I just got Sonic, signed up for $49.99 and they charge me $69.18

[colin_s_johnson]

When I challenged this bill they told me:

"However, since your service is a bundled internet and phone package, there are taxes and fees associated with the phone line. This is the only service available for your address, and it cannot be unbundled."

This seems rather hard to believe.
I don't intend to pay for a service I'm never going to use and telling me that is the only service available is complete BS.

Anyone else had this experience?

[conradpino]

Current regulations don't allow Sonic to use incumbent (AT&T) network unless phone line is bundled which suggests Sonic does not have their cabling in place to provide Internet without phone service and mandated taxes.

[colin_s_johnson]

They really need to be up front about this.
Advertising $49.99 to get people to sign up is bogus, when they slap $20 on top.

Has anyone actually got a breakdown of the fees paid on their bill?

[conradpino]

Sane adults read the contract before signing.

[dragonsclaw]

You bill shows every last one, and it is insane. About 30% is fees and taxes by regulators and cities.

Be glad California refuses to let AT&T remove copper lines. There are fibre deserts IN SILICON VALLEY. Greedy governments are just waiting for the chance to charge HUGE permit fees. Read the Los Altos thread. Communications have traditionally shared poles (usually Electric). (look at the very early days of phone service in cities and towns. Huge maze of poles and wires) There is Profit in making that hard to do.

[jordan.m]

They really need to be up front about this.
Advertising $49.99 to get people to sign up is bogus, when they slap $20 on top.

Has anyone actually got a breakdown of the fees paid on their bill?

Hello! Unfortunately, we are unable to remove the voice service in your area at this time. We are working towards unbundling phone and internet for our 1 gig customers and in places where our new 10 gig service is available, customers do have the option to do so. Hopefully, we will announce a change in your area soon! As for a breakdown of the fees paid, you can view/download full invoices here: https://members.sonic.net/account/billing/. If you have any questions about any of the fees displayed, please DM me. I would be happy to help.

[ftwigg]

I wanted to second the frustration of the original poster and I am writing to express serious concerns about Sonic's potentially deceptive advertising practices that may violate consumer protection laws.

Sonic prominently advertises an introductory internet rate of $49.99, yet this price point is materially misleading. The actual required payment includes mandatory voice service fees that increase the total cost by approximately 20-30%, even when customers have no desire or use for these voice services.

This practice appears to violate truth-in-advertising regulations for several reasons:

The inability to decline these voice services while maintaining internet access renders the advertised rate fundamentally inaccurate.

The characterization of these charges as "mandatory state/federal fees" is not a substantive argument when the underlying service itself is being forced upon customers who only seek internet access and state law does not mandate this bundling.

The only alternative offered—a $300 installation fee for a system that would separate voice services—creates an unreasonable financial barrier, particularly for renters who may not occupy their residences long-term.

I think these practices may constitute a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce. Specifically I think the offense is advertising a service at $49.99 when that price is not actually available to consumers and disclosure of the fees is not transparent. I want to provide specific examples here. First, the only hint on the ad is tiny font that says "does not include voice service taxes and fees" which would not necessarily alert a customer who does not seek voice services in the first place. Secondly, if you proceed and add it to your cart, the promotion explicitly disguises the hidden gov't fees because the promotion of one free month zeroes out the bill so the customer sees $0, not $60+ (or the expected $49.99 for that matter). Thirdly, the "your sonic order summary" tile displays the advertised costs and promotions, but explicitly excludes the government fees, which are only available in the much more cluttered and subtle broadband facts block displayed below which is in small font and includes incredibly cluttered and verbose writing. It is very unlikely the customer would even be aware of these fees until at least 2 months after initializing services because of the free-month promotion.

I respectfully request that Sonic immediately modify its advertising to reflect the actual minimum cost consumers will incur, including all mandatory fees, or make voice services truly optional without financial penalty.

I hope Sonic will seek a prompt resolution of this matter.

[colin_s_johnson]

Yes, it's completely shady and most probably illegal.
It's a classic bait and switch.