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Review by faxmachine 
member for 7.8 years, 107 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated a few minutes ago
 Oakland,Alameda,CA
 $53 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 3 days AT&T "Technical support, FUSION POTS, reasonable price" "Limited DSL speeds, growing pains" "If you despise Comcast like I do Sonic is a viable local alternative."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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I have had Sonic for about 5 years at this point. Why am I writing a review now? Mainly because I think I'm starting to be affected by the growing pains of this otherwise excellent company. I love Sonic's ethics, love that they are in the area and tech support is always available and willing to spend as much time on the phone with you as you are with them. Sonic's prices are reasonable, especially when you get their FUSION service which gives you a POTS line and free calls and I was able to cancel my $40+/month AT&T land lines. Sonic's phone service is not IP telephony as far as I can tell, it's a real dial tone with no bandwidth issues like you would experience with Vonage or the others, no special equipment required and no call charges.
If the world were a perfect place this fine relationship would go on for ever and we would ride off into the sunset together but life is not like that. First the stats. Sonic's FUSION service is advertised at $39 per month for a 20Mbps down, 1Mbps upload that can be configured to 2.5Mbps upload service that includes the aforementioned POTS service with no calling charges. These bandwidth figures are dependent on your distance from the CO. I can't tell you my exact distance from my CO but I would guess it to be a little over a mile according to DSL Reports CO locator: »/coinfo.
My DSL Reports test history has shown that I never get more than 9.5Mbps down and 9.8Kbps up. Sonic until recently had my line capped at 14.9Mbps down and 1.2Mbps up, the speed at my end is obviously slower and I know there are anomalies in testing, this however is not my main problem with Sonic even though these speeds are easily eclipsed by Cable (Comcast). My problem comes with an almost daily bout with losing sync and modem reboot. This issue has been going on for years. Sometimes it goes away for moths at a time. Sometimes it happens five or six times a day. Recently it has gotten worse.
Sonic and I have tried all the level-1 fixes; filter replacements, modem replacements, handset removal, RH-11 replacement. All of these fixes have been tried multiple times. My modem has been replaced three times, twice at my expense buying modems other than what Sonic was offering @$50 and then the last time out of desperation I paid the $50 and purchased one of their ZTE 831 modems. Problem went away for three months and now it's back. I'll add that I live in a multi-unit Loft building in Oakland that was converted from a warehouse to living space in 1994. I have lots of phone jacks around my space and I'm willing to accept that the problem could exist in the inside wiring and that will be my problem to fix. In the past AT&T has been called by Sonic to check their lines, their report came back with no problems but who knows if they ever even came here? I was never contacted and I have one of the only two keys to get in our phone room so I would know if they came out and actually looked at the wiring from the street into the phone room.
So what's my problem? My problem is that we (Sonic and I) have never been able to pin down this problem and I never seem to be able to move beyond level-1 tech support, assuming there is something higher. Recently I've noticed a lack of candor that I've come to expect with Sonic. Sonic is growing and it seems to me that maybe their marketing department has gotten it's hands into the tech support process. Sonic Techs will still talk to you all day if you want but the the tech support folks seem guarded in what they will say. I was on the phone with them today for over an hour and I found myself having to really talk around certain key words and concepts to get close to some kind of answer, very frustrating. And after that hour where are we? Back at sending me a new modem (no charge this time) to see if we can isolate the problem. This means that I will have to put this modem in and wait to see if anything happens. At the same time they have capped my speed down so it'll be harder to tell which thing fixes the problem, if at all. This must all be done before they will send anyone out which I can understand because of the expense of sending someone from Santa Rosa to Oakland to check things out, but Sonic, as a long time customer I expect a bit better treatment. Maybe I'm being unrealistic?
So more weeks of tinkering around before we get near anything like a solution. My suggestion to anyone who is thinking of DSL with Sonic, they are good, they available and they really seem to want to help but if you are not in a new building, are a good distance away from your CO or have limited patience for level-1 tech support flow charts, you might want to consider your options. It pains me to say that because the alternatives are bleak, mostly Comcast which some folks love, that is as long as you don't have to interact with Comcast and your speeds are good and you have a stable connection and they are not capping your downloads or giving your info to the government at every opportunity then life is good, yes?
