12-07-2018 03:14 PM
After being a Shaw tv customer for over 18yrs, I finally bit the bullet and switched to the green team. I have been using the Arris Gateway on Shaw since it came out. Current setup is Optik TV with 4k PVR, and wireless 4K boxes, Pick 6 and Internet 300.
First Impressions:
As for the internet, I have been a Shaw internet customer for most of the last 18yrs, but occasionally switched to Telus if a deal came up. Currently setup with Internet 300/300. Ping is 1, and down/uploads are over 300mbs. I am a gamer and have always had issues with bad ping and speed issues with Shaw internet. In the evenings when everyone is home, the neighborhood gets bogged down and connection speeds drop. I have never had any connection or speed issues with Telus.
Shaw offered pretty much the same pricing as Telus but the deciding factors were:
The two things that scared me from changing to Telus were the long wait times when trying to get technical help. The online chat frequently has a que over 50, and hold times are over an hour. The second thing was the learning curve of using the new hardware and relearning all the channels.
If Shaw had 4K content on Bluesky TV and faster upload speeds, I don't think I would of switched. Their customer service has been top notch and I can always get a hold of someone in less than 20minutes.
Cheers
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12-07-2018 06:18 PM
@RobbyD wrote:
2. Setting up recordings on Optik is way easier. Just press record once for a single recording, or twice for series recording. The one thing i find unusual is the recordings start before the show starts, and ends a minute or so after. Not a big deal but a little annoying when u need to skip forward on every show at the beginning just to get to the show. Telus should sync their start times with the networks better.
There is an option in settings to adjust the start and end offsets. Since broadcasters don't always start and end on time Telus chose to start a bit early.
4. The remote control has no backlighting. I watch a lot of tv in bed or in low light. Its impossible to tell what buttons are what. They all feel the same. I am frequently pressing the "1" instead of the volume down. Can you use a aftermarket remote like the Harmony or does Telus offer a different remote?
Logitech Harmony remotes have been successfully used by many. A search should turn up model numbers folks have chosen.
12-07-2018 03:49 PM
A balanced and just view that coincides with the experiences of many. Thanks for sharing.
12-07-2018 06:18 PM
@RobbyD wrote:
2. Setting up recordings on Optik is way easier. Just press record once for a single recording, or twice for series recording. The one thing i find unusual is the recordings start before the show starts, and ends a minute or so after. Not a big deal but a little annoying when u need to skip forward on every show at the beginning just to get to the show. Telus should sync their start times with the networks better.
There is an option in settings to adjust the start and end offsets. Since broadcasters don't always start and end on time Telus chose to start a bit early.
4. The remote control has no backlighting. I watch a lot of tv in bed or in low light. Its impossible to tell what buttons are what. They all feel the same. I am frequently pressing the "1" instead of the volume down. Can you use a aftermarket remote like the Harmony or does Telus offer a different remote?
Logitech Harmony remotes have been successfully used by many. A search should turn up model numbers folks have chosen.
12-08-2018 03:49 PM
Is there a "input" button on the remote that I'm missing? I would like to be able to switch from TV to Xbox without having to pickup my old tv remote.
thanks
12-08-2018 05:02 PM
12-08-2018 05:38 PM
@Nighthawk wrote:
On the current remotes there isn’t an Input button.
There is some combination of buttons or button presses which will change the input source. Unfortunately I don’t know which, as the remote has been behind me when the buttons were pressed.
12-08-2018 05:19 PM
I use a Harmony one remote that works well with the Telus box. I also switched from Shaw to Telus a year and a half ago with no regrets.
08-03-2019 05:02 AM
12-07-2018 06:45 PM
@RobbyD Thanks for taking the time to write your first impressions! I enjoyed reading your post, and immediately shared it with few other members of our team. For remote, currently we do only have the one version, and will take your feedback away for improvements.
Once you have more time to use our services, do send us an update. Looking forward to hearing more 🙂
12-08-2018 08:17 PM
I use a Harmony 650 remote, which I can see quite nicely in the dark. It is often on sale around this time of year at BestBuy. I rather like that the PVR starts a little before and after the end of a program. Since the beginning of many shows have a flashback to remind you of what went on in the last episode, I'm usually skipping forward, anyway. In the past, on occasion I missed the end of live shows, because they went overtime. That hasn't happened to me since I got Telus.
I also migrated from Shaw, due to frustrations over some channels not being available in HD. I held on hoping for several years and finally gave up. It appears that now, more than a year later, they still do not offer a time shifted high definition PBS channel. My only regret is that I didn't make the switch to Telus sooner.
I'm impressed with the Guide and some offerings in 4K, which makes sense because 4K sets are flying off the shelves in stores, and that will only increase toward Christmas and with Boxing Day sales.
I can't imagine I would ever go back!
12-10-2018 02:50 PM
After a week of using Optik TV, I would suggest the following improvements:
I have noticed that the channel changing is lighting fast on the wireless boxes, but its laggy on the PVR box. I think I read somewhere that a firmware update recently bogged it down???
Overall I am very pleased with the Optik TV platform and how things are laid out. The learning curve wasn't as steep as I thought, and I would recommend Optik to friends and family.
I was originally on Internet 75 on copper, then upgraded to PureFiber 300. The internet is slightly faster, but I think the bottleneck lies with the speed of the servers of the sites you are visiting. Telus internet has always had consistent speed and low ping.
08-03-2019 05:27 AM