Another Cash Grab by Cable TV
- Thread starter Bar Sinister
- Start date
Changing servers doesn't help. Shaw (I think just in BC and AB but maybe in more provinces), promised us $15.95 per month plus 4 cents per min. for LD phone. Our internet was to be $32.00 p/m. TV charges are, to a point, what you subscribe to. Shaw apparently gives you discounts for the number of services you subscribe to. My May bill came and along with other wrong charges, they charged me the HST which was not in effect until July. They do bill one month in advance but I`ve always watched June follow May so the HST should not have applied. I left the amount off when I paid the bill. The bill included charges of $50.00 for my internet (highest speed which we did not order), $30.95 for telephone plus the LD charges. Then to confuse things more, they throw in things they give you so called discounts for. The rest was for our TV and the total bill was around $170.00. I had switched back to Telus in June so I let the bill go to see what I ``really`` owed. I got another bill for over $400.00. I thought that they hadn`t gotten around to making the change on the billing so I threw a $100 on the bill thinking I probably had a credit by then. They cut off my services all together! I Went to their office where the girl who served me was so angry she could hardly speak to me. We got things straightened out but - she tells me our monthly bill will now be (just for Digital HD TV) $95.00 per month. Now we have to see what we are being charged for. I hate Shaw but we own two of their PVR`s so for now, we are stuck with them. We seem to have about a zillion sports channels showing up. They keep announcing that the channels we regularly watch some sports on are changing. I`m wondering if they are adding in more sports then we ordered and charging us. Hubby says he has no idea why we have so many sports channels. He set up our channels with them but we didn`t get charged like that 10 months ago.
Does anyone else own a Toshiba laptop. I have no idea what key I hit that changes my keyboard to French but it happens all too frequently and the only way I know how to fix it is to shut my computer down. There must be a key I can hit to change it back. This is my question mark right now `É doesn`t look much like one does it É lol
Does anyone else own a Toshiba laptop. I have no idea what key I hit that changes my keyboard to French but it happens all too frequently and the only way I know how to fix it is to shut my computer down. There must be a key I can hit to change it back. This is my question mark right now `É doesn`t look much like one does it É lol
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You are talking to the wrong person. I don't have cable. I have satellite and it is the only option I have as I live in a rural area. There is no other provider for me to change to.
ctrl + shift will put it back. Hold the control key down while pressing the shift key. That toggles between the high ascii and standard.
Thanks gerry. I knew I was doing something around those keys. I tried doing that on Word just to see if the same thing happened (French keys) but it didn't. It happens on Face Book too. Maybe it's because French is used both there and on here. Anyway, thanks again. Now I will know what to do when it happens mid post again.
One of my #1 rants - cable & satelite service in Canada, although "service" is an oxymoron in this topic. I'll try to keep it brief:
- It's a worse corporate-government boondoggle than you think. Up until last winter I was watching more tv on the Net than on Shaw's miserable cable line-up, Telus is no better. Shows, sports, documentaries, everything pretty much was available either at a show's site but usually at a broadcaster's site, usually as streaming video. Then some entertainment media watchdog twits published the stats for people who were switching to watching tv on the Net vs cable and satelite - almost 40% & growing daily! Panic in the boardrooms, various politco's offices & the CRTC board members were woken up & flown back from their ten month off duty breaks in Hawaii & Vegas!
- Ok, re-write Bill C32 so as to really irritate the US media giants, so they made the 'digital lock' approach the focus of the Bill - the US got really ticked 'cos that won't stop what they want stopped (won't go into all that now, but very interesting.). So they blocked access to all media sites from Canadian ISP's: tv channel sites, individual shows sites, Hulla TV (Internet tv & movies), tons of YouTube music & movie videos, on-line books... You name it, they've blocked it. "Oh GOODY!," trilled Rogers, Shaw, Telus, Harper, CRTC and all.
