Sonic.net

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?

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.

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?

Sane adults read the contract before signing.

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.

colin_s_johnson wrote: ↑Sat Feb 15, 2025 4:07 pm 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.

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.

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

I am a long time cheerleader for Sonic, and, even so, I very much agree (my latest total bill was more than $76, so 50% more than advertised). Sonic should charge what it advertises, short of taxes. It will excuse the "fees" as "industry standard." That's bullshit. One of the reasons I've been a cheerleader is that Sonic, at least old Sonic, was willing to challenge "industry standard," with, eg uncapped lines, and great service. I'm happy that Sonic is growing and successful; not so happy that it now has enough market weight to ignore its scrappy roots.

Their services seem to be getting a $10 per month increase (across the board) coming shortly the site is full of updates reflecting this. Not saying its not worth it $60 a month is still good for base 10 gbe just I can see incoming uproar perhaps surprised no ones caught it yet I'm guessing July 1st the new prices will be in effect. You could technically save the $120/yr by just canceling and having someone else over 18 at your house sign up for service they dont charge any activation fee or cancelation nor is it a "contract" to get the $10 off per month nor do they come out just remote activation. It could be done before for the free months as well long as they're new customer. (Their sales people used to run around reddit giving out their employee emails telling people about all the sonic "hacks")

With that said if you dont care about 10 gig speed and are fine with just say 1 or 2 gig speed xfi runs a really good thing right now. Can get price locked for 1 or 5 years also no contract or etf. Activations like 40 bucks if you previously had service. Its like $50/mo for a year gig $65/mo for 5 years for a gig. 2 gigs is $70/mo/$85/mo respectively, also unlimited data and free wifi equipment during that 5 year time, sonic doesnt even give out their wifi equipment for free... Theres a bunch more like streaming services included and mobile phone $200 giftcard etc. Most people dont care about gig/multi gig uploads or "privacy" I mean what unless you're doing illegal stuff online lol. Sonics good don't get me wrong but as they increase like only 1% of their users really need multi gig symmetrical for niche purposes and they're becoming more like the other guys where the other guys now actually start to have more reasons to switch.

Most came from xfi not cause service was a problem it was the price/cost for the service it was well over $100 a month for a gig or multi gig whether they needed it or not the old sonic $49.99 couldnt be beat whether it was 1 gig symmetrical or 10 gig symmetrical. Now that they're throwing a 5 year bone out and you got companies like sonic that are easy to switch in/out of same with xfi there are more reasonable options unless you care about the so called "privacy" and multi gig upload speeds. But with sonic you rent their equip or have to fork out a lot for a good router can easily make an argument just for a simple install or activation. They might continue ninja increases over here at sonic.

https://www.sonic.com/broadband-facts

https://www.sonic.com/