For those of you currently on Shaw’s High Speed Internet, I’m sorry to tell you that your Internet connection sucks. Why you ask? Because Telus is testing its ADSL2 service, and I’m one of the lucky few in British Columbia to have a trial fibre optic connection going straight into my house.
This fibre line offers killer downloads of just under 25 Mbps (aka 25,000 kbps) and uploads of just under 5Mbps (aka 5,000kbps)!
What does this mean in the real world?
It means that I can download the full version of Windows XP SP3 (316MB) in about 2 minutes flat! It means that video streams start a second after I click play. It means my Net connection kicks yours in the www.balls!
In addition to this warp speed, I have Telus HDTV service running through my walls. The service is every bit as good as Shaw’s, and I’d venture to say it’s a little better because it’s IP based. This means I can surf the web on my TV (in limited form at the moment, but sure to be full-featured when launched to the mainstream market).
Unfortunately, you can’t get Telus fibre just yet because it’s in a trial phase and will be for a while still.
It sucks to be you! 
Hey, Chris. Your post would be much more impressive if you used the right units. Your average download speed is just under 25 Mbps (not kbps) and your upload is approximately 5 Mbps (again, not kbps). Your welcome!
Oops. Excellent point D. I’ve corrected the post. Thanks for the heads up!
Hi Chris,
Does Telus actually bring the fibre into one of the outlets on the wall or does it terminated into a special decoder, then you distribute the signal with a normal router ? I find this set up fascinating. We have fibre hubs on both end of our street but I have not heard fibre is being brought right into the house/suite itself.
Phil – to answer your question, yes Telus ran fibre directly into my unit. The smarter setup would have been to run the fibre into a central hub and split it off into the homes from there, but they were in a real hurry to get the free trial up and running.
So I currently have a big Siemens fibre box in my garage where all the cable lives. It’s quite a cool setup.
Actually the fibre went into a “hub” before getting to your unit where it went through a 1:32 splitter.
Sounds fast…and I used to be a TELUS customer. Very happy with Shaw’s offer and speeds.
Plus…the billing at TELUS just about killed me (wrote a tonne about it)…
Chris,
I believe this is not ADSL2+ but refered to GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network). ADSL2+ still runs over your normal copper cables and still has the same upload speeds your used to with ADSL, but theoretical download speeds upto 25mb/s (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_Digital_Subscriber_Line_2_Plus).
For GPON, the Fiber comes into the neighborhood into a switch and then separate fiber cables run from the switch to each house. (See http://www.itu.int/itudoc/gs/promo/tsb/85155.pdf or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_optical_network)
QUESTION – I’m moving to Beach Grove in Tsawwassen. I understand it has Telus TV and fibre optics. Any reviews for quality of service in that area? The only other service option I know of is Delta Cable. Thanks!
Yes VDSL service is available in Tsawwassen
Just so u know buddy ur on glue about the shaw statement I live in Vancouver and am getting 29mbps out of my shaw and they currently offer a 100mbps service here in vancouver so I’m sorry to tell u your internet still sucks =)