Slow speeds for gigabit internet and insane bills

[lentilscone]

So I just moved to a new area last year and opted for Sonic since they had gigabit internet services in my area. The price was initially advertised as $40 per month + $20 for mandatory landline phone service (that I dont even use) and I also bought my own router (netgear orbi). With their router, my internet speed was around 400-500 mbps unwired, I know you dont get the full 1000 mbps because of a variety of factors, especially unwired, but I expected at least 700-800. Still, I didn't mind all that much. Now almost a year later, I'm paying $73 a month and my speed has dropped to 270-300 mbps. Should I make a call to sonic and ask what's going on?

[liamo]

The loss in speed sounds most likely due to a loss in wireless signal and strength. Depending on what wireless channel you are on other neighboring wireless networks can slow the speed down of yours due to a competition of signal strength.

A few things would be : Have you power cycled the ONT and router lately? What wireless network are you on? 2.4ghz or 5ghz? What speeds are you getting on a wired connection?

Talking it over with our support should get this problem fixed fairly easily. You can reach them at 707-522-1000 or Sonic.com/callme

[lentilscone]

The loss in speed sounds most likely due to a loss in wireless signal and strength. Depending on what wireless channel you are on other neighboring wireless networks can slow the speed down of yours due to a competition of signal strength.

A few things would be : Have you power cycled the ONT and router lately? What wireless network are you on? 2.4ghz or 5ghz? What speeds are you getting on a wired connection?

Talking it over with our support should get this problem fixed fairly easily. You can reach them at 707-522-1000 or Sonic.com/callme

It was already only around 400-500 the moment I just had it installed. I've tried rebooting the router a couple times. It was on 5ghz as well, 2.4 was significantly slower. Wired I barely even noticed a difference since day 1. Maybe 20-30 mbps faster, and that's just a maybe, I'm not even sure if wired even sped it up.

[cmeisel]

People have expectations that simply can’t be met. WiFi is slow and fairly unreliable. Your speed can vary from below 100 up and down all the way to 500+ (very rare). If you want reliable speed up and down, wire. Tv, Apple TV, Roku, fire tv all should be wired. Desktop should be wired even notebooks. At work we throttle wireless to force employees to plug in the wire so we don’t have to hear the constant whining.
As for the “insane” bill. Another entitlement comment. How is this an insane bill for the speed you get ? Just because you use WiFi only with unrealistic expectations and don’t use the phone, the value is still crazy good.
No other provider comes close not even with much slower speed. Xfinity might offer a special for a year but you have data caps, low upload, etc.
For your “insane” $73 you get:

-1 gig up and down
- no data cap
- total privacy all your date is deleted every 2 weeks
- free incoming and outgoing fax (your own number)
- free vpn service
- free Webhosting with a free Domain Name for the first year
- phone with free calls to over 65 countries (crazy)
- phone support with people who are actually technical and that you can understand (good luck finding this kind of amazing support anywhere else)

I might have forgotten something but this is all I could think of. As for the constant whining about the phone. You all get that outdated rules require sonic to offer phone service for this to be considered a utility and make it on the poles, right? Even if you don’t use the phone at home, you can always install the app on your mobile phone and make and receive call with the app (still free international calls).
If you feel the price is insane, I do agree. Sonic should definitely raise their prices !

Please people think before you post and don’t expect thing that are just not achievable. Sonic doesn’t control your hardware only their network and the hardwired Ethernet will give you the gig up and down. Other fiber provers don’t even allow you to use your own modem !

[joeyyung911]

AMEN!!

[larns576]

I really don't get what all the fuss is about with the included phone line. It's included as part of a package and you buy the whole package or don't buy it.

When you buy a car, do you complain it has TPMS and the dealers force you to pay for it? Do you ask the dealer to remove the heated leather steering wheel for a $$ refund? I neither want/need it but it's there and is included as part of the package price.

