SF Bay Area: Sonic.net Fusion broadband 20mbps/1mbps + unlimited phone service $39.95

[dC0m]

I entered my phone number but it doesn't check out because I'm with Comcast Voice.

Does Sonic.net serve the 94134 zip code? If so, I'm ditching Comcrap.

 

[danejasper]

I just got off the phone with tech support with sonic.net. for help upgrading the firmware on the modem. I am located about 10,500 feet from the CO. My download speeds are almost 4 times faster than ATT! I am a happy camper.

I give Sonic two thumbs up!

I would like to invest in Sonic, too!

Thanks for the support folks, and please tell a friend!

Sorry, no investors here - we are privately held, no debt, and no bull.

-Dane

 

[Morphine06]

I swear I checked the availability for my area (95117- West San Jose/Cupertino border) and was thrilled that a faster, cheaper solution was available. I wanted to schedule a disconnect with AT&T and make sure there were no hidden cancellation fees with them before I ordered from Sonic. Now I'm ready to switch and Fusion isn't available in my area. =S

The DSL is available, but when I see speeds with a range of 3-6 and upload under 1, I get nervous. I wonder if I was mistaken or service in my area changed... too bad.

 

[Blurry]

Not much of a price reduction - bill went from $53 after tax to $49.30 after the so-called $10 price cut. Looks like one of the "FCC" taxes went up to $6.25 - which is the maximum amount the FCC allows companies to charge for recouping landline costs.

 

[gizmoz]

I just got off the phone with tech support with sonic.net. for help upgrading the firmware on the modem. I am located about 10,500 feet from the CO. My download speeds are almost 4 times faster than ATT! I am a happy camper.

I give Sonic two thumbs up!

I would like to invest in Sonic, too!

Can you share what the download and upload speeds are for you?
I am also at 10500 feet from the CO. Will help me make a decision as well.

 

[acx]

Sonic opened a new office in Milpitas so now I have Sonic Fusion. The order form claimed I was 4500 feet from the CO. Getting 11 mpbs down and 750kbps up. Had ATT DSL before which got me 4.5 mbps down and 500 kbps up. Was hoping for closer to 15 mbps down since it said I was so close. Oh well, still faster than before for the same price.

 

[richierich1212]

Sonic opened a new office in Milpitas so now I have Sonic Fusion. The order form claimed I was 4500 feet from the CO. Getting 11 mpbs down and 750kbps up. Had ATT DSL before which got me 4.5 mbps down and 500 kbps up. Was hoping for closer to 15 mbps down since it said I was so close. Oh well, still faster than before for the same price.

man that's awesome.

 

[Craig234]

Too bad in the middle of the bay area it seems to be Comcast or AT&T DSL.

 

[HHumbert]

Question: I have ComCast now and I live in SOMA. I get about 10-18 Mbps, and I pay around $75/mo. Pretty expensive.

But I love the bandwidth. Will Sonic give me near that bandwidth? I'm approx 3,000 ft away from the CO.

Guesses? I do want to stop sucking the tit of ComCast and AT&T.

And oh, btw, if I just happened to have a BitTorrent client running, does Sonic do a decent job of not caving into the powers that be? ComCast doesn't turn over records as readily, but I know that Quest practically files usage reports with the MPIA or RIA or whomever as a matter of course.

Thanks!

 

[RedChief]

Still no service in Castro Valley....oh well DSLExtreme has been good over the years.

 

[Zalophus]

Dane-
1-SF zip 94133-9,625 Feet from CO.
2-Sonic rep tells me best Fusion I can hope for is 3.0.
3-Is that limit a function of my address and CO distance, or just CO distance, and
4-Anyway to confirm that w/o signing up first?

Thanks

 

[dakata24]

are there any limitations to bandwidth caps like comcasts 250GB/month limit?

 

[nyker96]

no service either!!

