Is this false advertising?

[Cortexian]

So here are a couple of web pages from my ISP's website showing the speeds they offer and such:
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/9015/shaw01.jpg
http://shaw.ca/Internet/Compare-Plans/

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/5184/shaw02.jpg
http://shaw.ca/Internet/Broadband-50/

I have Broadband 50, which when it first came out was actually 50 down/3 up. However they had promised to upgrade everyone to 50/5 in the future after they upgraded their network a bit, they have since done that and updated their site to reflect the change. The website now shows Broadband 50 at 50/5.

To clarify, they launched with 3Mbps upload speed and promised to upgrade it to 5Mbps upload speed (for free, no change in plan pricing). They have now upgraded their network and all plans should be at the new 5Mbps upload speed according to the site.

I am currently only getting 3Mbps, even after having talked to them and confirming that the network upgrade was completed in my area. So I asked them to look into it and find out why I was getting only 2.24Mbps average on all of the speed tests I have ran since I got the connection (speeds that would be acceptable at 3Mbps but not 5Mbps).

Meanwhile you're probably going to point out this to me:

† Download speeds are now up to 10x faster than Shaw's 25 Mbps Extreme Internet service. Availability of Broadband 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 250 Mbps service may vary by region, modem equipment, or residential wiring. 1 Gbps speed available in select neighbourhoods where technology permits. Internet download speeds are based on optimal conditions. Broadband 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 250 Mbps services are delivered by a network utilizing the latest DOCSIS 3.0 modems, latest IP Backbone routers with 100 Gigabit DWDM and 100 Gigabit IP links, and the most DOCSIS DS RF channels of any service provider in North America.

That's fine and dandy, but now lets take a look at a cousin of mine who's living in the same neighbourhood as me. He has the Broadband 100 plan. That plan launched with 5Mbps upload speed and promised to upgrade to 10Mbps upload speed. Again, the website now shows that it should be 10Mbps. He only gets 4.84Mbps upload max right now. Sounds a lot like the old speeds again right?

So I talk to my ISP's tech support and they tell me that my modem is only provisioned at 3Mbps. WOW! So my modem's absolute MAXIMUM speed is 3Mbps due to limitations placed on it by the ISP. This basically means "speeds up to 3Mbps".

The fact that they're advertising "up to 5Mbps" is false advertising isn't it? When in actuality it's "up to 3Mbps"?

[JackalStomper]

...did you ask for a new modem?

e: I can't even view the plans because I live in the Rest Of the World.

[Cortexian]

...did you ask for a new modem?
Doesn't matter if I get a new modem, they're all provisioning with 3Mbps and I have the newest one available.

[Kornman00]

How's that free medical care working out up there?

Since you're using a modem from before this upgrade, it's not really FA. If they upgraded the network at no additional charge, there really is no case for you

[=sw=warlord]

Why don't you just get a third party modem like everyone else and get rid of the scrub-ware known as the isp supplied modem?
Nearly all routers I see have built in modems, I used my Netgear for a long time before it packed up with no troubles until a heatwave one summer cooked it.

[Amit]

I think you have that backwards Warlord. Nowadays a lot of modems have routers built-in to them. Regardless, I like to keep both separate. Buy a 3rd party modem and enjoy life like me. I don't trust ISPs.

Also, none of us can view those links properly if we live in a different area of the country or if we are outside Canada. The best plan Shaw has in my area is:



Extreme
$62.00/mo
250 GB
25 Mbpsâ€*
2.5 Mbps




Get some screencaps instead.

[Cortexian]

Updated the OP with screenshots of each page.

And yeah, IIRC Shaw doesn't let you use a non-Shaw modem. There's no problem there since they place it into Bridge-mode if you wish, then it just acts like a modem instead of a modem/router combo unit and you can use your own router.

I see no benefit to using a 3rd party modem anyway, there's nothing that the end-user can configure for the modem to make it do anything better. Port-Forwarding and all that jazz is done through your router.

[=sw=warlord]

I think you have that backwards Warlord. Nowadays a lot of modems have routers built-in to them. Regardless, I like to keep both separate. Buy a 3rd party modem and enjoy life like me. I don't trust ISPs.


Over here the Routers are packaged as including a modem, so things may be termed differently.
The end result is the same, Also ISP's do put limits on their hardware which can cause issues.

[Cortexian]

Also ISP's do put limits on their hardware which can cause issues.
I can only see this being a problem with modem/router combos where you can't do what you need with the router.

