Thoughts on Joining Sonic Community

General discussions and other topics.
4 posts Page 1 of 1
by marioguttman » Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:59 am
It was a wonderful experience to start my new Sonic fiber internet. The guys who did it (Jim and Jason) did a superlative job with a complicated installation. And then there was the pleasure of cancelling my AT&T U-Verse internet account. Pretty much everyone I know has had horrible experiences with AT&T and Comcast and I hope to be Sonic customer from here on out.
I’m new to the Sonic community, so please correct me when I get it wrong, but my sense was that this company is somewhat idealistic in its customer focus. That’s important to me; my U-Verse internet was OK and not that expensive, so much of my motivation in changing was to do business with a company that I liked.

Of course, AT&T made it really difficult to cancel, and during that process I wrote them some notes about why I was leaving. Looking at what I had written, I got to wondering if I would write a message like that to Sonic some day. So, please take this as some helpful advice, and let’s hope that I never have to write that message to you.
1. Your customers want to be able to clearly see what the services cost, review what we have purchased, and evaluate what our options are. We don't want to have to deal with "packages" (especially if they expire without notification.) We don't want to buy services that we don't need (I want shopping at Sonic to be like going to the grocery store: I buy carrots and bread and then go to the checkout line.) The current website is only so-so in this respect: I see a lot of pictures of beautiful people and colorful banners, but it is hard to get to the pricing and hard to understand what the Dish entails.
2. I am a little uneasy with renting a modem for $10/mo. I know I can buy one for +/- $150 so I’d rather own it and save money after a year, and not have to worry about returning it. I’ve seen some discussion about this on the forum and the best argument for Sonic owning the modem is that modems are problematic and this allows Sonic to support them properly. I’ll buy that, but why not just require that we use your modem and include the cost in the base price. Looking at my account it seems to be saying that the $10 is for voice (which I didn’t really need and thought was included in the internet account.)

On the whole, my interactions with Sonic, including phone support, email support, and the website, have been excellent (and orders of magnitude better than AT&T/Comcast) so please don’t take this as criticism. But I worry that, as AT&T loses all their customers, some of their marketing staff will be applying for jobs with Sonic and will poison your culture with their last-century values.

Thank you for listening, Mario
by dane » Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:24 pm
Thanks Mario for the thoughts and suggestions!
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by Timster » Tue Jan 16, 2018 3:36 pm
I share Mario's concerns. I'm looking at signing up for Sonic. But I worry about getting charged for stuff I don't want or need. It is a common practice for telecoms to sucker you in with offers and then stick it to you later by changing the offers and including fees you didn't expect.

I am so happy to give my money to someone other than AT&T (once a monopoly, always a monopoly).

However, I have to say that including voice by default, and requiring me to rent a modem are both worrisome signs. I want the price posted ($40 per month, $50 or whatever it is) to be what I will actually pay. It's not so much about the money, it's about being treated with respect. Tell me what it costs up front and project what it will be in the future. Don't leave me thinking it's going to be another bait and switch.

Looking forward to getting fiber in our neighborhood (est. May 2018).

Thanks,
Tim
by dane » Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:24 pm
I think you'll find us to be far more transparent on these issues that our competitors. Yes, there is introductory pricing, generally $10 off for the first year. But this is clearly shown in the checkout process. And yes, there are taxes and fees, but we provide current costs of those for every city we serve - and while they vary each quarter as federal, state and local tax rates change, those changes are not significant. You can find the total for your specific City at: https://www.sonic.com/taxesfees#example

On policies such as billing, network neutrality, privacy, and of course local customer service, Sonic certainly does better than the industry as a whole. We don't do the "annual price re-negotiation" racket with customers, as that's awful for both consumers and staff, for example. And we are committed to policies on your privacy that are the strongest in the nation.

ISPs as an industry are one of the most disliked businesses in the nation. But Sonic customers give us high marks by comparison, and it's a delight to be the ISP who everyone doesn't hate. ;)
Dane Jasper
Sonic
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