Shaw VOIP-any problems?

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 13, 2006 Posts: 2

I am having problems w/ Shaw Voip in Winnipeg in that it cuts out, doesn't work, I can hear people but they can't hear me. Shaw says it's no big deal & I should get a cell phone to call them when it happens. The thing is.... it shouldn't be happening.

Now I find that a couple of other people signed up w/ Shaw and are having the same problems. If anyone is having problems with Shaw, I would appreciate hearing from you. I think this thing is bigger than just a couple of people.

Perhaps Shaw should use the new technology they say they have to 'upgrade' Vonage users using their system to solve their own problems. ( see http://michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1147/Itemid,85/ - Vonage complains about add'l Shaw charges)

Anyway, I know this forum is for Vonage but thought your readers might be able to help.
thanks !

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 19, 2006 Posts: 1

I have experienced extremely unreliable call quality while using Vonage with a Shaw internet connection in Winnipeg. Very often I can hear the caller at the other end well, but they report hearing me as being delayed, intermittent and a constant echo. I also have a Vonage fax line which has been unreliable for outgoing and incoming faxes.
I have configured port forwarding thru my router...that didn't help much.
Recently, I changed to a different router which is capable of QOS (Linksys WRT54GL with www.dd-wrt.com firmware upgrade with QOS) and I upgraded to xtreme speed which the Shaw tech rep said has QOS enable at shaw's end by default. All these upgrades resulted in some noticable improvement, but call quality is still not acceptable.

Posts: 2 · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:37 am Post subject:

I live in Leduc Alberta and have been a Shaw/Vonage customer for almost a year. I have had many problems with my connections and believe I can put all the blame on Shaw. I get echos, delays, static etc. I have done pings, latency tests, bandwidth tests and even the Voip test on the forum page and they all say the connection is great even though I just lost a call. I have also just lost my internet connection while still being able to use Vonage. I have lost Vonage and internet on several occasions and had to cycle the power to modem and router several time to restore it. Both sides blame the other but the tests show nothing. I had several friends in Edmonton sign up with Shaw/Vonage and they all dropped Vonage (due to call quality) and used Shaws digital phone (not offered in Leduc) and are delighted with the quality. So what is the problem?? Some say that Shaw is searching for Voip packets (Vonage/Primus etc) and intentionally dropping the odd one but this is only hearsay and I have no idea how you would prove it. The only reason I still have Vonage is I am cheap but if my wife or friends had there way I would be back to Telus.

Posts: 105 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Nov 19, 2005 Posts: 105

Do the following (type in text between "" without typing ""):

Start>Run>"cmd"

In black window at command prompt type the following:
tracert 69.59.248.59

That will trace the path your outgoing calls take to the Vonage NJ PSTN gateway. All outgoing calls, even local, go to Vonage NJ. You will be able to see if there are any large delays and if so you will see EXACTLY where they are happening. At least for tracert packets. It should give you a fairly good rough idea about how much delay there is and where it is being introduced.

Incoming usually takes a different path to servers located near you but I don't know what the IP's are for people in Winterpeg.

If you have a WRT54G with dd-wrt firmware you can enable Rflow in the administrator>services page, download and install Rflowcollector from the dd-wrt site and analyze the packets yourself. Call your Vonage # from a landline or cell phone. That way you will be able to see the IP that the call comes from and do a tracert to that IP if your having incoming delay problems as well.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 13, 2006 Posts: 2

Since I posted the original message about 2 weeks ago, I've sent a letter to Shaw President, GM in Wpg and copied in the local newspaper. I finally got some service and a head tech came out and completely changed the hardware. He gave me a direct line to contact him in case of any problem, without having to go through the 20 minute switchboard wait.
Still had some voice quality issues with the line but it stopped going down in the middle of calls. A couple of days later, he stopped by again and swapped out something else, admitting that they did have some problems with some of the Voip lines they had installed. They had monitored my line since changing all the equipment and could see that it was still problematic.
Since that time, the phone seems to be working great. So, if they attend to a problem, they apparently can fix it. The problem seems to be in getting their attention.
In any event, I'm now happy with the phone quality & reliability. If I have any more problems, I'll post back. Otherwise, no news is good news. Thanks for the feedback !

Posts: 105 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Nov 19, 2005 Posts: 105

So your using Shaw Digital Phone not Vonage??

Yup, getting your complaint put in the local paper would DEFINITELY get their attentions....LOL!

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 29, 2006 Posts: 6

Why complaining shaw here:)

Posts: 92 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Aug 01, 2006 Posts: 92

Shaw uses Ellacoya servers in most major cities now. These servers allow Deep Packet Inspection to determine the application being used. Shaw is then able to to shape (prioritize) the traffic passing through its routers based on this.

http://www.shaw.ca/NR/rdonlyres/9D8C3E29-75EE-440D-8EF5-3F03BA1405F9/0/Ellacoya.pdf#search=%22ellacoya%20shaw%22

While many people do not have a problem, some do. Vonage has requested a CRTC investigation into shaw's business practices as it appears as though Shaw is reducing the priority on Voip / Vonage traffic.

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1147/125/

While I will no go in to details of my personal beliefs, there is currently no hard proof of this. If you want more information I would suggest googling CRTC Vonage shaw or reading the filings from Shaw on the CRTC site.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 25, 2006 Posts: 2

I am running Shaw and Telus internet at my home at the same time. If you use shaw your called parties will have problems hearing you at random times. SHAWS $10 Qos and Extreme internet does not fix this at all. If you switch to telus your problems will completely vanish. Test your Voip with telus and all systems are go! Test with shaw and you will have issues with Qos and Jitter above 10ms [url=http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip] I am in Burnaby BC. Shaw will send a technician to "help" me all of a sudden now that they are losing me to telus. Go figure. Get Telus Dry DSL for $35 a month with a year or more contract or $40 month to month. Add $5 to each price if you dont have a Telus cell. Telus is slower on paper but it feels like Shaws faster stuff. DSL is dedicated bandwidth. SHaw cable is shared.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 02, 2006 Posts: 1

I can also confirm that Burnaby Shaw + Vonage = Bad. I've been experiencing garbled voice quality even with Shaw extreme internet. It's definitely starting to look like it's Shaws fault. I switched from Telus's internet to Shaw's internet because you do get 2 to 4 times the bandwidth of Telus as it's capped with their upgraded internet packages, but Telus just seemed more reliable.