Review of Telecom/Internet Providers: Shaw vs. Yak

As with most people taking courses and not working, monthly bills matter. Telephone and internet services are must-haves, but prices keep creeping up. We switched to Yak from Shaw almost a year ago, and I am writing about it today because during the switch we lost our landline phone number (thank you, Shaw!), and our kids still have a hard time remembering the new number.

Which can be an issue, as with yesterday, when a child was on a field trip. (I finally wrote the new number with permanent pen inside each of their backpacks.)

So, here is my review:

vs.

We started our subscription in 2006 with Shaw due to issues with Telus billing practices. At that time, Shaw didn't seem like big telecom - it was smaller, friendlier, cheaper. Our monthly bill was around $70 for internet, cable, and landline (we don't do a lot of long-distance).

Shaw's subscription cable offerings quickly became a joke in our household. Unless you're willing to pay extra for more channels, there's not much to watch. It also bugged us to have to pay $5 to watch a very limited selection of movies, and the streaming quality wasn't great. You can't even go back and watch your favorite scenes again, because as soon as it's done, it's done. (With Hoopla, which is free with a Calgary Public Library membership, you can watch a title you've requested for three days. Kids love that.)

By 2015, the bill from Shaw had crept up, until we were paying nearly $140 a month, which isn't much for some people, but it bugged me that in nine years prices had doubled for the same service. Who else but big telecom gets away with this? Then I saw the Yak ad:

Admittedly, Yak is a little bare-bones. You fill in the online form, and someone calls you to set up your account, get your credit card number, and send you little boxes that you will need to connect yourself to set up your phone and internet service. We had to google the internet box's manufacturer's setup guide because the suggested setup from Yak wasn't working properly. But once we had phone and internet working, the service was no different than Shaw's... and we were back to paying $70 a month again.

Shaw wasn't nice with the goodbyes. They didn't release our old telephone number, and so we lost it, and had to get a new one, resulting in weeks of scrambling to change our records with... everyone. Even after sending a courier to retrieve our old cable, internet, and phone boxes, Shaw still accused us of not returning all of their property. So another Shaw courier came by to check, and assured us we were fine. Too bad he didn't give us a receipt, because a couple of weeks later we got a bill for a missing box. Thankfully, another Shaw customer service rep cancelled that bill when I called. However, the experience, even months later, still makes me a bit mad.

Once I am working again and money is less of an issue, would I go back to big telecom?

You must be joking. Ciao!