So Sonic, all I want is a straight answer and something better than level-1 support and I don't feel I'm getting it and that sucks and you need to consider how you are handling your growth and your long time customers. I'm not hinting at any conspiracy here, just a lack of coordination and/or motivation. If Sonic and I should be able to solve this problem, or not, I'll update this post.
And with that there goes my modem losing sync again and rebooting. .
My Sonic cost breakdown:
DNS XXXXX.net 1.95
No Invoices to Primary Email 0.00
Fusion Broadband - Single Line - 39.95
Fusion Broadband Information - 0.00
Data $19.97 Voice $19.98
Voice Federal Subscriber Line Charge Fee 6.50
Voice Federal Universal Service Fund Fee 2.38
Voice California Lifeline Telephone Service 0.15
Surcharge
Voice California Deaf and Disabled Telecom 0.03
Program Surcharge
Voice California High Cost Fund-B Surcharge 0.04
Voice California Teleconnect Fund Surcharge 0.01
Voice California Advanced Services Fund 0.02
Surcharge
Voice California 911 Emergency Surcharge 0.06
Voice Oakland Utility Users Tax 1.99
Fusion Phone Service - 510-XXX-XXXX 0.00
Voice California Public Utility Commission 0.02
User Fee
Voice FCC Interstate Telecom Service 0.05
Provider Fee
Voice FCC Telecommunications Relay Service 0.14
Fund
All that and no desert.
Comments:
 Reviews:
 ·SONIC.NET
1 edit | Update Since my last review the following has happened
Sonic shipped me a new modem. Result: little to no improvement. Modem still dropping sync several times a day.
Sonic tech visited my residence. Results: no problems found with wiring between the phone room and my loft. No obvious problems with wiring at connection point at the in my loft to phone room.
Removed two older jacks in my kitchen when tiling work was done. Result: It seemed the issue improved but two weeks later the problems continue. This red-herring of a solution was probably due more wishful thinking than actual improvement. I was away from home on the road directly following the work for a week and then working remotely away from home for a second week during the peak times for this sync dropping issue. I'm home all day today and the problem is as bad as it's ever been.
5 drops so far today, I can barley stay connected long enough to post this!
Super frustrating.
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| |  Snypes
join:2003-12-29
Santa Rosa, CA | Re: Update If you could send me an IM with your Sonic.net login I would be happy to take a closer look at this issue for you. The stability of our customers services is important to us.
--
DSL Support Specialist
Sonic.net, Inc. | |
| | Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
| I spoke with Sonic Tech support over the weekend and the person I spoke with brought up the possibility that RF interference could be causing my modem sync issues. Specifically RF in the AM radio band. I've gotten an RF filter that isn't in the AM band but still may filter out enough RF to make a difference. Can't really tell if this is going to be a solution as I'm not home at the peak times for this issue. I will be able to monitor in a week or so. Hope it works! | |
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Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
| The problem is back The problem of the modem dropping connection is back. Sonic's been out and AT&T's been here too and no fix. Neither of them can figure it out.
Vendor meeting next week. If they can't fix it I'm going to have to find a new ISP which is really sad because I love Sonic (until recently). This sucks. | |
| | | I was thinking about trying sonic... I just moved into a new apartment building on 1459 Macarthur and need internet. I have Comcast now, in Berkeley, but have been far from impressed; the speed is very inconsistent, I work over VOIP, and it's very unprofessional that I need to hang up and call people back because my modem needs to be reset.
