No Fiber in Mountain View an Internet Desert

[mglventurini]

There is currently no fiber offered in Mountain View. Recent news reported that Mountain View garners the highest rents in the Bay Area, most likely due to the influx of High-tech workers living here.

I posted the following on Nextdoor September 28, and was notified today that the post has received 2.1K views.

"Utility Work in Mountain View. Fiber Cable is being installed on Middlefield near N. Whisman Rd. The workers who are laying it do not have much information, only that it is not AT&T. Does anyone have any more information regarding this? Despite all the high-tech businesses which have been here, the Whisman neighborhood has been an internet desert with no fiber available."

Wouldn't it make good business sense for Sonic to put Mountain View on the fast track for the installation of fiber?

[loherj]

Thank you for reaching out regarding Sonic's Fiber Expansion.

Our goal is to improve the quality of Internet service in America! By expanding our own Fiber, we can provide top-tier customer service, the fastest rates achievable in the country, and our award-winning privacy policy, all at an affordable rate. That being said, infrastructure construction is a large feat, and it will take some time to expand those services.

Infrastructure construction goes through a few phases, like planning and pre-construction. We are working hard to expand services to new and existing areas, but there are obstacles we encounter along the way, like permitting delays and overloaded poles.

We hope to get out to your area in the near future.

[dane]

We do have plans for fiber deployment in Mountain View, a project internally named "Palm", which is currently expected to reach 4,705 homes in Mountain View. We have had some delay with negotiating and recording the agreement that the City required, but I had a meeting this morning with our notary at Sonic here to execute the final-final encroachment agreement document for Mountain View, which will be sent off to them for recording now. That should allow us to begin scheduling the construction work there to build the new fiber-optic network.

Note that this covers only portions of Mountain View, generally the areas with aerial utilities and where the existing utility poles are safe for and have space for new attachment of Sonic's fiber. Of course, we will be building everything that we can there, seeking every avenue to resolve any issues we find with existing infrastructure with the goal of reaching every premise that we can possibly reach. Expanding beyond this first phase will require more updates, to poles and/or to trenchless construction standards in the City. Sonic is working to advance both of these causes as well in all of the regions that we serve.

[dane]

@mglventurini:

One way you can assist us is in spreading the word that Sonic does have plans to build in Mountain View. Because today, we lack any significant demand for service there, with just 88 pre-orders for service, or 1.87% of the households in the planned initial coverage area of 4,705 homes. (This count includes all current customers with any Sonic service, such as Fusion DSL or IP Broadband, who will be automatically migrated to fiber, plus any new households that have pre-ordered or requested Sonic fiber service on our website.)

By comparison, we have a 15.91% pre-order uptake for the area under construction in Bernal Heights in SF. Of course, the areas we see the most demand are the ones we put our strongest early focus and investment into.

So, you can assist us and at the same time make your region a higher priority by referring people to Sonic. You mentioned responses on Nextdoor and a lot of local interest - but we just are not seeing that manifested here. Perhaps you can help, by letting them know of our plans, and that requests for service are what drive our investments and focus. (And bonus, you can get a $40 credit when those households do end up getting connected! Win/win!) More info here: https://www.sonic.com/referrals

[kv88]

@mglventurini:

One way you can assist us is in spreading the word that Sonic does have plans to build in Mountain View. Because today, we lack any significant demand for service there, with just 88 pre-orders for service, or 1.87% of the households in the planned initial coverage area of 4,705 homes. (This count includes all current customers with any Sonic service, such as Fusion DSL or IP Broadband, who will be automatically migrated to fiber, plus any new households that have pre-ordered or requested Sonic fiber service on our website.)

By comparison, we have a 15.91% pre-order uptake for the area under construction in Bernal Heights in SF. Of course, the areas we see the most demand are the ones we put our strongest early focus and investment into.

So, you can assist us and at the same time make your region a higher priority by referring people to Sonic. You mentioned responses on Nextdoor and a lot of local interest - but we just are not seeing that manifested here. Perhaps you can help, by letting them know of our plans, and that requests for service are what drive our investments and focus. (And bonus, you can get a $40 credit when those households do end up getting connected! Win/win!) More info here: https://www.sonic.com/referrals

Hello, I am curious, do you mind sharing the statistics for Los Angeles county? I've pre-ordered and eagerly waiting for construction to begin.

[dane]

Due to limited awareness of Sonic in the LA market, uptake there is super low. Anything you can do to spread the word would be appreciated. And you get $40 account credits, so why not! =)

Regarding Mountain View, the notarized City agreement document was sent to Public Works for counter-signing today. So we should finally make some progress there soon.

[mglventurini]

Thank you, Dane, for your updates and valuable information. I have posted on Nextdoor. Hopefully we will get some significant response.

[dane]

Increasing demand is the most powerful thing our members can do to drive deployment and upgrades. And our referral program makes it rewarding to do so too. =) So, please do spread the word however you can.

[lennysiegel]

I'm just learning about this. As a former elected official (Mayor in 2018), I may be in a position to generate interest. But it would be helpful to know the proposed footprint of the service.

Many of us in Mountain View have been impressed with Sonic's customer service, and with AT&T threatening to shut down its landline service, the possibility of Sonic providing fiber service is promising.

I currently use Sonic for two landlines and Internet, as well as a number of discussion lists. Would the fiber service include those?

Lenny Siegel

[dane]

I'm just learning about this. As a former elected official (Mayor in 2018), I may be in a position to generate interest. But it would be helpful to know the proposed footprint of the service.

Many of us in Mountain View have been impressed with Sonic's customer service, and with AT&T threatening to shut down its landline service, the possibility of Sonic providing fiber service is promising.

I currently use Sonic for two landlines and Internet, as well as a number of discussion lists. Would the fiber service include those?

Lenny Siegel

Our planned fiber-optic network deployment in Mountain View has been shelved for now, as the City is not allowing the deployment of any new communications infrastructure. Sorry about that! Hopefully, their position on this will change in the future and we will be able to pick the project back up at that time.