Telus or Shaw

[chewie]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

what ever telus says they'll give you, write it down and then call shaw and they will beat it. a friend went back and forth between them about 3 or 4 times and got a sweet deal out of shaw.

Steve

Did the same thing. Have ALL channels, fastest internet ( xtreme) and land line plus shaw sent two HD pvrs to me. Paying $108 a month, good for one year...
My In laws have Telus and I think the HD channels are garbage. We both have the exact same 50" LG Lcd TVs and Shaws picture wins Hands down. Telus' picture is more grainy and thier picture keeps cutting off and on every once and a while. Had to have Telus visit a few times to get things sorted out ( phone cutting in and out, pvr not working etc)
The only thing I do think is neat is the call display coming up on the tv when someone calls....not cool enough though to put up with crappy (IMO) service and having to sign a contract.

[Doug]

So how the heck does one get that, when I have the medium package, which is regular $149, paid for my one HD receiver, pay rent for 2 of my other digital boxes and only get 6 months at the cheap rate??????????????????????????????????????

[chewie]

My wife called up and said we are going to cancel and go with telus if they cannot beat their price. At the time we where paying just under $200 /month. So that is what they gave her. Maybe we just lucked out and got a good representative or it may be because we have been with them for years and have referd alot of friends to them. (Get so much off as well for each referal)

[Doug]

Ohhhh. I see. I think. Not sure how a company, {and I,m sure Shaw is not alone}, can charge some one price, another a different price and so on, for more or same packages.

[chewie]

Yeah i totaly agree. Large corporations are all the same, they will gouge you for every penny they can to increase their profit. If you dont complain then they will continue to do so. Its like walking into your bank and seeing a posting saying that "as of --date-- we have to increase service fees for blaa blaa, due to increased costs of operating" yet every year you hear on the financial news that the banks have yet again made a record profit that year...
The rich get richer....

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by Doug

Ohhhh. I see. I think. Not sure how a company, {and I,m sure Shaw is not alone}, can charge some one price, another a different price and so on, for more or same packages.

I'm just guessing but I would think rather than cast in stone pricing schedule the reps are given a wider range to work with selling their services. I sell a commodity, and very few customers get the same price for the exact same item. I make a judgement call when I quote, some times I win sometimes I loose. I would think it would be the same for them...

[mike31154]

Hmm, IMO selling a commodity is somewhat different than providing a service such as cable, internet or phone. Commodities are sold under much more of a free market principle, no?

The problem with cable & phone companies is that they've been fortunate to operate somewhat of a monopoly with little or no competition. The CRTC gets involved & messes things up too with their restrictions. Things get even more complex when you get a commodity such as natural gas provided by another pseudo monopoly like the gas company. Whether you purchase the gas from a broker or from the gas company, you'll always be paying something to the gas company to maintain the infrastructure, pipelines etc. When I think pure commodity, I think more of natural resources or agricultural products such as gold, silver, cattle, grain... Much more open market driven than the pricing schedules offered by cable & phone companies. I could be totally out to lunch too though, just thinking out loud.

All I know is the cable & phone companies have the markets cornered/divyied up in certain regions of the country and they've had an easy ride for too long. Things are opening up & services like Netflix etc. are probably starting to instill some fear in the established outfits. They're going to get what they can while the getting's good, because the winds of change are on the way with respect to cable, internet & phone services. You can usually tell how well off a company is when you get the glossy, high quality mail advertising a service you probably already have from them, but they can't be bothered to check files of customers before they mail this crap out.

It's time to UNBUNDLE!!

[MarkoD]

Anyone on telus tv that wants a free trial for channels can pm me

[Lampshade]

I've been with Telus for 3 years now, overall, amazing service, better than I've seen from any company (Including telus mobility). What I've Noticed:
Telus internet is screaming fast, double what I've ever had with shaw in 4 different locations.
Telus Internet has a fast download AND upload, making gaming way faster. recently they're tuned it back it seems(in the past 1-2years), but still is far better than I've seen on shaw.
Shaw HD TV looks WAY better than Telus HD, the day someone told me this I was ruined, I compared a few different peoples shaw TV's, and set up a HD antenna to test my own, and damn, it does look snowy. Telus says they're working on this, which is good.
Telus forwards you email from "we where able to upload part XX of movie YY, please don't upload" Shaw doesn't bother with the emails. (I heard this from a friend that downloads....).
If you download over your cap on Shaw 3 months in a row you get bumped up to next pay level, telus has never cared how much LAfishguy/mrsaltwatertank I watch.


After all that... I'm cancelling TV once my contract is up, Theres another + for show, no contract. My PVR died last week and honestly, i didn't notice till this morning when my son wanted to watch his shows. So I had to go to netflix and select the show manually. what a painful ordeal....

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by mike31154

All I know is the cable & phone companies have the markets cornered/divyied up in certain regions of the country and they've had an easy ride for too long. Things are opening up & services like Netflix etc. are probably starting to instill some fear in the established outfits. They're going to get what they can while the getting's good, because the winds of change are on the way with respect to cable, internet & phone services.

That in a nut shell is why I think these reps have flexibility when quoting. A more open market has forced them to be competitive with the next guy.