Would you recommend Telus TV in Calgary?

[FranciscoC]

We are planning in switching to Telus TV cable. They offer better price and options but... I have heard some people complaining about the quality of the image being not as good as Shaw, to say the least.
Do you have Telus TV? What is your experience in both normal and High Def? Is it that bad?
We live in Calgary, Alberta.

 

[Unregistered]

state was

I live in Calgary as well, and **just** switched back to Shaw after giving Telus a solid (5 month) tryout. While I'm not foolish enough to think that anything in life is 'all good' or 'all bad', my Telus experience was pretty darn close to 'all bad'.

Things you (likely) don't know about, but should be aware of:

1. Telus pushes down a lot of updates to the TV Terminal. 1 or 2 a week is typical, but sometimes up to 4. It's nice to know that they're always improving (?) the system, but there's a catch. Your TV Terminal likely won't work (channel change, volume control, menus, etc) until the patch is applied. You'll come to recognize the symptoms of a patch. These things can take 10 minutes to download and install, but 15 minutes is much more common. Again I stress this......they are FREQUENT.

2. I never did get the HD channels, but as far as the standard digital picture goes, many (most) channels leave a lot to be desired. Specifically, I noticed A LOT of pixilation and blurring. Watching hockey was actually lousy on Sportsnet, average on TSN and average on CBC. The cable box may be set for 720p, but don't expect it to be anywhere close on more than a couple channels. Global TV is one of the better (picture) channels, so I devised a mini-experiment. I went with 'Rabbit Ears' last night (shortly after the TV Tuner crapped out again) to compare Global TV's free to air HD feed to Telus' feed.....both should appear in 720p.....Rabbit Ears won, hand's down. Overall, the picture is "Okay at best".

3. The router/switch device that runs the TV and internet is really lousy. I don't have the make/model with me, but the thing is constantly dropping out. Watching TV required at least 1 reboot (about a 2-4 minute boot time) on a typical weeknight, and happens 2 or 3 times per week. The internet (which I used to rave about) is usable most days, but sometimes (about once every day or two) it'll just stop working until you reset the router. No joke - I have reset that router 4-6 times a week (on average) for 5 months.

Re: the router/switch. The wireless connection is awfully weak. I used it (instead of my existing wireless router) for about 3 or 4 months. Even with a monster antenna, I'd usually get 2 or 3 bars (out of 5) for connectivity. Add in the above mentioned need to frequently restart.....lousy hardware.

The two positive comments though.....The TV Remote is really nice, far better than the typical Shaw remote. The other nice thing was Call Display on the TV. Sadly, those two things don't make up the negatives.

My advice, based solely on my own 5 month experience......stay with Shaw. Even if it's double the price. Being a super patient fella, I figured I could live with some glitches while Telus improved. 5 months later, I feel like I taken by a sleazy salesman with a slick advertising campaign.