For those of you thinking about switching to Sonic Fusion or wondering what the process is like, here's my experience. I got the e-mail that Fusion would be offered in Los Angeles about 10PM one night. I crunched the numbers and figured I would be saving about $20 per month over AT & T phone line + Sonic DSL. I wasn't really sure what Fusion was but sounded better than what I had so I signed up that night.
I got an e-mail that the transfer would take place 01/14/2013 at 11 AM. Then got an e-mail that it would be 01/15/2013 at 11AM. Then the next day got an e-mail that it would be 01/14/2013 at 11AM. No idea if a tech would show up or what was going to happen. The modem had arrived via UPS and was sitting there on my dining table ready to be plugged in.
I should say I am not very technically oriented. I signed up with Sonic in the 90's as they were one of the few ISP's that would support an Amiga computer. Amigas were great computers for people who were not technically oriented. I don't know how things work, I just like them to work without pissing me off so I have stayed with Sonic now on my 4th Mac. I am guessing I have been with Sonic 20 years?
On Monday, 01/14/2013, when I got up, I noticed no internet. The changeover had already occurred by 9AM. I set up the Sonic Modem. Easy. No internet. Phone service was on and perfect. Clear line, caller ID, all that good stuff.
I tried setting up my wireless network with an Airport base station. I could not Google anything so nothing I did worked. I played around with every cable combination and nothing worked. I thought this was my idiocy not anything to do with the lines as the phone was working.
I finally had to call Sonic. It was after 4PM. I dialed 411 (no internet to look up the number) and got a person in India who I had to convince that I really only needed the phone number and not recommendations for telecom companies.
I called the number 411 gave me and the person who answered the phone at Sonic, Thomas, said he was tech support. He answered all my stupid questions like "what's an Ethernet cable", walked me through re-setting the modem, trying the old modem and then testing the line. This was 3-4 phone calls with him having me do things then calling me back. We were doing this for an about an hour.
It finally became apparent that it was the phone line. "Foreign voltage". Thomas called AT & T and set up a tech visit for Tuesday to check the phone line. He called me back to let me know the details.
The tech showed up around 9:30 AM. He found a bad line in the box a block from my house and re-routed me. He tested all the lines, on the phone with Sonic most of the time. The At& T guy let me know what was going on and then as he was leaving, Jeff at Sonic called me to let me know what was going on and to tell me he was detecting a stable internet connection.
According to AT & T there are still some line problems in my house (OLD house, OLD wiring) but Jeff at Sonic said I was getting a good signal. 6 something versus the 1.5 something I had before. He said I was about 10,000 feet from the central box not the 1500 feet the tool on the Sonic page said I should be. But still, faster internet than I had before and better phone service for less money per month.
So 10AM Tuesday, all is resolved. Less than 24 hours.
Sonic and AT & T worked seamlessly together. I could not have had better tech support. Pretty much everything went wrong but all got fixed and I never had to deal with a phone tree or voicemail hell or any bureaucratic nonsense. I was pretty much treated as if I was the only customer Sonic had. I only wish I had called Sonic sooner when I could not get it all set up myself.
So, if anyone is hesitating on the changeover, hope this helps!
I got an e-mail that the transfer would take place 01/14/2013 at 11 AM. Then got an e-mail that it would be 01/15/2013 at 11AM. Then the next day got an e-mail that it would be 01/14/2013 at 11AM. No idea if a tech would show up or what was going to happen. The modem had arrived via UPS and was sitting there on my dining table ready to be plugged in.
I should say I am not very technically oriented. I signed up with Sonic in the 90's as they were one of the few ISP's that would support an Amiga computer. Amigas were great computers for people who were not technically oriented. I don't know how things work, I just like them to work without pissing me off so I have stayed with Sonic now on my 4th Mac. I am guessing I have been with Sonic 20 years?
On Monday, 01/14/2013, when I got up, I noticed no internet. The changeover had already occurred by 9AM. I set up the Sonic Modem. Easy. No internet. Phone service was on and perfect. Clear line, caller ID, all that good stuff.
I tried setting up my wireless network with an Airport base station. I could not Google anything so nothing I did worked. I played around with every cable combination and nothing worked. I thought this was my idiocy not anything to do with the lines as the phone was working.
I finally had to call Sonic. It was after 4PM. I dialed 411 (no internet to look up the number) and got a person in India who I had to convince that I really only needed the phone number and not recommendations for telecom companies.
I called the number 411 gave me and the person who answered the phone at Sonic, Thomas, said he was tech support. He answered all my stupid questions like "what's an Ethernet cable", walked me through re-setting the modem, trying the old modem and then testing the line. This was 3-4 phone calls with him having me do things then calling me back. We were doing this for an about an hour.
It finally became apparent that it was the phone line. "Foreign voltage". Thomas called AT & T and set up a tech visit for Tuesday to check the phone line. He called me back to let me know the details.
The tech showed up around 9:30 AM. He found a bad line in the box a block from my house and re-routed me. He tested all the lines, on the phone with Sonic most of the time. The At& T guy let me know what was going on and then as he was leaving, Jeff at Sonic called me to let me know what was going on and to tell me he was detecting a stable internet connection.
According to AT & T there are still some line problems in my house (OLD house, OLD wiring) but Jeff at Sonic said I was getting a good signal. 6 something versus the 1.5 something I had before. He said I was about 10,000 feet from the central box not the 1500 feet the tool on the Sonic page said I should be. But still, faster internet than I had before and better phone service for less money per month.
So 10AM Tuesday, all is resolved. Less than 24 hours.
Sonic and AT & T worked seamlessly together. I could not have had better tech support. Pretty much everything went wrong but all got fixed and I never had to deal with a phone tree or voicemail hell or any bureaucratic nonsense. I was pretty much treated as if I was the only customer Sonic had. I only wish I had called Sonic sooner when I could not get it all set up myself.
So, if anyone is hesitating on the changeover, hope this helps!
