Shaw vs Cable

[stuphel]

Hi.

I'm hoping that I might get advice from those who know more about this than I, as to which of these services would be best under our circumstances:

We are snowbirds here for approx. 6 months per year, from Canada.

We have cable in Canada because we live in a townhouse complex that does not allow satellite dishes. Our cable company allows us to turn off our service when we leave to come here, and turn it back on when we return. There is a nominal charge for doing so.

Here, we had Telecable this winter, and they assured us that they'd permit us to turn off our cable when we leave in two weeks, and have it turned back on in November. We'll see.

We like the fact that we can have our cable turned off when we are not in the country. We got a package from Telecable this year that gave us access to a number of English speaking channels, but didn't really have the variety that we'd like. We had some movie channels and about 10 or so other channels that we watched regularly. None, other than CNN were the regular network channels from the U.S.--they were channels such as Universal, that had regular network programmes on it, mostly sitcoms. We got no Canadian channels, of course.

We like the idea of getting the feeds that Shaw provides, but, as we can't use Shaw up north (though we have a Canadian address), we don't want to pay for it 12 months a year. Can we get them to let us have it for the winter months only? Will Shaw in Canada sell us a box on that basis?

Anyone have the answers?

[Out1]

To establish a Shaw account they want to come and install the hardware; dish, cables etc; that would likely be your first problem.

Shaw services can be arranged through dealers that provide the service without installing the hardware.

I suggest you talk to people and not post on this board regarding dealers.

[Zanadu44]

Since you have a Canadian address you can set up a Shaw account. You can purchase the dish here and I would advise bringing the receivers from Canada yourself next time you come back because it is cheaper in Canada. CP-electronics and Ajijic Satellite business can both be used to purchase the dish here and install it. I prefer CP-electronics from Guad because they are cheaper in regards to purchasing the dish but very reliable. All you need to do is set up an account with Shaw and tell them you are traveling and when you are going back up north just call them and have them suspend your account. They also do automatic bank withdrawals or charge card payments.