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I will say I do wish I could get a decent OTA signal for HD, Telus or Shaw, either are pretty crappy in picture quality compared to the direct broadcast  Can't get TSN OTA anyway though.
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Dec 2, 2011 04:44
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quaint bucket posted:I had to reread it a second time but that definitely makes a lot more sense now. Seriously, thanks! I dunno if shaw has rolled their new IP TV stuff out in your area yet but if they have its worth checking out i just got the flyer for that the other day and you get faster internet + a pvr that can record more channels at a time.
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Dec 2, 2011 20:44
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priznat posted:I will say I do wish I could get a decent OTA signal for HD, Telus or Shaw, either are pretty crappy in picture quality compared to the direct broadcast I puchase one of these. http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=1518241&category=Indoor+Antennas&catalog=Online&tab=1#more In the lower mainland in a condo i am able to get CBC, French CBC ( RDS), Global, Omni, A few seattle stations in 1080i HD its pretty great.
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Dec 2, 2011 20:46
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Yep I've tried indoor + outdoor antennas at my place, and nada. Out in the wilds of Coquitlam, and I should be able to get a signal based on the coverage maps, but I guess there is something that is just blocking it. Sucks, because I had an indoor antenna when I lived in east van and the signal came in strong + clear. I could build a DIY gigantic antenna and put it in the attic but  . Instead I just moan to myself about how crap the shaw/telus picture is and live with it!
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Dec 3, 2011 02:21
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Apparently those new shaw gateway things support 1080p no idea if thats upscaling or not but i know telus 1080i stuff is upscailing.
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Dec 3, 2011 02:41
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We managed to upgrade to Optik turbo 25 (3 HD streams) when we moved into our new house and I'm very happy with it. The only thing, and maybe this thread has some tips... is that the PVR boxes seem ludicrously laggy. Like, not the viewing or anything but it's like using a remote that has a dead battery. You hit power and nothing happens... nothing happens... nothing happens... so you hit power again and oh! It came on! But oh wait that was from your first press and now your second press turned it back off again. But the second time it actually comes on right away, so it's almost like it needs to warm up. Sometimes trying to type in channel numbers does this too, and again it will settle down and respond nicely once you get it to co-operate the first time. Any tips for whipping it into shape?
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Dec 3, 2011 03:50
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I had decent response times with my harmony remote for a while, but it went back to being laggy and horrible pretty quickly. I'm happy with everything about optik but that goddamn remote.
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Dec 3, 2011 04:08
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Tagra posted:Telus Box Nah. Mediaroom is a Microsoft product. It's a known issue with the occasional remote lag. It's supposed to be fixed in a firmware update getting pushed in January.
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Dec 3, 2011 04:39
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less than three posted:Nah. Mediaroom is a Microsoft product. It's a known issue with the occasional remote lag. It's supposed to be fixed in a firmware update getting pushed in January. That is good to know. It's more tolerable knowing that it is something that can (and hopefully will...) be fixed.
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Dec 4, 2011 02:36
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I have this weird issue with my Telus pvr box where sometimes after powering it on if I hit the down arrow it locks up and stops outputting video. Takes a power cable yank to bring it back, annoying.
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Dec 4, 2011 02:55
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The guy who installed the Optik for us (who didn't seem to be incompetent...) said that there seems to be an issue if the boxes are hooked up through HDMI, and they all have less issues and are less frequently sent in for repair if they are hooked up with component instead. I have to wonder if there is anything behind that, or if it's just confirmation bias or a side effect of HDMI being a more popular hook-up and thus more statistically likely to be present when something blows up.
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Dec 4, 2011 03:39
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My installer said the hdmi is not officially supported, so if anything goes wrong plug in the component for any of the troubleshooting they get you to do. He didn't mention any hdmi issues and said that's what he uses at home anyway.
