Gigabit Berkeley

[dane]

FYI, another activation in the region just now: FDA 35 just went live!

FDA 35: Grizzly Peak Blvd from Hilldale Ave to Marin Ave. Hillsdale Ave from Grizzley Peak Blvd to Regal Rd. Poppy Ln from Keeler Ave to Hillsdale Ave. Forest Lane. Poplar St. Rock Lane. Euclid Ave.

Any news on FDA 30? At this point it feels like it's surrounded on 3 sides by active areas.

You are. The team reports that "It was tested last week, there was a bad splice which is being traced and repaired today. It is scheduled to be re-tested on Thursday." So, you're getting very close to activation there!

[lefish]

Thanks Dane!

Regarding Central Berkeley, you wrote:

That's a region where we are working with the City to satisfy them regarding the passive optical splitter cabinets. We're hopeful they'll give us permits to deploy the fiber optic cables while we engage with them on that review, but we'll see how that goes.

Is there anything we can do as residents to help advocate for this? Advocating with our City councilmembers? Other City employees or departments we can nag to push it along?

And you also said it would come "later in the process". Is your guess that that means next month? January? Next summer?

Thanks!

[dane]

Thanks Dane!

Regarding Central Berkeley, you wrote:

That's a region where we are working with the City to satisfy them regarding the passive optical splitter cabinets. We're hopeful they'll give us permits to deploy the fiber optic cables while we engage with them on that review, but we'll see how that goes.

Is there anything we can do as residents to help advocate for this? Advocating with our City councilmembers? Other City employees or departments we can nag to push it along?

And you also said it would come "later in the process". Is your guess that that means next month? January? Next summer?

Thanks!

No, I don't think there's anything that can be done, we just need to work through the process. Someone complained about the boxes, so now they're subjecting them to review - putting them into the same category as wireless equipment on poles, unfortunately. We're doing some work on photoshop mock-ups, and trying to determine if we have to provide photo simulations for every single box, or if a typical example will suffice.

I don't have any details on timeframes at this point. Different areas have different date estimates - and those all assume we'll see the boxes approved through an administrative process that does not cause additional delay. We'll see how that turns out!

[aanon4]

FYI, another activation in the region just now: FDA 35 just went live!

FDA 35: Grizzly Peak Blvd from Hilldale Ave to Marin Ave. Hillsdale Ave from Grizzley Peak Blvd to Regal Rd. Poppy Ln from Keeler Ave to Hillsdale Ave. Forest Lane. Poplar St. Rock Lane. Euclid Ave.

Any news on FDA 30? At this point it feels like it's surrounded on 3 sides by active areas.

You are. The team reports that "It was tested last week, there was a bad splice which is being traced and repaired today. It is scheduled to be re-tested on Thursday." So, you're getting very close to activation there!

Thanks for the update - much appreciated. I will keep my fingers crossed for Thursday.

[cmeisel]

If you would take the time to read this and other threads you would see that Sonic has actually posted (and emailed all people that signed up) multiple updates, explaining delays, acknowledging issues with pre-orders, communications, etc.
They have also provided new dates (at least for berkeley) and your middle of 2019 comment has nothing to do with reality and what info has been provided. I would recommend you read posts first and then comment.

When I go to Member Tools and try to upgrade my service, it says "Lucky you, Fiber is coming to your area in September, 2018." (The exact words may be slightly different.)

It's November. I understand things falling behind, but the lack of communication concerns me -- member tools still tell me that I should have had fiber 2 months ago! Every week or two, I get postcards telling me that Sonic fiber is imminent and that I should signup to be the first in the neighborhood to get it, but when I visit member tools, I can't sign up.

I haven't seen any Sonic trucks around (I'm near Shattuck and Ashby). Like many others here, I am happy overall with Sonic, but very frustrated by the poor communication on this. At this point, I already assume that Fiber won't arrive during 2018 and I'd put the odds below 50% that it'll arrive before mid-2019.

