Fusion price increase and fiber expansion

[oddhack]

Or if you have some suggestion of reliable voIP service using internet connection with a transfer of phone number, I can use some help.

I bought an Obi 200 ATA and used Google Voice successfully for a year, for several hours/week of long distance, for about $50 for the equipment and $0 for the service. Configuration was a bit tricky - there are guides on the Obi website - but there was no trouble at all once that was done. I'd switch back in a second, if it were possible to stop paying for the Sonic analog line - or if I end up on AT&T FTTN as seems increasingly likely, given the huge price and performance difference in their favor.

[miken]

I am switching to Comcast, the worst company that I have to suck it up and go with. After the price increase, staying at 11 Mbps is no longer viable for me. I have been a loyal customer for 3+ years. I am calling today to cancel but I wonder if I can keep just the phone service. When I call today, I was told by Olivia that I can only put in a request to set up just the phone service for $150 installation and charge is $10 per month. The monthly charge is really good but I can't take the $150 installation fee.

Can someone explain to me if that is the only option in supporting sonic and not pay $150 for re-installation for the phone service? Or if you have some suggestion of reliable voIP service using internet connection with a transfer of phone number, I can use some help. I am thinking of Ooma but not sure how good and how reliable the phone service is. I am very happy with the phone service in Sonic.

Sorry Dane, this is step back in supporting good company such as Sonic. Had the increase come with $10 hike but with 2 Mbps or higher download/upload speed, I will have stayed a bit longer.

But our paths may cross again and I still value Sonic highly.

Cheers,
Hin Man

Your address actually qualifies for Fusion FTTN. You'd be looking at about the same price as you are paying now for 20Mbp/s or you could get FTTN X2 for approximately $23 more a month and get 50Mbp/s. FTTN does use VoIP, but it doesn't sound like that is a restriction since you are considering Ooma. Feel free to send me a private message here on the Forums if you have any questions or want to coordinate a call to get you up on FTTN!

[danielg4]

I am switching to Comcast, the worst company that I have to suck it up and go with. After the price increase, staying at 11 Mbps is no longer viable for me. I have been a loyal customer for 3+ years. I am calling today to cancel but I wonder if I can keep just the phone service. When I call today, I was told by Olivia that I can only put in a request to set up just the phone service for $150 installation and charge is $10 per month. The monthly charge is really good but I can't take the $150 installation fee.

Can someone explain to me if that is the only option in supporting sonic and not pay $150 for re-installation for the phone service? Or if you have some suggestion of reliable voIP service using internet connection with a transfer of phone number, I can use some help. I am thinking of Ooma but not sure how good and how reliable the phone service is. I am very happy with the phone service in Sonic.

Sorry Dane, this is step back in supporting good company such as Sonic. Had the increase come with $10 hike but with 2 Mbps or higher download/upload speed, I will have stayed a bit longer.

But our paths may cross again and I still value Sonic highly.

Cheers,
Hin Man

They waived the $150 installation fee here, but the 12-month commitment (at $10+taxes per month) still applies.

[danielg4]

Or if you have some suggestion of reliable voIP service using internet connection with a transfer of phone number, I can use some help.

I bought an Obi 200 ATA and used Google Voice successfully for a year, for several hours/week of long distance, for about $50 for the equipment and $0 for the service. Configuration was a bit tricky - there are guides on the Obi website - but there was no trouble at all once that was done. I'd switch back in a second, if it were possible to stop paying for the Sonic analog line - or if I end up on AT&T FTTN as seems increasingly likely, given the huge price and performance difference in their favor.

It's perfectly possible for you to use your Obi 200 with Sonic's FTTN VoIP line instead of the Grandstream HT701 they ship, but you would still be renting it. (Just stuff it in a drawer.) Sonic won't tell you how to do this, and I'm not going to risk their wrath by revealing it on their own forum, but the method does work. There is no analog line with Sonic FTTN unless you pay extra for one, as mentioned in the previous post.

[oddhack]

It's perfectly possible for you to use your Obi 200 with Sonic's FTTN VoIP line instead of the Grandstream HT701 they ship, but you would still be renting it. (Just stuff it in a drawer.) Sonic won't tell you how to do this, and I'm not going to risk their wrath by revealing it on their own forum, but the method does work. There is no analog line with Sonic FTTN unless you pay extra for one, as mentioned in the previous post.

I'm on VDSL2 with an actual analog voice line. I don't want it, but as long as it's there anyway, it's mildly more convenient than using the Obi, in that there are slightly fewer things to plug in. But I really wish Sonic would allow people to opt-out of the voice line and its attendant fees and taxes.

[danielg4]

It's perfectly possible for you to use your Obi 200 with Sonic's FTTN VoIP line instead of the Grandstream HT701 they ship, but you would still be renting it. (Just stuff it in a drawer.) Sonic won't tell you how to do this, and I'm not going to risk their wrath by revealing it on their own forum, but the method does work. There is no analog line with Sonic FTTN unless you pay extra for one, as mentioned in the previous post.

