Any way to get FTTN X2 if Sonic.com says only FTTN?

[mediahound]

Is there any way I can get FTTN X2 service even though Sonic.com website shows only FTTN available for my address? I know I have 2 pairs since I actually had dual pair bonded Fusion with Sonic in the past.

I asked the AT&T FTTN installer about it and he said they usually don't do the X2 service for apartments (which seems a bit strange).

I'm actually in a condo, not an apartment but nevertheless, I have 2 pairs into my unit and do have access to the MPOE for the building as well.

[dherr]

You should call Sonic about this soon since you are still within your 30 trial period. If you don't like what you hear from Sonic then you can also check DSL Extreme with the same question. Remember that DSL Extreme might promise something that they can't fulfill, so do be careful. Just a reminder that sales is often commission based and that does tend to effect things.

[darkzone]

Welcome to the wonderful world of dumb, arbitrary at&t rules. As figuring out if an apartment has 2 lines available or not would take a tiny amount of effort, at&t made a blanket "no bonding in apartments" rule. Aren't incumbents wonderful?

[mediahound]

You should call Sonic about this soon since you are still within your 30 trial period. If you don't like what you hear from Sonic then you can also check DSL Extreme with the same question. Remember that DSL Extreme might promise something that they can't fulfill, so do be careful. Just a reminder that sales is often commission based and that does tend to effect things.

Welcome to the wonderful world of dumb, arbitrary at&t rules. As figuring out if an apartment has 2 lines available or not would take a tiny amount of effort, at&t made a blanket "no bonding in apartments" rule. Aren't incumbents wonderful?

Thanks.

Darn. So I just got off the phone with Sonic who informed me that the X2 FTTN is not available in my area but they were not sure exactly why. They did say it was an AT&T issue such as a shortage of pairs in my neighborhood or shortage of ports in the VRAD, or something like that.

I'll check back a few times a year and if it ever becomes available, I could then upgrade.

It does seem a bit silly given that I did have dual pair bonded Fusion service for years in the past. On the other hand, for a while it didn't even look like FTTN would make it to my area and then suddenly it was available. So, things seem to be slowly changing over time.

I hope that Dane / Sonic can some how push for more availability in my area. If they want more people to sign up for Sonic, the AT&T capacity will need to be there to support it.

[pmbell]

How close are you to the box, do you know? If you're near enough, it may be possible to get you x2 speed over a single pair - not every x2 customer winds up with 2 pair.

And those who can do it on a single pair are lucky. Only after I got x2 going did I become aware that the design currently in use requires both pairs to be operating for the internet access to work. I had thought that I would be getting redundancy, not adding points of failure, by signing up for the faster product.

Whoops.

[wa2ibm]

It may, or may not, be due to the availability of a second pair.

When I ordered FTTN, I went for the single pair option at the time. When AT&T arrived, they wired in two pair and left me with the bonded modem (NVG589). When I asked why, they said it was due to the distance from the VRAD. From that response, it tells me that Sonic orders a specific speed rather than a specific pair configuration.

When I looked at the modem stats, it showed I was receiving 25/2 service, even though X2 is greater. Further, the stats indicated that it was possible to get the faster X2 speeds. However, when I pushed Sonic to check with AT&T, they refused to provision the higher speeds. Thus, you get what they give you.

Edit: type

[mediahound]

How close are you to the box, do you know? If you're near enough, it may be possible to get you x2 speed over a single pair - not every x2 customer winds up with 2 pair.

And those who can do it on a single pair are lucky. Only after I got x2 going did I become aware that the design currently in use requires both pairs to be operating for the internet access to work. I had thought that I would be getting redundancy, not adding points of failure, by signing up for the faster product.

Whoops.

It doesn't fall back to one pair if there is some issue with the other pair?

[dherr]

Only after I got x2 going did I become aware that the design currently in use requires both pairs to be operating for the internet access to work. I had thought that I would be getting redundancy, not adding points of failure, by signing up for the faster product.

Whoops.

I remember how amazed I was when I first read about one of two bonded pairs causing a line to go down. I can understand a short period of packet loss while the modem stops using the troubled line but I can't believe that this should ever be more then a few seconds. And then the modem should be continuing to test the unused line and only add it back when it shows to be clean for some period of time. Yes, I am a dreamer.

[mediahound]

Only after I got x2 going did I become aware that the design currently in use requires both pairs to be operating for the internet access to work. I had thought that I would be getting redundancy, not adding points of failure, by signing up for the faster product.

Whoops.

I remember how amazed I was when I first read about one of two bonded pairs causing a line to go down. I can understand a short period of packet loss while the modem stops using the troubled line but I can't believe that this should ever be more then a few seconds. And then the modem should be continuing to test the unused line and only add it back when it shows to be clean for some period of time. Yes, I am a dreamer.

When I was on dual pair bonded Fusion (not FTTN), if one pair had issues or went down, the other pair would stay up, with little to no interruption of connectivity, just a slower speed. It sounds like the FTTN X2 service does not do this which seems odd. I guess perhaps it's not a true bonded service.

[mediahound]

How close are you to the box, do you know? If you're near enough, it may be possible to get you x2 speed over a single pair - not every x2 customer winds up with 2 pair.

Yes, to Sonic's credit, they were willing to try this for me. I was willing to spend the extra $20/month if I would see an increase in upstream speed enough to merit it but I only saw like a 50kbs upstream speed increase and about 2-3Mpbs downstream speed increase. Not worth the extra $20. for me for that.