by Jason » Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:14 am
kenlui wrote:
I disagree. Sonic DSL is a great deal because there are no caps and they have shown more than once that they fight for their users' rights. Sonic customer support are friendly and don't treat their callers like idiots.
My earlier posting was in fact aimed at Dane to plead him for Fusion deployment in Pleasanton. Sonic DSL and others were used as comparison against Fusion.
Whether Sonic DSL is a great deal or not is situational and subjective. In my case, I have no good use of AT&T home phone. I just need a fast, reliable and stable Internet connection with no data cap at a low cost. I had SBC/AT&T DSL and AT&T/Comcast cable internet at my current place in the past, and they all served my needs well till they came up with the data cap. I got sick and tired of monitoring my usage (thanks to two teen agers at home), and switched to Sonic DSL.
Other than data cap, I had no complaint about AT&T DSL and Comcast cable. Both were very reliable and stable. I cannot rate their customer service against Sonic’s as I don’t have meaningful experiences with any of them in recent years. I didn’t need to call the customer service other than calls to cancel the services. Probably the best customer service is no (need for) customer service.
As for supporting a local company that “fights for user’s rights” I wouldn’t include it in “great deal” factors. I’d rather place it under the value system, and use it as a casting vote when everything else is comparable.
That said, based on my non-scientific subjective experience at my place, Sonic and other ISPs are comparable in the area of reliability, stability, and customer support (n.a. due to lack of meaningful experience). That narrows the factors to the speed and the cost. I compared post-promo Sonic DSL against the comparably priced business class Internet plans from AT&T and Comcast available at my place. Sonic DSL 6M for $60 is clearly not very competitive in my case.
Again, the comparison is situational. If one has a good use of AT&T phone, it is a different math.
kenlui wrote:
I considered Comcast but you don't know what your local node's subscriber density is so your ultimate bandwidth is a crap shoot as there is no dedicated infrastructure for business customers. As far as I'm aware, you're forced to use Comcast's modem that has a monthly fee if you were to go with their business subscription.
There appears to be a $15 premium to AT&T U-verse business compared to normal U-verse. The only positive you have is if you could be served by a VRAD, you would be able to get more than 6 Mbps: [$55 for up to 6 Mbps;] $60 for up to 12 Mbps; $90 for up to 18 Mbps; $100 for up to 24 Mbps. Their terms also suggest that the modem is owned by AT&T and you need to pay a monthly fee. This was true of U-verse VDSL and not true for their U-verse HSI (IPDSLAM) infrastructure. But their IPDSLAM is only applicable if you're served by a CO, therefore if you can get U-verse IPDSLAM, you should be able to get Fusion.
Some of the plan details kenlui wrote are different from what I researched. Here are summary of the two plans available to my place at $50-$60 range for comparison purpose.
Comcast business Internet at 12M costs $60. Must be installed by a technician at one time cost of $200/$100/$50 depending on the contract term 1/2/3 years. Customers can use their own modem. (This is a recent change.) *Business class* no data cap.
AT&T U-verse plan information was confusing at best. So I followed AT&T U-verse order pages for small business half way through to see what is actually available. I can order 12M U-verse HSI business for $50. 1-2 year contract required. Free technician installation. Must buy an AT&T-provided modem for one time cost of $25 ($75 minus $50 rebate). It can be ordered without phone service. No data cap.
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I don’t mean to promote the plans from Sonic’s competitions.
My goal is to draw Dane’s attention and plead him for Fusion deployment in my area, Pleasanton. Dane, you may edit or delete any or all part of my postings as appropriate.
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Jason