Sonic.net

dane wrote:

poningru wrote:Anyone know if vdsl2 will be available in Berkeley?

Over the next six months or so, VDSL2 will be deployed into all 125 of the cities where Fusion is available. Our Fusion network continues to evolve, both with fiber expansion and with upgrades to copper services meanwhile.

How does VDSL2 look for distances of ~7500 feet?

And were you guys planning on doing a FTTN or FTTC setup? I am in the City of Millbrae 94030 if that helps.

VDSL2 only delivers faster sync speeds within about 5,000ft, so for your site it wouldn't help. Pair bonding is a solution which can deliver more speed though, albeit at some incremental cost.

We are working on three things which will deliver increased performance: VDSL2, bonding, and fiber. This is a multi-year effort, with some of these arriving sooner and some later. But stick with us, we are committed to enhancing the Fusion product for all members.

It seems to me that if Sonic.Net can offer 50Mbps down and 10Mbps up with VDSL-2 at the $40 price-point and do some more aggressive direct marketing, then the world should soon be rushing to get on board.

Comcast Triple Play with anyroom HD-DVR + 2 additional HD TVs, 25Mbps down and 5 Mbps up, and a phone line costs $170/mo - on a promotional offer! DirecTV w/ HD-DVR + 2 additional HD TVs combined with Sonic Fusion can be had for <$135/month on a sustainable basis as long as you keep calling DirecTV every 12 months and threaten to leave (sigh). DirecTV trumps Comcast video is many ways. If Fusion trumps Comcast broadband speeds, the value proposition would seem to be unassailable.

Go Sonic VDSL-2, Go!!! Dane, won't this catapult Sonic.Net into the major leagues?

We certainly hope so.

Well I'm hoping we get Fusion to the Santa Clarita Valley just north of LA. Love the Sonic service as we have DSL with you.

dane wrote:VDSL2 only delivers faster sync speeds within about 5,000ft, so for your site it wouldn't help. Pair bonding is a solution which can deliver more speed though, albeit at some incremental cost.

We are working on three things which will deliver increased performance: VDSL2, bonding, and fiber. This is a multi-year effort, with some of these arriving sooner and some later. But stick with us, we are committed to enhancing the Fusion product for all members.

dane wrote:We are working on three things which will deliver increased performance: VDSL2, bonding, and fiber. This is a multi-year effort, with some of these arriving sooner and some later. But stick with us, we are committed to enhancing the Fusion product for all members.

For those not on an immediate upgrade path to Fiber, the 'stick with us' part is becoming increasingly more difficult to justify as the speed gap between other service providers and Sonic Fusion widens. I just received an offer from Astound for $25/month (for 12 months, $50/month thereafter) internet with 55Mbps down/5Mbps up. I currently get 10Mbps down and 0.9Mbps up with Sonic, so a roadmap for when at least VDSL2 would be coming to a specific area would be greatly appreciated! (In my case the question would be when is it coming to Burlingame?)

torstenb wrote:I just received an offer from Astound for $25/month (for 12 months, $50/month thereafter) internet with 55Mbps down/5Mbps up.

If you're considering Astound, they have transfer caps.

300GB/month for their 50 and 100 mbps tiers. Their 5 mbps tier has 100GB/month. "Allotment upgrades available."

torstenb wrote:

dane wrote:We are working on three things which will deliver increased performance: VDSL2, bonding, and fiber. This is a multi-year effort, with some of these arriving sooner and some later. But stick with us, we are committed to enhancing the Fusion product for all members.

For those not on an immediate upgrade path to Fiber, the 'stick with us' part is becoming increasingly more difficult to justify as the speed gap between other service providers and Sonic Fusion widens. I just received an offer from Astound for $25/month (for 12 months, $50/month thereafter) internet with 55Mbps down/5Mbps up. I currently get 10Mbps down and 0.9Mbps up with Sonic, so a roadmap for when at least VDSL2 would be coming to a specific area would be greatly appreciated! (In my case the question would be when is it coming to Burlingame?)

You are lucky you have the chance at going Astound, I would go with them over Comcast for sure. I am one city down, Millbrae, and Astound does not provide service here...

Only choices are -
Comcast - Evil and Fast
ATT - Evil and Slow
Sonic - Good and Mediocre

KevinO wrote:It seems to me that if Sonic.Net can offer 50Mbps down and 10Mbps up with VDSL-2 at the $40 price-point and do some more aggressive direct marketing, then the world should soon be rushing to get on board.

I would be tickled pink to get anywhere close to those speeds. However that said, I currently get 6Mbps down with ADSL2+ and I'm guessing that is primarily due to distance, wrong side of a hill here in San Francisco, so I'm not exactly holding my breath on VDSL2 doing anything for me.

Hmm... You know, I posted a thread about getting some fiber in Walnut Creek. I'd settle for VDSL on my ~6000ft line if it means a bit more upstream (I'm happy with my downstream) for the same price, until fiber makes its way over to me.

There's also a much closer remote I could be on, unless there's 1-1/8mi of wire coiled up on my line somewhere, so if we can get *that* to happen, I'll happily accept the increased downstream, as well.

Who do I light a fire under to get this rolling?