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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium Member
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA

DaneJasper to hiiiiyo

Premium Member

to hiiiiyo

Re: My own modem -- what do I get?

Please take note that if you supply your own equipment, support will be somewhat limited. Their modem troubleshooting portal today shows things like missing or bad filters, local WiFi interference, bad Ethernet cabling, etc. They can also manage configuration changes, push firmware updates to add features or address security issues.

Also, some planned features are not anticipated to work with customer-supplied equipment. These include IPv6 (unless the modem you select supports 6RD), and IPTV (due to rights limitations and QoS.)

You may also have costs if we dispatch a technician and the issue turns out to be your own equipment; with our own gear, we would instead do an overnight advance-replacement to eliminate equipment as the potential cause of trouble.

So, beware, and understand the caveats.

-Dane
public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA

public

Member

said by DaneJasper:

Also, some planned features are not anticipated to work with customer-supplied equipment. These include IPv6 (unless the modem you select supports 6RD), and IPTV (due to rights limitations and QoS.)

You may also have costs if we dispatch a technician and the issue turns out to be your own equipment; with our own gear, we would instead do an overnight advance-replacement to eliminate equipment as the potential cause of trouble.

So, beware, and understand the caveats.

It does not make economic sense. Used adsl2 modem can be found for as little as $5. If future features ever become available over derelict att cables, a newer used $5 modem will be cheaper than anything you can supply.
Same goes for testing. A box of used modems can be used to eliminate local faults.
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray to DaneJasper

Member

to DaneJasper
said by DaneJasper:

Please take note that if you supply your own equipment, support will be somewhat limited. Their modem troubleshooting portal today shows things like missing or bad filters, local WiFi interference, bad Ethernet cabling, etc. They can also manage configuration changes, push firmware updates to add features or address security issues.

Also, some planned features are not anticipated to work with customer-supplied equipment. These include IPv6 (unless the modem you select supports 6RD), and IPTV (due to rights limitations and QoS.)

You may also have costs if we dispatch a technician and the issue turns out to be your own equipment; with our own gear, we would instead do an overnight advance-replacement to eliminate equipment as the potential cause of trouble.

So, beware, and understand the caveats.

-Dane

Beware?

This sounds remarkably similar to the FUD nonsense we would hear from telco wanting to sell us "inside wire maintenance", except that in the case of Sonic, we get to pay T&M for that too.

Why would I want to wait 48-96 hours for an "overnight advance-replacement" that may not resolve the defect, when I can keep a hot spare on the shelf for $5-50?

Please allow us to buy out the rental fee.

Can you elaborate on the IPTV product, i.e. expected delivery date, content lineup, bandwidth requirements, and whether it will be available on your partner ISPs?

DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium Member
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA

DaneJasper

Premium Member

said by elray:

This sounds remarkably similar to the FUD nonsense we would hear from telco wanting to sell us "inside wire maintenance", except that in the case of Sonic, we get to pay T&M for that too.

Why would I want to wait 48-96 hours for an "overnight advance-replacement" that may not resolve the defect, when I can keep a hot spare on the shelf for $5-50?

Please allow us to buy out the rental fee.

Can you elaborate on the IPTV product, i.e. expected delivery date, content lineup, bandwidth requirements, and whether it will be available on your partner ISPs?

Well, it's not entirely FUD - we spend a LOT of time talking to customers about issues with their lines, and it's always a question whether it's the carrier loop, the inside wiring, or the customer premise equipment. If every customer had a few modems, maybe they could swap them back and forth to try to isolate an issue to the CPE, but that's just not realistic. So, equipment rental lets us simply ship a new unit, which arrives 24-48 hours later. But - you can opt out, returning our equipment once we're all sure your circuit is stable and as fast as possible, and you've got own equipment working.

Regarding the IPTV offering, it's still under construction so we don't yet have many specifics. It will be a very exciting offering though, and it's something we're working hard on here.

-Dane

leibold
MVM
join:2002-07-09
Sunnyvale, CA
Netgear CG3000DCR
ZyXEL P-663HN-51

leibold

MVM

said by DaneJasper:

Regarding the IPTV offering, it's still under construction so we don't yet have many specifics. It will be a very exciting offering though, and it's something we're working hard on here.

Is there any place to voice feature and/or programming wish lists ?

I'm not much of a TV viewer, but when I do it is mostly the local PBS stations (KTEH San Jose, KCSM San Mateo, KQED San Francisco and KRCB Sonoma County) for both entertaining and informative content (without the frequent and extensive interruptions for advertising found on all other stations).

With the FCC permitting unlicensed use of TV "white space" it is pretty much certain that we will loose over the air reception of KRCB in the South Bay (Google's white space directory shows channel 22 as available for use!) and it is yet to be seen how much interference there will be on the other stations.

DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium Member
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA

DaneJasper

Premium Member

We don't have a good spot for folks to request programming specifics at this time, but you can be assured that PBS will be included. It's unclear to me how much overlap there is between the various PBS outlets, and if we'll carry one per market or more than one.

-Dane
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray to DaneJasper

Member

to DaneJasper
said by DaneJasper:

Well, it's not entirely FUD - we spend a LOT of time talking to customers about issues with their lines, and it's always a question whether it's the carrier loop, the inside wiring, or the customer premise equipment. If every customer had a few modems, maybe they could swap them back and forth to try to isolate an issue to the CPE, but that's just not realistic. So, equipment rental lets us simply ship a new unit, which arrives 24-48 hours later. But - you can opt out, returning our equipment once we're all sure your circuit is stable and as fast as possible, and you've got own equipment working.

I don't claim to know your service issues or customer demographics, so if you say its not realistic for most customers to keep a spare, I'll stipulate to that.

Glad to hear you're allowing us to opt out of the modem rental.
It makes the unwanted dialtone tax a little less taxing.

leibold
MVM
join:2002-07-09
Sunnyvale, CA
Netgear CG3000DCR
ZyXEL P-663HN-51

leibold to DaneJasper

MVM

to DaneJasper
All of the PBS stations do indeed show a lot of common programs (however they tend to broadcast on different days and times).

There is however also additional programming that is specific to each station (especially on the subchannels), some of which is locally produced content and some is imported from other countries. Limiting distribution to just the programming from one PBS station would exclude a lot of content not available elsewhere.

Your TV competitors (cable, satellite) only carry the primary channels (54.1, 60.1, 9.1, 22.1) so I would think that there is value in offering the subchannels as well (as a distinguishing feature).

The only duplication exists between KTEH (now KQED+) and KQED since the two stations merged: 9.2 = 54.1 and 54.2 = 9.1. All the other subchannels have distinct programming (9.3, 54.3, 54.4 and 54.5).

DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium Member
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA

DaneJasper

Premium Member

Interesting - I hadn't really looked into what each PBS affiliate is airing and what they are doing on their subchannels. We'll have to learn more on this.