Goodbye Telus! Two weeks ago, I switched to Shaw’s new digital phone service and I’m happy to report, things have been great.

This picture is a shot of my new phone modem. It’s different from the Internet cable modem I still have from Shaw. It’s big and bulky, and it barely fits behind the bookshelf, but since I haven’t needed to touch it in two weeks, that’s fine.

I kept my Telus number. There was no downtime when I had no phone service. (Well, maybe ten minutes or so, but that’s it.) They didn’t have to re-wire any jacks or anything — though if you need a cable line pulled to anywhere in particular, that can take some effort.

Now I’ve got free long distance anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, any time. I’ve got 1,000 free minutes to a bunch of foreign countries – great for prank-calling the French. Free voice mail (I don’t like the Shaw voicemail lady as much. She’s kinda mean.) And, I just got the bill in the mail and I’m saving money, for what amounts to more services, and better customer service.

Which is not to say that Shaw’s my new number one best friend company. But compared to how Telus was — I hated getting charged to call 411, for example — I’m happy with Shaw. Now, if I could just get points for referring my friends, because I’ve already talked someone else into switching. I guess he wants to prank-call France, too.