Would people like to switch their phone #, in order to get Shaw's digital phone service?

You will be able to keep your current number. Just like with Primus.

I suspect that the $60 price will be without bundling. I would bet that if you're willing to bundle internet and digital tv, they'll offer a great discount.

At $60, Shaw is only likely to attact dissillusioned Telus customers. It should be easy for Telus to offer a competitive bundle at a similar price, preventing migration of their core customer base.

I've got basic Telus service ($28) and a Vonage line for my business ($20) -- a better deal, with 500 minutes LD included.

I don't need anybody's VOIP services. I can now talk to anybody who has a high speed connection anywhere for free using Skype.

I work for an Ameircan company in British Columbia. I suuport the Road Runner high-Speed service available exculsively in the US.

Last year they introduced VOIP to several of their customers and several months ago expanded that service.

They offer their service for $35 US a month with unlimited Long Distance calling. They have a lot of people signing up as indicated by the number of calls we receive. Customer's using that service have crystal clear communications, far better than cellphone, portable phone, or the old analog phones.

The only drawback to such an offering is the service itself. Since I have been with Shaw, I'd say our Internet uptime has been 99.8%.

In the LA area, Kansas City, Waco, Texas, and a few others, there is no way I'd have VOIP. Their up time is very poor. If I did opt for VOIP in those areas I'd keep a fully charged cellphone at hand and two tin cans and a string for backup.

If the the customer losses Internet Service, their VOIP digital phone still works. I personally took a call from a very irate customer in Kansas City that had a power failure in his neighborhood, knocking everything out. Because he had placed so much trust in the VOIP technology, they had disabled their regular telephone service. They did not have cellphones, thus the customer ran next door to use a neighbors cellphone.

And then there are the honest mistakes. Sometimes, even when when we are alerted to the fact that the customer has a digital phone, during the heat of troublehsooting we forget and reset the customer's modem at which point all we hear is silence.

OOPPSSS!!

Resetting a customer's modem, if they are calling on said modem, knocks them off the air. This is only temporay, and may even get the customer's Internet Service back, but for us, we are sitting red-faced, listening to silence.

So would I sign up for Shaw's VOIP? $60 a month for 1000 minutes LD is extremely high when compared to that offered in the US. We don't use 1000 LD minutes a month, let alone 50. Add to that Digital Cable and Internet we'd need cash grants each month.

My answer is not at this time. I think we'll just stay with our regular service until Shaw offers something more exciting and competitive.


Tony

good insight. it's good to get an american perspective on VOIP where the price of local telephone service makes VOIP more attractive and viable than in Canada. Given there are less than 30,000 consumers using VOIP up here, we don't get a lot of feedback on how the service fares.