Selected ISP Support > Sonic.net > Pace 4111N

reply to DaneJasper

Re: Pace 4111N

Is there a circumstance under which the fee is charged? If so, then is it reasonable to say they charge a fee. From my conversations with AT&T, even they don't consider U-Verse without TV service to be U-Verse, internally; so, even from AT&T's perspective, Dane's statement that it's mandatory with U-Verse service is 100% correct. They market it as U-Verse, but internally it's just DSL if you don't subscribe to the TV service.

This knowledge came about after I moved from a U-Verse service area (TV available) to a U-Verse IPDSLAM area (no TV available) and even though I did own my modem, which was allowed since I did not subscribe to their TV services, I could not bring it with me (I ended up giving it to a neighbor who was switching to U-Verse) as it would not work with their IPDSLAM service. Of course, I ended up not using U-Verse at all at my current location and that modem also would not have worked with Sonic, so I wish at this point that I had rented it for the 4 months I had service; I would have saved $106.

Edit: Various typos.

It is very clear that uverse is just a marketing term and that actual implementing technologies vary (not just from region to region but sometimes even within the same city).

There are some who have uverse Internet service that can only use att provided dsl modems with an embedded certificate signed by att. If those customers try to use their own equipment it fails to authenticate even if their modem implements all the required standards.
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reply to BronsCon

My point (which, by the way, is based in fact [detailed in parts of my post which you did not quote], not opinion) is that AT&T internally only considers U-Verse to be the TV service and, as they only require that you pay the fee if you subscribe to that service, they do, in fact (and it's this phrase that makes it clear I'm not stating an opinion), charge a mandatory equipment fee for (what everyone outside of their marketing department considers) U-Verse.

You opinion is welcome to differ from this fact, but that's called being wrong.

Now, can we stop being pedantic and start considering that maybe rental isn't so bad? For the record, my rented Pace 4111 didn't burst into flames when I put it in bridged mode and it's trivial to switch it back if I need to call in for support; it's also light-years ahead of the $130 modem AT&T made me buy when I signed up for U-Verse (a $32.50/mo rental fee when amortized over the 4mo I had service before I moved out of the U-Verse-serviced area and the device became a paperweight).

I don't care what ignorant people that you have spoke to consider U-verse to be. The company decides what U-verse is and they have decided that their services (whether it be TV, Internet, or VOIP phone) delivered via FTTN (Fiber to the Node) are U-verse.

You are going way off topic Tobester but I just wanted to tell you I was very patient and courteous when dealing with the Sonic.net representatives who attempted to fix my issue when I had Sonic Fusion.

Zeonis,

Although it has not come up in this thread, itemizing the $6.50 as a rental fee lowers the taxes on the service, so that is one reason to do it. Also, I just comparison-shopped between Comcast, U-verse, Sonic, and my last provider DSL Extreme, and even with this rental fee, Sonic is a far better deal in terms of speed-and-overall-package-for-the-money. If you know of a better option, please let me know. I'd like my internet service to be cheaper, too, but I don't think hammering on the cheapest provider will get me there.