Why are Shaw's Prices so Insane?

[Zenov]

So with Shaw revamping their packages with their Fibre+ (not the same as Telus fibre FYI) why didn't they decide to have competitive pricing? Telus Fiber Is $85/Month for 2 years for 1gig down/1gig up service. Even Lightspeed (reselling Shaw) has the Shaw 600 at $80/month. What is going on with Shaw? They used to try to compete a little at least. 

I asked about better pricing, citing competition pricing, and was basically told how to cancel, after being told that the 1gig deal can't get better because it's already such a great package.....you know with its 25mbps upload being so amazing?....Clearly Shaw has so much money now that they don't even care who stays? Sorry about ranting I just find it pathetic is all. 

[rickatk]

I found on closer examination the Telus speeds aren’t that reliable. Pure Fibre is more about marketing than performance. Talking to a Telus rep who was trying to get me to switch, revealed that fibre is still not readily available in some areas and no gigabit in my area. The rates weren’t much different than Shaw and in my case Telus couldn’t compete.

The Telus agent really didn’t understand the Shaw technology and simply peddled “fibre v copper cable” statements. No understanding about Docsis 3.1 standards, last mile etc.

BlueCurve offers a pretty good package and in my case completely wireless streaming and cloud PVR. Plus the usual YouTube,Netflix and Prime.

In short Telus did not have much to offer compared to real world performance and price of BlueCurve. 

I should add the reason I was talking to Telus I had just renewed a couple plans on mobility which I am very happy with. The Telus agent asked for the opportunity to quote on their TV service. Telus didn’t convince me to switch for the reasons cited above.

[Zenov]

Appreciate the response. But a couple things.

1) Telus speeds are quite reliable. I know a few people with it getting advertised or better speeds at all times. They are by physics more reliable than Shaw because you have a dedicated fiber line.

2) Agreed on a lacking of coverage from Telus fiber.

3) Full package with TV price doesn't matter to me. I only subscribe to internet.

4) None of this seems to explain how Lightspeed and various resellers can provide better pricing even though they are buying from Shaw....

[rstra]

Part of the reason that third party resellers can provide service cheaper is because they don’t provide included modems, don’t do service calls, don’t do installs or have a plant to maintain. 

[mdk]

> Telus speeds are quite reliable. 

My HITRON cable-modem has been quite reliable, too.

> I know a few people with it getting advertised or better speeds at all times.

My HITRON cable-modem has been delivering about 10% more than what I signed-up for, but that may depend on whether you count by powers-of-2 or powers-of-10 --> 2**10 = 1024 (not 1000).

> They are by physics more reliable than Shaw because you have a dedicated fiber line.

That is just marketing nonsense. // I have a "dedicated" coaxial cable from my home, across the street, and to Shaw's junction-box up the telephone pole. My neighbour has a "dedicated" fibre-optic cable from their home, across the street, and to Telus' junction-box up the same telephone pole. Both "dedicated" cables carry both TV & phone & Internet. Both "dedicated" cables carry only the traffic from each home-owner -- there is no "sharing" of that cable's (extremely-large) capacity with any neighbour.

Do you really think that you have a "dedicated" line all the way across your city to the Shaw (or Telus) "Central Office" building?  No! Once those cables reach the telephone pole, you join a "shared" network.

>>> Telus Fiber Is $85/Month for 2 years.

That is a "promotional" price for new customers, not the regular price.

From the Telus web-site: Regular price, currently $155/mo, applies after the 24-month term.

Shaw's promotional price for "Fibre+ Gig" is $115/MO on a 2-year Value-Plan, with regular price of $125.

Do the math: after 4 years, your total spending for gigabit service is $5,760 -- for both Shaw and Telus: 24*(85+155) versus 24*(115+125). Taxes extra. Exclude any "installation fee" and any "bonuses".

[QuentinW]

I feel Shaw stopped competing years ago, with their Node Saturation, and corporate culture on "knowing" that people don't need fast upload, I ditched them 6 years ago, and funny enough the upload on my Telus 100mbps package still outperforms Shaws fastest "Fiber+" (which is just a marketing hype at this point.  Yeah sure the backbones are a Fiber/Coax mix, but the end connections are still via Coax).  I get close to 120mbps down, and 35mbps up with my 100mbps package, wheras Shaw offers 2.5% the upload speed on their "Fibre+ Gig" package, it's such a joke.  I'd take them more seriously if they offered say, 1gbps down and 100mbps up, something... Anything... They are so stuck in the past with their upload speeds, I'll never consider switching back.

I look forward to the day Telus upgrades our neighborhood with Fiber to the home, so I can get 300/300, 750/750, or 940/940mbps symmetrical speeds.  Until then, I'm still happy with my VDSL, and how stable and consistent it's been compared to when I last had Shaw internet.

[rstra]

Thanks for dropping by.

[Yo_Sup]

Probably because Shaw's infrastructure is slower than Telus?  I thought Shaw would do another Free Speed bump infrastructure increase like they did last time: 150 to 300, 300 to 600. Instead, they increased the download speed, locked the upload speed, added multiple tier ISP Plans and removed 2nd IP for Routing. So if Shaw is releasing 10Mbps plans,  are they cutting back on selling internet to smaller companies such as TekSavvy?

[mdk]

> removed 2nd IP for Routing

Is this true?  I have not seen any announcement about this on Shaw's web-site. Later today, I will contact Shaw, to get updated.

[mdk]

> are they cutting back on selling internet to smaller companies such as TekSavvy?

Fake news?

I am sure that those smaller companies would complain to the CRTC if Shaw were to try to limit their competition from those companies.