 

[paulney]

Still no service in Campbell, and I've been waiting for Fusion for at least a year and a half now

 

[Muse]

wow its available where i live in downtwon sf. i currently have slow 6mb dsl from att for 45 a month for dsl alone. this is cheaper and many times faster. but i would worry about reliability. att has been pretty good the last few years at least with almost no downtime and i wouldnt want to trade that for a lower price or faster speed. ive never heard of this company. does anyone have it and can you comment on these issues

I've known about Sonic.net since the mid 1990's, highly recommended to me as an ISP in part by virtue of their highly personal customer support. I have investigated moving to them a few times but it was too expensive. I might now (I'm in Berkeley) with this but the offer is not compelling. I talked to a technical rep at Sonic.net yesterday and he said they definitely support California's discount phone service to low income residents (Universal Life Line), but he didn't know the details. He said I should call Billing. I just called, Billing is not in (oops, holiday!), but the technical rep I talked to today assured me he's been there 1.5 years and they don't support any kind of discounts for low income or seniors, so I'm SOL on that one. I'm currently with ATT and pay ~$47/month (after all charges) for 6 Mbps (actually I get 4) DSL + phone (discounted by virtue of Universal Life Line program). I do my long distance with Mobilecaller pay as you go. Sonic.net would work out about the same, probably a little more because I use the Mobilecaller very sparingly.

The Sonic.net guy yesterday checked my address and said I'm about 7000 feet from the CO with copper lines. He sounded like he's been doing this about 2 days. He was all enthusiasm about how great it is to be so close to the CO, but pressed he said I would do much better at 1/2 the distance and I can't expect to get over 10 Mbps where I am, and he told me a "conservative" estimate would be more like 5-6 Mbps. They'd have to test to see if they can get better than the 4 Mbps (I tested online about a week ago) I'm getting with my ATT right now.

The guy yesterday said they have a contract with ATT to use their phone lines.

I'm going to call Billing tomorrow to find out for sure if they can get me a discount. otherwise, it looks like the switch wouldn't really do much for me. I guess I should investigate other plans. Maybe Verizon has something better for me personally.

Not available for me either, in Hayward. Been wanting to get rid of Comcast, not because it's a bad product, but the whole evil corporation thing.

I'm so sick of tossing Comcast mail in my trash. Every offer they send me (seems like more than one/week) is a limited time offer. I hate those and won't consider them. The guy I talked to at Sonic.net yesterday assured me that this isn't a LTO.

 

[Muse]

Fusion Broadband + Phone includes traditional land line phone service. This means it works during a power outage, doesn't use your Internet connection, supports full enhanced 911, etc.

-Dane

Plus you get unlimited long distance within the USA, according to the rep I talked to yesterday.

Hi Dane! I encountered a lot of internet messaging by you concerning Sonic.net quite a few years ago, probably on the Bay Area internet newsgroup.

 

[Muse]

The billing dept tells me they don't have a Life Line discount program, nor senior discounts. Fusion is $39.95 for all (plus taxes, etc.). She said the reason is that the telephone service is thrown in as a freebie, that is that's the way they've packaged it. So the $39.95 is for the DSL. I haven't ordered yet. There's no compelling reason for me to change at the moment. I guess I would get higher speeds, not certain. Maybe I'll call and try to find out my odds on higher speeds.

 

[Jen]

i am wondering if there is any bandwith caps for the dsl service? if so what are they?


Jen

 

[av911]

There are NO CAPs. That's the reason to switch right there.

 

[Muse]

There are NO CAPs. That's the reason to switch right there.

To my knowledge, ATT has never capped me. But who knows...

 

[av911]

To my knowledge, ATT has never capped me. But who knows...

ALL AT&T DSL is capped since May 2 at 150GB per month. Some U-verse services are capped at 250GB.

 

[Jen]

I tried to contact sonic regarding changing to them for service but so far i cant get through the numbers listed or being disconnected. I guess i keep my AT&T line till i find another service provider that i can switch to

Jen

 

[av911]

You can order online.

 

[Jen]

You can order online.

have specific questions to ask prior connecting to this service so i want to speak to someone there


Jen

 

[Jen]

well i guess no sonic after speaking to a rep there ,

since i am not in thier area i have to pay for phone service to my house and then pay them for internet . which in the end will cost me more than what i am paying AT&T currently. its good if your in thier area but not so great if your not


Jen