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mediahound
join:2008-02-19
Richmond, CA

mediahound

Member

Would Sonic ever consider offering home 4G LTE service?

Verizon has a fairly new service they call HomeFusion and I think it would be great if Sonic.net would partner with them and offer this. It's like a mobile hotspot, but more for the home.

Hear me out. It's great for customers who live far away from a CO, have old bad wiring, (I'm both), or live in remote areas which is many many potential customers. Yet, it's quite fast. It is capped, but perhaps Sonic could offer a higher data cap for an attractive price.

Very easy installation too.

Please see these links for some of the details:

»gigaom.com/2012/03/06/wh ··· oadband/
»www.verizonwireless.com/ ··· zipRdr=y
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

»corp.sonic.net/ceo/2012/ ··· ireless/

I don't think so, even though I agree that fixed-LTE can be a viable, cost-effective option for some specific deployments - for instance, Michigan's MiSpot manages to offer 250GB for $99:

»mispot.net/service/servi ··· e-plans/
mediahound
join:2008-02-19
Richmond, CA

mediahound

Member

Those are some good rates for LTE in Michigan for sure.
mediahound

mediahound

Member

This seems like it could be a viable offering for Sonic, no?

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey

Premium Member

No. The cell co's will ensure that it is neither cheap nor has reasonable caps. They also make sure spectrum costs are sky high to prevent other companies from offering reasonable service. The number of users per cell is also very limited which is one of the reasons for the high prices and low caps.

/M
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

1 recommendation

elray to mediahound

Member

to mediahound
No. Dane is on the record. He officially hates wireless.

»corp.sonic.net/ceo/2012/ ··· ireless/

If you consider their track record deploying fiber in San Francisco, Sebastapol, Santa Rosa, and who knows what will happen in Palo Alot and Brentwood, and you add in their Google-like shrug when it comes to ADSL2+ in Los Angeles, I don't think they're quite prepared to add anything more to their plate.
mediahound
join:2008-02-19
Richmond, CA

mediahound

Member

What's the 'google-like shrug' you speak of? Is Fusion not deployed in LA?:

»corp.sonic.net/ceo/2014/ ··· -region/
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Dane lamented that Fusion wasn't well-received in Los Angeles, without reconciling the reasons why, and declared to take his bag of marbles back home, much like Google simply abandons products with little notice and no discussion:

»forums.sonic.net/viewtop ··· 0#p11940
said by "dane" :
said by "Anon" :
Hi, I heard Sonic Fusion in Orange County have been delayed to summer. Why is that??. I really don't want to stay with Comcrap after TWC buyout...
We've prioritized our expansion in Northern California over the Orange County build-out completion because we've seen slower uptake than we'd like in the Los Angeles area. So we're completing regions like Tri-Valley (Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon & Danville), Tiburon, Cloverdale, etc before the OC ones.
In other posts, he continues to tell potential customers that they should subscribe to Fusion in order to show their commitment to Sonic's Fiberhood, which might be delivered at a future date based partially on existing customer loyalty (density).

But we have no evidence that Sonic is delivering Fiber installs in anything other than a demonstration capacity, to one street in Sebastapol, one building in Santa Rosa, and potentially to Brentwood. While I am not suggesting that Jasper is selling snake oil, if it were any other company, the MSM, "consumer advocates", "business" columnists from the left-wing papers and StopTheCap would be asking such questions.

Fusion stalled in LA, in my opinion, because it isn't cost-effective or competitive, when you evaluate it versus U-Verse and TWC cable. Why would you pay $55-60/month for distance-crippled speeds, when you can get 15/1 from TWC for $30-35, or 6-18 with standard U-Verse, and higher in up-upgraded areas?

If Sonic had rolled out a bonded-pair service sans dialtone, under their own name, not DSLExtreme, they might have placed in the race.

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey

Premium Member

I don't remember what it was, but there was something I didn't like about the DSLX offerings. I just found out about Fusion becoming available about a week and a half ago, and placed the order last week. Sorry but a post on the corporate blog isn't enough to get the word out; it's no wonder the uptake is crappy >_>

This is for a small business, and Fusion is actually both cost effective and competitive here - it's looking like I'll save minimum $70/mo in addition to more then doubling the speed I was getting from Uverse (here Uverse is only single-line ADSL2+; no VRADs/VDSL2/FTTP anywhere in this zipcode). TWCBC is obscenely expensive, as in over $350/mo for 30/5 internet only.

Now if we were just talking residential then yeah, TWC wins hands down. Fusion would be 2nd though and Uherse a distant 3rd.

/M
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

If you still rely on copper dialtone, Fusion can make economic sense, even at slower speeds. For small business at a retail/office location, even more so.

I'm not certain that I would buy it from those folks in Chatsworth; despite their protestations, explanations, excuses and management presence here, they've never failed to let me down.

Sonic did promote, a bit - I recall seeing a billboard on Century and/or Manchester, but I don't think that is the most effective means.

Targeted direct-mailing to homes within a 2-3 block radius of each central office, combined with the aforesuggested naked 2-pair service, would have probably seen much better yields.
mediahound
join:2008-02-19
Richmond, CA

mediahound to elray

Member

to elray
said by elray:

If Sonic had rolled out a bonded-pair service sans dialtone, under their own name, not DSLExtreme, they might have placed in the race.

They used to have this before they came out with voice service. I kept it and still have bonded ADSL2+ service and like it. I do think bonded pair service would be more attractive, especially to those who are farther from the CO to be able to get more competitive speeds.

Another benefit is that if one pair goes down, you internet can stay alive on the remaining pair so you are not totally dead in the water (just slower).
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

said by mediahound:

They used to have this before they came out with voice service. I kept it and still have bonded ADSL2+ service and like it.

How much do you pay, in total, for the grandfathered service?
mediahound
join:2008-02-19
Richmond, CA

mediahound

Member

It was a tiered service based on the speed that you could get, I'm paying $65 per month for 6 Mbps, however I typically only get less than 5 Mbps. Up speed is about 1.65Mbps.

Since there is no phone line, I have no additional taxes.