In my most recent column I discussed the haggling many of us have to go through every year or two when our contracts for TV and internet (perhaps also coupled with cell phone and landline), typically two-year deals, come due.

Following that column, I was annoyed to see an advertised deal from my provider, Shaw Communications, offering the company’s new digital TV platform, along with 600-megabit internet, for a blended price of around $120 a month.

My anger was driven by the fact that this pricing was for new customers only. I found this out when I contacted the support centre and was gently reminded that I had probably taken advantage of such an offer when I first signed up. (That was unlikely, as back then Shaw didn’t exist here; the internet service was run by Rogers.)

Fast forward a week and the online support people had grown tired of me. I was passed to “retention,” the people with the power to do whatever it takes to retain an account. Well, within reason. 

I told them I was only willing to pay $120 a month for TV, the new BlueCurve platform (recently renamed from Bluesky, the internet protocol TV technology licensed from Comcast), and 300- or 600-megabit internet.

“Sure,” said the retention person, “we can make that work.” He indicated we’d be getting many more TV channels than on our present $25-a-month Limited TV package, the internet service would be upgraded from 300 to 600, and the two add-on channels we have – BBC and Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) –  would be added in as well. $120, plus taxes. A month.

A day later, a package containing a new router and three small cable boxes arrived at the door. Deployment turned out to be a bit of a nightmare, and I suggest any readers considering this route insist that the company complete the installation. In principle it should be straightforward, but various quirks popped up for us.

What I hadn’t realized is that BlueCurve TV is a wireless solution, with a gateway box that broadcasts to the tiny cable boxes placed at each TV. 

Shaw sent over three boxes, one for each set. I was skeptical of this wireless approach, but eventually I was won over by the picture quality and the voice-activated channel and program selection remote controls. Everyone in the family agreed the overall picture quality with BlueCurve appears to be better than with the straight cable.

As for the internet delivery … well, that proved very frustrating. Initially the nearby desktop computer connected to the new router, but at only a very pedestrian speed of around 15 megabits. We had a support person on the phone to activate the various boxes, and after his last reboot to complete the installation, speed dropped below 1 megabit. The machine became unusable and could not be used to post photos, as the outbound speed was near zero.

This speed problem persisted into the next day and was not resolved with additional online help, resulting in the need for a housecall by a technician. As this column is being written, that visit is still to occur, but for some reason speeds have begun to rise, reaching 40 megabits on that one machine for most of the day, but dropping to around 20 as evening approached.

Whether the ultimate speed, as measured by a device plugged directly into the router, reaches 300 or 600 really doesn’t matter to me, as beyond about 300 the performance of the sites being accessed becomes a limiting factor. However, I will request a rollback of $10 a month if 300 becomes the maximum.

I should add that the new gateway box, which basically controls the internet and TV service, has resulted in a better Wi-Fi signal in the far reaches of the house. However, the box is only delivering one of the two Wi-Fi frequency ranges at this point. The 2.4 GHz signal is solid. The 5 GHz signal is also strong, but it refuses to authenticate devices, rendering it unusable at this time.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be keeping a close eye on the TV performance, looking for signs of signal interruption or image jitter, and of course on our internet speeds, to see if we are getting anywhere close to the advertised speed figure.

Project Starlink Update

In a previous column I noted astronomers were concerned that Elon Musk’s satellite internet delivery system would “pollute” the night skies and make their work more difficult. The first evidence of that “pollution” from sunlight reflecting off these satellites into telescopes has now surfaced in a photo published in an angry tweet by Clarae Martínez-Vázquez, an astronomer attached to the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The photo shows 19 tracks marring the time exposure image.

GoldTV
 In a future column we will examine the recent unprecedented court ruling requiring Canadian internet service providers to block this pirate TV service within 15 days. The ruling represents a bit of a slippery slope that could lead one day to a national block list of sites that broadcasters deem undesirable.

Digital Cameras Website

Our annual column and accompanying website covering scores of digital cameras is in production and will appear in a few weeks. The updated version of the site is active now at vandigicams.ca, with new content being added through Dec. 23.

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pvogel@outlook.com