Anyway, I was thinking about Sonic, and this review is making me waiver. It says I'm around 16,000 feet from the routing station. That sounds like it might be a little far for this stuff. #1 thing I need is reliability. #2 thing is bandwidth. I don't need 50/10 type speed, but I do need a solid 5/1 minimally. I'm guessing I should just try Comcast again and hope this new area is less congested. | |
| | Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
| Re: I was thinking about trying sonic... Just as I was starting to post a reply to you when my modem dropped, again. I can't say this enough, I love(d) Sonic. Their customer service is second to none however in my particular situation there seems to be no answer to my problem coming from Santa Rosa. With Sonic you get AT&T no way around it. You get AT&T and their aging infrastructure and the aging phone wires in your building. DSL is slower than cable but in your case you've experienced Comcast and their inconsistent speeds and you might be as tired of that as I am of having an unreliable connection from Sonic (& AT&T). I am 7000 feet away from the switch and Sonic keeps dropping my speed to try and stabilize my connection but it never works and all I get is an unreliable connection and slower speeds. The last chance for Sonic is coming this Tuesday 5/21, there is a vendor meet between them and AT&T at my building. If they cannot solve once and for all this issue, I will be moving to Comcast (-shudder-). Everyone in my building gets fast and reliable service from Comcast and I HATE the idea of giving my money to them but Sonic you have failed me, your most loyal of customers, and you don't seem to be able to fix the problem even though you've had YEARS to do so. [Modem drop, again...] If I were you I'd wait on going to Sonic or try Sonic but be prepared to go back to Comcast. it's all about getting a good circuit from AT&T and hoping all the copper and connections are good between AT&T and you.  | |
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 Review by jstone00
member for 8.9 years, 87 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 1 days ago
- Glendale,Los Angeles,CA
- $57 per month
- about 6 days
- AT&T
- "Great support with knowledgeable techs; lots of contact to make sure all was well; a fast connection with static I.P."
- "The $19.95/month rate will only last for a year."
- "Back with Sonic.net after 8 years with SBC Yahoo/ATT. Speed is 5X faster; change-over from ATT took 15 minutes"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Sonic.net is the best ISP I have encountered in 10 years of international internet use. Their support is nothing short of fantastic, both in its competence and follow-up. I recommend Sonic.net to anyone who is contemplating getting DSL in their service area.
July 10th, 2004 UPDATE: So far the connection has been rock-solid, without a single glitch, even though I am about 11,000 feet from the phone company switching facility. Moreover, I have received the $99.00 rebate credit for the DSL modem as advertized. These guys really do what they say they'll do. I'm 100% satisfied!
May 29, 2012 UPDATE: Back with Sonic.net here in Glendale, California after 8+ years with SBC Yahoo / ATT. Advertized speeds of the Sonic connections are 3.0Mbps - 6.0Mbps Download and 512Kbps - 768Kbps Upload, which is about 5X faster than the ATT service. The modem indicates I'm getting Incoming: 6016 kbps and Outgoing: 768 kbps. I'm using the old ATT supplied 2-Wire 2701 HG-B modem/wireless router, and the set-up was a breeze...all I had to do was paste the Sonic supplied number string into the modem set-up page and voilà...everything worked. We'll see how stable the connection is at this speed; I've already had 1 reboot. Change from ATT to Sonic happened as scheduled, and by the morning (7:15 AM) of the scheduled change, I'm connected with Sonic.
UPDATE: May 18, 2013
Because the 1 year trial rate of $19.95 was due to come to an end, and because I remembered that the Sonic.Net Fusion service had become available in my area, I decided to call Sonic and see just what this service could offer. The package was attractive and my total savings would be $20+/- over my existing ATT phone service, so I went ahead and bought the Fusion package.
The change-over went seamlessly, and now I can call any US phone number without paying any additional long-distance fees. I also now have caller ID, call-waiting, and a host of other features. My Internet speed increased slightly and is now at the maximum that my distance from the phone company central office and interior wiring in an old apartment building will allow.
Perhaps the best part is that there will be no more monthly bill from ATT!!! Am I happy? You bet!
Comments:
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Review by kmcmurtrie
member for 7 years, 250 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 67 days ago
- Sunnyvale,Santa Clara,CA
- $110 per month
- (month by month)
- AT&T
- "Support, uptime, and telephone"
- "AT&T wires, modem fees"
- "Good local ISP"
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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This is a high quality local ISP offering a wide variety of features for both everyday and power users. Online support has been fast and knowledgeable.
Their Fusion product provides ADSL2+, static IP address options, e-mail hosting, web hosting, and plain telephone service.
The telephone service has free national calls and even some international calls are free. The sound quality can't be beat. Call forwarding, voicemail to IMAP, caller ID, and call blocking are supported.
ADSL2+ is delivered at whatever your AT&T wires can handle with about a 6dB SNR margin. That can be anything from near-zero to 20Mbps. There's an option to bond two Fusion lines together to double your bandwidth. Other than that, neighborhoods with old AT&T wires are out of luck. Static IP addresses can be purchased and there's a way to switch Annex M on and off using your phone.
