Let's be fair. (was Re: Bay Area home internet

Thu Aug 17 15:48:02 PDT 2006

On Thu, Aug 17, 2006 at 12:22:20PM -0700, Bill Ward wrote:
> On 8/17/06, Brent Chapman <Brent at greatcircle.com> wrote:
> >At 11:03 AM -0700 8/16/06, John Costello wrote:
> >>I know a few people in the Bay Area who liked Speakeasy.net (one formerly
> >>in Marin, one currently in Berkeley, one possibly in Oakland), and I like
> >>them here in the PNW.
> >
> >For folks in the Bay Area, local ISP Sonic.net is what Speakeasy.net
> >used to be (tech-savvy, good customer service, and particularly good
> >at dealing with experts like us as customers) for about 1/2 the
> >price...  When I moved to SF a few months ago, I just couldn't
> >justify continuing to pay Speakeasy's price, so I switched to Sonic,
> >and I've been very happy with them.
> 
> My mom was on Sonic for a year but recently switched to AT&T/Yahoo due
> to price.  These ISPs that offer DSL are really just reselling the
> AT&T service, so there's no way they can compete on price.

Sir, I protest -- that is about the most unfair statement I've ever read on
this list.  Sonic.net and other resellers are the little guys trying to make
good, and the only involvement from the ILEC is the loop to the customer.

First, how about looking at ISP reviews?   http://www.broadbandreports.com/gbu
Our service is rated solid "A's".  Where is SBC YAHOO?  B- B B+ C+ B B+ --
and the "C+" is for their tech support.

If you would please examine http://www.sonic.net/sales/ , as well as
http://www.sonic.net/  , you will see many features not found with
SBC/AT&T/Yahoo/Ugh service, and learn:  not only are we price-competitive
with the ILECs, we are able to provide a tremendously satisfying member
experience.

   http://www.sonic.net/sales/

Obquote:
      DSL
      Intro Pricing From $12.94*
      Feature-rich high-speed internet access including IPv6 tunnelling,
      multicast routing, VPN termination, and multiple mailboxes.

(This is once penny less than SBC/AT&T/Yahoo... )

Reviews of our service can be found here:

   http://www.broadbandreports.com/comments/896

> We'll have to wait and see how good the service and uptime are with AT&T
> but thus far we have no cause to complain...

Dane Jasper, CEO of Sonic.net, and President of the California ISP
Association (CISPA), will be happy to discuss this on ba.internet ...
Dane has communicated on ba.internet, as well as our local sonic.* groups,
ever since we opened our doors in 1994.

So I would appreciate more *rigor* on the list before bad mouthing a local
company that has given so much to the communities it serves, both on the
Usenet, as well as through participation in organizations that ultimately
help the consumer.

http://www.cispa.org/ for more info on CISPA...

 -Scott Doty
 CTO, co-founder, co-owner:  Sonic.net, Inc.