the phone cut out while talking to them asking the same dumb questions over and over. The 4th time the guy on the other end told me I was calling from a different address .... funny one of the other guys gave me the right address. Anyway I ended up hanging up on him ... he was far less then pleasant. I may end up back with Telus.
This has been going on for over 1 month. We have called from a real land line(telus), they come up with some BS and never come to do a service call. I have used Shaw for the last 4 years never have I been treated like I was today. I used Telus adsl about 5 years ago and never had a problem with CSRs. If there ever was a problem it was fixed PDQ. Really I should not have to go through this for something I am paying for and not receiving. I would be better off with:
1. a real phone
2. dial up
3. basic cable
Most of my Internet is online gaming being dropped every 5min to 1hr is worse then playing with dial up.
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 Review by Nitro Fixx
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 6.7 years, 2309 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Pitt Meadows,BC
$39 per month
about 2 days
"rock solid"
"urgently need to fix news servers"
"Telus who?"
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First signed up in '97 with rogers@home, They installed the modem and network card 2 days after the order was placed!
Speed was fair, never had any real issues.
Shaw Cable then took over from Rogers Cable and they called to say they would have a installer come over and give us a new digital terminal, and a new cable modem.
Installer came on time and replaced terminal, modem and replaced the cabling to all three tv's in our house as well as the cable to the vcr.(we also subscribe to the digital cable/pay tv package)
Speed has always been great and other than the rare dns screw up I really don't have any issues with Shaw. Also If any service interuption is going to be in your area, they e-mail you in advance.
My wife and kids love having their own e-mails and with 2 computers in the house somone is usually surfin.
We also use Shaw at my workplace with about 20 terminals on the lan and it has the same rock solid performance.
~~UPDATE 01/18/04~~
Speed is now back to what it used to be prior to the icmps from the welchia/nachi outbreak in the Shaw network
I really can't comment on Shaw's technical support because I haven't had to use it in over 2 1/2 years.
Still using the Terayon modem and have never had any disconnect/connect problems that I read about all the time.
Shaw has not even contacted me yet on upgrading to the Motorola SURFboard DOCSIS 2.0 Cable Modem that i've been hearing about.
I will keep the Terayon because the speeds I get are consistantly higher than the cap that they have on the Motorola.
Recent speed tests
»/speedtests/55···73829050 »/speedtests/56···73829213
»/speedtests/54···76599641
»/speedtests/58···77030828
~~UPDATE 05/16/04~~
May 04/2003 Shaw finally upgraded my modem to the Motorola SB5100 and had to shell out another $10 to get my speeds up.(I-xtreme) I was choked that I was getting a modem that was capped at lower speeds than what I was previously getting.
After being on it for the first few days I realized even though my download speed (4807kbps)is a little lower than the Terayon, the SB5100's speed is very consistant throughout the entire day. The Terayon's speed used to drop to about 2500kbps during peak periods and could hit 5000-5800 down only first thing in the morning.
~~UPDATE 09/14/04~~
After having I-Xtreme for the last 5 months i satisfied with the change over from the old dinosaur "Terayon" modem to the Motorola surfboard modem. Speed at my house is rock steady 4807-4824kbps(603KB/s) down, 949-951kbps up
and that's any time of the day.
--UPDATE 03/08/05--
Still on a decent node - Still very consistant throughout the day. SInce the end of November download speeds have actually actually increased.
Downloaded a 20MB file from ATI the other day, at better than 630KB/s
~~UPDATE 03/15/06~~
Other than the Shaw's news servers needing a much needed overhaul, the connection at my house "rocks" I'm on a good node and get great speeds all the time and consistant low pings Xtreme is now 7000/1000 here are a couple speed tests
»/speedtests/71···11777861
»/speedtests/71···17406877
~~UPDATE 12/23/06~~
Had some issues after the 10000/1000 upgrade but everything is fine now
»/im/20496351/17894.png 9648/974
»/im/20499224/82363.png 9715/972
--update 09/16/07--
Still have a great connection. Can't remember when our internet was down last.
I can't even comment on Shaw's Customer Support - I haven't had to use them,
Still using the Xtreme package.
Here are some real life test results to a server in Mt. Prospect, Illinois not from a SpeedTest.net server less than 50 miles from my house
»/speedtests/57024326/70632 29159/984
»/speedtests/55431082/23186 29742/979
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Review by Edie
Posted: 1.2 years ago
member for 1.2 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Canada
$52 per month
about 1 days
"good local support"
"none so far"
"best I can find in my area"
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Ultra high speed.
No down time.
Any questions handled quickly by phone by someone who knew the answers (unlike TELUS who suggest a new computer system is needed because their adsl could not be the problem...)
Easy install and order.
Bundled with TV cable.
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 Review by Lakebottom
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 3 years, 550 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Sylvan Lake,AB
$32 per month
about 3 days
"Faster basic service than Telus"
"Intermittent connection"
"It's the service we use because of bundling."
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The connection is really intermittent and drives me crazy tring to work on the internet. We are considering digital phone service but they will have to prove reliability before we go deeper into their service pool.
speed is 3250kb for a 5mb line with a 650kb upload.
We got the newest cable modem just recently, its pretty cheap so it maybe part of our problem with the service. The bundling of service saves about 3 bucks a month.
We are considering ADSL for reliability.
I should have mentioned that this connection is at the church In Sylvan Lake. The connection I use at home is a Telus ADSL 6.0 Extreme.
The church connection is a cable connection which is broadcast wireless with in the church due to cabling restrictions for the workstation. I was having serious problems with the wireless broadcast, so I upgraded the network to an N class router and N class antennae NIC. The security was lowered to almost the lowest encryption, in an attempt to keep the wireless connection stable. The wireless signal strength is low almost all the time but now there are very few disconnects.
The testing was conducted using a wired connection to the router (temp). ADSL would be difficult given the complexity of the phone system at the church. 
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Review by Jeffsey500
Posted: 1.2 years ago
member for 1.4 years, 19 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Calgary,AB
$32 per month
about 3 days
"Fast, Good Security Software and No Contracts"
"Reliability is a little iffy sometimes and in hot weather =P"
"It's better than the competitor...."
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For persons in areas of poor line quality, you need a bit of patience. You'd get the internet, it won't work that well (use SmokePing to get real proof) then they come by and fix thing and possibly install a signal booster. Then you're golden for a while (until the signal booster burns out). You can tell if your signal is good by talking to your neighbours.
The ShawSecure service is actually nice. Works well. I enjoy it when security software tells me about bad things before they happen, rather than after...
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Review by ipatters
Posted: 1.2 years ago
member for 5.5 years, 17 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Winnipeg,MB
$48 per month
about 4 days
"The speed has really improved over the last year."
"It is fairly expensive for a 5Mbps connection"
"Despite the cost, it is twice as fast as the DSL in my area and only slightly more expensive. Go for it."
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Shaw has 4 different "speed levels": High speed lite, High Speed, Xtreme-1 and Nitro.
My review is based on the regular "High Speed" package, which is pretty good. I would stay away from the lite package and the Xtreme-1 package, but if you have the money go for the Nitro plan. It is super fast at 25Mbps(and pricey!), but not available in all areas.
Please note that DSL is faster for some people in different areas of the city, based on where the switching station is. I am far away from one, which probably accounts for my slow DSL speed, which is why I'm using cable.
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