Sonic.net

We ordered Fusion on November 17, 2014. On Nov19, Sonic said our Fusion service was almost ready, and would become our new phone/internet provider on November 26. The ATT phone number is allegedly being "ported over," but as of today (December 13), it hasn't been completed, and we're still on an 800-number.

After we received the new router, we made an appointment with Technician Chris H, for December 9. When he arrived, Chris didn't seem to believe that the line had been switched, although we showed him the Sonic email confirming it had. He ran some tests, then agreed it was OK to hook up the router.

What we learned then was that Sonic's internet speed IS really fast -- but only if it cuts our land-line telephone service down to one hard-wired handset, because having more than one landline would slow the internet speed drastically. Our 3-story house (4 bedrooms + 2 offices) has 8 hard-wired extension phones, but Chris told us they must now be replaced with wireless units operating off the single hard-wired base unit that's connected to the router.

EVEN WORSE, wiring Sonic's cable into our ATT phone box has completely disabled our alarm system!

The tech at our top-rated alarm company (providing us flawless service for more than 30 years) tells us that this happens all the time -- that Sonic (also Astound, etc.) never tells prospective customers about probable conflicts and complications, because it's easier to sell the service if it all sounds simple: "Switch and save! Fusion broadband and phone, just $39.95 per month."

I'm now faced with buying new handsets and extensions for at least 7 rooms, which will cost me a couple hundred dollars, minimum. And to get our alarm system functioning again, I must call ATT to have a new line turned on -- dedicated to the alarm -- for $24.00 per month -- forever!

Thanks a lot, SonicNet! I hope Sonic can resolve this before my Alarm Tech comes on December 19 -- or I just might have to switch back to ATT….

Blair wrote:Our 3-story house (4 bedrooms + 2 offices) has 8 hard-wired extension phones, but Chris told us they must now be replaced with wireless units operating off the single hard-wired base unit that's connected to the router.

That's a bit extreme. Telephone lines usually are intended to support five wired extensions. However, with that many extensions, you likely have a lot of copper wiring in the walls, and that can add a lot of impedance on the line, which will drag the speed down.

If you formerly had lower speed DSL, it likely wasn't as sensitive to the number of devices plugged in and the amount of wiring in the walls.

Blair wrote:The tech at our top-rated alarm company (providing us flawless service for more than 30 years) tells us that this happens all the time -- that Sonic (also Astound, etc.) never tells prospective customers about probable conflicts and complications, because it's easier to sell the service if it all sounds simple: "Switch and save! Fusion broadband and phone, just $39.95 per month."

[...]

And to get our alarm system functioning again, I must call ATT to have a new line turned on -- dedicated to the alarm -- for $24.00 per month -- forever!

The Sonic phone line is no different from the AT&T line. Both are a standard analog POTS line from the central office. (Astound is different, as it's a VOIP line.

Call Support at 611 to see about having the wiring changes undone.

Good news, VirtualMike: Our alarm company tech was available on Saturday afternoon and was able to establish a work-around using the existing DSL switch/box (which had been installed years ago). It took him nearly two hours (for which we will be billed, of course), but we now enjoy SonicNet's excellent internet speed -- AND he reconnected our alarm system -- AND our telephones.

Tomorrow I will happily return the (unnecessary) wireless phone system to BestBuy for a refund. And I won't have to pay ATT to install a second phone line, after all.

The alarm tech also secured a cable that the Sonic tech had draped loopily from the basement rafters, and he cleaned up a coil of wire clippings the Sonic tech had left lying on the floor. Oh, and he found the insulated gloves left behind by the Sonic guy, too.

Assuming that the porting over of our phone number from ATT is completed in the near future, we may actually end up as fairly happy SonicNet subscribers.

However, NONE of this confusion and inconvenience was necessary! If Sonic's sales team (or web site) had informed in advance us that Fusion installations may vary depending on what sort of equipment or hardware pre-exists, we could have made an appointment with our alarm tech to coincide with the Sonic installation. Being blindsided for five days by a sloppy installation did not get us off to a great start.

I'll report back if/when our phone number comes back home. Stay tuned.

Blair, I'm sorry that your installation didn't go smoothly. I will ask our team to review and see what we can do with training and procedures to improve the process.

Thanks, Dane. I'm sorry, too. The Sonic tech was a super-nice guy, but more training is in order.

We were referred to SonicNet by numerous friends who rave about the service. But because we're fairly clueless about tech stuff, it never occurred to any of us that the size or layout of the house may affect the way it's hooked up -- i.e., a compact, one-story house with no alarm system is probably a simpler installation.

Perhaps prospective customers should be asked to fill out a questionnaire:

--How many rooms in your house?
--On how many floors?
--Hard-wired burglar alarm?
--Is the alarm connected via telephone line to the police or a central call service?
--How many telephone lines?
--Number of extension phones?
--Prior ISP installed?
--DSL filter installed?

Answers to these and other questions might help inform your techs as to what to expect, and should make the installation more seamless.

BTW, we're STILL waiting for our phone number to port over from ATT. How much longer until we stop appearing as an (800) number on caller I.D.?

Thanks for the feedback. I'll pass it to the group.

In regards to your porting, I'm confused about why it's occurring after the service is installed. Did you have standard AT&T voice service? If so, we generally port that and hot-cut the existing loop at the same time, resulting in no need for an installer visit and just a brief 10-20 minute service interruption.

If you've got U-Verse voice, or Comcast or another carrier, it's done after the new Fusion service is installed, and takes a few days.

Dane,

We had standard ATT telephone service in the house for 42 years. In recent years, we've ATT internet (which was billed as U-verse Elite, but which an ATT tech once admitted was just DSL, because U-verse is not actually available in our neighborhood).

HERE is the order confirmation received from SonicNet on November 17:
"Your order for Fusion Broadband, the latest in high-speed access from Sonic.net, has been received.
"Please do not cancel service with your current telephone carrier until your new Fusion service is active! Doing so can create substantial delays and may cause your order to fail."


HERE is the email we got from Sonic on November 21:
"Your order for Sonic.net Fusion Broadband + Phone is being worked on by Sonic.net staff. The typical completion interval from this point is about four working days.
"If you have any questions or concerns, please drop us a note at [email protected].
"Thanks for choosing Sonic.net's Fusion Broadband + Phone!"

As instructed, we did NOT cancel service w/ ATT -- in fact, we're still being billed -- and we're still paying!

Needless to say, I don't understand this.
Should I call Sonic Support and ask someone to read this thread?

This just in -- a repeat of the message we received on November 19.
But maybe this time it will actually be completed -- on December 24th:

"Your phone number port to Fusion will be completed soon! Sonic.net will be your new phone provider as of 12/24/2014 at 11:00AM. Please note that moving your phone line from your old carrier can take up to two hours in some circumstances, though it usually completes in around an hour"

Yup, I asked our team to review the situation, and they're doing so!

Many thanks, Dane --
If the final result is as excellent as SonicNet's super-speedy internet service, we will (at long last) be VERY happy customers. Our Netflix movie streamed fast and flawlessly last night.