Fusion price increase and fiber expansion

[joe.higgins]

I think price increases warrant a separate email just from a 'no surprises' principle. I check my bills
every month and missed the price increase announcement.

I think marketing needs to be more careful. I doubt I will see fibre in Albany in my lifetime, so
the positioning as payment for related infrastructure build out is irrelevant and slightly irksome.

I now pay around $70/mo. (includes 4 static IP + grandfathered modem) for about 6/0.6mpbs.
I am about a mile from the telco. so this is not going to change unless I go cable or bonded.

This is still a reasonable deal, there is value of dealing with a (relatively) local company and
service interactions (rare & I am fairly self sufficient in that regard) have **always** been pleasant
unlike my dealings with the larger companies (both from a residential & commercial standpoint).

However, previously it represented a 'no brainer' from a value perspective ($/mpbs/mo.), now
it is reasonable.

[shamryn]

I received your notice of price increase. Sorry to hear it. I know you are expanding. I have had Sonic for years and always recommended you because of your costs and customer service. But your new services mean a land line is not operable and phone service is lost in power outages. Not acceptable, as on a fixed budget, cannot afford unlimited cell phone services, as a senior, need phone service at all times in case of emergency. Also, price increase????? I understand your purposes, but on the customer side of the coin, when I first started with Sonic, you guys were excellent. Now with your increases in customers, (goody for you, I helped by recommending you), your service delivery for the last 1 1/2 to 2 years has gotten worse and worse. When I called for information, I get the story that I am now too far from the server. Whoops! This doesn't make sense, the server has not moved, my house has not moved. I find this explanation not to make sense. Then I was also told later, that the lines are getting older and this was the reason. Well, then, as a provider to many customers, how can you increase the costs, and not replace lines that are apparently not working as well anymore. Okay, so now, I understand that you use AT&T lines, so as one of their customers, they should have to replace old lines for you. They do constantly market me here to drop you and switch over to AT&T. As many other customers that have had AT&T in the past, myself and anyone else that finally got rid of them, they would be the last company that any of us would ever do business with again! Come on, decline in quality of service, increase in price...not really fair! And please don't send me any messages about being too far from the server, remember, they have not moved, and I have not moved. LOGIC! Please! Living on social security, fixed income, I take pride in always paying my bills, your $10.00 increase absolutely impacts me.

[Brisket]

B.S. The price were OK, but that is only if you compare it to getting internet and a home phone, and most people do not need or want a home phone these days. Maybe if they allowed you to unbundle the home phone it might make sense. I signed up because it was cheaper than AT&T and then I got an AT&T router from Sonic and now the price is what I was paying before I switched from AT&T. Sonic should have told me that it was an "introductory offer" or -12 year offer or whatever and that the price would go up, I signed up for a fixed amount. I am switching to Monkey Brains which is much cheaper with faster speeds.

[doctorfb]

I think price increases warrant a separate email just from a 'no surprises' principle. I check my bills
every month and missed the price increase announcement.

It was at the top of the billing email for me. I read, very thoroughly, anything labeled "bill".

I think marketing needs to be more careful. I doubt I will see fibre in Albany in my lifetime, so
the positioning as payment for related infrastructure build out is irrelevant and slightly irksome.

I'm in the same boat, more or less. I doubt I'll see fiber in Los Altos ever (U-verse doesn't count). But I do understand the need for continued maintenance and improvements. Everything has a cost and newer things always cost more. No two ways about it. I do recall taking a survey asking if a modest price increase would be acceptable with the idea that it was infrastructure improvements. I answered yes. I suppose this is the result.

I now pay around $70/mo. (includes 4 static IP + grandfathered modem) for about 6/0.6mpbs.
I am about a mile from the telco. so this is not going to change unless I go cable or bonded.

I pay $140 (was $130) for a dual-line, bonded DSL Business connection (17/1.8mbps) with static IPs, so the relative cost increase, to me, is about 7.6%, which isn't all that much, again to me, all things being equal. I haven't seen an increase in my Sonic bill for many years now, so I see this as "reasonable" increase.

For people at $40 or $50 or $60, that $10 increase (a nominal %20 increase) is somewhat hefty so I can understand the complaints, too. But I'm not them. I already pay much more than they do, so I take the increase in stride. If you can't afford the increase, then go elsewhere (as some have already stated). That there is very little choice of ISPs isn't Sonics' fault. Blame the state and local governments, as well as the PUC, who have made doing deployment of such things so onerous.

Contrast that with my Comcast bill (current $145) which I see go up, consistently about every 6 months, by a few bucks. I only have TV service with Comcast so this seems kinda high to me for something that is really just "entertainment". But the family enjoys it and I can afford it (for now). If I had to drop one of them it would be Comcast hands down. We can always get our "entertainment" elsewise.

All businesses need to grow and they either borrow heavily (and often go into debt) or leverage their existing customer base with a modest increase and a promise that things will get better. How else did you expect them to grow? Money doesn't grow on trees!

