What will it take to get fiber in Albany

[lincolnspector]

What can I do to get Sonic fiber in Albany, CA?

Please don't tell me you need more Sonic customers. Considering your DSL speeds, that's not just a hard sell, it's an almost impossible sell. The reason I'm still staying with Sonic is more about idealism than pragmatism. And it's hard to sell idealism.

What about talking with the city counsel? Or getting a petition of people willing to switch to Sonic once you have fiber here.

Lincoln Spector

[pockyken007]

What can I do to get Sonic fiber in Albany, CA?

Please don't tell me you need more Sonic customers. Considering your DSL speeds, that's not just a hard sell, it's an almost impossible sell. The reason I'm still staying with Sonic is more about idealism than pragmatism. And it's hard to sell idealism.

What about talking with the city counsel? Or getting a petition of people willing to switch to Sonic once you have fiber here.

Lincoln Spector

While I understand that DSL speeds in this day and time are not really acceptable especially since demand for more bandwidth increased rapidly over the last few years SONIC as a company is basing their Fiber deployment largely on the density , uptake rate , existing customers among many other factors ... one solution maybe that might work would be to get signatures of the pledges that would switch to sonic if fiber was to be deployed so that SONIC can see what % of people is interested and maybe you can have / made a valid business case that way ... just my 10 cents .

[MouseRat]

AT&T is deploying fiber in Albany, and Comcast is already there with an easy upgrade to DOCSIS 3.1 gigabit. Very unlikely that Sonic will spend its scarce money to build in a place like Albany that has two deep-pocketed gigabit ISPs, there's just not enough customer revenue to support THREE gigabit ISPs.

[MouseRat]

Good news, Lincoln, I've heard that some folks in Albany have heard from Sonic that gigabit fiber is coming sometime in 2018. Very secondhand, so don't bank on it, but definitely a positive sign for Albany. Since it seems that Sonic is talking to Albany residents, perhaps Dane can now talk here about Sonic's plans for Albany? Presumably Sonic is installing it's own fiber, but I suppose it's possible that Sonic is working on a deal to resell AT&T fiber.

[dane]

The cat has departed the bag.

[mquiazon]

The cat has departed the bag.

What does that mean? Is Albany getting actual Sonic infrastructure or resold higher-speed tiers from AT&T?

If the former, then is there hope for other Gigapower-serviced areas? If the latter, what new service tiers can current FTTN customers expect to get?

[dane]

Check your address on the website? (Note, existing members should not order new service on the website, they will get an early migration invitation instead, when their location is ready.)

[ngufra]

I live 1 block from the Solano avenue exchange.
We have seen some sonic trucks laying some fibre a few month ago.
There is a sidewalk box on marin avenue with SONIC in big bold letters on it so indeed it's coming.

Sonic has sent email to its customers that it's coming; i forwarded to my neighbors that had given up on sonic for fiber and went to AT&T or comcast. Many of them said they are looking forward to switch back.
My neighbor told me sonic gave them an ETA of March.

I was considering getting a second line bonded on VDSL but i guess i can wait for the fiber.

[MouseRat]

Dane, I’m hoping that you can find a way to answer this question that doesn’t infringe on Sonic’s proprietary business strategy. Namely, is Sonic installing fiber (or planning same) in neighborhoods where AT&T FTTH exists? Kinda seems that way given that, I think, AT&T is in Albany, but perhaps it’s a different part from where Sonic is working? Or maybe Sonic is willing to go toe to toe? Which would be awesome for those of us that are already colonized by AT&T fiber; would give us something better to look forward to.

[mquiazon]

Check your address on the website? (Note, existing members should not order new service on the website, they will get an early migration invitation instead, when their location is ready.)

I'm still just seeing the existing FTTN X2 option.

I'm in downtown San Jose, where AT&T is now offering Gigapower. I was hoping that the expansion into Albany meant that those of us who are living in Gigapower-served areas could look forward to either Sonic fiber or at least higher-speed resold AT&T tiers. Like MouseRat asked above, is there a way to let us know what to expect without revealing too much about your expansion strategy?