O Canada! > Canadian > Shaw > Shaw charging for extra bandwidth....

Shaw charging for extra bandwidth....

figured this was coming......... sucks, but was to be expected. with services like netflix coming out, and many other providers already charing for going over your caps, was just a matter of time. gotta start monitoring my usage

reply to jpom5
It's about time...i knew they would pull something like this eventually.

reply to jpom5
"All of our included Internet usage levels are measured in Gigabytes (GB) which is a unit of data storage capacity that is equal to about 1000 Megabytes."

Grrrr! 1GB is 1,024MB not 1000!

Do you see how they trim the corners. Just like the soda pop cans and the potato chips, with their raised dome undersides and half filled bags.

Down with the Jedi marketing mind control!

reply to jpom5
Raised our basic rates, and now bandwidth overage charges? Time to cancel cable TV.

reply to sodapopchips
1 GB = 1000 MB = 1,000,000 KB = 1,000,000,000 Bytes
1 GiB = 1024 MiB = 1,048,576 KiB = 1,073,741,824 Bytes

Especially since in telecommunications, base-10 has always been used. (1Mbps = 1,000,000 bits/sec).

Even computers can't seem to get it right. A "1.44MB" floppy disk is 1440 kiB, thus using both units incorrectly.

reply to jpom5

reply to jpom5
guess this mean no more Steam for me.
add: anyone know if the data pack here

»www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServic···atausage

goes on top of what you already have? like say if you have extreme 125 gig then you get the 250g data pack, then you get a combine of 370g?

reply to jpom5
Ryan #8921:
Alright as of right now we are not actually charging for bandwidth overages automatically. This page is just representing options if you do go over 3 or more times that the bandwidth team will actually contact you first to provide similar options to you, or to upgrade your service. So we are correct, as of right now you will not automatically be billed for overages on your bill, but will only receive notifications that you're going over. If it happens consistently, then the local bandwidth team will contact you. We were also informed that this may be enforced in the future, but it's not being enforced right now. You would hear from our bandwidth team before being automatically charged anything due to overages.

reply to shaw user
It's good to know that it is not being enforced at the moment, i assumed that was the case since if you look at shaw's main site the page isn't actually linked there, I only found it by accident and I haven't heard anything about it until now.

That said I for one would hope that shaw would get their bandwidth meter functioning properly before they even consider enforcing this. I checked my secure.shaw.ca page and there is no modem usage option there, and from what I understand those that do have it find it doesn't work properly most of the time. I know that personally if I got a call after hitting 375GB (Triple my allotment) informing me that I had hit the threshold and would either have to purchase $50-$100 in data packages to take care of my extra bandwidth or pay an extra $250 on my bill for that month I would not be happy, considerably less then happy actually. Honestly I would hope that people would be warned long before they hit triple their bandwidth cap.

Personally I've always found Shaw's service to be A+, I really feel that their soft caps and their, what I consider to be fair compared to some other companies, throttling practices put them on a level above the other internet providers that are available in this area. I really, really, hope this does not change anytime soon.

My understanding is that Shaw goes by what the bandwidth monitor on the Shaw Customer Service site shows. So if it's screwed up, that's what they hold you to.

That's my understanding from Shaw's practices over the years and I have never heard anyone prove otherwise. Not saying it can't change, just that it has been their practice up to now.

Interesting, guess maybe i should call shaw and see why i don't have the usage option on my secure page.

reply to jpom5
Time to find another ISP. First they raise the basic price, now this BS. How about giving a fair product for the the most expensive Internet in the world.

reply to shaw user
Now if you have been going over the limit for years without one complaint, then what? Shaw's going to enforce the cap? How about grandfathered usage which is now the norm?

reply to jpom5
My understanding is you will see the usage screen in one of two scenarios:

- you've previously been a bad boy or girl and have exceeded the cap

- you've requested that it be added

reply to Zap

You have to add your modem's serial number to see the bandwidth monitor.

reply to jpom5
Maybe it'll be like Telus? Telus listed overage fees on their website nearly two years ago. Not only have they never bothered to charge, they don't even bother to track usage on their new technology (adsl2+ / vdsl). Which begs the question, if Telus can turn a decent profit without going hardcore on usage, why don't they advertise the crap out of it to compete with shaw?

anyways I think my point was, maybe Shaw will be like telus, and not actually do it, even though they list it on their website.

edit: now that I actually looked at the page, it looks official. Those rates are pretty expensive. When I was on teksavvy they sold 100gb blocks for 10 bucks. So 10 cents a gig. 50 bux for 250 gigs? Thats about double. I wonder what would happen if you exceeded that amount? I think rogers has a max overage free?

reply to jpom5
A more interesting question is are they going to allow a hard cap or just let people run over and suddenly get $200+ bills one month.

People already bitch about $2000+ cellphone bills because of roaming charges, I'm sure they'll bitch loudly when all of a sudden their internet bills suddenly jump up in cost. Especially at the "pay as you go" $2/GB rate they charge for the lower tiers.