This is still a reasonable deal, there is value of dealing with a (relatively) local company and
service interactions (rare & I am fairly self sufficient in that regard) have **always** been pleasant
unlike my dealings with the larger companies (both from a residential & commercial standpoint).

However, previously it represented a 'no brainer' from a value perspective ($/mpbs/mo.), now
it is reasonable.

I agree with you.
Sonic has always been stable and reasonable for me and I've been with them for about 12 years now, with the number of problems I've ever had I can count on one hand (without my thumb. , and they have always ever been professional, diligent and helpful in solving my few problems. I can't say that about Comcast, at all, ever.

[chibba]

I received your notice of price increase. Sorry to hear it. I know you are expanding. I have had Sonic for years and always recommended you because of your costs and customer service. But your new services mean a land line is not operable and phone service is lost in power outages. Not acceptable, as on a fixed budget, cannot afford unlimited cell phone services, as a senior, need phone service at all times in case of emergency. Also, price increase????? I understand your purposes, but on the customer side of the coin, when I first started with Sonic, you guys were excellent. Now with your increases in customers, (goody for you, I helped by recommending you), your service delivery for the last 1 1/2 to 2 years has gotten worse and worse. When I called for information, I get the story that I am now too far from the server. Whoops! This doesn't make sense, the server has not moved, my house has not moved. I find this explanation not to make sense. Then I was also told later, that the lines are getting older and this was the reason. Well, then, as a provider to many customers, how can you increase the costs, and not replace lines that are apparently not working as well anymore. Okay, so now, I understand that you use AT&T lines, so as one of their customers, they should have to replace old lines for you. They do constantly market me here to drop you and switch over to AT&T. As many other customers that have had AT&T in the past, myself and anyone else that finally got rid of them, they would be the last company that any of us would ever do business with again! Come on, decline in quality of service, increase in price...not really fair! And please don't send me any messages about being too far from the server, remember, they have not moved, and I have not moved. LOGIC! Please! Living on social security, fixed income, I take pride in always paying my bills, your $10.00 increase absolutely impacts me.

Yup, I get that a lot. When I first used Sonic back in 2014, I was able to reach a representative within seconds. Now it takes forever to get to a representative and they are soo freaking rude now. I told them that my internet is becoming slower and slower and they told me something that doesn't really make sense. I was like okay.

I tried recommending my company to use sonic, but I am glad that didn't work out since we were still on a contract because if they raise the price for no reasons by SOO much, my boss would give me a hard time for recommending sonic.

[jneal]

I'm sure we'll never get fiber in Humboldt, so I hope somebody enjoys my $10.

I'm sure we'll never get fiber in Sacramento, so I hope somebody enjoys my $10.

[kflamm]

Sorry Dane, I will be switching over to Comcast next week. I don't feel like being forced to invest in your business without the benefit of receiving any equity in it. Comcast is $29.99 for 25 mbps for 12 months, then $59.99, which is still a little less than you are now charging me for 10 mbps on the occasional really good day.

You may think your legacy DSL customers are a captive base you can milk indefinitely for cash flow, but you would be wrong. Good luck.

Let me know if you ever offer fiber in my part of San Francisco. I might be interested. Until, then I will not be paying a bloated price for what is now your greatly inferior internet service.

[ForumGuest]

I do recall taking a survey asking if a modest price increase would be acceptable with the idea that it was infrastructure improvements. I answered yes. I suppose this is the result.

The price increase would be totally acceptable if we were getting something in return. This isn't increased maintenance costs. This isn't improved service. This is taking more money from many (most?) customers that will never see any benefits from this. Many of these (DSL) customers have already had price increases attributed to increasing maintenance costs and "sunsetting" of DSL.

[chibba]

Sorry Dane, I will be switching over to Comcast next week. I don't feel like being forced to invest in your business without the benefit of receiving any equity in it. Comcast is $29.99 for 25 mbps for 12 months, then $59.99, which is still a little less than you are now charging me for 10 mbps on the occasional really good day.

You may think your legacy DSL customers are a captive base you can milk indefinitely for cash flow, but you would be wrong. Good luck.

Let me know if you ever offer fiber in my part of San Francisco. I might be interested. Until, then I will not be paying a bloated price for what is now your greatly inferior internet service.

I called Comcast too on sunday, and it is 29.99 a year for first year, and then it will actually be $49.99 after that. I can just cancel and do it again for comcast. I am so going to cancel my service since I pay almost $70 now. I thought $60 was insane, but $70 is just unacceptable.

[markwjam]

I HAVE BEEN WITH SONIC FOR SEVERAL YEARS...and quite happy with it..which is why I haven't switched to one of the big, bad boys that have lower prices..
but, at a time when income has been decreasing and prices rising...this sudden monthly price spike, makes it hard for me...
please , decision makers, bring the price back down..or find some other way to work with me to make it affordable..
thank you