Dane - for real, what's the deal with Sonic fiber in Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito?

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
205 posts Page 15 of 21
by digitalbitstream » Mon Jul 09, 2018 7:48 pm
Yeah, I got the "construction delay" notice, but no details as to why, what the challenges have been, what the permitting issues are, or what anyone with a connection to the City could do to help...
by dane » Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:59 am
digitalbitstream wrote:Yeah, I got the "construction delay" notice, but no details as to why, what the challenges have been, what the permitting issues are, or what anyone with a connection to the City could do to help...
Delays are caused by a wide array of things, and it wouldn't be practical to provide a specific reason for a delay in a specific service location. Issues have included a fire in SF that took away splice crews for two days, permit issuance delays due to traffic control plan changes, construction crews in the East Bay having all of their trucks broken into one night a couple weeks ago and all tools stolen, and even squirrels eating through cables requiring splice crews to repair (our version of "the dog ate my homework", I guess).

We provide reasonable, achievable estimates of completion time-frames, and we include two full months worth of contingency time on those estimates. But in some cases, we do end up with delays that push network construction and activation and result in delays beyond the estimated date. When these occur, customers with pending orders get a notification (but notably, existing Fusion customers do not get any notice, we're working to include them in these communications.)
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by aanon4 » Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:03 pm
dane wrote:but notably, existing Fusion customers do not get any notice, we're working to include them in these communications.
This is great to hear. I have to assume that any current Berkeley customer still with Sonic is using your service because they believe in the company rather than because they want the fastest service (DSL not being that in a long, long time). We have more than a passing interest in the progress of fiber.

Or I could just be projecting ... :)
by notrealname » Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:37 am
ankh wrote:Neighbors on our block who have been waiting to become Sonic customers got mail saying there will be a delay. Those of us who are currently customers haven't gotten any update information.
I think flagging down a Sonic truck is currently the way people are getting updates. We had one go down our street on the 4th and we nearly caught him and invited him to our block party, but he got away.
New customers are definitely getting hooked up first. Saw a new fiber install go in right next door to an existing Sonic customer.... the tech only had marching orders for the new house.
by dane » Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:03 pm
notrealname wrote:
ankh wrote:Neighbors on our block who have been waiting to become Sonic customers got mail saying there will be a delay. Those of us who are currently customers haven't gotten any update information.
I think flagging down a Sonic truck is currently the way people are getting updates. We had one go down our street on the 4th and we nearly caught him and invited him to our block party, but he got away.
New customers are definitely getting hooked up first. Saw a new fiber install go in right next door to an existing Sonic customer.... the tech only had marching orders for the new house.
The existing customer should have gotten an email invitation to our Member Tool to upgrade their connection. That triggers the placement of the drop and scheduling of the in-home installation.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by cycloscott » Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:46 pm
Just had fiber installed Tuesday at my place on the 1400 block of Cornell in Berkeley. It is AMAZING!!! As close to 1Gbps each direction as makes no difference. LOVE the symmetrical speed which will make cloud backups actually feasible now. No way I'd be able to back up terabytes of photos over DSL.

Every person involved couldn't have been nicer. My installer, Jerry M was excellent. All of his wiring was super clean and tidy. Ziptied to existing lines where applicable, and stapled neatly to the joists in the crawl-space. ---as opposed to the existing ComCrap coax cables left strewn all over (and not on my watch, I hate that company)--- He even had his own little dust pan and broom to clean up after himself in my office where he installed the ONT and router. (which he emptied into his backpack!) The only downside is that the speed exposed shortcomings in my home network, with devices that weren't capable of handling the speed. I was down to -only- 200Mbps a few places, due to one of my access points just not having the oomph. Upgraded it tonight and I'm good to go.

I've said before that I plan on being a Sonic customer for life. This experience just clinches the deal.

Thanks Dane. You've got a great company with outstanding people working for you.
by dane » Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:58 am
cycloscott wrote:Just had fiber installed Tuesday at my place on the 1400 block of Cornell in Berkeley. It is AMAZING!!! As close to 1Gbps each direction as makes no difference. LOVE the symmetrical speed which will make cloud backups actually feasible now. No way I'd be able to back up terabytes of photos over DSL.

Every person involved couldn't have been nicer. My installer, Jerry M was excellent. All of his wiring was super clean and tidy. Ziptied to existing lines where applicable, and stapled neatly to the joists in the crawl-space. ---as opposed to the existing ComCrap coax cables left strewn all over (and not on my watch, I hate that company)--- He even had his own little dust pan and broom to clean up after himself in my office where he installed the ONT and router. (which he emptied into his backpack!) The only downside is that the speed exposed shortcomings in my home network, with devices that weren't capable of handling the speed. I was down to -only- 200Mbps a few places, due to one of my access points just not having the oomph. Upgraded it tonight and I'm good to go.

I've said before that I plan on being a Sonic customer for life. This experience just clinches the deal.

Thanks Dane. You've got a great company with outstanding people working for you.
Thanks for the kind words. I share your admiration for the staff, we've got really wonderful people here, and I'm impressed every day by their integrity and the quality of their work.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by ellisoverlook » Sun Jul 22, 2018 11:54 pm
I noticed that Creston Road in Berkeley is available, and my neighbor who I can almost touch across our alley could get fiber, but I can't get anything on Overlook Road. I understand this is most likely related to our utilities being underground here, but is there no way to hook us up, given your network is so close?
by bryanhaggerty » Sat Jul 28, 2018 12:24 am
Ran into the Sonic crew on my way up to the Gourmet Ghetto. They were working on underground cabinets to get across MLK at Vine. The neighborhood is blanketed with trucks on a daily basis now (not a bad thing). Great to see the build out happening in person.
by cmeisel » Wed Aug 01, 2018 11:59 am
I see trucks on Cedar that seem to run new cables every day including Saturday and Sunday and they make fast progress. It is some third party and I was all excited this might be sonic but today I saw Xfinity trucks there as well so it might be them. I have not seen any sonic truck anywhere in north Berkeley at least not around cedar, Shattuck, mlk, rose and also none on Marin up to g. peak. I know sonic is in Albany (paralta) but I don’t know which route they will take to go up the hills.
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