Please stop bundling phone service - taxes alone are $14/month

[and.ham95]

I love my sonic internet. But After their latest price hike, my bill is now $77! At this point, I am starting to consider xfinity, even though it isn't fiber. I've had them before and they can indeed provide gigabit download.

The voice service itself is billed at $10, and then there is an extra $14 goes purely to various taxes associated with the voice line.

I have never once used the phone line, why should I have to pay $24/month on a service I don't use? As far as I know, it is not possible to unbundle these things.

[spencerw]

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with this feedback. We have received similar feedback from other customers requesting an internet only option and, due to that feedback, have begun offering an internet only version of our 10g fiber service. Unfortunately this service is not available in your area yet. Currently there is no way to downgrade your 1g fiber service to internet only however in the future, that may change.

[aforkosh]

A significant portion of the taxes and fees ($6.50)goes to the 'Federal Subscriber Line Charge. The Federal Communications Commission says:

"The Subscriber Line Charge is a fee that you pay to your local phone company that connects you to the telephone network. Local telephone companies recover some of the costs of telephone lines connected to your home or business through this monthly charge on your local telephone bill. Sometimes called the federal subscriber line charge, this fee is regulated and capped by the FCC, not by state Public Utility Commissions. It is not a tax or a fee charged by the government. The money received from the subscriber line charge goes directly to local telephone companies. To ensure that all Americans can afford at least a minimal level of basic telephone service, the FCC will not allow phone companies to charge more than $6.50 for a single line."

So, this optional fee is a surcharge that goes directly back to Sonic. My previous VOIP did not charge it, and I never saw it broken out on my bundled Xfinity Triple Play package. I understand that it originated during the restructuring of the long-distance phone system in the early 1980s.

[lbargell]

The “phone line” that the FCC suggests a provider charge for needs to be shown to be needed. The phone line to my home has been physically severed since using only cellular. And as another person has noted other VOIP providers do not charge this fee.

Also the customer service response about upgrading to 10GB fiber is disingenuous at best given not only the lack of availability but also the $299 upgrade fee if/when it does become available.

As Prime goes to ad based service following all the other streaming services I too am looking to go back to Xfinity even as bad as their service was.

[dougtraser]

This needs to be revived and Sonic needs to stop charging tax on a service that is not being used by a large percentage of its customers. To me, the fix is simple, if there is no usage of the phone line, then don't charge the taxes, period. Either that or discount internet service charges. Sonic is essentially collecting a tax from customers that are not using the taxable service.

[slimtomato]

I completely agree. I am new to Sonic and got a $75 bill when I was expecting a $60 bill (because that's what I was told!) I have no use for the phone service and am really annoyed that this was neither communicated nor excluded because I don't use it. I didn't like xfinity very much but was only paying $45-50 there.

What can we do about this?

[mbelanger]

Interesting.

So if one doesn't have the Voice service with the new 10G offering any detail fee item that has "Voice" in description would be gone, like "Voice California 911 Emergency Surcharge?"


Thanks,
MB

[jerrielm]

Interesting.

So if one doesn't have the Voice service with the new 10G offering any detail fee item that has "Voice" in description would be gone, like "Voice California 911 Emergency Surcharge?"


Thanks,
MB

Correct, no voice charges would be on a 10 gig no phone service account.

Best Wishes!

[cestjill]

Yes, agreeing here, the total cost and inability to unbundle the phone service had me looking elsewhere over the weekend, although I've been very happy Sonic's service.

Please make this change—I want to stay with Sonic, but it's getting harder with my bill nearing $90 now, and nothing I can do to downsize. I don't need the phone!