Selected ISP Support > Sonic.net > Bonded Line Fusion Order Placed!

Bonded Line Fusion Order Placed!

AT&T's task is to ensure that there is sync on two pairs into your phone closet, NID, or MPOE. Beyond that is your interior wiring which is the responsibility of the proprietor or where Sonic takes over in this case. If you've ever seen a service called Wire Pro on your phone bill, this is what it covers.

Some phone installers only hook up one pair, tip and ring, for phone service because that's all that's needed. Sonic needs to ensure both pairs of wires up to your apt are hooked up.

They may install a NID filter or micro filters depending on what Sonic covers and if it's even possible.

Thanks for the additional info! I do/did have the Wirepro service on my bill as I wanted that to be their worry. I've always gotten close to the max throughput minus the overhead on my regular DSL line with Sonic, so hopefully it will be a good fit for the ADSL2+, aka Fusion service too. Again thanks for the additonal info, as this thread is so other potentional interested customers know what is the complete process and exprience of the Fusion install and turn up are like.
Jim Carter
Sr. Systems Administrator
For a local Flooring Distributor

On Friday 9/10 received email letting me know my phone number would be ported over to Sonic.net on 9/16 at 11am. Left email for support asking about the internet connection, as there was no mention of it, just the phone landline move and activation.

Received email back from support that as far as they know, the phone voice porting, and the Fusion internet would take place at the same time. No mention of having to be on site for the install as was indicated when I place my initial order. At that time they said since I got the bonded fusion, that a tech would want to be on site at the time of install. In any event, I'll take the day off to be home and will see what happens. Still waiting on the the ADSL2+ modem, but plenty of time left. It must have shipped as my credit card has been charge for the first month of fusion, and for the modem $199 total. Stay tuned for continuing reports on how this goes.

You can self install, and there's no need to be home as long as your terminal/MPOE is accessible. They only need to access it to drop off the second pair - the first (the one you're porting) will just be swung over in the CO.

If you need help with wiring for the second pair, you can phone and book and installer after it's dropped at the MPOE.

-Dane

Hi Dane!
I wasn't expecting you to chime in. Nothing like having the head person supplying info about one's install. Thanks for the additonal info. As far as needing to be home.... I'm the Sr. Systems Admin. at my company. I of course will HAVE to be at home to play with ...err.. I mean throughly test (cough, cough), my new connection. I will continue to report in through the final install and speedtests so other potential customers can rest at ease and be encouraged to sign up too.

Jim Carter
Sr. Systems Administrator for a
local Flooring Distributor.

Update for 9/13! My new ADSL2+ with bonded pair compatible showed up. Surprise! It wasn't the Comtrend NexusLink modem. Instead they sent out what I would consider an upgrade. I received a ZyXEL P-663HN-51 for my new service. A quick Google of it and I was impressed by the lack of complaints and the good solid specs. The few reviews that I found on it ranked in a solid, reliable piece of equipment.

Follow up, after exchanging a few emails with support, I decieded to give support a call to clarify a few points. I talked with Robert who as usual with Sonic support was extremely helpful. The things that were clarified...
1. When my current POTS number is ported over to Sonic on the 16th, I "might" have access to ADSL2+ on the initial pair which they gave me permission to try using. If it wasn't turned up yet, I may still have my current 6/.768 Sonic connect, or there is a small chance that there might not be any connection. A lot depends on what ATT tech does when he ports the number.
2. For a bonded line, Sonic does prefer that a Tech comes out to review, test, and assist with any wiring and/or set up. This is usually scheduled after the ATT tech is finished and has called his office confirming his/her work is done.
3. Sonic has weekend tech appointments! Yeaaa! I asked for and was granted a tenative Saturday appointment for sometime between 8am and 12noon. Subject to change if for some reason ATT drops the ball.
4. Confirmed that the bonding takes place on one wire using all 4 wires on the RJ14 phone plug. I'm pretty sure that all 4 wires currently exist on the current plug, but Rob assured me that if for some reason there was only two in the connector, the Sonic tech could fix me up.