I'm on VDSL2 with an actual analog voice line. I don't want it, but as long as it's there anyway, it's mildly more convenient than using the Obi, in that there are slightly fewer things to plug in. But I really wish Sonic would allow people to opt-out of the voice line and its attendant fees and taxes.

People on VDSL directly through Sonic without FTTN seriously should have absolutely nothing to complain about, but if you hate the landline so much, you're welcome to pay even more for even slower speeds without it from Raw Bandwidth Communications or DSLExtreme.

[oddhack]

People on VDSL directly through Sonic without FTTN seriously should have absolutely nothing to complain about, but if you hate the landline so much, you're welcome to pay even more for even slower speeds without it from Raw Bandwidth Communications or DSLExtreme.

Really missing the point. What I have to complain about is that Sonic's absolute performance is 40% of its competitors, and its price/performance is nearly 4x those competitors. Larding the service with an unnecessary voice line that incurs very high taxes and fees (relative to cost of service) simply makes their value/money even worse, aside from those few customers who actually *need* this functionality.

you're welcome to pay even more for even slower speeds without it from Raw Bandwidth Communications or DSLExtreme.

DSLx is offering slightly greater performance at about $20/month less, in part because they don't force customers to get voice service as part of the deal (and in part because of promotional pricing, granted). Never heard of RBC before tonight.

At this point all Sonic has going for them from my perspective is being pro-privacy, and the considerable annoyance of switching ISPs. They can't deliver competitive products, can't staff the support lines well enough to provide anything like the service they did 4-5 years ago, and can't tell a convincing story to anyone except the small fraction of their customers in areas that are or will be served by fiber. It's unfortunate, but I expect I'll be departing for AT&T 100 Mbps service + VPN in a month or two - because despite the hundreds of complaints Dane has received, he's got nothing convincing to say to us. I wish he'd make different decisions as I don't really *want* to leave sonic, but $400/year extra for much worse performance is a lot to swallow.

[danielg4]

DSLx is offering slightly greater performance at about $20/month less, in part because they don't force customers to get voice service as part of the deal (and in part because of promotional pricing, granted). Never heard of RBC before tonight.

AFAIK, they do not provision VDSL aside from FTTN, making that claim impossible.

At this point all Sonic has going for them from my perspective is being pro-privacy, and the considerable annoyance of switching ISPs. They can't deliver competitive products, can't staff the support lines well enough to provide anything like the service they did 4-5 years ago, and can't tell a convincing story to anyone except the small fraction of their customers in areas that are or will be served by fiber. It's unfortunate, but I expect I'll be departing for AT&T 100 Mbps service + VPN in a month or two - because despite the hundreds of complaints Dane has received, he's got nothing convincing to say to us. I wish he'd make different decisions as I don't really *want* to leave sonic, but $400/year extra for much worse performance is a lot to swallow.

Anybody who actually needs 100Mbps is going to have usage that will often be close to running afoul of AT&T's transfer cap, which would raise costs pretty quickly. And for how long is their promotional rate? Arguments about better price/performance on Comcast I can understand, but I'm failing to see how AT&T VDSL could be a winner, especially over Sonic VDSL.

[pockyken007]

DSLx is offering slightly greater performance at about $20/month less, in part because they don't force customers to get voice service as part of the deal (and in part because of promotional pricing, granted). Never heard of RBC before tonight.

AFAIK, they do not provision VDSL aside from FTTN, making that claim impossible.

At this point all Sonic has going for them from my perspective is being pro-privacy, and the considerable annoyance of switching ISPs. They can't deliver competitive products, can't staff the support lines well enough to provide anything like the service they did 4-5 years ago, and can't tell a convincing story to anyone except the small fraction of their customers in areas that are or will be served by fiber. It's unfortunate, but I expect I'll be departing for AT&T 100 Mbps service + VPN in a month or two - because despite the hundreds of complaints Dane has received, he's got nothing convincing to say to us. I wish he'd make different decisions as I don't really *want* to leave sonic, but $400/year extra for much worse performance is a lot to swallow.

Anybody who actually needs 100Mbps is going to have usage that will often be close to running afoul of AT&T's transfer cap, which would raise costs pretty quickly. And for how long is their promotional rate? Arguments about better price/performance on Comcast I can understand, but I'm failing to see how AT&T VDSL could be a winner, especially over Sonic VDSL.

I am with Danielg4 on this there is no way in hell that ATT is better in ANYTHING than SONIC unless you like deep packet scanning , infinite browsing data retention and bandwidth caps ...

[flex-brannigan]

So I have to pay an extra 10 bucks a month to subsidize the fiber service of my neighbor who literally resides on the other side of my backyard fence? That guy ends up paying 10 dollars less per month for internet service that is FIFTY TIMES faster than mine. Gee, thanks Dane.

Oh! You're a new customer? We'll give you the same rate our loyal customers who have been with us for years USED to pay before we jacked up the price on them. Nice.

After being told — repeatedly I might add — that 1Gbps fiber would be available on my street, only to have Sonic decide not to provide it, makes we want to consider going over to the dark side.