Anyways, currently, I do not know of any consumer wireless routers that can actually deliver 1Gbps over wifii. They state AC3000 (3000Mbps), but as far as I know, it's all marketing. It's a combined speed of 2.5Ghz + 5Ghz + (2nd) 5Ghz bands, but my wifi doesn't connect to all 3 bands at the same time so it's impossible to achieve those supposed speeds. Then there's interference/walls/neighbors, etc.

If anyone finds a router that can deliver 500+ Mbps over wifi consistently, please let me know! I'd love to upgrade!

[lentilscone]

People have expectations that simply can’t be met. WiFi is slow and fairly unreliable. Your speed can vary from below 100 up and down all the way to 500+ (very rare). If you want reliable speed up and down, wire. Tv, Apple TV, Roku, fire tv all should be wired. Desktop should be wired even notebooks. At work we throttle wireless to force employees to plug in the wire so we don’t have to hear the constant whining.
As for the “insane” bill. Another entitlement comment. How is this an insane bill for the speed you get ? Just because you use WiFi only with unrealistic expectations and don’t use the phone, the value is still crazy good.
No other provider comes close not even with much slower speed. Xfinity might offer a special for a year but you have data caps, low upload, etc.
For your “insane” $73 you get:

-1 gig up and down
- no data cap
- total privacy all your date is deleted every 2 weeks
- free incoming and outgoing fax (your own number)
- free vpn service
- free Webhosting with a free Domain Name for the first year
- phone with free calls to over 65 countries (crazy)
- phone support with people who are actually technical and that you can understand (good luck finding this kind of amazing support anywhere else)

I might have forgotten something but this is all I could think of. As for the constant whining about the phone. You all get that outdated rules require sonic to offer phone service for this to be considered a utility and make it on the poles, right? Even if you don’t use the phone at home, you can always install the app on your mobile phone and make and receive call with the app (still free international calls).
If you feel the price is insane, I do agree. Sonic should definitely raise their prices !

Please people think before you post and don’t expect thing that are just not achievable. Sonic doesn’t control your hardware only their network and the hardwired Ethernet will give you the gig up and down. Other fiber provers don’t even allow you to use your own modem !

Wifi is slow and unreliable yes, but to only get less than a third of the advertised speed? I don't think so. Also did you even read anything I wrote? Wire made almost no difference. Please read before you made assuming judgements. Maybe I overreacted for the bill since it does seem to be good for what I get. However, they advertised $40 for 1000 mbps while in actuality I'm paying $73 for 300. Before you tell people to think before they type, perhaps you should read before making assumptions?

[cmeisel]

You are simply wrong. You can expect wifi speeds as slow as 100 or below. It all depends on the hardware.
You cant even expect 1gig if you plug you machine into the ONT directly. But if you do plus a new machine into the ONT and you download the speedtest app (don't use the browser version) you will consistency see 900-980 up and down.
every speed lost over wifi or hardware that won't do the full gig is all you not sonic.

[lentilscone]

You are simply wrong. You can expect wifi speeds as slow as 100 or below. It all depends on the hardware.
You cant even expect 1gig if you plug you machine into the ONT directly. But if you do plus a new machine into the ONT and you download the speedtest app (don't use the browser version) you will consistency see 900-980 up and down.
every speed lost over wifi or hardware that won't do the full gig is all you not sonic.

And you are simply disingenuous. I can expect wifi speeds as slow as 100 or below? Do you think I'm using a toaster for hardware? I have a netgear Orbi, a Tri-Band Mesh WiFi Router. I mentioned this earlier too. Even further proof you don't read and just stoop to being disingenuous to undermine my concerns.

[msandrof]

Make sure your wired test is plugged directly into the ONT, not your router. Some routers can't do gigabit speeds reliably. If your speeds at the ONT look good, then your problem isn't with Sonic's service and probably your router and/or wifi. And speaking of wifi, your expectations of what wifi speeds to expect might be too high. Depending on the device you are testing with, the type of access point(s) you are using, the channel configuration, neighboring network interference, the distance to your access point, the walls in between and what they're made of, etc. can all affect your wifi experience. So without a lot more information, it is difficult to diagnose a potential wifi issue. If your router/wifi are the ones supplied by Sonic, your should give customer support a call and see if they can help you.