The additional interaction with the Sonic tech support gave me an additional level of comfort that things are proceeding as scheduled. Robert was very knowledgeable about the Fusion product and was able to clarify some of the convoluted information that I had gathered on my own. Keep up the good work Sonic! Further updates forthcoming as the order proceeds.

reply to JJCARTER
Well... so far so good. My phone went dead about 11:10am today.... and at 11:48 I got my email saying the port was successful, and my Fusion connection was active. Well at least half of it. With my earlier interaction with the support department, I knew this would probably be the case. I called in to verify that my tentative appointment for this Saturday between 8am and 12pm was now a solid commitment. I also went over the default settings that the ZyXEL modem selected on power up and verified it looked good. The tech did see that my speed was about 9mbps at 6445ft from the CO, and adjusted the SNR live while I was on the phone with him. The speed jumped up to over 12mbps. With additional discussion, the conclusion is that with the 2nd pair online this weekend, and some additional tweaks, we can probably get the speed up to somewhere of 26mbps to 30mbps. Mileage may vary depending on the circuit/distance/wires, etc. So things continue smoothly. Next update will be Saturday afternoon when it's completely turned up.

Jim Carter
Sr. Systems Administrator
For a local Flooring Distributor

..."The tech did see that my speed was about 9mbps at 6445ft from the CO, and adjusted the SNR live while I was on the phone with him. The speed jumped up to over 12mbps."

That's quite a jump. I wonder if they could do anything to wring a bit more speed from my line. It runs right now at 14.9 mbps, but I wouldn't mind at all getting it closer to 20.

Regarding loop optimization, we're working to deploy mechanized tools to do automated speed optimization in a very aggressive and efficient way. Once deployed, we expect all customers to see higher speeds and additional stability.

Because we offer uncapped and unlimited service, our goal is to push toward delivery of as much speed as the physics allow, we're not simply trying to cap customers at some arbitrary tier. It's exciting stuff.

-Dane

Dane, great. I look forward to an optimized line in the future. I have to say that 14.9 Mbps is still much better than the 5.1 Mbps that AT&T gave me. I downloaded a large file (4.75 GB) this morning. At the speeds AT&T was providing me, it would have taken about 2 hours and 15 minutes to download. Sonic.net's Fusion line got it to me in 45 minutes.

Ok... today was D-day for going Bonded. My tech,. Michael showed up on time at 10:20am and we got right to work. I noted he had brought along a spare bonded modem for that just-in-case scenario. I showed him where the phone patch panel was for my building, as well where the Mpoe was located in a different building. The Tech quickly determined the 2nd pair only ran as far as the Mpoe. He also was able to identify what ATT had done in regards to wiring and straightened all out, rewired the jack and brought the 2nd pair into the building, and into my apartment.

The 2nd pair came online and initially didn't look like it was using both pair. We traced it down to my configuration on the PC, as I tend to tweak every setting I can get my hands on . The speed of the line was so different that I had to rebuild my connection settings as well as reconfigure my Big Foot Xeno gamers NIC card to take into account the increased speed. (A person using Windows defaults and a standard NIC card probably wouldn't have this issue) On PC reboot.. I had a fully operational bonded pair connection. My speeds are good, especially for my CO distance, I'm getting a solid 24mbps down and 1.9mbps upload. Quite a change from my old 5.1/.63 speeds from my traditional Sonic DSL. Very sweet.

Conclusion: Sonic.net delivered everything on schedule. The on-site Sonic Tech worked with his office to ensure I was getting my best speeds possible for my connection. He also went to each of the phone jacks and ensured the phone line was working properly... that would be both phone lines. I highly recommend Sonic.net's Fusion product and service.

If you have followed the thread this far and want to ask me any additional questions about something I haven't covered in this message string, feel free to ask. Great Job Sonic!

Very happy to hear! We really do work hard to keep our customers happy

Let's see if this works... here is the speedtest for the new connection