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Shaw Communications Inc. has been misleading advertising about its Fibre+ internet offerings, according to a recent lawsuit filed by Shaw competitor Telus Corp.
According to the Shaw Fibre+ lawsuit, which was filed June 10 in B.C. Supreme Court, Shaw misleadingly advertised Fibre+ as a Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) product when it is really just a rebranded version of Shaw’s earlier Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) service, according to the lawsuit.
“For example, there is no difference whatsoever between Shaw’s recently-launched Fibre+ 300 Internet Service and its previous Internet 300 Service – these are exactly the same product, the only difference being the misleading ‘Fibre+’ nomenclature associated with Shaw’s Fibre+ 300 Internet 300 Internet Service,” Telus argues in the Shaw internet class action lawsuit.
FTTH, commonly called fibre, is technology superior to the “lower-performance coaxial cable” that Shaw currently uses to connect customers to its DOCSIS service, according to the Fibre+ internet lawsuit.
Telus says that the DOCSIS infrastructure includes nodes that can connect to the internet with fibre optic cable, but argues that this type of connection does not represent a true fibre optic service.
Further, because customers who have access to FTTH networks have higher speeds and fewer outages than customers on DOCSIS networks, Telus says that Shaw’s claims about its Fibre+ networks are “false and materially misleading.”
“Since Shaw’s ‘Fibre+’ Internet services do not use fibre optic cable to physically connect customers’ homes to the network, it is inaccurate and misleading to describe such a service as a ‘fibre’ or ‘fibre optic’ internet service,” the Shaw Fibre+ internet class action lawsuit says.
The Shaw website touts its Shaw Fibre+ technology as offering the “Fastest Internet speeds in Western Canada” and says, “Our powerful fibre coax network delivers faster speeds and increased bandwidth to all our customers today and into the future.”
The website also promised “Lightning-fast speeds” and pans its competitors by asking, “Why settle for the mediocre speeds of other Internet providers? Connect to the fastest Internet speeds in Western Canada on our Fibre+ network.”
Shaw’s use of the “+” symbol in its Fibre+ marketing is also misleading to consumers because it suggests that the service is superior to Telus’s fibre optics services, Telus says in the Shaw Fibre+ internet class action lawsuit.
As a result of Shaw’s misleading marketing campaign, Telus says its reputation is taking a hit. Telus has asked for an injunction to stop Shaw’s allegedly misleading marketing of its Fibre+ service.
The Shaw Fibre+ internet lawsuit also asks that Shaw make a declaration that it has “knowingly or recklessly made false or misleading representations to the public” about its Fibre+ internet service.
Telus is seeking damages for lost profits and other costs associated with the Shaw Fibre+ marketing lawsuit.
Chethan Lakshman, Shaw’s vice president of external affairs, told Business in Vancouver that it would “vigorously defend” itself against the claims Telus argues in the Fibre+ internet lawsuit.
“We are proud of our Fibre+ network — previously known since 2016 as FibrePlus — and stand behind its branding and strength. We call it Fibre+ because it is truly that: fibre plus more,” Lakshman said in a statement.
“Our customers benefit from the coax component of our network and our continuing investments in our network technology, such as the next-generation DOCSIS 3.1 technology that coax uniquely enables.”
According to IT World Canada, Shaw began offering Fibre+ Gig gigabit internet service on May 27 for nearly all of its customers in Western Canada. The Fibre+ Gig service purportedly delivered up to 1000 Mbps download speed and can potentially transfer a 1GB file in just eight seconds. At the same time, Shaw also offered the Fibre+ 750 plan with up to 750Mbps download speed and the Basic 10 plan that offered up to 10Mbps download speed.
More information about the Shaw Fibre+ lawsuit was not immediately available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.
Do you have internet service through Shaw communications or Telus? How has your experience been? Tell us your story in the comment section below!
