after 10 years with sonic, we are dropped

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
7 posts Page 1 of 1
by oshunsky » Sat Jun 25, 2022 12:12 am
Hi, I've been a Sonic customer for at least ten years for internet and phone services. I've been proud to support a local company that respects its customer's privacy.

Service has been fine- a little slower than people with Comcast or Xfinity are used to, but good enough for my needs. We started having problems in March where the internet would go down, and eventually come back on again. Sometimes I'd run my computer's troubleshooter, reset the modem, or call tech support. Usually it would just come back on its own when it felt like it. ATT checked out the lines and they were reported to be working ok.

The internet gradually got worse, sometimes down for days at a time. You sent us a new modem. I scheduled a visit to my home from your staff several times, then cancelled when the internet came back on. There were problems with us not being assigned an IP address. Or the troubleshooter would say that it couldn't find the DNS server. ATT said that their lines were fine. A Sonic guy came out and ran a new thick phone cable from the box outside into a new phone jack. With a new splitter and green cord, everything inside had been replaced, but still no internet.

Later that week I talked to a tech support guy named Jordan, who managed to get me online remotely, but after a half hour, it once again became intermittent. I tried to talk to him again, but was told that any tech could help me.

Finally, we had a joint meeting with ATT and Sonic maybe a month ago. I thought we would finally have the internet again.

The outcome was disappointing. We were told:
-The line to our house had degraded.
-ATT doesn't repair these lines because they are dated
-Sonic cannot give us service anymore
-we should look into Comcast or satellite internet (ugh!)

Four years ago a roommate tried to get Comcast set up here, and they couldn't do it so that is not a likely option. They say I am “out in the boonies” here when I'm on a congested hillside in Forestville right off River Rd., barely 10 miles from Santa Rosa. Can anything be done? Why am I the only person on my street with this problem? The Sonic technician explained it like it was a common problem, but admitted that he had never seen it before.

After a month, I reluctantly signed up with Hughes satellite service. The service is ok, but I hate being metered, and am afraid watching a video will use up my data allowance for the month, and hate the fact that they send threatening letters to people who download torrents. I would love to continue being a Sonic customer. Can ANYONE there help me? Thank you.

P.S. I still have Sonic providing my landline phone service (and I'm still paying for internet service because I'm so reluctant to let it go). It has been problem-free. What will it cost to continue?
by ngufra » Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:54 am
Your post was rather long so I may have missed something.

If the issue is on the line that belongs to AT&T that sonic is renting, sonic may not be able to fix it and as AT&T may not be interested either.

Your friend tried 4 years ago to get comcast and failed. 4 years is a long time, maybe it would work now.

I use hughesnet and indeed it's not ideal especially in terms of latency; when you go over your 15 GB allotment per month, bandwidth slows to 1-3 Mbps . You may want to try starlink. Some friends have it. equipment is now $700 and monthly fee is $110. with some tree obstruction, they get decent speed (around 300 Mbps) with a few second of no signal every minute or 2.
by cmeisel » Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:27 pm
Hi,
I hope you are only testing Hughesnet and did not let them lock you into their 24 months commitment contract. They are the worst service you can possibly get (well, dial-up would be worst...). I would try to look into cellular Internet first (check ATT, verizon and t-mobile, they all have some ok plans if service is available at your address.
If not I would sign up for starlink to get on the waiting list.
by virtualmike » Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:16 pm
And check Viasat, as well.

I lived in a house in the Sierra foothills a few years ago. Comcast was on the street, except for my house and the ones on either side (we were about 500 feet from the next nearest house). Comcast wanted $15,000 (yes, three zeroes) to connect us. We were too far away from the CO to get DSL (and Sonic doesn't serve that community, anyway), so satellite was our only solution.

The local satellite distributor/installer represented both Hughesnet and Viasat (as well as Dish and DirecTV), and strongly recommended the Viasat over Hughesnet. However, Viasat also has the 24-month commitment.
by racerlupine » Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:15 pm
That 24 month commitment is bulls**t. What it says to me is: "After the first couple of months people are so unhappy with the service they want to cancel so we lock them in with a 24 month contract." Comcast is doing the same thing.

RACER
by ngufra » Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:17 pm
The 24 months commitment on HughesNet is for leasing the equipment i think.
I bought the dish and modem.
Hughesnet allows you to put the service on pause for up to 6 months per year. It's convenient when used at a remote location like a vacation house. If you lease, the 24 months counter stops while the service is paused (though i think you still pay for equipment rental)
by virtualmike » Wed Jul 20, 2022 10:09 pm
Most of the satellite installations (including TV and Internet) have the minimum contract period to cover the cost of establishing service (mounting the dish and running cables) and paying for the actual dish, and they have an Early Termination Fee for not completing the contract.

When the contract ends, they normally want all boxes (modems, DVRs, set-top boxes, etc.) returned. When we ended our Viasat contract, we also had to remove the transceiver from the dish and return it. Dish TV did NOT demand the transceiver from its dish, however.
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