- IOW, six months or so ago I'd have suggested watching your sports over the Net. Now you can't because now they've got the US blocked & can publicly blame them, they've removed live Canadian tv off the Net as well. (CTV does have a lot of shows on their site still, but the list is dwindling and its all video not live.)
- Recently this interference by tv service providers into what could be accessed on the Internet as well as the manipulation of channels by using 'bundling', was reviewed by the European Union because of complaints by a very large number of consumer groups in Europe. They ruled in favour of the consumers. No more bundling - A la carte choice from now on & also, not sure about this, I believe they told the tv service providers to get their money-grubbing mitts off the Net.
- You may find "NetFlix" somewhat of a solution, they're opening for business in Canada in the Fall - Internet streaming video (can be networked to a tv if you purchase a gizmo to do so) as well as DVD rentals by mail. They've become very popular in the US since offering streaming video of tv shows - dunno about sports though. Popular enough to cause Rodger's knickers to get in a twist, the battle is on to try & keep what NetFlix can offer Canadians since they lost the battle to stop them opening shop here.
- A VPN is very handy. :wink:
- The CRTC would be a joke if it wasn't so outrageously offensive and autocratic in its behaviour towards the public its supposed to serve. You do know that they will only accept complaints in writing, only between certain dates and times and according to the agenda of complaints they decide they will consider I assume? Going through your MP as you did will probably get you more response, as may going to your MLA as well.
Netflix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SaveOurNet.ca | Protecting your Internet's level playing field
I think you'll find a lot of folks here who are not going to take it any more either:
Digital Forum
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Quite so. I had an interesting discussion with two CRTC reps who went out of their way to defend Rogers' actions and claimed that they had no input over it. I finally told them that I was not interested in listening to a defence of the communications oligarchy that exists in Canada and told them simply to register my complaint. Next stop - my MP.
Do you really think you can change any of it? The TV runs in our house daily - hourly. I constantly hear about how there are many channels that are changing and to look to our guide to see what the changes are. I guess we have to wait and see what the changes are so we can really know what to complain about. It was just so much easier (and so much cheaper) when we only had channels 2 - 13. We even got to watch TV that we liked! Shaw sends out two pages of two sided billing and I don't have a clue what they are talking about. Nothing more than fancy footwork. Telus has a complicated bill. Shaw's is a Jigsaw Puzzle with missing pieces.
A person has to try & change what's unjust or, in this case, profiteering with the collusion of an unnaccountable bureaucracy. Gets very wearying though. :-(
That was so much better wasn't it? And they only repeated shows once!!
{QUOTE]Shaw sends out two pages of two sided billing and I don't have a clue what they are talking about. Nothing more than fancy footwork. Telus has a complicated bill. Shaw's is a Jigsaw Puzzle with missing pieces.[/QUOTE]
What I object to & cannot fathom is how its legal for them to charge us for the Knowledge Network, they don't pay a dime to the network for carrying it, let alone the PBS channels they don't pay for. And the endless hours of paid for tv advertising shows! They charge the advertiser a fee for broadcasting their advertising pitches and then turn around and charge us for that time too! Let alone that it also lets them off the hook for finding programming for many, many hours every week. BTW many Canadian basic channels are still required by law to be available with an antenna.
As for leaving the tv on, unless there's something worth watching, I watch good stuff on my notebook curled up in my recliner. :smile: "Ted Talks", documentaries and shows on "Miro", there's a lot of good stuff on the Net.
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Sounds like you are having the same experience with Shaw we are- generally the bottom line being $160. You're better off just to wing the T.V. and listen to the radio.
If you want to get away from cable/satellite, invest in an old school antenna & a digital OTA (Over the Air) box. With a good antenna and depending on your location, you can easily tune 7-8 high quality HD channels which do not suffer from the compression seen with cable satellite.
Does Shaw charge you extra for the knowledge network or is it bundled with their regular package (CBC, CTV etc)?
Does Shaw charge you extra for the knowledge network or is it bundled with their regular package (CBC, CTV etc)?