O Canada! > Canadian > Shaw > [ALL] Ask a Shaw Rep

reply to Shaw_Alex

Re: [ALL] Ask a Shaw Rep

reply to rawrblam
It really depends. The engineers know far in advance when nodes need to be split, so when areas become saturated it's because we haven't been able to solve the issue on schedule. I wouldn't know exactly what the delay would be, but if you send me your account number i'll do my best to find an ETA.

reply to WiFiRobbery
If you could send me your account number or address, i'll ask one of the local techs for more information.

While not my address, this one will suffice:

750 Front Street
Victoria BC

reply to ShawSean
How reliable is your bandwidth usage monitor? It's documented through both first hand experience as well as archived and recent forum postings across the Internet as useless, hence your well known soft cap and consistent fluctuations in formatting the presentation of secure.shaw.ca in attempt to remedy the situation as opposed to ostensibly making it more user friendly.

Your current offering displays a broad stroke one month period that either rounds up or down decimal percentiles with no daily breakdown leaving an incredibly vague and inaccurate measurement, so vague that it cannot be taken serious for your impending bump up program and also likely why Shaw opted against implementing Usage Based Billing.

Now here is my problem with it, your inability to track statistics to a high degree of accuracy has left many people with a false sense of security that going over is casually accepted, but they will soon come to find out that is not the case, instead they will find themselves being pestered by a bandwidth enforcement member that will initially be understanding even to individuals deflecting responsibility by blaming malware, unsecured networks or whatever excuse seems plausible. I have recently received one of these calls, and I acknowledged I'd exceeded my package limit with things like torrents, Shaw and a premium newsgroups along with high quality video streaming.

Now with all cards on the table and sunlights disinfecting properties shining bright on my situation I knew I would have to scale back well within the paltry perimeters of my 25mbit service, and since I feel I've been honest about my usage I hope you can put a modicum of credence into my next observation about Shaw's broken bandwidth monitoring.

Since the start of this months recurring billing cycle I have kept heavy tabs on my usage to compare and contrast against Shaw. Currently Shaw has me pegged at approximately 93 gigabyte usage over the course of 6 days while I show 53 as monitored through Network Connections. The past day I made a conscious effort to sparsely utilize my connection which ultimately resulted in 2 gigabyte usage, Shaw tabulated it at 7. So while tying up some loose end downloads that were ceased after being admonished I am shown to have used nearly half my monthly allotment in less than a week. That is unacceptable, just like I acknowledge my excess was, but this is particularly bad embellishment that will likely happen to more people so long as Shaw demonstrates a glaring deficiency in stat tracking.

And while this statement has gone on for too long I must say Shaw has failed to provide a suitable package for pragmatic consumers, as a "power user" I've yet to experience a single scenario of 25mbit not being sufficient to download or stream hd content or be competitive in online gaming, only the data bandwidth requires a substantial boost, a boost that would happily be paid for so long as it didn't involve acquiring another modem and unnecessary throughput.

As for the egregious and maybe criminal stat padding, I will play it by ear, I suspect another phone call soon enough but I will be sure to have my ducks in a row to combat baseless allegation. Unfortunately Shaw holds the cards and like most ruling bodies acknowledging mistakes at the micro level cannot be allowed so to prevent de-stabilizing a ecosystem and plunging it into chaos through diminished consumer confidence. As such I don't foresee a happy outcome unless your service is sorted on a delivery basis, such as implementing an appealing package at the middle tier price points for users not enticed by a thrill of the first user/keeping up with the jones/carnival mark mindset that you're banking on with your fastest Internet promotion, or permanently fixed statistics tracking.

Shaw is without a doubt the best Canadian ISP, they haven't betrayed their customers privacy, they maybe the last or second to last to offer their own usenet server, but they've failed spectacularly at delivering packages to all kinds.

Your comment only solidifies my stance on their inability to track, you're just on the other side of the spectrum thanks to their ineptitude like I was prior to my courtesy call. Many experience that until you're on their radar, then you'll find tremendous stat bloating which is why I call into question the laid back attitude most customers have grown accustom only to find out this year they'll be charged extra by being bumped into new packages off the back of shoddy tracking, hence the soft cap reference.

Yours is the first I have also seen which indicates it over-reporting. I have only seen it under-report.

The information is not being used for anything at this point, if they start using that data for billing, or anything else, then I would be concerned about how accurate it is.

Right now, it is only used for you to look at it... Bandwidth team usually looks for the top users on a busy node.
--
Yes, I am not employed and looking for IT work. Have passport, will travel.

I'll definitely be providing detailed information by the end of my next billing cycle for posterity since this so called irrelevant and highly inaccurate information is Shaw's only point of reference for reprimanding and inevitable plan bumping. I was more then pleased to operate from an ignorance is bliss stand point prior to my outing and I don't mean to hinder others taking advantage but it seems like a good time to open a dialogue on the topic.

Hi Eject,

What services are you using to monitor your home network traffic?
Is it installed on your router or PC?

Would you be able to send me a screen shot of your findings?
I'd like to compare it with our reports and with the help of our Network Analysts find out where the differences are coming from.

If you could PM me with that information along with your account number, i'd be happy to look into it ASAP.

Cheers,

I want to upgrade my Internet from High Speed 25 to Broadband 50. Currently I'm using a Motrola Surfboard Modem 5100 which has given excellent service. Do I have to change my modem?
Thanks.

Yes, the fastest plan that the SB51xx series modems would work on is the 25 mpbs internet.

50 and faster require a different modem.
--
Yes, I am not employed and looking for IT work. Have passport, will travel.

Thanks. What type of modem does Shaw use for Broadband 50? I read some horror stories about these new modems. Are they true?

All the horror stories I've heard have been about when they're configured as a router/wi-fi gateway. I've had my DPC3825 in bridge mode for quite some time and have had one problem with it (had to reset it once).

Thanks. Never had a problem with my modem for years so that's the only reason I'm being reluctant to change.

The DPC 3825 sure has some poor reviews on Amazon.

»www.amazon.com/Cisco-DPC3825-Wir···08C4HDQA

reply to adiabatic

reply to capdjq
Bridge it, the Cisco is good as a good modem...

The ISP can make whatever changes they want to it as well, not all of them are good...
--
Yes, I am not employed and looking for IT work. Have passport, will travel.

reply to capdjq

reply to Shaw_Alex

Request For an update on Nelson, BC saturation problems.

When will it get fixed?