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Telus won't even try to match Shaw mobile at $45, no matter how long you've been a Telus customer.

Jeff-in-Edmonton
Just Moved In

I have been a Telus mobility customer since 2013, servicing both my Android and iPad to the tune of around $90-a-month. When I approached the Telus Loyalty team about matching the offer from Shaw mobile of $45-55-a-month, I was met with as careless and uncaring a response as you can possible imagine. I had conversations with three Telus reps: Sabilla, Paul, and Mark, the week of September 7, 2020. None of them even tried to make an offer to  keep me, not even offering so much a dollar off my current rate. It is clear that Telus is entirely unprepared to deal with what's coming once Shaw opens up it's mobile plans to the general Alberta population. At the is point, what is also clear, is that none of these three reps cared if I stayed or left. I am leaving.

10 REPLIES 10

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

Shaw Mobile and Telus Mobility are two very different products. Shaw Mobile is Freedom Mobile. They have a very limited service area compared to what Telus offers. If you go outside the small service areas, the Shaw Mobile plans only cover a small amount of data before they start charging. Shaw's primary service area won't expand without a huge multi-billion dollar investment in infrastructure or they enter a tower sharing agreement with one of the major carriers.

 

If Shaw was offering a comparable product, Loyalty may offer something. As it stands now, I doubt any of the cell carriers will match Shaw's rate and their tiny service area.


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Your information is incorrect. Shaw own Freedom, but it's towers are not limited to the Freedom network. I would urge you to get your facts straight before you spew this nonsense to other readers who may not know better. The reviews that are coming in for Shaw are good, and unless you live in an extremely rural area, services between Telus Mobile and Shaw are comparable.

  1. You have to be a Shaw residential services customer to receive those rates.
  2. If you do not live in the small areas where Shaw has towers, you are roaming on another network (Shaw Nationwide) and limited to 2 GB per month on the partner network. See map  and point 6 of Terms and Conditions.
  3. If 25 GB (unlimited) is important to you at that price, make the switch! Just make sure your major use is within their footprint.

 

NFtoBC
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If you want to be accurate, Shaw Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator of Freedom Mobile, which in turn is a subsidiary of Shaw Communications. Freedom is the actual cellular carrier and Shaw Mobile is a reseller of Freedom if you want to put it in simpler terms.

 

They both have identical service area maps because they are based specifically on Freedom's coverage area. (Shaw coverage vs Freedom Coverage) Users on Shaw are limited to Shaw/Freedom service areas to be able to use more than 2GB of data per month. Those service areas are limited to specific towns and cities and even within those towns and cities there are plenty of dead spots on their network where users will end up on their "Nationwide" coverage zone utilizing another carrier's towers.

 

Shaw also is advertising far lower speeds. As per Shaw's website they say "When using your plan’s included data allotment, you can expect 4G LTE data speeds of up to 50 Mbps. Once your allotment is depleted, you will continue to have access to data services, with no data overage fees, but at a slower speed – of up to 256 kilobits per second (for downloads) and 128 kilobits per second (for uploads) on the Shaw Network, and up to 128 kilobits per second (for downloads) and 64 kilobits per second (for uploads) on the Nationwide Network." (See Terms & Condition 6 at the bottom of the page) I've had up to 350Mbps on some Telus LTE towers and on average in Edmonton I am able to get speeds on Telus LTE well above Shaw's limited 50mbps.

 

With Telus' Peace of Mind plans, "When total usage exceeds the threshold included in your rate plan during your bill cycle, your data speeds will be reduced to a maximum of 512 Kilobits per second (Kbps) for downloads and uploads". (source) That is double the speed what Shaw offers on their limited network and four times the speed available after the 2GB limit in Shaw's "Nationwide" coverage zone.

 

Shaw also has a provision to terminate users services if a lot of their usage occurs outside of Shaw's primary service area as well. (PDF) "Our services and rate plans are designed for you to use predominantly in our service area. If the majority of your voice, text or data usage over consecutive billing cycles is not in within the Shaw Network, we may terminate your service or restrict your ability to receive service on our third party service providers’ networks." If someone is on the road a lot or works outside of Shaw's primary service area, this provision will be a problem for them.

 

These are examples of why I said Telus and Shaw Mobile are different products.


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@Jeff-in-Edmonton Marking your own post as the Most Helful for your own thread is pretty funny. 😄

 

If Telus were to match Shaw in price then they need to match them in service as well. I absolutely wouldn't want to go from the Telus speed of 186 Mbps down to the Shaw speed of <50 Mbps to save a few bucks.

https://www.speedtest.net/result/a/6443775504 

speedtest 20200829.png

 

The lack of reliable nation wide coverage with Shaw is a deal breaker as well. Cheap service only gets you so far until you find yourself with no service on the highway.

 

 

One shouldn't be allowed to make a reply to their own post and mark it as most helpful.  Shaw have been building up their network significantly in the past few years and maybe they will be a force to be reckoned with in a few more years.  For the people who seldom go out of the Shaw coverage area, and who aren't that fussy about their coverage quality no doubt they can save some money.  The Telus mobile network is pretty top notch and hard to beat.  They have a lot of towers both in the places Shaw operates and in a lot of other areas too.  Right now, the overall majority of my service is on "WiFi calling" so it is not going to matter who I'm on but it is ludicrous to compare the Shaw and Telus networks as equals.  

I'm in a close-in suburb of Vancouver (Surrey) and while I can make calls with my cellphone on Telus, another occupant of the house on Freedom has to borrow my phone to get reliable coverage for a call.

loosemeat
Advocate

I struggle to believe that you encountered three Telus employees in a row that could be described as careless and uncaring.

Usually any Telus rep I speak with is very friendly, although sometimes under trained or uniformed. 

Perhaps your expectations were too high?

 

If you're happy with the service proposition that Shaw mobile offers, then you may as well switch. One other thing not noted by other posters is that if you switch to Shaw, you're stuck with having Shaw home internet. If you ever wanted to switch to another provider, your mobile plan discount that bring it to $45 will disappear and your mobile bill will increase substantially. I've read recently that Shaw has been removing internet discounts and loyalty offers from their home services, so what you save in mobile you might end up paying on your internet bill.

 

Having said that, if it's still a compelling offer for you and you do switch, you never know if Telus will have a winback offer for you. They may be willing to come close to Shaw Mobile, but winback offers are different than loyalty offers as you'll never know if you get one until you actually port out.

Ricardoedm
Friendly Neighbour

If it makes any difference, I was a Shaw customer since they were Videotron (1992) and they wouldn't match the promotional prices that Telus offered for ALL services, not just mobility

 

They're not even comparable in terms of service.