I've been on a lot of tech forums, and I gotta say that it boggles my mind to see how active Dane is on here. Other forums, I don't even see the tech support folks for that company on as often as I see the CEO of Sonic.net on here. Granted, there's the possibility that Dane delegates to some tech savvy folks to post for him, but even if that's true, it's still impressive.
That said, I'd like to chime in on this discussion. I landed here because I've been having stability issues with my internet for quite some time, and it's quite possible that it's due to my old modem. So I came here looking for options on modems, and it is comforting to see that sonic.net has eased off of forcing new customers to rent a modem. I know, from reading the posts, what is all inclusive in that rental package, but for the regular "joe", all we really see is a big monthly tax on modem rental. One of my friends almost became a customer until he got snared in the rental enforcement, and he backed away (there went my referral). I'll have to let him know that you changed your stance.
Realizing that the $6.50 is not just for the modem, but also for support (such as quick modem replacement, in-house wiring issues, etc.), is comforting, but it also leads me to request/suggest the following: Why not let your customers buy that modem without the bells and whistles (aka, the support add-ons). For those of us that want to avoid the $6.50/month, since I'm shopping for a DSL modem, I'd just assume buy it from Sonic.net than from Amazon.com. Now, if you tell me that modem is gonna cost me $500, well... that'll shut me up right quick.