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Dec 4, 2011 03:46
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priznat posted:I will say I do wish I could get a decent OTA signal for HD, Telus or Shaw, either are pretty crappy in picture quality compared to the direct broadcast
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Dec 4, 2011 09:05
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On Oct. 11, 2011 I signed up to get internet service from Teksavvy. I bought a modem from them (about $95 with shipping and handling) and plugged it in. Everything seemed fine at first, until within the first week, I noticed my internet service was intermittent. Within the first couple of weeks, I called Teksavvy to complain after my internet connection had been down for at least 8 hours. I was on the phone with tech support for about 45 minutes, troubleshooting. Finally, the technician told me that the only other thing they could do was open a ticket with Bell; however, if the problem was found not to be on their network, I would be charged almost $90. I declined, and hoped the internet would be better the next day. The next day, and up until now, the internet has been intermittent and unpredictable, sometimes working perfectly for an hour, but more often not working at all or incredibly slowly. I called back in the next weeks to complain, and was still presented with the option of opening a ticket with Bell and risking the $90 charge. I was told by a few people that I was too far from the home centre (or signal centre – I forget what they called it) to get good internet access, even though they knew full well where I lived when I signed up for internet service. On Monday, November 28th, I finally said I'd open a ticket with Bell to see if the problem could be fixed. I was told I'd hear something within 24-48 hours. I heard nothing until Thursday night, when I received a message from my mom while I was out to dinner. Apparently, a supervisor had called and said that if I returned the call by 10 pm that night, a new ticket would not have to be opened. It was about 9:20 pm, so I stood outside the restaurant to call Teksavvy yet again. I was told by a tech support person that Bell had reported on the ticket that they could not reach me, that I had not been home. No one had told me that someone would be coming to the house. I was put on hold multiple times, transferred to Bell and back, and finally someone at Teksavvy told me that someone could come to my house on Friday, between 12 and 5. I agreed, even though it meant I had to take time off work. Someone called from Teksavvy on Friday morning to confirm that a Bell technician would be there between 12 and 5 that day. No one showed up. At 5 pm, I called Teksavvy. The woman I spoke to said that there was nothing on my account saying that anyone was supposed to be there from 12-5 that day; someone was actually supposed to be dispatched and be at the house between 5 and 9 that night. So I rearranged my weekend plans to stay in some more. At 9 pm, no one had come. I called Teksavvy again, and was told that the Bell technician had written that I wasn't home on the ticket. When I said that I had been home the whole time, the person I spoke to said that it was written on the ticket that the technician tried to call the house, and got a busy signal, so did not show up. The tech support person offered to have someone come to my house on Saturday, between 12 and 6. I said no, there's no guarantee that anyone would show up, He asked what I would like to do then, and I said that I wanted to send the modem back, cancel my service and get refunded for the modem and the two months I'd been with Teksavvy paying but receiving little to no service. He said that wasn't possible, because the service was available to me, it just had to be repaired. I became very frustrated, and insisted multiple times to speak to a manager. I was not going to be out about $170 for two months of lovely internet service, nevermind the time I spent phoning them and the frustration of waiting for technicians that didn't show up. Finally, after being on hold many times, I was transferred to a manager, named David. I told David my story, and he asked if the internet were fixed within a couple days, would I want to continue with Teksavvy. I said yes, if it were fixed within a couple of days, and I wanted my refund for the two months during which it didn't work properly. He said he would take care of that, and that he would send a technician out to my house on Sunday between 12 and 6. He said he thought this technician would switch my service to a remote to rectify the distance from the home centre problem. On Sunday, a Bell technician arrived. He went in and out of the house, and in total spent a little over an hour here. He first suggested that my computer was simply slow; I explained that it had just been reformatted and that I also had a laptop on which the internet was extremely slow and didn't work when in the house. He then said it was my router, but after he tested the modem directly to my computer said that it was not the router after all. Finally, said it was my modem, but could not test the connection with another modem. The manager I had spoken to on Friday night, David, was supposed to call me Monday, but didn't. So I called Teksavvy once again, to try to get a new modem. I was on hold, and finally told by tech support that I had to be transferred to customer service to get it set up to send me a new modem and for me to send back the old one. By the way, I asked if David were there, and I was told he wasn't. When I told customer service what I needed, I was put on hold about 10 minutes. When the customer service guy came back on, I was told that tech support had to handle this problem, and he transferred me back. Another 5-10 minutes of waiting on hold, then I spoke to another tech support guy. He said he'd get it ready to send me another modem, but if the modem I sent back were found to be working properly, I'd be charged a $25 restocking fee plus the money it cost to ship the new modem. I said I would not pay this – I was not confident that the Bell technician was correct, and asked to speak to a manager. I was told that they couldn't send the modem out until I agreed that I might be charged this restocking and shipping fee. I was put on hold again, then finally told I would be transferred to a supervisor. I was put on hold again. I waited on hold, until someone finally hung up on me. I had been on the phone 52 minutes. I have been polite through this, but I am so beyond fed up. I can't believe how terrible the service has been. It's almost absurd, like a Kafka novel. I have wasted so much time and energy calling these people and trying to get this fixed, and I can't even get a hold of the person (David) who said he would personally handle my account being credited. I just want my money back. Sorry for the wall of text but this has just been terrible even though I've heard good things and my friends have had no issues with TekSavvy. If the drat internet would just WORK it would be fine, but the fact that the customer service has been appalling makes me not even want to give them money. Anhedonia fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Dec 6, 2011 |
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Dec 6, 2011 04:49
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Yea teksavvy is worthless like that hope this helps.
