Fusion price increase and fiber expansion

[bigimp]

This is quite disappointing:
1. I was not informed of the price change ahead of time, and had to find this forum post myself. No advance notice of a 20% price bump is shady as fuck. Your reasoning doesn't make it better.
2. The reason I even looked at my bill is because your service has been really shitty lately. Looks like you're secretly capping things now because these numbers are 100% consistent for me now: http://netgauge.ookla.com/share/628687275.png

That's the kind of bullshit I expect from Comcast and AT&T. Guess you guys got big and turned to shit too. Will switch providers as soon as I can.

[bigimp]

Here's the same test 16 minutes later. Graph totally flat every time: http://netgauge.ookla.com/share/628691078.png

[Dave in Carmichael]

We are in Carmichael. When can we expect fiber expansion?

[Rsmiler]

I don't understand the tech stuff, so to me this a just a price increase. What I like about sonic is that it is NOT Comcast. The ongoing service drops have been aggravating. Guess it's time to shop around for another ISP!

[[email protected]]

Have you considered a 'senior discount?' I live in a elder community where many folks are on a very limited income. As I walk around the property, I see that many residents have Sonic service.

Your $10 increase puts a significant strain on those who live from SS check to SS check each month.

To split hairs a bit, the Sonic pricing for me is not $50; my most recent bill (including the taxes, modem rental, etc.) came to $66. Way too high for reading email and surfing the net...

Thanks for you consideration.

Lauralee Aho

[miken]

Here's the same test 16 minutes later. Graph totally flat every time: http://netgauge.ookla.com/share/628691078.png

I took a look at your line and it is uncapped. However, I see that your line dropped from about 20Mbp/s to 6Mbp/s within the past couple days. Give support a call and we can figure out what's going on and get you back up to proper speeds!

[danielg4]

Have you considered a 'senior discount?' I live in a elder community where many folks are on a very limited income. As I walk around the property, I see that many residents have Sonic service.

Your $10 increase puts a significant strain on those who live from SS check to SS check each month.

Oh, they made pretty clear that they don't want seniors on SS to be their customers even before increasing prices, when they decided to "sunset" Legacy DSL and claim that AT&T was requiring them to do so. To this day, DSLExtreme accepts new orders for "Standard DSL" thus disproving that claim. For that crowd, Fusion made sense only among people who make lots of long-distance calls from a landline. Otherwise, it just can't compete with subsidized options.

[slow]

I am so slow and just realized this 25% hike of monthly charge today. I called in customer service and they insisted they've given me warning back in December, embedded in the monthly statement. I simply did not catch it because the final charge stays the same. For any utility/service company, as significant as 25% hike, they would have sent out multiple warnings SEPARATE from the monthly statement. If they are so arrogant of not bothering to send out separate notice, at least they should put a warning in bold in the subject line! I only have time to check the charge to my credit card; everyone has tons of emails to go through everyday!

I live in an old neighborhood where Sonic uses AT&T lines; that means I probably have less than 5 Mbp, and have experienced unceremoniously dropped internet. Tech support cannot do too much due to the old AT&T wires. Today's calling to service manager was very unsatisfactory. First, he insisted it's my fault that I did not read my email statement carefully, then he refused to let me know how long I need to wait to even see a light of the new wiring coming to my neighborhood. AT the end he said " this is what it is going to be, and this is what it is". I checked their website later and found out the old price is still advertised; I assume only to new customers.

I don't like the idea of going with AT&T or Comcast, but today's experience will make me to think again.

[gummy_bearz]

Well, the first bill at the new rate just appeared in my wife's email and she hit the ceiling as I knew she would.

"Why did it go up this much?!?"
"Ummm...basically to finance fiber access for other people."

You can guess how that went over.

Some observations on my way out:

Sonic has really shot itself in the foot in a couple of areas, besides the forced land line there is:

(1) Equipment rental. I never cared one way or the other, but judging by the forums a hell of a lot people do.
It should be built in to the cost of the service or made an option at the time the order is placed, not getting a bill that is higher than the GIANT $40 on the home page then jumping through hoops to return unwanted equipment.

(2) Taxes. Again, should be a built in cost. Calculate an average, even on the high side and include it in the price, as MVNOs do.

So...this would make the price, what? $55...$62? Whatever, the point is people would be billed what they expect and the number of posts and phone calls complaining about it would virtually disappear.

(3) The ludicrous pricing structure (my main beef). Well actually, there is no structure...there's one price. My parents (soon to be leaving as well) get 6Mbps. They pay the same as me, yet I get ~20Mbps. And I pay the same as Joe Shmoe in fiberland who posts to complain he's only getting 800Mbps. WTF? DSL and FTTN customers would have to be nuts not to be royally pissed off by this. It makes zero sense.

It should be more along the lines of $25-$30 for those stuck on legacy DSL, $40-$55 for FTTN/FTTNx2, and $75-$100 or more for fiber.

Given there are very few options here, I'm off to Comcast Business, as much as that disgusts me. Yeah it costs more, but
Sonic is basically hanging me out to dry...I'll never see anything faster from them. I would have stuck around a while longer at the old price, but no way in hell am I going to subsidize buildouts I'll never see. LOL!

It's pretty lame that in the country that created the internet we are saddled with some of the poorest service and lack of choices among first world nations.

Later!

-Sonic customer 2004-2017

[Dave in Carmichael]

Unless you're specifically in Santa Rosa or parts of San Francisco, you basically are an ATT "customer". Living in Carmichael, I don't think Sonic will be installing fiber out here any time soon. So the increased price benefits us in no way at all. I do get a kick out of that "$40!!!" price the webpage shouts about. So - new customers get the $40 price and your loyal customers who have been with you for several years get - the shaft? Good thinking!

And unless you're in the immediate Santa Rosa area or parts of SF, you're basically a customer of ATT anyway. Looks like we'll be switching, too - after 8 years.