My service is two bonded Fusion lines using Annex M. The combined modem bitrate is a very consistent 8/2 Mbps delivering 7/1.6 Mbps actual. That's usually too low for video-on-demand at high quality. When asked about upgrade options, Sonic could only offer 5/5 Mbps for $599/month on their FlexLink Ethernet plan. I hope to get bandwidth elsewhere but keep one Fusion line for phone calls.
Warning! New Fusion customers must pay a $6.50/month modem rental fee. Only older customers can opt-out.
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 Review by jedihawk
member for 2 years, 4 visits, last login: 69 days ago
lodged 69 days ago
- Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
- $56 per month
- (month by month)
- about 14 days
- "all good, faster than ever"
- "wish I had it earlier"
- "go for Sonic.net Fusion service"
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I've had Sonic.net standard DSL service for a while and it has been great. But when I upgraded to their new "Fusion" service, it's better than ever! And I can't get hi-speeds in this area. Never have been able to.
But the new Fusion service is outstanding and I'm very, very happy. The upgrade was seamless. The new equipment arrived just a few days after ordering, and was very simple to set up: just plug it in.
I was so happy with the new speeds that my roomie also upgraded. Now he's also very happy.
It's also great to finally be away from AT&T.
-Hawk
Comments:
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 Review by IMSMTO
member for 10.2 years, 104 visits, last login: 17 days ago
updated 85 days ago
- Fairfield,Solano,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- about 8 days
- "Great"
- "Nothing at this point."
- "Tremendous value compared to AT&T."
| Pre Sales information:
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This is written in the glow of that 'first day' of service, but there already is reason to write. My Fusion service started today, exactly on time. AT&T handed over the line to Sonic as scheduled and within half an hour I noticed that the modem showed green. The notification E-Mail came at 38 mins after the switch started. As I was working using a tethered Blackberry I continued doing so until I had completed my work. Meanwhile, I picked up my phone to check for dial tone, verify caller ID and that it rang OK. In doing so I observed that the modem dropped sync everytime I picked up the phone. This has been a long standing problem. I had AT&T in my house several times to fix it over the years but no problem was ever found. I replaced my phones and filters a couple of times and even the modem, all to no avail. Finally last year I gave up and cancelled my AT&T DSL. Owing to the rising cost of phone service with AT&T I decided to take a chance on Sonic Fusion. Even if I continued to have problems with the connection dropping I'd at least have DSL again and could just disconnect the phones if I needed to.
Later, I got on my computer and checked out the service. My first test was 4000k download. Much faster than I ever got from AT&T (I had tried the high speed service in the past, but it dropped so often that I rolled back to the basic speed). I looked at the modem's 'DSL line details' display to see how it looked. It showed a problem with 'uncancelled echo' and indicated that the DSL filters were at fault. I started disconnecting phones to see if it got better. It did. I ran a new test and got 8300k download. I connected everything again. A little later I refreshed the DSL details display. To my surprise there no longer was any problem being reported. While it might have been the simple act of disconnecting and reconnecting the phones that did it, I have to wonder if Sonic made some adjustments after I brought my computer online in the evening and started using the connection. I made several phone calls and in no instance did my connection drop again. I checked the modem and it still showed -6.1dB with no error. Earlier it had shown 7.8dB. So this is very good.
While I was reluctant to have to 'rent' a modem, the cost of the service with it was still about the same as my AT&T service with basic phone, long distance, no phone features and no DSL. Thus I have the Pace 4111N, which is a 2Wire device. I do miss my Netgear N300, particularly it's off switch. I also find the lights on the Pace to be overly bright with no way to dim them. It came partially preconfigured. The E-Mail I received from Sonic provided the other settings. I found the interface easy to navigate and had it setup and my computer connected to the wireless within minutes.
Based on the limited time I have had with Sonic, so far, so good.
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 Review by DJRank1
member for 7.7 years, 189 visits, last login: 60 days ago
updated 107 days ago
- Pittsburg,Contra Costa,CA
- $34 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 10 days
- SBC
- "Everything"
- "None"
- "The best ISP ever!"