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Dec 6, 2011 09:30
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Anhedonia posted:I have been polite through this, but I am so beyond fed up. I live in an area that has a similar issue with DSL. For about 5-6 hours during the day it will be fine but once 6PM rolls around it becomes intermittent and will stay that way until about 5AM. It would also completely die with any rainfall outside. The only solution was switching infrastucture altogether. Is teksavvy cable service an option for you? Sprawl posted:Yea teksavvy is worthless like that hope this helps. You do realize that teksavvy is pretty much at Bell's mercy right?
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Dec 6, 2011 16:14
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Septimus posted:You do realize that teksavvy is pretty much at Bell's mercy right? That's all fine but doesn't explain the guys other issues with their tech support which is a common story these days. Teksavvy used to be known for following up, having knowledgeable staff and generally great overall customer service but that has largely gone by the wayside as they grew too quickly without much planning. The other guys are just as useless but Teksavvy is almost worse because at least Bell or Cogeco/Rogers can provision their own stuff. Like he experienced, with Teksavvy I was told I could only ever get a 2mbit profile at my new place and there was nothing they could do about it. They were happy enough to sign me up and take my money though. Bell is doing stable 7m+ profiles all around here by the way and the customer doesn't care whose fault it is. If you ever encounter a problem there is a minimum 2 day period where you can only hope it gets fixed, that's if the Bell guy even decides to show up. I also had to dispute $210 in Bell service repair charges billed to Teksavvy (that showed up SIX MONTHS LATER) despite the fact that they never entered the premises and missed 2 out of 3 appointments period. I'm on Cogeco business now, $54 10mbit/640Kbps with no overage charges. Screw the DSL market, it's an annoying mess.
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Dec 6, 2011 16:57
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Tagra posted:The guy who installed the Optik for us (who didn't seem to be incompetent...) said that there seems to be an issue if the boxes are hooked up through HDMI, and they all have less issues and are less frequently sent in for repair if they are hooked up with component instead. I have to wonder if there is anything behind that, or if it's just confirmation bias or a side effect of HDMI being a more popular hook-up and thus more statistically likely to be present when something blows up. It's TRUE that HDMI is not officially supported, and standard procedure is to get you to swap them out for component cables for troubleshooting (it's one of the first steps, or at least it was last I worked there). In practice, unless it's a video/audio quality issue, the techs don't care about HDMI (or at least the thinking ones). I've seen maybe one PVR that had issues with HDMI, but it had other problems and eventually was replaced. I'd personally just use HDMI and maybe keep a spare set of component cables around in case something happens. Incidentally, I've seen a lot of customers replacing HDMI cables due to cable or connector being bent, so watch out for that. TELUS will replace component cables for free, FYI.
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Dec 6, 2011 21:48
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The Gunslinger posted:I'm on Cogeco business now, $54 10mbit/640Kbps with no overage charges. Screw the DSL market, it's an annoying mess. Is this a grandfathered plan? Their current page shows a 120GB cap on the $54 10/640 tier.
