[*] Shaw does not have QOS

[John Lange]

And yet another reply to my own message (sorry).

The complete Cybersurf Part VII application to the CRTC, along with the
responses from and contributions from other companies is here:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/C122_200512716.htm

The most interesting response comes from Vonage Canada:

---
Vonage Canada has attempted to obtain meaningful information regarding
this QofS Service from Shaw's customer service representatives, without
success.

In Vonage Canada's view, Shaw's QofS Service is a thinly disguised "VoIP
Tax"

"Indeed, this so-called "enhancement" may in fact be a red-herring with
little basis in fact.

Vonage Canada's customers have raised serious concerns about whether
they are receiving any enhancement to their existing Shaw high-speed
retail IS service for their money whatsoever.
---

Basically, Vonage thinks Shaw came up with this QoS offering as a
marketing ploy. Its a way of scaring customers away from 3rd party VoIP
service and steering them to "Shaw Digital Phones". And if they don't
choose Shaw Digital Phones then they can still get $10/month from them. 

-- 
John Lange
OpenIT ltd. www.Open-IT.ca (204) 885 0872
VoIP, Web services, Linux Consulting, Server Co-Location

On Tue, 2005-12-13 at 17:57 -0600, John Lange wrote:
> Further to my own message, and completely by coincidence I was reading
> last weeks CRTC Part VII filings when I stumbled on a filing by
> Cybersurf Corp. demanding that Shaw's QOS offering be made available to
> resellers.
> 
> It states this about Shaw's QOS offering:
> 
> "QoS improves the quality of third party Internet telephony services
> (i.e. essentially voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) services) by
> reducing the delay associated with voice-over-packet services that
> operate over the public Internet. [...]" (They go on to explain how QoS
> works..)
> 
> "It appears that QoS can easily be provided on an individual customer
> basis through a one-time configuration of the Shaw approved cable modem
> used by the customer to obtain Shaw’s Retail IS. Apparently, QoS is
> enabled through a one-time configuration of Shaw’s cable modem
> terminating system (“CMTS”) which then initiates a one-time transfer of
> software from a Shaw trivial file transfer file protocol (“TFTP”) server
> to the cable modem thereby initiating QoS."
> 
> Clearly Cybersurf believes Shaw has a true QOS offering that would
> prioritize VoIP. So either they have their own information that
> contradicts what I was told today by Shaw, or they are just assuming
> (like the rest of us) that QoS actually means QoS.
> 
> Perhaps Shaw will clarify it in their response to the CRTC.
> 
> The plot thickens.
> 
> -- 
> John Lange
> OpenIT ltd. www.Open-IT.ca (204) 885 0872
> VoIP, Web services, Linux Consulting, Server Co-Location
> 
> On Tue, 2005-12-13 at 15:47 -0600, John Lange wrote:
> > I spent some considerable time today on the phone with a Shaw business
> > tech who was very helpful.
> > 
> > We've had some problems with "choppy" call quality at a certain site and
> > as a result we tried the Shaw QOS. It had no effect.
> > 
> > I figured it was because we weren't flagging the packets correctly so I
> > decided to do the homework and get things setup correctly.
> > 
> > As it turns out, Shaw does NOT have what anyone in the VOIP world would
> > consider QOS.
> > 
> > Shaw QOS is strictly the monitoring of the modem's signal-to-noise
> > ratios and other docsis reporting to ensure a level of "Quality of
> > Service".
> > 
> > It absolutely does NOT involve any traffic shaping or prioritizing of
> > packets of any kind.
> > 
> > I pressed him hard on this to make sure the facts were accurate. I asked
> > "are you certain you got an authoritative answer on this from someone
> > who knows what they are talking about?". Response: "Yes, I asked _the_
> > authority for this at Shaw in Calgary." (not a word-for-word quote)
> > 
> > Generally I find the use of the term QOS in this manner as deceptive. I
> > wouldn't have any great problem with it if they made the information on
> > what it means available. However, I think Shaw takes it too far.
> > 
> > Quote from their web site: 
> > 
> > "Shaw is now able to offer its High Speed Internet customers the
> > opportunity to improve the quality of Internet telephony services
> > offered by third party providers. For an additional $10 per month Shaw
> > will provide a quality of service (QoS) feature that will enhance these
> > services when used over the Shaw High Speed Internet network. Without
> > this service customers may encounter quality of service issues with
> > their voice over Internet service."
> > 
> > That statement is VERY deceptive.
> > 
> > Nothing Shaw does for QOS has any impact on "the quality of Internet
> > telephony services" in comparison to internet services in general.
> > Furthermore, assuming your modem was working properly to start with,
> > Shaw QOS would do nothing at all. If your modem isn't working properly
> > then that should be fixed regardless if you have QOS or not.
> > 
> > At least now we know.
> > 
> > On the positive side; the service was excellent. I am now working with
> > the techs to figure out what the real problem is at that location
> > (network debugging etc) which is more than I expected they would do. I
> > guess having a business account does have some advantages.
> > 
> > John
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Asterisk at muug.mb.ca
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> > 
> 
> 
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