Sonic.net

lame. almost signed up. not now. read that tiny asterisk

I recently recommended my daughter switch away from AT&T to sonic.net as she setting up her new apartment as a student, on the basis of "service for $39.95". And now I find the mandatory equipment rental fee. I was really happy with sonic.net until I saw that show up. Wow. Now I'm going to cast around for alternatives for her.

I have been a Sonic.net customer for ~1.5yr and am just moving house. Since I must set up a new service at the new address (Sonic.net don't allow you to 'move' service) I was shocked to hear that I now have to rent hardware - so the ZTE modem I bought from Sonic.net ~6 months ago is now surplus, as is my old wireless router.

To be honest, it would take quite a lot to make me signup with another provider. I just hope that the 'benefits' of the new Pace hardware are worth it.

pope wrote:I must set up a new service at the new address (Sonic.net don't allow you to 'move' service)...

Are you moving to a different neighborhood that's in a different rate center?

Current customers moving who have service that pre-dates our equipment roll-out can request an exemption and return the equipment once their circuit is up and stable. But, I hope you'll keep it, as it does deliver some benefits.

dane wrote:Current customers moving who have service that pre-dates our equipment roll-out can request an exemption and return the equipment once their circuit is up and stable.

Thank you for providing at least older customers an option.

I'll join the chorus. I was about to change. Not because of economics: I have the cheapest 1.5 mbps u-verse, and with 13,000 ft to the sonic CO I'll probably be getting the same and paying the same. OK, paying more now with the rental fee.
I was about to change because sonic.net is different. The underdog that treats customers as smart human beings.
This is definitely a step in the wrong direction.

I agree with the many sentiments here! I had been considering switching to sonic.net from AT&T for the $39.95/month service that I saw earlier, which I thought was very reasonable. I was very surprised to see the new mandatory equipment rental fee. If it's mandatory, you should be advertising your monthly rate as $46.45/month, not $39.95/month! The rental fee is outrageous considering the retail price of the equipment. I have AT&T U-verse service with a new modem + WiFi router and I only paid $50 for it. It would probably work just fine for the Fusion service, but I'd be forced to rent new equipment that I don't need if I go with Sonic. That just makes no sense! I don't need many of the calling services that are provided. I'm currently paying about $22/month for phone (measured rate service) and $19.95 (promotional price) for U-verse with all taxes/fees included, so Sonic is WAY more expensive. I was trying to decide what to do when the U-verse deal ends, but with the higher prices from Sonic, I think I'd be better off downgrading to a slower rate package with AT&T than switching to Sonic.

I was about to sign up for Sonic.net, but am shocked to hear the mandatory equipment fee. I can see the need to offset the cost of technical support, but mandatory 6.50/month is outrageous. I been using DSL with various providers and the most I had a technical call is once or twice in 5 years.... And it's because it was after a rainstorm. Once the line is up and running, I don't see a need to contact technical support. If it's a line issue or troubleshooting, isn't that part of the quality of service agreement that the line be operable up to a limit? and fixed by the provider? I don't see why the customer needs to pay an extra "service surcharge" for rental equipment if the customer doesn't use it.

The fee is forever... if it at least sunsetted after two or three years... it would be easier to take.