Sonic.net

Awsome, thank you very much for the support with the community.

This is what's exciting: If we can achieve good uptake in each area as we expand, we really can build this across the region, the state, and the country. The ONLY thing that holds fiber to the premise back in urban and suburban markets is uptake by consumers. And I feel like with an amazing performing and reliable product, offered at a price point which is less than the current typical cost for cable or DSL, that we can accomplish this. But, it really only works when people care, and want the outcome of new fiber everywhere, and spread the word.

To Dale

Dale, one more thought on what you said. It makes sense that the more people you get on fiber the better to be able to grow. And neigborhood groups like nextdoor or old fashion mailing lists help.
What I suggest you do (ADT and Bayalarm did this for example) is give neighborhood discounts. Some people said they signed up and got two free month, some got none and then complained, etc. Instead do something more consistent for an entire area.
I don't try to get anything and I personally don't like the if you get people to sign up we give you x free month or % off. I am thinking something were we could post and say hey, sonic now not only says August but all people from our neighborhood that sign up (say terraceview in our case) get 2 month free or get $5 of rental equipment for a year or something like that. It would help. I also suggest you make one or two people goto people who can help you to update neighbors on how installs are going so they all feel taken care of. just an idea and scalable. good luck, i will go my part and try to get more to sign up but i want to see how installs go first because some people don't trust ETA's now after 3 changes.
thanks

cmeisel wrote:To Dale

Dale, one more thought on what you said. It makes sense that the more people you get on fiber the better to be able to grow. And neigborhood groups like nextdoor or old fashion mailing lists help.
What I suggest you do (ADT and Bayalarm did this for example) is give neighborhood discounts. Some people said they signed up and got two free month, some got none and then complained, etc. Instead do something more consistent for an entire area.
I don't try to get anything and I personally don't like the if you get people to sign up we give you x free month or % off. I am thinking something were we could post and say hey, sonic now not only says August but all people from our neighborhood that sign up (say terraceview in our case) get 2 month free or get $5 of rental equipment for a year or something like that. It would help. I also suggest you make one or two people goto people who can help you to update neighbors on how installs are going so they all feel taken care of. just an idea and scalable. good luck, i will go my part and try to get more to sign up but i want to see how installs go first because some people don't trust ETA's now after 3 changes.
thanks

We do consistent offers, typically offering either one or two months free service, with no commitment, then 12 months at an introductory rate, typically $10 off. Each is a marketing and sales campaign, supported by postcards, door hangers, etc, and the offer is generally available for two to three months.

We have talked about doing something much more complex, for example higher discounts if more of a neighborhood signs up, but this gets really complicated real fast, so we haven't been able to put together anything like this.

Ok guys you tell us August and 2 days later comes an email telling me September ?
We sincerely apologize for the delay in delivering you Gigabit Fiber Internet.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are adjusting your expected Fiber connection timeline to September. Really disorganized and our neighborhood group is lighting up and it is not good. I had just updated people.

From sonic:

We understand how excited you are for your fiber service, and that pushing your expected connection timeline may be frustrating.

We're building Gigabit Fiber to as many cities as possible, as quickly as we can. And each city is a little different, which requires a new deployment strategy. Periodically, our team has to adjust construction timelines due to a variety of reasons, including unforeseen weather conditions, city permitting processes, and construction challenges. In your circumstance, we ran into construction challenges, which affects our network buildout timeline and expected delivery date.

We still very much intend to deliver Gigabit Fiber Internet to your location; it's just taking a bit longer than expected. We are working constantly to improve our Fiber construction process, and to ensure that our estimated dates remain as accurate as possible.

Thank you for your patience and support! We'll be in contact with you again soon.

If you have any questions, please text us at 707-800-4624 or email support@sonic.com.

Followed this morning by this:

Order #644417

Hello,
We now expect to complete our Gigabit Fiber network construction in your area in September 2018. Once construction is completed, we'll begin processing your order and contact you with next steps, which includes scheduling your installation.

If you have any questions, text us at 707-800-4624 or email support@sonic.com.

Thank you for pre-ordering!

=====
Again, my main complain is the communication.

Signed up and it said May
was changed to July no explanation but ok, understandable
received email that it was close and expected to finish in July with a woohoo! in the mail
then heard in the forum that my address was checked and it was August and then two email saying
surprise, september.

Update more frequently maybe tell people where you are so they see progress that will feel so much better.

> maybe tell people where you are so they see progress

I would almost bet that ATnT/Comcast are strategically occupying choke points to block their competition from connecting through to unserved neighborhoods. The poles I see around here are utterly loaded with wires, coils of wire, dangling wires and odd little boxes. And these are ancient poles leaning and often cracked through and rotten at the center inside the creosote/tar coating.

It's gonna be a mess when the earthquake shakes this all up.

Actually Comcast seems aware of delays and has offered special deals to the neighbors with 2 year locked in pricing and their own 1-2gigabit speed. I keep encouraging people to be patient but the lack of consistent messaging by sonic has not helped. Frustrating.

So, September has ended and there is no sign of gigabit in our area, even though the tool on the website still says it will be available in September 2018. Anyone in North Berkeley seen any movement?

Hearst between San Pablo and Sacramento is online. I had my install a couple weeks ago.

I have some friends in N. Berkeley who have been connected. They are close to Albany (so west of MLK and close to Marin) but don't know of anyone else. I had email a few days ago telling me it's now November for me ... but at the end of August I got one email telling me it would be September and another saying October, so I don't really believe any of them anymore.