Fusion price increase and fiber expansion

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I didn't realize I couldn't change the subject line: my speeds are 5.54/0.53 Mbps

[shipo99]

Hey Dane,

I get it, but usually when we pay we get the services. Paying now for services in the future which we may or may not receive is rather unfair don't you think? It's like you are expecting your customers to be your bankers. Does this mean that once the services are in place we will get a reduced rate for financing your expansion?

A twenty five percent increase is a huge rate hike, especially considering there's no increase in service. For me I found out about this extra fee from looking at my February bill. OUCH!!! Why did the bill jump? I had to call in and speak with one of the techs to find out. I'm not so concerned with the way it was done though. I can forgive that, but I'm having a very difficult time understanding why you expect me to be your banker.

Look I'm going to stay with you cats because I like your people. Everyone I've ever dealt with at Sonic has been great. But this makes me feel like someone just punched me in the gut, and I can't breath. How is that suppose to make me feel good about Sonic?

[blackmage]

Hey Dane,

I get it, but usually when we pay we get the services. Paying now for services in the future which we may or may not receive is rather unfair don't you think? It's like you are expecting your customers to be your bankers. Does this mean that once the services are in place we will get a reduced rate for financing your expansion?

A twenty five percent increase is a huge rate hike, especially considering there's no increase in service. For me I found out about this extra fee from looking at my February bill. OUCH!!! Why did the bill jump? I had to call in and speak with one of the techs to find out. I'm not so concerned with the way it was done though. I can forgive that, but I'm having a very difficult time understanding why you expect me to be your banker.

Look I'm going to stay with you cats because I like your people. Everyone I've ever dealt with at Sonic has been great. But this makes me feel like someone just punched me in the gut, and I can't breath. How is that suppose to make me feel good about Sonic?

I think you and a lot of other people are looking at this the wrong way. ATT and Comcast raise their pricing all the time with no explanation. Sonic is raising it to fund their Fiber. I don't think their using it as an excuse, but as an explanation due to them striving for transparency.

[oddhack]

I think you and a lot of other people are looking at this the wrong way. ATT and Comcast raise their pricing all the time with no explanation. Sonic is raising it to fund their Fiber. I don't think their using it as an excuse, but as an explanation due to them striving for transparency.

I'm looking at it from the viewpoint of value for money, as I suspect most of us are. If someone is on AT&T and moves to Comcast because it's cheaper for higher performance, I doubt many existing AT&T customers would want to spend as much energy defending the company - for no apparent reason other than ideology - as is seen from a couple of ardent defenders in this thread.

[blackmage]

I'm looking at it from the viewpoint of value for money, as I suspect most of us are. If someone is on AT&T and moves to Comcast because it's cheaper for higher performance, I doubt many existing AT&T customers would want to spend as much energy defending the company - for no apparent reason other than ideology - as is seen from a couple of ardent defenders in this thread.

I'm not defending Sonic from the people who point out they can get a better offering from another company (although others might be). I'm only defending from the people that are criticizing Sonic as a company for raising rates specifically for Fiber expansion. Other companies raise rates too, atleast Sonic is being honest about why.

I understand that Sonic is no longer attractive to a lot of people due to the price increase, especially if they are on the lower end of the speed tier. And I'm not going to argue "it's for the greater good, stick with them!" Do what you gotta do.

[GoneDude]

I think you and a lot of other people are looking at this the wrong way. ATT and Comcast raise their pricing all the time with no explanation. Sonic is raising it to fund their Fiber. I don't think their using it as an excuse, but as an explanation due to them striving for transparency.

Comcast and AT&T raise their prices when they believe that the quality of their product, and their market position relative to competitors, mean that they can get away with a price increase. They may be evil, but they are not stupid, and they are taking an informed gamble that value-for-money will still be strong enough that customers will stay.

Sonic is doing the exact opposite. Quality of Sonic's product doesn't justify an increase; Sonic's market strength doesn't justify an increase; the gamble that customers will absorb the higher cost hinges only on loyalty and hope. Which is a dicey proposition, coming on the heels of a less-than-impressive string of missed targets for fiber build in existing markets, plus zero information about future build plans.

[oddhack]

Sonic is doing the exact opposite. Quality of Sonic's product doesn't justify an increase; Sonic's market strength doesn't justify an increase; the gamble that customers will absorb the higher cost hinges only on loyalty and hope. Which is a dicey proposition, coming on the heels of a less-than-impressive string of missed targets for fiber build in existing markets, plus zero information about future build plans.

