Telus Fibre Optics and HDTV in Vancouver

TELUS is alright by me My Telus TV review has been read and commented upon like crazy—it’s my most popular post by far!

To update that post, Telus has recently been working on installing fibre optic connections around my neighbourhood. My townhouse complex is currently being retro-fitted for their new 25Mbps service! It should be up and running by late December. I can’t wait for this insane bandwidth to run through my house. Not only will this rawk my Internet speed, but it brings with it a free HDTV trial period. I’ll share more details after it’s up and running.

My understanding is that I’ll receive new gateway hardware as well as a new set top box for my TV. However, the HD signal will only be available for one TV initially (crap!). But I’ll now be able to surf the InterWeb while watching two TVs without any slowdown or synchronization issues (sweet!).

Bring on the multi-lane Information Superhighway!
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Review of TELUS TV

TELUS TV RemoteI’ve been using TELUS TV for over a year now so I figured it’s worth reviewing as Canada’s #2 phone company gets ready to launch their HD service later this year.

The Free Trial
In early 2006, I had the fortune of being selected to participate in the free trial for TELUS TV (TTV). After being selected, a technician completed the installation within an hour because it only involved the installation of some additional hardware (two digital boxes, network switch, ethernet cabling) and some configuration in addition to my Linksys WRT54G and TELUS issued D-Link ADSL modem.

Initially, my TTV experience was average; It wasn’t much different from Shaw’s digital service. Picture quality, channel lineup, and the channel guide were very similar to Shaw Digital. However, being a free trial service I didn’t expect much in terms of reliability . That said, during the trial the picture would often be pixelated and freeze almost daily. The only solution was to reboot the digital box by unplugging the power. More about this in the Reliability section.

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