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5 thoughts onShaw Facing Lawsuit Filed by Telus Claiming ‘Misleading’ Internet Advertising
Shaw had been promoting fibre+ Internet connection service since 2018 or longer. They advertised on TV every chance they get and now the ads don’t even appear on TV. Why? They’ve been lying to MOST Canadians that have Shaw cable in their communities. My colleague and I kept discussing how Shaw can physically have Fiber Optic cables installed for each home when Telus just started installing true fiber optic lines in front of properties starting in 2019 in Calgary SE and then NE. Two of the quadrants of the city of Calgary still yet to have Telus fiber optic cabling underground. It’s true that Shaw has their main trunks as fiber optics. But each community runs coax main lines to that fiber optic trunk. As of Feb 4, 2022, Shaw called my number and left a message that my contract is about to expire. I called up the customer service only to find out they’re trying to replace my Internet300 with Fibre+300. I’m like, are you kidding me?!? I asked the sales rep how Shaw can offer Fibre+ and at 300Mbps when the coax cable achieves pretty much the same thing. Also, I asked how Shaw can still claim that their Internet Modem can be fiber optically connect to the fiber optic main trunk which is actually not connected via fiber optic but through coax. The guy was actually honest about it as I caught him in a half lie. After I said what I said, he came forth saying what I said is true. For all who don’t know the jargons of Internet speeds through your service providers, the speeds are in Megabits per second (Mbps). The package speeds each ISP can offer are 30, 50, 75, 150, 300, 500, 600, 750, 1000 (or 1Gbps – Gigabit per second), 10G, 20G. Now, you may think that you need over 500Mbps to surf the net – you don’t. Most people would be just fine with 15Mbps. I was on Shaw’s grandparent “high speed” Internet plan for 10 years until one day they said they can’t offer that any more and bumped me up to Internet 50. So, I had Internet 50 for several years until they said they can’t offer that anymore. So, I went to the more expensive Internet 300 with a package for TV and phone. Low and behold, after 2 year contract, they again started to get more expensive. Only this time, they are offering only Internet300 as their base and only internet plan without TV and phone included. So, now as of Feb 4, 2022, they’re doing it again by decommissioning the Modem that I have for Internet300 to use a “Fibre+ Modem”! I have until May to try and find another ISP to give me a better deal than what Shaw is offering. Since my community does not have Telus Fibre+, it’s fruitless to go with them since their DSL connection through phone lines suck!
So, for all of you getting the Fibre+ gigabit Internet connection package, there should be a class action lawsuit from the communities that didn’t have Telus or other ISP fiber option network installed onto their properties. Shaw is just abusing their claims to better speed when their coax cable already can provide a lot of that speed. They’re just promoting something they don’t have to try and gain advantage in the Internet service for which they jack up the price after the 2 year contract is up. Their Fibre+ plan is actually marketing fraud!
I just changed from 300 to fibre 700 + Gig. My internet speed never goes above 300. Upload today is zero, while the offer was up to 100 Mb/s. Very frustrated with customer service. They only momentarily fix the problem, just to get me off their back. I signed the contract for 2 years and will pay heavy penalty if I want to cancel. I am charged every month for the service that is not provided. This should be illegal to take money for something you cannot provide. I am very frustrated and feel I have been and continue to be fooled. They make me feel as stupid and incompetent, because what kind of a person buys something that does not exist?
After my husband died, I shopped around for a new internet provider, since Shaw’s $100. a month fee was too much. I switched to a Vancouver company that charges only $35.00 a month for the same service, returned Shaw’s equipment using their barcode and took it to the post office.
Shaw claims they did not receive it and sent my file to a collection agency who is now sending me letters. This is the second time I have been accused of stealing their equipment. The first time, after months of harassment, they phoned me to say that they finally found it. If it goes to court, I fully expect to win this case.
In my opinion Telus has been misleading customers for years calling their product “optic tv and internet” when it was mostly running over the old copper phone lines. They’ve been feverishly putting in fibre optics cable everywhere but they don’t seem to be anywhere near complete with their fibre build over their footprint.
So now Shaw rebrands their product and offers higher speeds than they used to and telus doesnt seem to like that because the last mile in most cases is coax!? ( which can match telus’ current download offerings even on Fibre)
Shaw appears to be making it known in their ads that their system uses fibre optics and is demonstrating that the last mile of coax is capable of much more with new docsis 3.1 technology.
This reminds me of the old cliche – whats good for the goose is good for the gander.
As a disclaimer I will tell you these are simply my opinions and in no way represent either company.
I have Shaw satellite and Telus cell services…neither are reliable in my area. If the two, Telus is the worst. Signal is so bad I can’t even say “hello?” before the call is dropped due to loss of signal. The answer to all of my communications seeking a resolution to the poor service (such as suggesting a booster be provided) is alway “sorry, but you are in a known problem area”. At least with Shaw, I only loose service every time it rains.
Telus seems to think Shaw is misleading customers…isn’t ‘charging customers for cell service they can’t actually use’ kind of the same thing?
That’s my 2 cents in this argument…✌️