I have recommended Sonic to friends and family in the past, but at this point, my recommendation has switched to "The company has great policies, but if you need fast internet, you should wait and see if they'll ever deliver it."

[dane]

If you would take the time to read this and other threads you would see that Sonic has actually posted (and emailed all people that signed up) multiple updates, explaining delays, acknowledging issues with pre-orders, communications, etc.
They have also provided new dates (at least for berkeley) and your middle of 2019 comment has nothing to do with reality and what info has been provided. I would recommend you read posts first and then comment.

When I go to Member Tools and try to upgrade my service, it says "Lucky you, Fiber is coming to your area in September, 2018." (The exact words may be slightly different.)

It's November. I understand things falling behind, but the lack of communication concerns me -- member tools still tell me that I should have had fiber 2 months ago! Every week or two, I get postcards telling me that Sonic fiber is imminent and that I should signup to be the first in the neighborhood to get it, but when I visit member tools, I can't sign up.

I haven't seen any Sonic trucks around (I'm near Shattuck and Ashby). Like many others here, I am happy overall with Sonic, but very frustrated by the poor communication on this. At this point, I already assume that Fiber won't arrive during 2018 and I'd put the odds below 50% that it'll arrive before mid-2019.

I have recommended Sonic to friends and family in the past, but at this point, my recommendation has switched to "The company has great policies, but if you need fast internet, you should wait and see if they'll ever deliver it."

I think these are valid concerns. Our Member Tool is pulling the wrong date, and we're fixing that, and in this case they are getting non-member targetted postcards because of an address matching issue. (For example "Apt 1" vs "FLR LWR") USPS address matching issues are crazy challenging.

And while we've communicated better now with non-customers who have pre-ordered, existing Fusion customers have gotten little beyond "fiber is coming soon" from us.

So, don't be too quick to criticize, we've got plenty of room to improve here!

[Zandr]

Like fvmany, I haven't heard anything at all regarding timelines for our neighborhood, and cmeisel's "If you'd just read..." isn't useful. I have read, there's nothing here that talks about South Berkeley, even though I've asked a few times. The only progress I've managed to make is that the junk mail addressed to "Resident" seems to have stopped. Member tools still says "Sep 2018", of course.

I've been a Sonic customer for decades, and this really isn't what I've come to expect over the years. I understand there are delays, but this process has been completely opaque. I've remained a Sonic customer for a number of reasons, but also have a Comcast line because the speeds available from Sonic here aren't sufficient for my telecommuting.

It sounds like there are changes underway, but I would encourage Sonic to be much more transparent here. Lay out the steps in the process and let me see which ones have been completed for my area. It's always better to over-communicate, and frankly to date I think existing customers have been treated like mushrooms. :)

[aanon4]

FYI, another activation in the region just now: FDA 35 just went live!

FDA 35: Grizzly Peak Blvd from Hilldale Ave to Marin Ave. Hillsdale Ave from Grizzley Peak Blvd to Regal Rd. Poppy Ln from Keeler Ave to Hillsdale Ave. Forest Lane. Poplar St. Rock Lane. Euclid Ave.

Any news on FDA 30? At this point it feels like it's surrounded on 3 sides by active areas.

You are. The team reports that "It was tested last week, there was a bad splice which is being traced and repaired today. It is scheduled to be re-tested on Thursday." So, you're getting very close to activation there!

It's Thursday afternoon and hope springs eternal - any news on the splice fixing of FDA 30?

[dane]

Happy Friday everyone!

FDA 27C just went live!

FDA 27C: Euclid Ave from Ridge Rd to Virginia St. La Roy Ave from Hilgard Ave to Hearst Ave. La Loma Ave from Le Conte Ave to Hearst Ave. Highland Pl from north of Ridge Rd to Hearst St.

Have a great day!

[dchip2]

Dear Dane,

Is there any update on when fiber is coming to Ellsworth/Bancroft or Ellsworth/Durant (Im between those streets.)

Thanks!