Fiber promised on my block by April 2018 ...

[ankh]

"Gigabit Fiber is coming to your location
Service is scheduled to be available Apr 2018.
Pre-order today to be first in line!"

So is the changeover going to happen automatically, from my bonded Fusion account?
Different modem/router?

Do I need to "pre-order today to be first in line"?
And what's the $40/$50 month 1-year contract offer mean?

And how reliable is the April 2018 date?

Can I start telling my neighbors they can count on Sonic, and at what monthly price??

[kyle.depasquale]

Since you already have Sonic service, they'll move you over as soon as it's ready - you'll be one of the first ones to get it on your block! Barring any pole/construction issues, the timeline should be very reliable. The dates they've posted have been very accurate, at least for the rollout in my area.

[dane]

Existing customers should not pre-order, that’d create two accounts and create potential for early term fees and such on the old one. When it’s time for migration, you’ll get an email and link to the Member tool for service change.

[ankh]

OK. If the following questions are already answered in another thread, or will be, pointer please.

For neighbors who aren't yet Sonic customers --- if they "pre-order" is that an actual commitment, at a fixed price to be arranged? or does a pre-order get them an offer/email when service becomes available? The neighbor who has and hates Comcast wants to know more and asks me.

How does fiber connect physically -- is a new fiber connection hooked up from pole to house, and a new modem/router to be installed? (How?)

Does this need to run some kind of internal fiber from the wall entry point to the modem located elsewhere inside the house? -- our drop terminates in a crawlspace where the splitter is located, so we connect the modem via Ethernet now, putting the modem in the living space so we can check the blinky lights. And all the house landline copper connects there at the splitter.

What happens to POTS -- do we go back to using just one copper drop for voice phone?

[steelgaze]

For neighbors who aren't yet Sonic customers --- if they "pre-order" is that an actual commitment, at a fixed price to be arranged? or does a pre-order get them an offer/email when service becomes available? The neighbor who has and hates Comcast wants to know more and asks me.

It is not a firm commitment. Sonic will follow up and confirm that you are ready to commit and they will roll a truck to do the drop and install. AFAIK, it's still a two (multi-day) step process.

How does fiber connect physically -- is a new fiber connection hooked up from pole to house, and a new modem/router to be installed? (How?)

Does this need to run some kind of internal fiber from the wall entry point to the modem located elsewhere inside the house? -- our drop terminates in a crawlspace where the splitter is located, so we connect the modem via Ethernet now, putting the modem in the living space so we can check the blinky lights. And all the house landline copper connects there at the splitter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WW33RRUvdM

What happens to POTS -- do we go back to using just one copper drop for voice phone?

You actually lose POTS. I'm not all that knowledgable on this, but they snipped my external copper line in, tied in a new RJ-11 that runs from the ONT. While it's a completely transparent passthough for the typical usage, I suspect if I turned off the ONT, I'd lose the phone signal.

[ankh]

> lose POTS

YEEK! it was important to have after Loma Prieta. We could leave answering machine messages for each other even when we couldn't reach each other by phone calls. Luckily I had an answering machine that was on the backup power system.

Even in the power-failure dark, the telephone worked.

That low voltage system matters, a whole lot, when everything else goes down.

What was the experience during the recent North Bay fires when the cell system went away, along with AC power?

Dang. Is it going to be possible to keep plain old telephone service, at an extra charge, with fiber from Sonic?

[steelgaze]

If you get a battery backup unit, you can keep the ONT running and your phone line should continue to work.

[dane]

A key point to consider with regards to voice over fiber is that the fiber network itself is a passive one, like the copper of POTS. This means that unlike cable or FTTN, there are no cabinets that need power maintenance, there is just the central office equipment and the premise equipment.

But because fiber cannot carry power to the premise, a small battery unit is required. But that’s entirely manageable, and within your control, and the power usage is tiny, so a small battery lasts a long time.

[danielg4]

Dang. Is it going to be possible to keep plain old telephone service, at an extra charge, with fiber from Sonic?

Sonic does offer POTS separately, for $10+tax per month, and a $150 one-time setup fee.

[ankh]

> POTS

Thanks! Several different encouraging answers there.

I've already got APC UPSs scattered around the house for various pieces of hardware. But those only stay good for a few hours when the AC fails, I assume because they self-cannibalize the battery power bringing up some hardware that makes 110v available (they hum -- then a few hours later they start to whine, whistle, or beep, and then they die). And those UPSs use 12v lead-acid batteries that don't like complete discharge. I'd rather use lithium-ion cell or NiMH battery packs that are a bit more likely to survive.

So -- Dane, can you ask your techs to look into how to provide that small amount of battery power for the system?
What voltage is it going to require? and how should everything be connected? Pictures would help.

I can get a solar panel and one of the "power bank" devices that are becoming increasingly common and set up whatever is required. There are some power banks that automagically reset themselves after a cloud crosses the sun and the solar voltage drops, but others simply go to sleep til reset. So it will take some investigation to find the right hardware.

They're saying plan for no AC power for maybe 3 weeks. Not to mention water and fire protection, which will also take a while to reorganize. In the meantime, telecom is going to be vital.

(We have community neighborhood emergency plans that include GMRS radio coordination, with us licensed ham radio operators serving to relay messages to the local city offices, for example, on the assumption the phones will all fail.)

And I'd like to do the preparation with the available lead time between now and April, and make up the backup battery equipment for some of the elderly neighbors who are asking me about life safety stuff, so when Sonic comes to put in their and our fiber, the Sonic tech will recognize and know how to connect the backup battery power.

Sorry to be anticipating trouble. But we're only a few blocks from the Hayward Fault here and expect to get all shook up. And Sonic is, I hope, to be a lifeline once things fall apart and the center does not hold ...