Company Forums » Companies beginning with S » SONIC.NET > Why is 1.5-6/384 service so darn expensive

Why is 1.5-6/384 service so darn expensive

Currently, their fee to us for the 1.5-6Mbps product is a bit above $90 - it's tough to sell for $99 at that, and cover our own costs of bandwidth and services.

Note that we do beat them on pricing when compared to many of their static IP products.

-Dane

(edit - fix spelling s/obove/above/;)

[text was edited by author 2003-05-22 05:28:01]

As I said...I totally understand sonic being unable to match or beat SBC pricing. You DO offer a great deal more in both service and frills. However, even at SBC pricing I can get static ips for $50/mo on any DSL account...which is way high, but still $50 cheaper than $200/mo for 1.5-6/384 ($99 for service and $50 for the static ip). I would not have this quandry if 1.5-6/384 was unavailable to me as you pricing for 768-1.5/256 is clearly competitive since $59.95 + $50 = $109.95 (SBC 768-1.5/256 with additional ips) while you offer yours for $69.95...and static ip isn't the only frill you offer. I would go so far as saying you outprice SBC at this service level since even SBC business service (with only 5 ips) costs $79.95. Amazing since you have to buy from SBC.
If pricing was consistent (IMHO) you would offer 1.5-6/384 at $125-$150.
Am I making any sense?
[text was edited by author 2003-05-22 12:57:29]

reply to BlueMonk7
The trouble is that $35 to $60 that you suggest as a differential between our raw cost for the loop and the total delivered cost does NOT buy 6Mbps of transit. It's a product we just can't afford to be very competitive with SBC/Yahoo on; we'd lose a lot more than we'd gain.

-Dane

:-(
Too bad. Please let me know if the ILEC's unfair advantage changes in the future. The inertia of the government-supported (is there any other kind) monopoly continues.
Some of my dealings with SBC bureaucracy in the past have been almost as aggravating as dealing with the government's bureaucracy.
I hope my coming experience is better...if only I was independently wealthy and could afford aDSL for 2X as much.

[text was edited by author 2003-05-23 03:38:48]

It looks like SBC/Yahoo is offering that $99.95 price point as a one year promotional term. I've just looked at their site, and for a single dynamic IP, they want $139.95, and for five static IPs, they charge $159.95. So, if you want static IPs today, you'd likely pay $150 for their service now, and at the end of the year, it would go up to $160. Our offering is $197.95 - about $38 higher.

If you need the static IP addresses, we're not much higher; I hope you can justify the slight extra cost.

Do you need good Usenet service? We offer uncapped access to our own news server and to Webusenet/Altnews, plus 512kbps access to Supernews. Sonic.net also provides shell access, plus great anti-spam tools.

-Dane

Good, some fight left in you guys.
AHA!
Now that's a good point. It IS a promotional deal, but do I care? The cost to me is still $100 for those 12 months. In fact...they have a promotional deal on the 159.95...79.95 for first 3 months...I'm sure they take a big loss on that one...but they got you for a full year.
After 12 months I can 1.renew the contract if the promotion still exists, 2.downgrade my aDSL, 3.switch it over to you at a downgraded level.
Perhaps in a year I will be able to afford the $200/mo...who knows.
Oh, and there is absolutely no doubt that your frills are far superior to SBC...their usenet sucks...
As a small company, I'm sure its much harder for you to create these kindof promotions. Kindof like what Blockbuster did to drive out competition in the 80's...take a loss for 12 months until competition is gone, then hike up the rates.
I guarentee you that if I have problems getting my service you will be hearing from me...
You guys seem smarter and more diversified for the moment than local video stores. I do hope I still have these same choices in a year.
[text was edited by author 2003-05-23 17:51:21]

That $79 a month deal is for businesses only. You need to have business phone service in order to get that deal. And business phone service is a bit more costly as well. Otherwise, no dice.

Trust me, I've tried.
--
The two biggest things: the universe & human stupidity --Albert Einstein

reply to BlueMonk7
My understanding was that there was a need for the static IPs, which added $50 to the costs - that puts even their promo deal not that much lower than our price.

Note BTW that you cannot switch providers at the end of the year without lengthy downtime. Can you guess who changed things so that was the procedure? Grr. Preservation of market share.

-Dane

Not a need, a preference. Much is easier with static, but I can still deal with dynamic. If static was more important than bandwidth to me I would be taking your 768-1.5/256 deal.

That is an unfortunate change. Seems quite unfair actually. Seems they should be obligated to to hand over the account intact instead of spending all the extra effort to disable the line.

grrrr indeed
[text was edited by author 2003-05-23 22:47:30]

In my opinion, SBC is trying to preserve their dominant market share by making transitions difficult. Prior to the creation of SBC-ASI, they were able to move customers with no downtime - it's just a software change. They used the creation of the seperate entity as an explanation for why it was no longer possible to do instant ISP changes.

Go figure.

-Dane

And to imagine that they did that to please the regulatory committee...

Think about it this way, they have to do it the same way if someone wanted to go from another ISP to SBC. Look at the DirecTVDSL fiasco, they had to disconnect each customer before connecting them back up again. I bet that probably cost a pretty penny, which could have been saved if they just changed a few settings.
--
The two biggest things: the universe & human stupidity --Albert Einstein

Yes, I was thinking that perhaps that issue would be coincidentally resolved in January of this year.

I'm glad that you understand the issues, and I hope that the products and services that we offer provide some compelling value for you at some point!

-Dane

reply to IAmTheEvilest
Amen.

I was one of the DirecTV refugees. Thank heavens for Sonic Support - they provided moral support, and more patience in dealing with with SBC then I could have.

I work in desktop support. Imagine what my customers would say when I tell them to get a new computer:
1) You tell me you want a new computer.
2) I come over and take out your current computer.
3) I call my boss and ask if its OK for me to order you a new computer.
...
7) Your new computer arrives.
8) After I return from vacation, I schedule when I can come by and install your new computer.
9) When its convenient to me, I install your new computer.

(Long Rant Removed)

Hey SBC, that's not how you manage projects in the real world! You sure as hell wouldn't do that if you had any competition, or if I could sneak into your CO (and knew what to do in there ).
[text was edited by author 2003-05-30 12:16:27]