may switch from ATT: speed & equipment question

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
7 posts Page 1 of 1
by Nikita » Fri Jul 13, 2012 3:06 pm
thinking of switching my mom from ATT DSL because their d/s speed in her area is quite poor. Though Sonic advertises 'up to 20mbps' I understand that is a function of distance to 'Serving Office'. She's in 94303 (Palo Alto), 13,546 feet away per sonic.net and that seems rather far (saw posts estimating 1-8mbps for 10k feet)
- what downstream speeds can she expect (range)?
- would she be able to use her AT&T dsl modem/wifi router (it's an ADSL2+ Linksys) or would she need to use a sonic.net-provided unit?

Thank you,
-nikita
by dane » Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:18 pm
That is a quite long loop, so ADSL2+ has rather minimal gain on download speed over the ADSL1 technology she is on today. I'd expect gains of only 10%-25%. Our average speed at that distance is about 1.75Mbps downstream. That said, on upstream it should be a pretty substantial increase, likely she is at 384kbps, and should see around 1Mbps on our network.

Sonic.net provides equipment with the service now, a modem/router/firewall, with 802.11N Wi-Fi.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by Luc » Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:12 pm
Called today to switch two households from ATT to Sonic, but the new $6.50 per month extra fee for equipment is a deal breaker. The last time I called to do the same the $35 activation fee killed the deal. Now the $35 + $8.72 shipping + $6.50 equipment + taxes makes it too much. After the first month it's $57.50 a month. $39.95 my a*s, there is $17.55 in hidden fees. You guys are starting to act like ATT.

Why piss people off with disingenuous advertising. Be up front (front page) with your pricing and do away with this extra monthly cost that is hidden as an equipment fee. You rent us an $89. basic modem for $6.50 am month, whether or not we need it. Shame!!!

Everyone I have talked to likes their Sonic service. It's fast, reliable, no contracts, friendly customer service, why would anyone leave with all the pluses. So why gouge in perpetuity with this ridiculous equipment fee.

Sorry Sonic, I already have an internet provider bending me over, why should I switch to a new perpetrator.

Let me know when you change your bad ways and dump the mandatory hidden fees.

4luc@sbcglobal.net aka ATT

PS what's with the unreadable CAPTCHA non sense.
by stanley1943 » Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:22 pm
I do agree with equipment fee on the aspect that it is well too hidden. I dont mind paying that extra 6.50 for equipment fee since the added up price is still much cheaper than ATT, they charged me 80 bucks for elite. We have 5 computers open all the time and reaching 225+Gb total per month.
I do urge sonic.net to make the font bigger or 46.95 with free equipment and maintenance of the equipment

Despite of the equipment monthly fee, i'm very happy that i switched. the Internet speed had increased dramatically
by Maelig » Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:36 pm
Luc wrote:Called today to switch two households from ATT to Sonic, but the new $6.50 per month extra fee for equipment is a deal breaker. The last time I called to do the same the $35 activation fee killed the deal. Now the $35 + $8.72 shipping + $6.50 equipment + taxes makes it too much. After the first month it's $57.50 a month. $39.95 my a*s, there is $17.55 in hidden fees. You guys are starting to act like ATT.

Why piss people off with disingenuous advertising. Be up front (front page) with your pricing and do away with this extra monthly cost that is hidden as an equipment fee. You rent us an $89. basic modem for $6.50 am month, whether or not we need it. Shame!!!

Everyone I have talked to likes their Sonic service. It's fast, reliable, no contracts, friendly customer service, why would anyone leave with all the pluses. So why gouge in perpetuity with this ridiculous equipment fee.

Sorry Sonic, I already have an internet provider bending me over, why should I switch to a new perpetrator.

Let me know when you change your bad ways and dump the mandatory hidden fees.

4luc@sbcglobal.net aka ATT

PS what's with the unreadable CAPTCHA non sense.
+1 - I planned to switch today right after the end of my U-verse contract because your company had a good reputation and I liked the idea of buying local, but when I saw this new fee (there is NO way I will pay for a modem I won't even own - and I assume it's also subject to taxes), I decided to stick to AT&T (I'll still pay less with them even without contract and I have no real problem of speed in my apartment).

Paying $75 for installation (yes, I have no landline telephone with AT&T, just Internet) + $8.72 the first month (that's already an investment of $6.97 a month if you consider one year of service), then $39.95 + $12.82 taxes (San Francisco) + $6,5 modem = $66.25 total, I would have to be really confident in getting a significantly better service than my $43 AT&T + $12 IP phone service with unlimited internation phone calls.

Of course, I'm going to be told that price is not everything but I know what I'll loose, and not really what I'll get. I just hope you'll reconsider this new strategy because it's definitely a dealbreaker for me, and I was actually really excited to join you right before I discovered that today on your website.
by dane » Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:41 pm
Understood, and I appreciate the feedback. Our prices have gone up, and I recognize that makes us less competitive. We'll be working both to add more value to the product, and to bring costs back down as we continue our growth. Our first step in this was elimination this month of our usual $35 activation fee, as we saw that as a barrier. Price is something we think a lot about, and we'll continue to work to make the product as compelling as possible.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by pboggini » Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:26 am
I agree with the concern about $6.50/month modem/router fee. I get that having a standard out there makes it easier for Sonic to help but there are a lot of people like myself who can support our connection just fine with minimal help from Sonic. Really, the only thing I need from Sonic is a reliable connection, routing and DNS from the modem. I have my own routers and modem (I bought a spare ADSL2 modem for my current ATT connection). So, I feel like I'm paying, monthly, for items I already own.

Now I have signed up for service though I'm a bit less enthusiastic about it now as the $6.50/month does feel a lot like ATT and it does concern me that there might be other hidden $$'s coming. Is there not an option to allow more of a self support in the home type of system?

thanks peterb
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