There has at least been enough information hinted at in these threads to believe that Sonic will never build fiber into many areas that existing copper customers are in - all the areas that other ISPs are deploying fiber, specifically. (I don't see how that gives them much of a future, but maybe there's enough uncompetitive area for them to expand into to preserve the company.)

So for many of us, there's not even any hope.

[pwhite79]

Mr. Jasper,

I would gladly pay $10 more for internet service, if I was, indeed, receiving internet service. However, all I've been receiving is headaches.

In the year and a half I've had sonic, in the center of the metropolis that is Los Angeles, despite being promised $40/mth for up to a GIGABIT of access, I have been barely getting 25mbs, when it has been working (20% of the time) and just staring at jittery green dots on your router, the rest of the time.

Despite multiple calls and service visits from AT&T, despite doing everything that's asked of us, including "braking" our lines (because the very slow internet is "too much" for AT&T?), The issue is never permanently resolved.

Despite you saying this is the first price increase you've had, this is actually the second price increase I've had. This is the result of your company following in the footsteps of everyone else, offering a bait-and-switch up front deal and then, a year later, pulling the rug out... and then, six months later, telling me this is my first price increase and "we don't do business like the other guys" line of falsehoods.

So, please, stop telling me about rates and charges and holier than thou attitudes about being the "better company"... I just want "better internet". If my lines worked for an entire month, without fail, at least once, in the history of my experience with Sonic... I wouldn't be so disappointed in you.

I bought in, I want your company to survive... but $90/mth for 25mbs (at best, occasionally) is absolutely ridiculous; you know it is. You probably don't even know you're charging me that much for so little service. Now, you do... please do something about it. I will begin my search for another supplier.

Let me know when your company can actually deliver on its promises of $40/1GBS and I'll come back, immediately.

Thank you and good luck.

[pockyken007]

Mr. Jasper,

I would gladly pay $10 more for internet service, if I was, indeed, receiving internet service. However, all I've been receiving is headaches.

In the year and a half I've had sonic, in the center of the metropolis that is Los Angeles, despite being promised $40/mth for up to a GIGABIT of access, I have been barely getting 25mbs, when it has been working (20% of the time) and just staring at jittery green dots on your router, the rest of the time.

Despite multiple calls and service visits from AT&T, despite doing everything that's asked of us, including "braking" our lines (because the very slow internet is "too much" for AT&T?), The issue is never permanently resolved.

Despite you saying this is the first price increase you've had, this is actually the second price increase I've had. This is the result of your company following in the footsteps of everyone else, offering a bait-and-switch up front deal and then, a year later, pulling the rug out... and then, six months later, telling me this is my first price increase and "we don't do business like the other guys" line of falsehoods.

So, please, stop telling me about rates and charges and holier than thou attitudes about being the "better company"... I just want "better internet". If my lines worked for an entire month, without fail, at least once, in the history of my experience with Sonic... I wouldn't be so disappointed in you.

I bought in, I want your company to survive... but $90/mth for 25mbs (at best, occasionally) is absolutely ridiculous; you know it is. You probably don't even know you're charging me that much for so little service. Now, you do... please do something about it. I will begin my search for another supplier.

Let me know when your company can actually deliver on its promises of $40/1GBS and I'll come back, immediately.

Thank you and good luck.

If you getting 25 MBPS on a FTTH line there is something terribly wrong , somehow though I don't believe you have FTTH ... maybe FTTN seems like it ... and FTTN will not deliver anything higher than 25 mbps on FTTN x1 or 50 on FTTN x2 ( TLDR FTTN is not capable of pushing 1 gig ) so yeah ...

[shipo99]

I think you and a lot of other people are looking at this the wrong way. ATT and Comcast raise their pricing all the time with no explanation. Sonic is raising it to fund their Fiber. I don't think their using it as an excuse, but as an explanation due to them striving for transparency.

Considering that you are from a fantasy world does it truly matter what you think? I know how I feel. I know how my housemates feel. We are now paying $70/mth. That's a lot of money for what we are getting. Switching to another provider could see that drop to $35/mth for very similar service (with faster DLs).

But let me point something out to you. I am not a banker. I am not a financier. I did not sign up with Sonic to fund their expansion. Now if they profit from my patronage, and employ said profit into expansion I am okay with that process. But upping my rates when they already make me pay extra for a phone line, extra for a coupler (because their service never worked well with my very expensive unit), and extort extra money if I don't sign up for automatic withdrawal. This extra $10 isn't just an extra ten bucks, it's the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back.

The sleeping dogs are getting kicked, and they are waking up angry.