I’m very excited to announce that on July 1st, we will be launching a new equipment program for our residential Fusion Broadband+Phone service. The new equipment is a super-fast ASDL2+ modem/router with four Fast Ethernet ports, high-powered WiFi “N” and an easy-to-use web interface. Built-in Firewall protection for your home network is also included.
Our new Fusion equipment will also streamline our support systems, and allow us to upgrade firmware, manage configuration and roll out new features. For example, in future this capability will be used to offer IPv6 to customers.
The new equipment will be owned by Sonic.net and rented to customers as part of the Fusion home service, for $6.50 per month. This assures you’ll always have working equipment – we can remotely troubleshoot it, and replace it for you at no charge if the equipment fails.
Existing customers are of course welcome to continue to use the equipment that they already own, or you will be able to upgrade (starting next week) to new rental equipment if you find the features compelling.
Hi Jen,
I’m sorry to hear that you’re unhappy with the service! We do understand that the Bay Area is a very tech savy area, and this is why we refund the installation fee for any Fusion customer who ends up installing the service her/himself and can demonstrate working service. However, the install is more involved than just hooking up the DSL modem. It usually requires connecting the internal house wiring to the new telephone pair provided to your phone utility box. Even in this part of the country, it’s not the kind of thing we want to suggest customers without the necessary expertise try.
Kind regards,
Adam E.
Sonic.net Support
Thanks Adam, good to know about installation to factor into our considerations. So the rental policy stands? That’s our primary concern, as it’s obviously quite costly over the years – we’re definitely not buying new modems every 14 months, which the cost seems to work out to. Pretty sure our Comcast equipment didn’t have any “maintenance” or replacements in the 8 years we used it (in Sonic terms, over $500 in rental fees above the cost of the box).
I understand how it makes your tech support easier for those who use it (when I was a QE, I would have loved to force all customers to use a single OS!), but I’m not sure if I understand why an unnecessary additional cost is passed on to the customer in doing so. Seems like it should be the other way around. At least let customers buy a designated modem, even better at the reduced bulk rate you’re getting them at, or close to it.
my oops..it wasn’t Dane..but this is what got:”On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Sonic.net Tech Support wrote:
Hello,
We have heard a strong reaction to our modem rental program and are now allowing customers to “opt out” of the program after verifying with our provided modem that the connection is working. Customers do pay for the shipping but there is no ongoing charge associated if they decide to provide their own modem at that point. That said we cannot support third party modems and we do lose some visibility into the connection statistics. I hope this addresses your concern but please do let us know if you have further questions or concerns. Thank you for choosing Sonic.net!”
Thank you Merna! I hope they will honor that when we call them for more info, and I am glad that they are listening to the feedback.
Nice, thanks for listening! I’m glad Sonic notices this *very long* thread of replies, almost unanimously negative, about their mandatory modem rental and associated fee. Nice to see them willing to bend a little on this policy.
wow!,
I’ve been a sonic customer for many years, and I was just about to sign up a friend when I read about this obnoxious rental fee!!!
Today customers who prefer to use their own equipment can return ours once things are all up and running.
That said, we hope they choose to keep it. We take care of support all the way from the wiring through the WiFi, and our included Wire Plan even takes care of inside wiring and eliminates any truck roll fees. Next-day equipment replacement is also included.
Either way, there is flexibility.
When my Modem crapped out I was told rental was the only replacement option.I was concerned but when I looked back at the average life of a modem and did the math it seemed pretty much a wash.
“Today customers who prefer to use their own equipment can return ours once things are all up and running.”
Thank you, Dane, for adopting this rational policy! I never had to pay the rental fee because our account was “grandfathered”. However, if I had been forced to pay it I would not be a Sonic customer today.