Fusion price increase and fiber expansion

[Guest]

To be honest, nobody is thrilled with the price increase. In my case, I appreciate the excellent customer service, privacy rights and do utilize the landline. However, compared to AT&T and Comcast, Sonic still offers the best value for the money. A comparable Uverse package with 18Mbps and unlimited nationwide calling is $70 promo price before taxes. For Comcast, It's also $70 promo pricing with 25Mbps for 2 years. Then they have these silly surcharges such as not listing your phone number in white pages and whatnot for $1.50/month and $35 for a backup battery to make calls if the power goes out. In short, I am still satisfied with Sonic and will remain with them for the near future.

[oddhack]

To be honest, nobody is thrilled with the price increase. In my case, I appreciate the excellent customer service, privacy rights and do utilize the landline. However, compared to AT&T and Comcast, Sonic still offers the best value for the money. A comparable Uverse package with 18Mbps and unlimited nationwide calling is $70 promo price before taxes. For Comcast, It's also $70 promo pricing with 25Mbps for 2 years. Then they have these silly surcharges such as not listing your phone number in white pages and whatnot for $1.50/month and $35 for a backup battery to make calls if the power goes out. In short, I am still satisfied with Sonic and will remain with them for the near future.

Google Voice and an ObiHai ATA costs about $50 up front and $0/month. I don't doubt there's some set of customers for which long distance is an important feature but it's probably not many and of those, many may not be aware of the other options available for low- or zero-cost VOIP service.

[pockyken007]

And so we see yet another chapter in the continuing saga of "One Price for All", regardless of the service delivered.
DSL subscribers now pay a tax for fiber beneficiaries.

I expect this type of nonsense from government, not the private sector.

Sorry Dane.

We're out.

I hope all of you that are out because of this increase won't be coming back to Sonic when fiber is available in your neighborhood after all it would it would then be considered " fiber beneficiaries " paying for your fiber wouldn't it ?

The shortsightedness of some people is astounding to say the least all you see is price increase and you seem to be unable or maybe unwilling to see pass that while I do agree that price increase shouldn't affect people who are not on FTTN / FTTH or below certain threshold of speed on their service the increase is not to fill out the pockets of Sonic with extra $$$$ it's to deploy fiber in the neighborhoods that sonic is currently building out in and continue the expansion as they secure build out permits ... if you can't see why this is a good thing then bye bye Felicia don't let the door hit ya on your way out .

[dherr]

"if you can't see why this is a good thing then bye bye Felicia "

What if the increase was $20?

$40?

Are you adding extra money to each payment?

Did you donate to the Google fiber work?

[pockyken007]

if 10$ is killing your budget then maybe you should rethink your priorities and possibly not have internet at home / use public internet . I find 10$ to be a decent price point for increase anything more than that and you are as a company increasing the price by too much compared to the value of service delivered.

I didn't donate to Google fiber but I did donate to the SF movement to bring fiber into the city and to the campaign to allow microtrenching , I also sacrificed my own time ( and time = money ) to go to community meetings and educate people about the power of fiber , and who to contact and what to write to start pushing the fiber / faster internet in SF .

[dherr]

Thanks for that reply. I can respect that. The previous post seemed far too "black and white".

I can afford the increase, but I will be moving out of California within a year and will likely never see Sonic fiber so I am not sure it is a cause I would decide to donate to.

[pockyken007]

Sorry to see you go Dherr hopefully it's in pursuit of better tomorrow ( aka better Job or cheaper cost of living )

[customerInExcelsior]

Alas, I believe it is finally time for me to cancel my Sonic service. I've been an ardent supporter of Sonic for the last seven years - to the point of keeping my Sonic service even after getting a 250Mbps+ Monkeybrains connection! I kept Sonic for the landline service, fax service, cheap domain registration, and as a 6Mbps backup connection. Further, I was convincing myself that I was doing my part to nudge Sonic to expand fiber service to the hilly area of the Excelsior district - an area that's poorly served by AT&T - although I realize that fiber connectivity (from any ISP) is probably quite a few years out. A $10 increase to my ~$53/mo bill, however is a bit much for all of the things I mention above - I'm probably going to switch to Vonage or cellular service.

Internet connectivity from Sonic isn't very important to me, personally - due to my Monkeybrains service - but if it were, I just couldn't justify paying ~$63/mo for 6Mbps service! I could see myself paying perhaps $5-$15 more if FTTN were available, as my parents pay ~$58/mo for FTTN service, and I think they'll continue to stick with Sonic, even at close to $70/mo. I could see myself paying ~$100/mo for fiber, but $63/mo for 6Mbps is ridiculous! In contrast to Sonic, Monkeybrains recently upgraded my link to ~500Mbps without a change in cost to me!