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Dec 7, 2011 07:44
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spoof posted:Is this a grandfathered plan? Their current page shows a 120GB cap on the $54 10/640 tier. There are no overage charges or penalties for exceeding your cap on the business packages right now, it's the unofficial unlimited package they recommend as a last ditch to keep people from going to Bell (who ironically has better bandwidth overage options these days). The sales techs will tell you that if you exceed the cap then Cogeco calls you to ask you to move up but I asked around on the DSLR forums and no one there had ever received a phone call or complaint. Some of them regularly doing 400GB+ which I couldn't even hope to do, I was just sick of getting $50 overage bills because of videogame sales or etc. The Gunslinger fucked around with this message at 14:18 on Dec 7, 2011 |
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Dec 7, 2011 14:15
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priznat posted:Yep I've tried indoor + outdoor antennas at my place, and nada. Out in the wilds of Coquitlam, and I should be able to get a signal based on the coverage maps, but I guess there is something that is just blocking it. Sucks, because I had an indoor antenna when I lived in east van and the signal came in strong + clear. Yeah unfortunately the antennas are mostly on mount Seymour and coquitlam, at least the south part, is sort of in the shadow of Burnaby Mountain, also I guess that ridge that runs east/west through the middle of coquitlam could contribute too if you live on the south side of that. I know a guy that lives on a hill just east of the Coquitlam Silver Cities and he can pick up the OTA signal but only with his big Channel Master antenna on a pole in his back yard. The DIY coathanger style indoor one wouldn't work saddly.
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Dec 7, 2011 23:24
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If my cable modem/router's status page is saying that the downsteam channel is locked, but that the upstream channel isn't, does that sound like something is wrong with the unit, or the cable service? The Rogers account in under my landlord's name, and he happens to live in a different city, so I'd like to figure things as much out as I can before asking him to drive over for an hour to poke at things.
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Dec 8, 2011 00:00
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The Dark One posted:If my cable modem/router's status page is saying that the downsteam channel is locked, but that the upstream channel isn't, does that sound like something is wrong with the unit, or the cable service? The Rogers account in under my landlord's name, and he happens to live in a different city, so I'd like to figure things as much out as I can before asking him to drive over for an hour to poke at things. Usually if it can find one and not the other its definitely a service issue with rogers. But poking it wont do anything as long as the service is partially working.
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Dec 8, 2011 00:32
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Sprawl posted:I dunno if shaw has rolled their new IP TV stuff out in your area yet but if they have its worth checking out i just got the flyer for that the other day and you get faster internet + a pvr that can record more channels at a time. It's not actually IPTV. Well, it does support it. But it's not used. It's still digital cable from Shaw to the gateway, but it's IP out to the individual units. It will also support streaming content from computers out to the gateway (and then to the units), eventually, but not yet. No ETA. :/ Also, afaik, while the gateways support 1080p, none of the channels are broadcast in 1080p yet. There is some VOD stuff that is, but none of the regular channels.
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Dec 9, 2011 05:57
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Anhedonia posted:I have been polite through this, but I am so beyond fed up. A bit old but, oh my god when I read this it gave me chills about my last job. Worked for comcast HSI support and every single thing you complained about is stuff I had to deal with all the time. Especially that Tech not showing up Part, writes in note that called customer, doesn't call at all then cancels appointment. I took those kinds of calls for hours on end at times. And ugh I could go on but bad memories. Best day of my life when I was done with that job.
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Dec 10, 2011 08:40
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So a silly question for y'all, I've just signed up for Fibe 25 while it's on 50% off, works out to just over 40 a month. Which outlet in my apartment will it come from? Good old phone jack or do they have to install something else? It's an older building and a combination of power and phone jack happens only once in the whole apartment. If the modem/router does not have to be tied down to those, it would be fantastic.
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Dec 12, 2011 21:14
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iv46vi posted:So a silly question for y'all, Yeah, It'll be a phone jack.
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Dec 12, 2011 22:26
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iv46vi posted:So a silly question for y'all, Depends they can set it up on cable or phone jack depending on how bad your cables are.
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Dec 13, 2011 00:44
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Shaw made an offer we couldn't refuse. Got all HD channels for less money so I guess we came out a little ahead. Not sure how I feel about downgrading my internet (high speed lite) but I'm rarely on my computer anyway so.. We will probably cancel the tv service in the summer if our tenant doesn't care for tv and just bump up the internet to normal levels.