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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This company is what I call a true ISP should be. I had them for a year(no longer with them)and all the options and features that they provide is incredible! The only reason why I am not with them anymore is because of my distance to the CO only allows me to get a 384/384 connection and I needed somthing faster so I had to go back to cable. The tech support is really good and another thing that I like that they do is the motd's that they email me. By doing that I am always informed with what is going on. Another feature that I like that I wasn't able to do because of my connection speed is the ability to make your house a wireless hotspot and any proceeds are credited to your account. They also allow you to host servers on your connection! There are so many more! I would definitely recommend this ISP and I already have to people I know. Thanks Sonic.net!
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Review by mfaklis
member for 5.6 years, 11 visits, last login: 169 days ago
lodged 169 days ago
- San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
- $60 per month
- (month by month)
- about 14 days
- "Incredible!"
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I had Sonic.net ADSL for a couple of years after leaving AT&T because they wouldn't open port 25 for my email server. Then after 2 years I started to see many errors, and after troubleshooting with support, they told me that for $5.00 more a month I could convert to their new Fusion ADSL product, and that would get 12 mbps download speed. The change would rid me of my AT&T phone line I had merely to hang a DSL line on. We were getting totally unacceptable errors, but support kept working on it. Long store short, my apartment building wired every apartments phone line to the security/Directory/Door system. The building neglected to put any DSL filters on that system. I hadn't noticed because I didn't have a land phone until recently. Now with Fusion, my upload speed is 1 Mbps and download speed is 12 Mbps, plus unlimited phone service to every Continent (except Antarctica), plus voice-mail sent to my Exchange server, plus a FAX line. It took much effort for support to trace the wiring problem in my apartment building, but now it transmits like greased lightening.
Sonic.net is the best ISP and the Fusion service is totally fantastic. I am grateful to Sonic.net for their efforts to get me up and running at full speed.
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 Review by BronsCon
member for 9.5 years, 1972 visits, last login: 54 days ago
updated 192 days ago
- Walnut Creek,Contra Costa,CA
- $50 per month
- about 4 days
- AT&T
- "Quick install, fast speeds, low pings"
- "Hmm..."
- "Great ISP"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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(ratings match consensus)
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UPDATE [Nov 6, 2102 #2]:
Looks like I jumped the gun on that last update, as I'm able to connect to mail services on my VPS on port 25. Looks like that's open for me, as well. Whether that's a result of my having a static IP or due to my request in the comments below (in reply to Dane), I don't know, but the fact is it's at least possible to have outbound port 25 opened up. All kinds of good over here.
I also realized I didn't explain the points removed for pre sales info and install co-ordination, so I'll do that in this update. Also, the total monthly cost is an estimate for now, as I haven't gotten my first non-install bill yet.
Pre Sales Information: My entire pre-sales experience was the Sonic.net website, which seemed to indicate that I was actually getting less than is actually included with my account. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, from the point of view of someone who is getting more than they expected. However, from the perspective of someone who may be looking for a small amount of online storage space and a dedicated fax number along with their internet connection, making it clear on the website that these services are included might sway a few more people who are still unsure about making the switch to Sonic.net.
Install Co-ordination: I can't fault Sonic.net for this one, but they had no idea AT&T had been out to connect my phone line already. I placed the order after office hours on a Friday, so I'm considering it as placed on Monday, allowing for the fact that AT&T doesn't do weekend installs. Come Thursday, I decided I may as well hook up my phone, so I can decide where I want it (the phone jacks are in odd locations in this apartment) and I was surprised to find that I had a dial tone, despite never having been notified by Sonic that AT&T had even been scheduled to come out. It turns out that the tech who connected my office lines on Thursday had grabbed a list of all pending installs in the area and swung by and hooked the line up (it's an apartment complex, so I didn't need to be home to allow them access to the NID, and Sonic does the final hook-up so they didn't need in my apartment). Since the install wasn't scheduled at that time, Sonic had no way of knowing it was completed. When I called Sonic and informed them that I had dial tone, they made a test call to the number to verify that it was correct; since it was, they were able to cancel my install and refund my install fee. They overnighted me a modem (which UPS failed to deliver so I had to go pick it up, no big deal) and I was online the following Monday. Since I didn't need to call them once I had the modem, and I had dial tone on Thursday, I'm considering Thursday to be "success"; Monday -> Thursday is 4 days, so there we go.