I would encourage Dane to consider what Monkeybrains did to help expand their offerings - asking customers who would benefit to vote with their dollars upfront. I paid a hefty $2,500 for the promise of 300Mbps+ service. This $2,500 went to pay for the connection equipment that I do not own! Would I feel slighted if others can now get the same service as me without paying this subsidy that I paid Monkeybrains? Maybe, but I was guaranteed a fast link or my money back, and my participation helped Monkeybrains expand broadband availability in San Francisco, so I'm one happy camper. Perhaps Sonic could look into doing something similar.

Since most Sonic customers are in it for the long haul, I'm sure that many (although perhaps not most) customers would be happy to pay ~$1,000 as a non-refundable "installation fee" to convince Sonic to lay fiber in their neighborhoods within the next six months. Assuming enough people in a neighborhood sign up to make the expansion feasible, Sonic keeps the money and proceeds to expand into the neighborhood. If critical mass isn't reached, and an expansion in the area can't be guaranteed, customers in those areas would be refunded the $1,000. Of course, this doesn't preclude a price increase to fiber service, as $50 + taxes is still more than competitive. Frankly, this type of subsidy seems more palatable than charging ADSL2+ customers $10 more a month. Despite my investment in Monkeybrains, I'd happily pay $1,000 to $2,500 upfront (that isn't credited to my account) to Sonic if they could guarantee fiber service to my house within the next six months! I can't see myself paying ~$63/mo for an indeterminate amount of time with no hope of ever getting fiber in my neighborhood, though.

If I ever move into a neighborhood that's serviced by fiber - or Sonic makes fiber available in my neck of the woods - I'd happily sign up again, and I wouldn't feel the least bit like a "freeloader". Sonic is a business that must do what makes business sense for them, and I'm a consumer that must do what makes sense for me. But I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, as I've done with Monkeybrains, so I don't think anyone can accuse me of being a hypocrite.

[vsp339]

I too will be leaving sonic net. This after 7 years. I've stuck with them through some incredibly difficult service issues that required me to constantly whine, beg, and threaten to get resolved. It's been good for the last few years but good is relative here.

I'm in Berkeley. I get what can only be described as marginally horrid service: 5.5Mbps up / 0.81Mbps down. There are no prospects that it's ever going to get better. I get it that I'm limited by AT&T's copper and I appreciate that sonic is as good a corporate provider as I can hope for. But I need more bandwidth. The idea that I'm going to have to pay 20% more for no gain ever so more fiber can be built out in San Francisco is an outrage. I'm out.

Where will I go? Comcast is the only real option for a real internet connection. I know all the objections to comcast, and I share them. But most of my neighbors have comcast and I have heard no real complaints. Everyone I know in SF has comcast. The ones that have comcast report terrific service. I may have to pay a bit more (and it's just a bit more) but I'll get a 4 to 5 fold increase in speed and immediate response when there's an issue. Sonic can't touch that.

I don't like it. I felt good about supporting sonic despite its obvious shortcomings. But I refuse to pay a new premium when the only return will be the good feelings I get from knowing more people in SF will now get better connected with the new fiber I'll be subsidizing. I may not be the brightest guy, but I'm not that dumb.

Several years ago I convinced my neighbor to switch from AT&T DSL to comcast. They're now as disgusted as I am and will be joining my defection to the darker side.

[vsp339]

I hope all of you that are out because of this increase won't be coming back to Sonic when fiber is available in your neighborhood after all it would it would then be considered " fiber beneficiaries " paying for your fiber wouldn't it ? :lol: :lol: :roll: :roll:

The shortsightedness of some people is astounding to say the least all you see is price increase and you seem to be unable or maybe unwilling to see pass that while I do agree that price increase shouldn't affect people who are not on FTTN / FTTH or below certain threshold of speed on their service the increase is not to fill out the pockets of Sonic with extra $$$$ it's to deploy fiber in the neighborhoods that sonic is currently building out in and continue the expansion as they secure build out permits ... if you can't see why this is a good thing then bye bye Felicia don't let the door hit ya on your way out .

That's just silly, ken. It's not just the price increase, I'd gladly pay it for decent service. But not for the mediocre service sonic is providing me. I like the company (or I did until this outrage, now I'm less sure), but my affection stops at the point where they decide they can take advantage of it.

If sonic needs cash to build their business there are ways to do that other than making their existing customers subsidize it. At the very least limit the subsidies to those with the potential to benefit. Sonic is never going to provide fiber to my location. Never. Others will get here first. When they do I'll be the first in line.

For you to tell me that is being shortsighted is condescending and insulting. Especially if you're in line to benefit from sonic's extortion of it customers.

For the record: It's not the 10 bucks. It's the poor service that it buys. I'd gladly pay it and more for a quality connection.