[*] Shaw does not have QOS

[John Lange]

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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