Telus TV Complaint & Rant Thread

[HD_Junkie]

It makes the picture much better quality but I find that HDMI just simply makes the picture too sharp.

Did you check your TV to see if it has a Sharpening/Edge Enhancement setting that came from the factory cranked to 11?

[stationg]

I just came across something very annoying and a big customer service flaw compared to Telus competitors........I called to have a channel added as I wanted to watch something today..........customer service came back and said the channel will be added tomorrow lol, the reason I called was to get the channel now not tomorrow! Very dissappointing.

Does anyone know why channels can't be added instantly like all other providers??? Seems very archaic to me.

I am very dissappointed but I guess I saved myself a few bucks and less for them.

[Gatorade]

I just had Optik installed on Monday, I've been very happy with the internet and the TV. Mediaroom has been great and not glitchy and very compatible with my TV.

Then tonight the HD and SD feeds started taking a long time to load, some channels won't load at all (black screen), and other are loading but are stuttering, lag, and become pixelated before freezing. Yet a few channels in HD and SD work (TSN, but not TSN2). Optik internet unaffected and speeds are near maximum.

I'm connected from the HD box to TV via HDMI but the menus and sound work fine so it's not that connection.

Also reset the router and reset the HD box, moved the connection from D-link port 1 to 2, same problem (possibly the ethernet cable) or a telus-end encoding issue.

Hopefully it fixes itself by tomorrow because I have a party at my house, how embarrassing it would be to have my TV just installed and not work in front of my guests, at least it will be a conversation starter.

[netBEUI]

I had the exact same issue when I tried to watch the sports highlights this morning at 7 am PST. I also tried rebooting Optik TV and the router but it didn't make any difference. I called TELUS this morning and they confirmed that there was a hardware failure at around midnight which apparently affected all of BC! Anyway it's supposed to be fixed already so you shouldn't be experiencing any further issues.

[Gatorade]

I checked again today at 8am and it was working fine, which is alright as long as its not a sign of things to come, I'll be optimistic.

[spindley]

I got Optik installed a few weeks ago. I got an HDPVR for the main room and a regular HD Box for the bedroom. The first problem was when the installer had HD running downstairs and tried to change to an HD channel upstairs, and got the "All HD sources are in use" message. Telus had neglected to tell me that I was on the 1HD/2SD profile (I was told when I ordered the service that I could "watch and record two HD channels at once" ... and I mean, come on. That should be the bare *minimum* that should be provided to everyone).
So when I called to cancel, the guy offered me everything for free for 3 months and said that by the end of the 3 months I should be on the 2HD/1SD or 3HD/1SD profile, but he couldn't promise. If I wasn't moved to the better profile by then, I could still cancel with no penalties. I live in a newer townhouse complex in the Country Hills area in Calgary, and he was surprised that we hadn't been upgraded yet.
Anyone else in or around my area and on a better profile yet?
Also, does anyone else experience pretty bad remote control response with the HDPVR for the first ~5 minutes that it's turned on? By turned on I mean brought out of sleep mode and not freshly powered on. This is both with my Harmony 880 and with the Telus remote.
All in all I'm pretty happy with the service. The picture quality seems a lot sharper than Shaw, and we get a *lot* more channels than we did with Shaw, for what will eventually be the same price.
Of course, the only downside right now is being restricted to one HD channel in my entire bloody house, but hopefully that's changed soon.

[WetCardboard]

I don't know how everyone I come across is praising the picture quality of Optik...It is very inconsistent between channels and FAR inferior to that of Shaw. I don't know what else to do, I've used multiple boxes, multiple hdmi/ethernet/coax cables, tried hdmi vs component...I am not impressed.

[stationg]

Everything is fine over here. I have had Optick about 6-7 months now. Granted I only watch the HD channels.

[Blintok]

so i take it then that it is not normal to have to reset everything several times a week?
by reset i mean. Internet down. blank screen on TV. no sound. turning off the router and box (actiontec & Cis430) and back on brings it all back.

i got Optik in July this year. was working fine for 4 months ..then a bit over a week ago the freeze ups happened. 2 x a day. Telus came out and installed the new Actiontec and a white pots splitter. Thot all was well ...

2 days later. (Telus was at my place on Nov9) freeze. then again on Saturday. and again yesterday. I can not imagine this is considered normal operation. i am willing to give Telus a chance to fix this but if it keeps up it will be a long 2.5 yrs before going back (to Shaw)

[Wiremonkey]

Originally Posted by Blintok

so i take it then that it is not normal to have to reset everything several times a week?
by reset i mean. Internet down. blank screen on TV. no sound. turning off the router and box (actiontec & Cis430) and back on brings it all back.

i got Optik in July this year. was working fine for 4 months ..then a bit over a week ago the freeze ups happened. 2 x a day. Telus came out and installed the new Actiontec and a white pots splitter. Thot all was well ...

2 days later. (Telus was at my place on Nov9) freeze. then again on Saturday. and again yesterday. I can not imagine this is considered normal operation. i am willing to give Telus a chance to fix this but if it keeps up it will be a long 2.5 yrs before going back (to Shaw)

This is not normal, or acceptable, and TELUS will fix it. If the internet is going down with the TV then it sounds like an internet problem. The Actiontec may be bad (not likely as its a new unit, and you had similar problems with the previous gear), or more likely with something before the Actiontec in the circuit that is causing errors. Since it was working previously for 4 months it may be any number of things, but most likely its not in your residence. The TV is going out , but so is the internet, so its not actually a TV issue its an internet issue. Make sure the next tech that comes out knows that your internet is going out at the same time as the TV. If you PM me I'd like to try to help.



