Sonic's DSL is slow and not competitive with other ISPs.

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
9 posts Page 1 of 1
by greenhauler » Fri Nov 30, 2018 6:23 pm
I've been a Sonic customer since July of 2012, and have been very satisfied with the service. However when comparing Sonic to the competition in modern times, one could argue that at least what I'm getting isn't the best of value. At my household, we've been paying $66 for internet+voice. We get speeds of up to 15 Mbps. A certain competitor ISP offers 60 Mbps for $30, with $70 offering in the hundreds of Mbps.

EDIT late December/early January 2019: I had to do it, I joined the dark side. Pray for my soul.
by gambler » Fri Dec 28, 2018 1:24 pm
It could be worse. You could be paying that much for 6.1/0.9, like I am in Alameda. But not for much longer, I don't think.
by dane » Fri Dec 28, 2018 2:05 pm
For most customers in most locations, Sonic has upgrades available. Log in to check your location, here:

https://members.sonic.net/connections/serviceupdate/
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by mwedel » Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:11 pm
I guess I'm not in the most category. Following the link, the only option it presents is to downgrade my service to fusion X1 (I'm currently at 2 line).

I seem to be in an odd pocket of Santa Clara that AT&T hasn't updated, as going to the AT&T website, best they offer me is 10 mbs service. Comcast offers 150 mbs service for less than I'm paying for my 20 mbs service.

I like sonic, and dislike comcast. But at some point, I have to give up on waiting for something faster from sonic. As more software is distributed electronically, and is quite large, the idea of starting a download and waiting for the next day for it to be complete is not very appealing.
by joeyyung911 » Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:47 pm
Sometimes, you just gotta go over to the Dark Side. I had to do this a few months back at my Mom's house (Nob Hill, SF). Less than 6mbps (intermittent) for $70 ain't cutting it. But did keep the phone line, though...for a price.

Comcast: 25mbps - $30
Sonic phoneline - $24 (after all fees and taxes)
by greenhauler » Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:57 pm
Yeah, I totally understand. Like back in 2012 I was content with up to 15 Mbps, but the landscape has changed, 15/1 speeds are really slow nowadays. Add that with the $66 monthly price, it comes to be a very expensive "not Comcast" tax.

I have security cameras that rely on upload speeds, and I have to manually unplug them even when they're on their "off" modes when I'm home, since by virtue of them being connected, it will interfere and slow down other internet uses, especially online gaming. Not to mention 1 Mbps upload hinders the quality in which they can record and speed of uploading.

While I can get faster speeds at my address, it's not by much (30 Mbps), with the real kicker being it would cost almost $80 monthly to do so. They have discounted 12 month contract rates, but those only apply to new customers. $80 for example gets me insanely fast speeds (like at least 400 Mbps) elsewhere.

Despite all of this, I really do like Sonic, and I would be somewhat ok with paying more for slower speeds to have that unlimited data (just for peace of mind), and to support a local business/pro net neutrality ISP, but there's a point where that's simply poor financial decision making, and one could easily argue I'm getting a bad deal (my comcast friends certainly think so).

I know Sonic's fiber is great, and I will get is as soon as it's available, but I'm betting it won't be here anytime soon.
by inamerica » Sun Dec 30, 2018 9:17 am
Pretty hilarious people are getting triggered at Sonic doing pretty much their best. They could just say it isn't available and then you wouldn't come here to complain about it.
by oersted » Sun Dec 30, 2018 10:31 pm
I feel your pain. Looking at old email, it looks like I joined Sonic with dialup exactly 18 years ago, then changed to dsl in 2005, and then Fusion bonded in 2012. I get 17Mb/s down. Knowing that the price has gone up to pay for others' fiber, I've avoided looking at the billing receipt for several years. Just looked online at bills - today's autopay amount is $129.32. There are a *lot* of things to like about Sonic, which I why I've stuck with it, but $130 for 18Mb/s, 2 phone lines (one of which I don't need), and 4 email addresses is tough to swallow.

Ironically, apparently I'm too close to the CO to get high-speed internet. The AT&T tool reports the same situation. The Sonic upgrades site reports that nothing better is available.

Guess I'll make a New Year's resolution to see what can be done....
by greenhauler » Mon Dec 31, 2018 1:35 pm
inamerica wrote:Pretty hilarious people are getting triggered at Sonic doing pretty much their best. They could just say it isn't available and then you wouldn't come here to complain about it.
What do you mean exactly? Are you talking about fiber or about their DSL prices/speeds, since this post is about their DSL speeds and prices for those speeds. I know Sonic has to rent the infrastructure from AT&T, so that's likely why they don't have as much control as they'd like. Nobody here hates Sonic, in fact we're all long time customers, but read everyone's posts here to get a good view of the issues we're dealing with.
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