Correct me if I'm wrong but there isn't any real configurable settings for a modem, you enter in your ISP's information to get a connection and that's it. It either works or it doesn't.

[Limited]

It's not false advertising as they are not promising you anything. The key words are "up to X speed".

Now there have been ISPs in UK that have gotten into a lot of bother because they boosted like X speed, when it turns out only a minute amount of people actually got that speed. And the Advertising Standards Agency basically said they had to be more accurate on their claims.

Quote:

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has investigated several cases of misleading promotions, most recently asking Bulldog to make it clear in its adverts that speed was dependent on how far away from the exchange people lived.It ruled that broadband providers could use the words "up to" 8Mbps when describing services as long as customers were likely to get close to those speeds.

Note this is from 2007 and obviously this is regarding regulation in England, it may be completely different in Canada.

Just be glad the speeds you get. I pay half of what you do a month and I get average speed of 5.83Mbps down and 0.5Mbps up.

[Cortexian]

Except it's not "up to 5Mbps".

The modems are provisioned at 3Mbps, meaning they cannot go faster then that regardless even though the site promises more potential.

I'll be getting mine fixed today most likely anyway, been reading some reports on DigitalHome.ca and there's a Shaw rep on there that seems to be fixing it for everyone.

[Limited]

Except it's not "up to 5Mbps".

The modems are provisioned at 3Mbps, meaning they cannot go faster then that regardless even though the site promises more potential.

I'll be getting mine fixed today most likely anyway, been reading some reports on DigitalHome.ca and there's a Shaw rep on there that seems to be fixing it for everyone.
Up to 5Mbps doesnt mean "if the channels are clear and no one is using it you'll get 5Mbps". It means even if you live next to the exchange, the max speed you will get is 5Mbps, and the further away you are you will get less speed.

I'm getting sick of my router, it freezes a lot, so the internet stops but I'm still connected to the LAN and I can print stuff wirelessly etc, once its in this 'frozen' state, no new devices can get onto the network it simply says 'Unable to connect to <network name>'.

I may make a thread because I'm getting pissed off at it. Any thoughts freelancer?


My advice to you is to keep badgering the company, I'd guess at 80% or more people who buy the broadband, will only get a little pissed at network speeds and maybe make 1 complaint, which is why ISP's usually shrug you off. However if you persist and kickup enough stink they may try to bend over backwards just to get you to stop pestering them :)

[Cortexian]

Up to 5Mbps doesnt mean "if the channels are clear and no one is using it you'll get 5Mbps". It means even if you live next to the exchange, the max speed you will get is 5Mbps, and the further away you are you will get less speed.

I'm getting sick of my router, it freezes a lot, so the internet stops but I'm still connected to the LAN and I can print stuff wirelessly etc, once its in this 'frozen' state, no new devices can get onto the network it simply says 'Unable to connect to <network name>'.

I may make a thread because I'm getting pissed off at it. Any thoughts freelancer?


My advice to you is to keep badgering the company, I'd guess at 80% or more people who buy the broadband, will only get a little pissed at network speeds and maybe make 1 complaint, which is why ISP's usually shrug you off. However if you persist and kickup enough stink they may try to bend over backwards just to get you to stop pestering them :)
I don't think you understand...

The website says "up to 5Mbps", except they are purposefully limiting the modems to 3Mbps (that's what it means to have upload provisioned at 3Mbps). That means that even if the "channels" were all clear and you loved right next to the "exchange" you would still only get 3Mbps. 3Mbps is currently the FASTEST it can go (I only get about 2.2Mbps because of that). I should be provisioned for 5Mbps and get something like 4-4.5Mbps in actuality.

EDIT: It doesn't help that the guy who said he'd call me today at 1PM hasn't called me yet and it's now 3:36PM... That's OK, I sent a PM to a Shaw rep on DigitalHome.ca that has fixed this exact problem (modem provisioning 3Mbps instead of 5Mbps) for at least 5 other people.

[Cortexian]

OK so after telling the guy I've been talking with about what I read on DigitalHome.ca (updating to phase 2 codes, re-provisioning) I got it all sorted out! There was some confusion on my part after he said it was good to go, my router (not modem) auto-detected the uplink wrong. I set that manually to 5120 Kbps and it's all good now!

http://speedtest.net/result/1838842972.png
(This was with active people in TeamSpeak and 5-10 people in a CE server)

The guy I was talking to basically said "Oh right! The new codes, I totally forgot to check those. Lets see, OK I see some for a 'Broadband 50b' package, it's the same price and all that so lets try it! Oh look it provisioned for 5Mbps!"