- another TELUS tech

[maniac123]

Well I just moved to a new development and the plan was to Telus all the way. Once our move date was confirmed I phoned Telus a full 6 weeks in advance to move my phone line and inquire about Optik. This strange Telus rep couldn't figure out what to do since my new address was not in their system. She promised she would "look into" the situation and get back to me. I could understand that since the address was new and everything etc.

A week went by and I didn't ever get any call back so I phoned Telus. The next rep told me my account was screwed up and they would have to cut my service for a full day to resolve the issue and she would look into my move order after that. Sure enough I lost service for a full day and once again no one called me to tell me what was going on with my account.

I phoned again and spoke to a third person who worked everything out and scheduled my install date for my moving day. I thought well I'll look into Optik later since it seems so complicated to just move a phone line. I scheduled Shaw to come and move my TV and Internet service on moving day as well and this occured in one simple phone call followed by a confirmation call one day later.

Fast forward to move day and just as the Shaw installer is arriving we get a phone call from the Telus installer saying that Telus is not avalaible in my area and won't be for at least 6 months and we could have a loaner cell phone if we wanted. We said we would think about that and then ended the call and talked to the Shaw installer about Shaw phone. He installed it later that day but could not port our Telus number until later since it had to be processed through head office or something.

We phoned Shaw to get our old number ported a few days later and they said it would take 10 days to process. 10 days went past and they phoned us and said Telus has closed our account and the port cannot be done until we re-open it.

I phoned Telus and I was told by a rep that *I HAD cancelled* my account and if I wanted I could pay $30 to re-activate it to port the number to Shaw. I said I would not be paying any fee since I did not cancel my account. He did eventually agree to wave the fee and said he would do what was needed to be done.

I phoned Shaw to have my number ported again. 10 days went by and they said Telus has rejected the port since my account is closed. I phoned Telus and sure enough my account was still closed but they said they would open it. I phoned back the next day to confirm since I could no
longer trust Telus reps and the rep confirmed my account was open.

Shaw said they would expedite the port process and a few days later I was told my account with Telus was still closed. I once again phoned Telus and once again I was told my account would be good for porting. I decided to make one last attempt and it did finally work. This all happened in September and a few days ago
I got two bills from Telus addressed to my old address. Each bill is for a different account same address. The first one is for $0 and says my account is closed. The second one is for $24.95 and says my account is closed. I phoned in and asked to speak to a supervisor and they said that could take 4 hours but they could have them phone me. Later that evening a supervisor phoned and explained
that it was within their right to charge me $24.95 to re-activate my account but he would wave it. Interesting since I used to pay $24.95 per month for my phone service and the fee quoted previously was $30. Anyway lesson here is do not use Telus. Everyone in this neighbourhood has a story similar to mine. Way to turn a move into a nightmare. I wouldn't touch telus if they were giving away phone service for free for life.

[northern33]

I now feel like a guinea pig. I started the Optik TV experience on November 11th. It ran for a few hours on the 11th, a few more hours on the 12th, a couple on the 13th, and on and on. The techs have replaced both modems (router and modem), cables, changed pairs from the pedestal to the house, changed the filter and claim that they've changed the port on their end. We have never been able to manage more than 3 consectutive days without a total loss of internet and TV.

The tech on the phone last night was entertaining to say the least. He asked how my day was going, other than the failures that we are having. Then he went on to say how great this is for Telus as each failure is different and that they are learning from it.

I am ready to pull the plug on this 'bleeding-edge' technology and go back to the Starchoice solution. Never had a single outage in the years that we've had it.

I've never been a nay-sayer, but for anyone reading this that is considering Optik TV, I would really reconsider for now...

[ae_collector]

Originally Posted by northern33

I am ready to pull the plug on this 'bleeding-edge' technology and go back to the Starchoice solution.

I've never been a nay-sayer, but for anyone reading this that is considering Optik TV, I would really reconsider for now...

Maybe I shouldn't be responding since I am a Telus employee but the majority of people switching to Optik TV have had a good experience. There have been some posts here from people here who have had a bad experience for one reason or another, some of them were resolved and others probably switched to another provider.

I don't agree that you should warn everyone else out there to look elsewhere for a TV provider because there is something out there that is preventing your installation from working properly. It is obvious reading posts on this forum that your experience is not the norm. It is a new technology and there are bound to be a few wierd problems but for the most part I think the posts elsewhere on this forum provide a good insight to how Optik TV performs.

If you are ready to give up then the thing to do is change providers. I would tell you to call Telus and inform them that you need a repairman capable of solving the problem or you are going to have to switch providers as a last resort but maybe you have already invested enough into Telus TV that you shouldn't have to call them anymore?

[slakker]

Woo hoo... my saga is over... my Optik TV is working. The right installer with the right attitude makes all the difference.

The first installer had to abandon the whole install because he couldn't find ground. Even suggested I break open dry wall or hire an electrician!

My suggestion was to tie the ground to the mast on the roof, less that 12 feet away. He wouldn't do it... this new installer did it no problems and all the other smaller issues with the alarm, cable plant, etc...

[bigwiggum]

I've heard the service was terrible, but it's worse than my experience with Bell.
Can any one explain why it is supposed to take 24 hours to make a programming package change with Telus? That is when they don't screw it up...