UPDATE [Nov. 6, 2012]:
Port 53 inbound isn't blocked, I simply misconfigured my router. It sounds like port 25 outbound may be blocked, however, so I'll have to look into that, as I was hoping to move mail services off of my VPS and host them locally. I'll come back and update this review again once I get around to that, likely sometime in January.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Simply put, they don't cap (though they will on request; for example, my home line runs great uncapped, but my office lines are both unstable unless capped to below their max attainable rate). What your line syncs at, that's the speed you get. To top it off, the price tag includes a modem, a phone line with all the features, unlimited long distance, 8hr of calling to a long list of countries outside the US, web-based faxing with a dedicated number, web hosting, and, for single-line accounts (e.g. the TMC listed on this review), one free static IP.
My office is 6500ft out, my home is about 6200ft out. I get ~18mbps down and ~3mbps up on 2 Annex M lines at the office and ~18mbps down and ~1.2mbps up on one Annex A line at home (Annex M had no effect other than making the line unstable at home). Internal wiring quality dictates a much larger performance difference than would be expected (e.g. the wiring at office sucks, while the wiring at my home is pristine). None of this is Sonic.net's fault, it's just the nature of DSL.
The few times I've called in for support (static IP, switch to Annex M, switch the home line back to Annex A, switch the home line to fastpath [5-12ms pings to local servers, BTW]), hold times were short and the techs were knowledgeable enough to hold an intelligent conversation about line stats and capabilities. One tech even went so far as to email me a tone index for one of my office lines that was unstable; I was able to determine from that information that a bridge tap exists in the internal wiring for that line (thereby saving me from paying a tech to come out to tell me they couldn't touch it since it's internal wiring).
Speeds are great, I've not once gotten less than expected from either my home or office connections (based on sync rates). Pingtimes blow away any other ISP I've dealt with; even the office connection, which is on an interleave profile, has pingtimes ~30ms lower than our old ISP. My home connection, on fastpath, enjoys typical pings of 5-12ms with 1ms of jitter to local servers.
My only complaint is that inbound port 53 is blocked, but I only noticed that tonight and have not called to ask about getting it opened up, so I won't hold that against them.
I highly recommend this ISP if they're available at your location. Take the time to get your line set up correctly and you won't regret it.
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 Review by leibold
member for 10.8 years, 5094 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 195 days ago
- Sunnyvale,Santa Clara,CA
- $100 per month
- (month by month)
- about 8 days
- "Excellent Support, Great Phone and Internet Service"
- "None to report"
- "Highly Recommended"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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(ratings match consensus)
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I have been a Sonic DSL customer since February 2006 when I switched from Cyberonic (since they no longer offered the Worldcom/uunet service). In all those years the service has been 100% reliable and I had no reason to use the excellent Sonic support staff.
The reason for updating my review of Sonic.net is that I upgraded to the latest product offering: Fusion. Fusion is a combination of ADSL2+ (which is a faster version of DSL allowing up to 20Mbps down and 2Mbps up) and plain old telephone service (not VOIP!) at one low price. Fusion allows two DSL lines to be bonded together for even higher speeds and I signed up for bonded Fusion ($50 per line) with an additional $20 for static IP addresses. Even at that price Fusion was cheaper then the cost for my two existing DSL lines (one with Sonic and one with AT&T) due to the ever increasing cost for the AT&T phone service.
However the day before my go-live date Sonic decided to drop the price per line to $39.95 so that the total is now just under $100 (not including the phone service related taxes).
For the switchover Sonic provided not just a date but also included an exact time: 11AM. At 11:05 I lost sync at the old DSL line and by 11:13 I got sync on the new Fusion modem. Phone service took a little longer but by 11:33 I was already making phone calls on my new Sonic phone service (which is amazing with all the free features: free long distance, free caller-id, free voicemail, etc.).
After configuring the modem to my liking I get DSL sync of 8.5Mbps down and 2Mbps up (DSLreports speedtest result is 7250 Kbps / 1635 Kbps). Those are the results for both lines combined since I'm pretty far from the CO.
