Review by phototristan 
member for 3.9 years, 156 visits, last login: 290 days ago
updated 1.7 years ago
 Richmond,Contra Costa,CA
 $60 per month- (12 month contract)
 AT&T "Better customer support and faster up than AT&T, great installers, local regional business, cutting edge developments" "AT&T installation is horrible & Sonic needs to advocate for the customer better"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I had Sonic DSL service for a couple of years and they were pretty good but I went to Comcast for the faster speeds for the price. But, I never had reliable service thru Comcast and I saw that Sonic.net now offers their faster Fusion DSL product in my area (which they didn't have before when I was on regular DSL) so I switched back to Sonic.net and am very happy I did!
The Sonic Fusion installer was very helpful, knowledgeable and professional. I was super impressed. The AT&T installer? Not so much. I saw him just sitting out in his van out front so I had to go flag him down. I'm not even sure if he would have called me or not to gain access to the complex. He might have just driven away without even trying like he did on the first appointment (AT&T was a no show on their first install appointment).
One of the AT&T lines in my dual pair Fusion is a bit faulty (I'm only getting about half speed on it) so Sonic has opened a trouble ticket with AT&T for that which is currently pending.
Luckily, I still get about 3/4s of the speed I should be getting since the other line is normal speed so it's still quite usable even with the faulty line.
Needless to say, I'm happy and relieved that Sonic.net Fusion has now been installed! It seems very stable and fast and will be even more so when the single AT&T line is fixed by AT&T.
I like that there are no bandwidth caps with Sonic.net and the speed that you see is what you get (Comcast 'speed boosts' only the first several MB of data, then lowers your speed which is lame, plus Comcast is really a bad company). The Sonic.net connection seems quite reliable and steady as well.
While the installation was a bit of a frustrating experience because of AT&T, I'm quite happy with the Sonic.net expertise and service. I just wish they could somehow manage AT&T better.
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Prior to the above, I had some billing issues with Sonic.net when I had regular DSL that were annoying but taken care of well by Sonic in the end. I've removed that complaint from this review since it was handled but some of the comments below are left over from that.
Comments:
  wa2ibmPremium
join:2000-10-10
San Jose, CA
 ·SONIC.NET
| You've come back! So, you see one of the many reasons I continue using Sonic (reliability).
I too have Comcast HSI in addition to my Sonic connection. I have a multi-WAN router that allows me to use both at the same time. Since Sonic allows servers, all my inbound traffic (mail and web) comes in that path, while I use the Comcast connection for my VPN's (to keep that traffic from interfering with my web users). My outbound requests (mostly web) goes out either connection, depending on the phase of the moon. That confuses some web sites (mostly banking), but I've worked around that.
Bottom line: I'm sticking with Sonic, I'm just disappointed that I'll never see their Fusion Broadband product here in San Jose. | |
|  |  DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Re: You've come back! Don't write off Fusion - I'd really like to see many more Bay Area COs built.
That said, if you're more than a couple miles from your CO, we don't have an RT solution in the pipeline just yet.
-Dane | |
| | | wa2ibmPremium
join:2000-10-10
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
| Re: You've come back! I'll be waiting quite a while. My location is much too far from the Almaden CO. My first non-dialup connection was circa 2001 via IDSL (remember NorthPoint/PSN/Telocity/DirectvDSL?). My Sonic ADSL is via one of the Almaden RT's. There's a new AT&T VRAD just down the street, but that's off limits for you. 
Bill | |
| | | | DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Re: You've come back! Yup - no UVerse wholesale, at least for now. I suspect that FIOS going wholesale might help with that, but who knows.
We are working toward RT deployments, but it'll be a while before we get all the issues solved.
-Dane | |
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| | | | DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Re: You've come back! Keep us in mind for the future, we are building ADSL2+ (our Fusion product) into the Richmond CO, so if you are close enough, those products are coming.
Shortly we are introducing Annex M (higher upstream) and pair bonding (doubles speed) on this product set.
Richmond is in process now, about five and a half months ETA. Perhaps we can earn better scores from you someday if/when we can deliver that product for you.
-Dane | |
| | | | | | | | | DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Re: You've come back! If you'll IM or email me an address, I can send you loop details.
Fusion is CO based - we don't have RTs yet, so that is a limiting factor. However, with products in the pipeline at up to 30Mbps/5Mbps, it's exciting stuff.
-Dane | |
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| | | | | | DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Re: You've come back! You were not charged for the modem, sorry for any confusion.
-Dane | |
| | | | | | | Re: You've come back! A month later, you charged my credit card for service again; service that was never connected and that I do not have. You have got the worst billing practices I've seen and your customer service is lacking in every respect! | |
| | | | | |  Snypes
join:2003-12-29
Santa Rosa, CA | Re: You've come back! Hello, I feel for you. There is the occasion with DSL customers where things just don't work out. However your statement regarding charges is somewhat concerning. If you could send me your login name I will be happy to look into this with our billing group and see what needs to be done to straighten this out. I assure you this will not in any way reflect poorly on yourself. I have worked for this company for a long time and our practice has never been to drag an ex-customer through the mud but more to help them with their transition so they hold us in a better light in case the future brings them back our way. I am of course sorry things did not work out but I am willing to help untangle the issue so you can move on.
Thanks! | |
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billern
join:2003-01-22
Santa Rosa, CA | lol It looks like you have a love/hate relationship with sonic.net as you keep coming back for more.
If it were me, I'd call support after you put in your order to see what you can do to expedite your order.
I hope your experience is better this time. Good luck! | |
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