Fusion price increase and fiber expansion

[danielg4]

Actually, $6.50/month is the ATA rental, which is required, not the modem rental, which is also required for an additional $9.50/month on top of that $6.50/month. The IPv4 address on FTTN does not change for as long as the circuit is provisioned. If you really want POTS, they can add it for another $10+tax/month after a one-time $150 setup fee.

[kieths]

So, if I add a recurring $15/mo (+tax) to the cost I now pay for Fusion DSL/ phone POTS service, I can replace my current service, and essentially get FTTN Internet / VOIP phone service with a DHCP assigned IPV4 address that doesn't typically change, though it's not 'fixed' (no assurances).

Though a future Gigabit Fiber service may eventually be offered for the same monthly cost as Fusion DSL (plus Fiber modem rental), there is currently no way to keep my current Sonic Fusion service with the current low out of pocket cost, and still rise above a 3 Mbps download speed through services now offered by Sonic in my area. And as yet, there is no indication of a date when or if Fremont, CA will be added to Sonic's Gigabit fiber network, so I can expect the above FTTN's added rental and fee costs would remain elevated by about $15/mo + tax for the foreseeable future, if choosing this option. PLUS, under FTTN, I'd either have the loss of, or re-investment cost of a POTS line (which I feel I wouldn't need with Gigabit fiber and a fixed IP).

Net neutrality is very important, and I applaud Dane and Sonic for efforts made. But with my current Internet, I'm nearly 'neutralized' already, being choked with slow speeds, and with my only options with Sonic being increased out of pocket cost to me.

[danielg4]

In such a case, you would not be adding any additional tax. You are already paying all the tax involved, so a $15 difference exactly, unless you add either X2 (an additional $20, no additional tax), POTS ($10+tax), or both.

[adamcowan]

I am curious how you can justify increasing the price for your existing customers when you are still advertising the price of $40/mo to all new customers on every sign, install truck, and commercial in SF. This seems disingenuous at best and fraudulent at worst.

This screenshot was taken today (7/10) from sonic.com/sf.

Screen Shot 2017-07-10 at 10.50.18 AM.png (29.01 KiB) Viewed 10037 times

[pockyken007]

I am curious how you can justify increasing the price for your existing customers when you are still advertising the price of $40/mo to all new customers on every sign, install truck, and commercial in SF. This seems disingenuous at best and fraudulent at worst.

This screenshot was taken today (7/10) from sonic.com/sf.
Screen Shot 2017-07-10 at 10.50.18 AM.png

simple ... they advertise fiber technology as being 40$ a month because that covers the cost of infrastructure , maintenance and operations ( from CS to tech to [ayroll ) for that particular method of delivery / technology ... every other method of delivery would have different costs associated with them so that's why the baseline cost differs so much between let's say sonic FTTH ( fiber ) or SONIC FTTN ( Resold ATT-Uverse ) and let's say Sonic DSL/VDSL ... depending on the differences in the method of delivery as well as infrastructure needed to deliver internet to the end user the costs may wary .

[miken]

This screenshot was taken today (7/10) from sonic.com/sf.

Thanks for pointing that out! It's been fixed to read $40 for the first year and $50 after.

[Abc123]

I thought i would stick around for the long haul since I like Sonic. With the recent price increases, I cannot justify paying $67 a month for 10mb and a phone I don't use. Maybe down the road I will come back but unfortunately I have to play the game that companies like Comcast and AT&T love.

[bide8@yahoo.com]

Dane,
I believe you are not being 100% truthful. We know you are leasing ATT lines and do not "own" any of your own. So saying that you need to increase Sonic prices as if you are going out to dig your own fiber lines is not the case. ATT does this and then no doubt passes some of the charges to Sonic. You WERE the best "broker" till your price increase nearly doubled my costs for your service......Again, Sonic WAS the best 3rd party service provider, but got greedy. Sonic in truth is now able to take advantage of their (ATT) efforts into building more fiber and they (ATT) are spending lots to get this done. I don't believe Sonic is paying except in that your company will have higher fees to "lease" their lines. I really don't like too that you charge a monthly fee for usage of the Gateway/Modems. Again, these are supplied by ATT and ATT does not charge for these on a monthly basis. In this, Sonic is being more like Comcast who does wants to $5 or $10 a month you to death. You should allow your users to purchase their own equipment. Using a SAS-like model is to Sonic's benefits and not us, the End-User customers. Please respond as I'd like both of my issues addressed. I now have a 2 year price guarantee from ATT for fiber to my house....yes, into my actual home and I pay $30 a month for 45mbps speed......So, I know Sonic could be cheaper and that is why I left when you when you raised my rates from $40 a month (which you still advertise for new folks) to $67 for your "faithful long-time users". Sorry, I now pay less than half as much for faster service.....GUARANTEED for the next 2 years!!!!

[miken]

We know you are leasing ATT lines and do not "own" any of your own. So saying that you need to increase Sonic prices as if you are going out to dig your own fiber lines is not the case.

We actually are installing and serving customers off of Sonic Fiber (not AT&T's) in San Francisco, Brentwood and Sebastopol. We're expanding as quickly as we can - so hopefully we can offer that service in your area in the near future.

I really don't like too that you charge a monthly fee for usage of the Gateway/Modems.

Where possible we allow opting out of our provided equipment and buying your own. However, services like Fusion FTTN (that use Uverse infrastructure) require a rental modem due to a limitation of the infrastructure.

I now have a 2 year price guarantee from ATT for fiber to my house....yes, into my actual home and I pay $30 a month for 45mbps speed......So, I know Sonic could be cheaper

The price at which AT&T sells it's circuits on an individual basis and the price at which we pay per circuit wholesale are completely independent of each other. A lot of consideration does go into the value of our service and is why we're proud to offer things like free bordlerless calling, free VPN service, free personal hosting service, local customer support and an award winning privacy policy (we just got a perfect privacy score by the EFF for the fifth year in a row!). https://www.eff.org/who-has-your-back-2017

[Ngu]

At this point, my current speeds are just not cutting it. I was heavily considering switching to fusion x2, but apparently I do not qualify for the $50 introductory rate as a current customer. I think the worst part is that I was previously told a few months ago that I would be able to take advantage of the introductory rate. With my bill going up to ~$60 a month next month, adding x2 will increase my bill to $80 a month + modem rental fee. For the same price, I could get a Comcast 100mbps connection even after the 1 year promo rate. Now if there was even a hint of a possibility of fiber coming to my area, I would probably stick around, but based on Dane's previous posts it doesn't seem like my area will ever be serviced by sonic fiber. "Both Google and AT&T have said they've got plans to build fiber in San Jose, so we wouldn't build there if they do." "We're evaluating whole cities or substantial regions of whole cities at this point, not individual subdivisions. Small projects are generally not viable." Honestly, I've just about had it with the slow speeds and the price increase.