To increase upload speed I had Sonic customer support enable Annex M which trades download speed for upload speed. This changes the sync rate to 3.7Mbps down and 2.9Mbps up. The support call was very nice since all I had to do was call 611 from the new Sonic phone line. The call was answered very quickly and the person who answered the phone was directly able to help me (no endless waiting and no repeated transfers to find the right person).
After one week of DSLreports line monitoring I'm happy to report no packet loss and a very consistent low 10ms latency to the west coast monitor (60ms to the east coast).
Update March 2011: Service is still going strong with low latency and no packet loss but the price has been reduced: dual line (bonded) Fusion is now only $69.95.
Update November 2012: There have been a couple of pricing changes this year that don't effect existing customers like myself but make bonded Fusion more expensive for new residential customers. On the other hand it got cheaper for business customers and International phone users. I'm still very satisfied with my service (no problems to report).
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 Review by elvey
member for 12.2 years, 705 visits, last login: 9 days ago
updated 196 days ago
- Alameda,Alameda,CA
- $10 per month
- (month by month)
- about 5 days
- SBC
- "One less thing to worry about. Fast, reliable connection. Friendly, knowledegable service. Great features."
- "None. (They could get bought out that could lead to deteriorating service.)"
- "Like everyone says: 'Get it!' There's a reason they've got the highest ratings."
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(ratings match consensus)
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['12 Update: Sonic continues to perform well for my clients in all respects. Their glowing EFF review is a big plus »www.eff.org/wp/when-government-c···our-back Comcast and AT&T have 1-star reviews; Sonic got a perfect 4 out of 4 stars. The only ISP to worse was Verizon, with 0 stars. The review evaluates Online Service Providers’ Privacy and Transparency Practices Regarding Government Access to User Data.]
[Update '06. Just installed another Sonic DSL account. A minute after connecting the modem, these are my speeds:
Download = 5.073 Mbps
Upload = 655.41 kbps
I've also set up a few more sonic accounts since Oct '05; they went fine.
[Update '05: I've installed a few more Sonic DSL accounts, including ones at the new $15 rate, and each time, the process has been such a pleasant departure from the usual experience. If I call support, they often answer on the first ring! The pleasant shock I get when that happens is remarkable.] Oh, and with referral credit, the cost of your account can be as low as referrals get you.
Have "Enhanced - S" service; we get the advertised speed. Upgraded from an SBC T1 - the service is WAY better and the price is WAY better. I wish I could get Cable TV and cell phone service from a company like this! Heck, I wonder if they're hiring!
Initial tech info was incomplete (should include IPs, gateway, netmask, DNS resolvers to use, ...) but now they include this in their initial email (so I hear) and it's included on one of the private user pages:
»sonic.sonic.net/members/dsl_ip_t···ndex.php
Usefully, SMTP/POP/IMAP settings and port options are at »www.sonic.net/support/docs/quick-ref.shtml
[edit: Here's a feature list.
Most of the following is copied from a post from the guy in charge, hence the 'we':
Less than one minute average hold times to reach staff, and nice people. (I find they often answer on the first ring!) No scripted support, and no support from offshore. No organized crime affiliation.
We offer IPv6 addresses to all static IP customers (about a billion IPs!).
We provide end to end multicast IP routing to DSL customers (with the except of the Stockton LATA), and we're the only ISP peered with the BBC, delivering audio and video content over multicast.
We include user-configurable firewalling for your DSL connection - from none (for static customers hosting servers, for example) all the way up to full blocking. Your choice.
We allow static IP DSL customers to host a secure hotspot, and pay 50% of any collected day use fees, plus $0.50 any time another Sonic.net customer accesses.
We provide shell access. We've been a Linux ISP since 1994. (My license plate is "LINUX").
We offer uncapped speed Usenet access, with full binaries. We also provide free access to Supernews, in case you prefer them.
We provide VPN termination, so when you're using a hotspot or hotel connection, you can get a Sonic.net IP and a secure tunnel to a trusted network. This protects you from packet sniffing when using an untrusted or wireless network.
We do not require PPPoE, but instead provide a true bridged connection.
For static IP customers, we offer four or eight static IPs included. Additional IPs up to a full half class C are available for a one-time setup fee - no additional monthly!]
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