Resale of AT&T Fiber Offerings?

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
105 posts Page 5 of 11
by nuclianba » Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:34 am
Is there somebody specific to ask for or direct questions to in order to get this service (as a new customer)? ATT just laid fiber in my neighborhood this summer and is now showing 1000/1000 available at my address, but Sonic page still shows only DSL options. I've called sales twice...the first said only DSL was available and didn't know about reselling fiber service, and the second kept claiming sonic didn't even offer service to my address. I called support too who seemed to know a bit about fiber reselling being a thing but directed me back to sales.

I need to order internet service of some sort in the next few days and would really prefer not to go the ATT route if possible...Thanks!
by dane » Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:47 am
nuclianba wrote:Is there somebody specific to ask for or direct questions to in order to get this service (as a new customer)? ATT just laid fiber in my neighborhood this summer and is now showing 1000/1000 available at my address, but Sonic page still shows only DSL options. I've called sales twice...the first said only DSL was available and didn't know about reselling fiber service, and the second kept claiming sonic didn't even offer service to my address. I called support too who seemed to know a bit about fiber reselling being a thing but directed me back to sales.

I need to order internet service of some sort in the next few days and would really prefer not to go the ATT route if possible...Thanks!
It sounds like you're not currently a Sonic customer at that site? If so, you SHOULD be able to order with the team right now by phone at 707-522-1000. It'll be launched on the website in a few days.

But one caveat: We only offer service in areas adjacent to our Fusion territory - about 195 telephone rate centers in the California market. Greater LA, Sacramento and Bay Area regions. We don't serve spots like Bakersfield, San Diego or Dallas, for example, though the AT&T network does reach these regions. This is because we do not have installers and vehicles in those spots, and also because we don't have voice services, 911 interconnections, telephone numbers, etc.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by nuclianba » Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:59 am
dane wrote: It sounds like you're not currently a Sonic customer at that site? If so, you SHOULD be able to order with the team right now by phone at 707-522-1000. It'll be launched on the website in a few days.
Correct...I was a sonic customer in Oakland last year, but recently moved over the hill and am looking for new service at my new address. Currently wired for comcast.
dane wrote: But one caveat: We only offer service in areas adjacent to our Fusion territory - about 195 telephone rate centers in the California market. Greater LA, Sacramento and Bay Area regions. We don't serve spots like Bakersfield, San Diego or Dallas, for example, though the AT&T network does reach these regions. This is because we do not have installers and vehicles in those spots, and also because we don't have voice services, 911 interconnections, telephone numbers, etc.
I'm assuming Orinda is in the coverage region?
by dane » Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:54 pm
Yes, we serve Orinda. I'd suggest giving sales a call, if you haven't already - and asking them to look into it with the launch team.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by JDL » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:01 pm
Good news and bad news: I now have the option to upgrade my service to FTTN (Yes!), but it only shows the 75Mbps tier, while ATT shows I can get 100Mbps. Should I just put in the order to upgrade now and sort out the speed later?
by drew.phillips » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:12 pm
JDL wrote:Good news and bad news: I now have the option to upgrade my service to FTTN (Yes!), but it only shows the 75Mbps tier, while ATT shows I can get 100Mbps. Should I just put in the order to upgrade now and sort out the speed later?
Hi JDL,

The new 75M offering is not fiber but a faster tier of the existing service that you have. To get 100Mbps or higher is a technology change so please hold off from upgrading for now. I can contact you shortly to arrange a pilot upgrade though if you would like to upgrade as soon as possible.
Drew Phillips
Programmer / System Operations, Sonic.net
by nuclianba » Thu Aug 30, 2018 2:54 pm
dane wrote:Yes, we serve Orinda. I'd suggest giving sales a call, if you haven't already - and asking them to look into it with the launch team.
A flip must have been switched because the website is now showing 1000Mbps for me...and the sales folks on the phone could see it too...woohoo!

Unfortunately, the Sonic offering is $8/month more expensive than ATT for the same speed of internet service. I imagine this has been said elsewhere but it would be really nice if Sonic offered an unbundled option for Fiber service...that extra $8 is solely due to the extra taxes and fees that are required for a voice product and the ATA rental.

Now I have a hard choice...save myself $100 a year with ATT or spend the extra to support the local ISP with the better service and data policies. It's juuuust a high enough surcharge that I'm kinda flipping back and forth on it :(
by larns576 » Thu Aug 30, 2018 7:35 pm
I think $8 is a fair price to pay to know that my isp isnt selling my internet data to advertisers.
by nuclianba » Fri Aug 31, 2018 11:10 am
larns576 wrote:I think $8 is a fair price to pay to know that my isp isnt selling my internet data to advertisers.
I mean, fundamentally I agree and I am signing up...but I think this argument fundamentally misses my point. Sonic's pitch as I understand it is they "put people first". That to me implies they are upfront and honest with their customers, which is something the big guys are clearly terrible at. I fully support that and will pay for that. But the inability to unbundle the service and a required rental charge for a piece of equipment I don't want or need smacks to me of the exact same unfair tactics that the big guys use. I think it undercuts the entire message Sonic is attempting to put forward about being people first and different than the incumbents.

In this case, the extra $8 for sonic over ATT is directly related to a required $6.50/month rental of an ATA and then associated extra taxes/fees that go with a telecommunications product. I get the argument that you gotta pay for better service and data security, but in this case it seems like Sonic could give me all that AND undercut ATT's pricing on fiber, or at least match it, if it would allow an unbundled plan, or at least if it allowed me to not have to rent an ATA. Then we all could get a better ISP with better data policies at an equal/better price than the incumbent, which to me sounds like a more compelling sales pitch.

I don't know the details of how the numbers work for Sonic...I've seen elsewhere that the phone component is more or less required due to odd regulatory issues that forces Sonic to sell a telecommunications product to access ATT copper. Fair enough if true (although that could be made clearer on the website), but maybe that 6.50/month rental for the ATA isn't required if you don't want the phone? And to resell ATT fiber do they have the same regulatory requirement since there isn't any copper? Again, this is all opaque to a new customer. Maybe that 6.50/month rental fee is needed to make the whole thing work financially for Sonic and allow them to be in the black on these deals, which OK. But if that is true, I would just prefer to have the true cost of internet upfront instead of a backdoor charge for a device I don't need. It would, imho, match their marketing better if it just said 'this is the cost for our internet service' instead of 'here is the cost for internet and here are various added surcharges for a thing you dont want or need but you cant get out of'.
by timyu94 » Fri Aug 31, 2018 4:51 pm
dane wrote: Our access is via a commercial bulk purchase, and that gives us some limitations - the products don't always match what they are offering in retail. But on the other side, they come with commercial terms, which means no usage caps or overage charges, for example.

We continuously are negotiating for faster services. That's what led us to the 50/50, 100/100 and 1000/1000 IP Broadband service tiers we are launching today. But at this time, we don't have any updates to the existing tiers.

Edit: Nevermind! I just checked and saw that the qualification tool says my location supports 75 mbps speeds for FTTN! Now to figure out how to upgrade to this new speed... Hmm...

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