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Dec 13, 2011 18:20
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quaint bucket posted:Shaw made an offer we couldn't refuse. Got all HD channels for less money so I guess we came out a little ahead. Not sure how I feel about downgrading my internet (high speed lite) but I'm rarely on my computer anyway so.. They made you take a lower tier Internet package, or was that of your choosing?
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Dec 13, 2011 18:41
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My own choosing. We don't spend as much time on the computer these days. The downgrade is definitely noticeable but not enough to make me weep. The tenant won't be moving in until summer so it's not a Big Deal in the meantime. At least I got TSN in HD now!
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Dec 13, 2011 19:41
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Does Rogers subcontract out their technicians or something? The first guy who came to my place talked about 'zapping' the line how how 'bleeing' might be the cause of my internet problems. He reset my modem to the factory defaults and left without checking that any traffic was getting through after the modem finished booting up. The second guy actually checked the wiring, and replaced the connectors on the wall jack and the coax running to the devices, replaced the splitter and ran off to a Rogers store to get a new modem before deciding that the problem was probably in my building's cable box. He only gave up when I couldn't get ahold of the super to give him physical access. He left the new modem, which was nice, because the wireless signal strength went up by about 15 dB from my bedroom. (Here's hoping guy #3 will be like #2)
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Dec 14, 2011 02:29
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I used to live with a couple of guys who did Rogers cable installs and in-home tech work, and they were definitely working for a third-party company. I couldn't say if all of their techs are subcontractors, though.
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Dec 14, 2011 04:02
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The Dark One posted:Does Rogers subcontract out their technicians or something? The first guy who came to my place talked about 'zapping' the line how how 'bleeing' might be the cause of my internet problems. He reset my modem to the factory defaults and left without checking that any traffic was getting through after the modem finished booting up. All the truck technicians and a good chunk of the head end techs are contractors.
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Dec 14, 2011 12:26
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Has anyone on Telus Optik had an issue with the Actiontec modems flaking out? It seems like my internet connection will get worse and worse, with pings on ~1s time to big sites like google, but when I power cycle the modem it is back to ~20ms. I tried using Telus' online chat help thing last night but the guy was absolutely no help and then the network went down again for me anyway. I'm not looking forward to having to wait on hold for ages to talk to someone on the phone about this. edit: I think I figured it out. It was iTunes match trying to upload stuff to the cloud. Weird that would clobber latency so badly, though. priznat fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Dec 19, 2011 |
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Dec 19, 2011 00:29
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I think shaw might have flipped the 250mbit switch for red deer. My internet has been choppy all night, and now seems to be overloading my lovely router while downloading at 11MB/s
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Dec 23, 2011 13:38
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Powershift posted:I think shaw might have flipped the 250mbit switch for red deer. My internet has been choppy all night, and now seems to be overloading my lovely router while downloading at 11MB/s Because thats only what 88mbit and on my shaw plan i usually get 90-95% of advertised speeds at all times of the day.
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Dec 23, 2011 19:52
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We have been using bell for at least 4 years now, they have been nothing but terrible to us. I have been looking into switching ISP's recently but our only real option is Cogeco and Teksavvy. After reading through this thread it looks like everyone is just as bad as everyone else. I think I will make my switch to Cogeco (they seam the least terrible).
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Dec 23, 2011 21:29
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Cogeco is really lame with their unrealistic bitcap limits, but to be completely fair their tech support has been top notch, reliability has been great, and the speeds are pretty much constantly as advertised. This is on their 80gb (recently upgraded from 60, which was pretty unrealistic) 15mbit plan in a suburban area of Hamilton. If I had the option of TekSavvy reselling Cogeco service I would jump on that in a heartbeat. The reliability of Cogeco's network (at least in my experience) with the boosted bitcap of TekSavvy? I'd be on board.
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Dec 23, 2011 21:40
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Yeah that was basically my logic as well. I can deal with the cap there's not a lot I can do about that anyway. It's also nice to be able to talk to someone in the same country as me when I need help.
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Dec 23, 2011 22:11
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