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

Thu Aug 17 16:01:21 PDT 2006

On 8/17/06, Scott Doty <scott at sonic.net> wrote:
> 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.

I don't know what ILEC is.  I am not in the ISP industry so I don't
know the jargon.

> 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.

We never had complaints about your service, except for one minor one -
my mother mistakenly registered using the wrong username (she entered
the string we had meant to use as a password under the username field)
and sonic refused to correct the error without canceling the service
which would cost lots of money.

The only complaint I raised was price and I know there's not a lot
resellers can do to compete with the guys they're reselling.  Also,
after her year was up, we inquired with sonic about re-upping and
getting the introductory price for another year, but the rate we were
quoted for that was around $20, not the $13 we could get from AT&T.
Getting a fresh account from AT&T was a better deal.

> 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... )

That's only true for new users.  My mother was perfectly happy with
sonic, except for the price once her initial year was up.

> Reviews of our service can be found here:
>
>    http://www.broadbandreports.com/comments/896

And I'm sure they're all excellent.

> > 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.

Rigor is not a factor when we are just talking anecdotes.  Anecdotal
evidence should not be mistaken for research.  And what bad mouthing?
All I said was that AT&T was cheaper.  How is that bad mouthing?

--Bill.

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