Speed in Inner Sunset, 94122

[Guest]

I'm seriously considering switching over to Fusion single-line from AT&T DSL service.

I'm around 5000 feet from the CO (according to the signup tool on sonic.net). With my existing AT&T service I get a bit over the 6mbps my account is capped at, and techs have told me that I'm close enough and have a clean enough line to get much faster speeds if they supported it.

Can anyone give me an educated guess on what speeds I might expect? In case anyone is in the area that has Fusion, I'm in the area of 8th Avenue and Lincoln Way.

Thanks!

[tjj]

The chart at http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25573505- gives you a good estimate of what speeds you may expect at a given distance from the central office. It is impossible for us to estimate what specific speeds your line may have as it is dependent on more factors than distance alone including line quality.

[vsp]

Don't necessarily believe that chart. I'm 3500' from the CO and the absolute best speed I've been able to get is <5Mbs, which is so far off the chart that it's ridiculous to refer people to the thing.

[tjj]

Which is why we never provide speed estimates, because there is no accurate way to do so. The chart is a good example of how the speeds can vary from location to location. Have you worked with us in support to see if we could improve your line speed?

[vsp]

Have I worked with you in support? Endlessly. I have spent untold hours on the phone in the last few weeks. I've posted to this forum several times. I still cannot get my speed above 4.xMbs. I still cannot get the ADSL2+ synch I'm promised. I still cannot get anyone to fix what is clearly wrong.

Everything (including the chart you're using to demonstrate how wonderful your service will be) says I should be getting at least 20%, and under most estimates, 60-100% higher speeds. Hasn't happened yet and everybody blames everybody else. Ultimately, you all blame me. So, I''ve invested in a bunch of new equipment and wiring. Purchased a new modem. Purchased a new phone. Installed new CAT5 wiring. Purchased (from sonic.net) a new splitter-filter. So we're talking a net cost of a couple hundred dollars. Net Result: Jack. Not a speck of improvement from any of these.

The only thing that improved my service (from 3.2Mbs) was finally getting AT&T to finally install a decent NID. This took five trips from AT&T to my house, every one of which I had to be home for, and at least as many calls to sonic.

So, spare me the "Have you worked with us in support to see if we could improve your line speed?"

[tjj]

I sent you an e-mail that might help explain the discrepancy with your line specifically after reviewing your call notes and trouble tickets as well as the original order.

[vsp]

Thank you for the email, but your answer raises questions that the OP should be aware of and should be included in this discussion.

You say in that email:
" It looks like the initial pre-qualification was incorrect... [It's} an actual line length of 7,718kft, a far cry from the pre-qualification distance of 3,555kft that was originally given to you.... corroborated by our ASSIA testing tools which shows you at 7853kft...."

So, to address the OP's question: Don't believe what you're told regarding distances or projected speeds. Reasonable expectations are likely half what you're seeing on that chart and sonic's distance projections. Anything more than that is just good luck.

To me, as a sonic customer this has a bit of a bad smell to it. Bad data was provided to strongly suggest a much greater capacity than sonic is able to deliver. (Sure there's a bunch of weasel-words disclaiming any real responsibility, but the fact remains that the up-front hard data is false.) Furthermore, at least in my case, they cannot even deliver the ADSL2+ service they advertise.

After signing on, customer service manages to find fault with all sorts of things on my end, leading me to spend a couple of hundred bucks replacing phones, interior wiring and filters. Now, after all this hassling and finger-pointing (at me, at AT&T, at netgear) it turns out that they are putting out bogus data in their ads in the first place.

The irony is that I'm not terribly unhappy with the service; it's a decent deal with the land line included and 4.xMbs ADSL2 (not 2+ however). I am unhappy with sonic's practices of raising unrealistic expectations to draw in customers, then blaming everyone else when things go tits-up, instead of an honest admission that they don't have the infrastructure to support everyone they sell their product to.

[dane]

Distance and wire quality IS a huge challenge, and honestly we have only estimated length available to us pre-installation. As a result, we can never give an estimate with true accuracy. And, as you note, we are also at the mercy of the telco database, and in some cases the data is simply wrong.

On the up-side, the product is uncapped and unlimited - it's as fast as the physics will allow, for one low price. Our challenge is setting expectations; we try not to, as we're bound to be wrong to some degree. Fusion is a great value for an unlimited phone line and broadband, and it's the fastest possible ADSL2+ connection at any given premise, but clearly there are cases where cable will beat us on speed.

-Dane

[vsp]

Fusion is a great value for an unlimited phone line and broadband, and it's the fastest possible ADSL2+ connection at any" yada, yada, yada.
-Dane

Not to beat this horse that long dead But: I am not getting ADSL2+.

[dane]

At less than 8kft?? That's odd. Not to beat the horse more, but have we dispatched to resolve?

-Dane