I’m guessing that a lot of Napa area wineries may be interested in reviewing their current Internet connections.  The new network brings long range T1 products online at aggressive new pricing, as low as $229/mo.  For a business in a more remote location, this is a great product and price!  For details, contact us!

With introductory pricing and our $10/mo broadband bundle, you can get into a Sonic.net DirecTV package for only $19.99/mo now!  That includes free HD or a free DVR (digital video recorder.)

Compare this to your last Comcast bill!  With our fall DirecTV package, you save $36 per month for 12 months then save $10 per month for the next 6 months (regularly $55.99/mo.)

Big the big win is really our installation and customer service.  You probably know how amazing our technical support group is, and our Sonic.net DirecTV installers are just as dedicated.  Here’s some great comments I got last week from a customer, Claudia Fiori:

The reason I am writing is because we had the pleasure of having Karl install our DIRECTV the other day. He was amazingly knowledgeable, warm, friendly, professional, and most of all skilled and did a quality, top-notch installation. I only wish I had left Comcast when Sonic first became involved with DIRECTV. Oh well, better late than never. Anyway, I wanted you to know what a great employee you have in Karl, and maybe the next time you see him, you can give him a kind word from me.

My warmest regards,
Claudia Fiori

We’ve got a break in the rain, so now is a great time to make the switch.  Click on Sonic.net DirecTV to get started!

P.s.: Thank you Karl!

To make it even better, you can save $5/mo for a full year when you get both from Sonic.net!

We can provide most standard phones, as well as smartphone products like the Blackberry. Being able to get technical support from one organization for your Internet, email, and smartphone integration with email can also mean a lot less customer service frustration.

For details, start on the Sonic.net Verizon Smartphone page, but if you’re interested in any specific phone, or simply want to re-up your current plan to save, don’t hesitate to contact us.

All Sonic.net DirecTV HD DVRs and R22 models are now enabled with the feature. Customers can now watch, pause, fast-forward and rewind two shows airing at the same time and not miss a thing!

1. Go to the first channel you wish to watch and press the DOWN arrow on your remote
2. The following message appears “Press DOWN again to start DoublePlay™”. Press DOWN again
3. Once you start DoublePlay™, your receiver begins storing up to 90 minutes on both channels
4. Press the DOWN button to switch between channels
5. Press the record key on a program currently being viewed to save a copy in your Playlist

See the Sonic.net DirecTV web page for more product information.

Cotati and Sonoma were left out in the initial wave of deployment last year because both are awkwardly situated with relationship to many of the customers in the serving area. For example the Sonoma central office is actually in Agua Caliente, and this limits the availability of Fusion services for many Sonoma residents. (Agua Caliente residents on the other hand are very well situated.)

That said, for our business clients, broad FlexLink availability is important, so it’s nice to have wrapped these two locations up. Many wineries in the Sonoma area for example have previously had only expensive T1 or wireless options available, and can now take advantage of the speeds and low prices of FlexLink symmetric products.

These two offices complete our near term Sonoma County coverage, and we are now focusing construction efforts in Marin, Napa and the East Bay.

(One pair and two pair jacks)

Today we began offering pair bonded (four wire) Fusion Broadband, which can offer up to double downstream and upstream speeds for residential and small business users.

DSL technology has made just a few revolutionary steps in the last decade, and this is the next step.

In 1998, we offered the initial version of ADSL1, which topped out at speeds of up to 6Mbps.

Then, in 2008 we offered ADSL2+, with a maximum speed of 18Mbps.

Today, with the roll-out of pair bonding, we have passed another milestone in bringing faster Internet access to customers, with speeds of up to 30Mbps.

Services are available with dynamic IPs, or with eight static IP addresses.

Currently our Fusion Broadband products are offered on a standalone basis, without POTS voice telephone service.  For customers who want a standard voice line delivered with Fusion, that service will be available soon.

For those seeking mobile voice service, Fusion Broadband can be bundled with Sonic.net Verizon mobile service, yielding up to $5/mo savings for a full year.

Fusion Broadband can also be bundled with Sonic.net DirecTV, for a $10/mo savings for eighteen months on the television bill.

To check availability and product pricing, please visit the Fusion Broadband page.

Update: we don’t have a full pricing table on the web page yet, so I’m putting the numbers up here for reference:

Pair Bonded, Residential locations, dynamic IP:

• 3Mbps/2Mbps $60/mo
• 6Mbps/2Mbps $65/mo
• 12Mbps/2Mbps $70/mo
• 18Mbps/2Mbps $75/mo
• 30Mbps/2Mbps $80/mo

Pair Bonded, Residential locations, 8 static IPs:

• 3Mbps/2Mbps $85/mo
• 6Mbps/2Mbps $90/mo
• 12Mbps/2Mbps $95/mo
• 18Mbps/2Mbps $100/mo
• 30Mbps/2Mbps $105/mo

Pair Bonded, Business locations, dynamic IP:

• 3Mbps/2Mbps $70/mo
• 6Mbps/2Mbps $80/mo
• 12Mbps/2Mbps $90/mo
• 18Mbps/2Mbps $115/mo
• 30Mbps/2Mbps $145/mo

Pair Bonded, Business locations, 8 static IPs:

• 3Mbps/2Mbps $100/mo
• 6Mbps/2Mbps $110/mo
• 12Mbps/2Mbps $130/mo
• 18Mbps/2Mbps $160/mo
• 30Mbps/2Mbps $190/mo

We’ve also seen some inquiries about qualification distances for these products.  While qualification distance can vary based upon individual conditions, here are the general guidelines.  This is subject to change based upon our observations about performance in the field, because we never want to over promise and fail to deliver.

• 3Mbps/2Mbps: 11,100ft (2.1 miles)
• 6Mbps/2Mbps: 9,500ft
• 12Mbps/2Mbps: 8,000ft
• 18Mbps/2Mbps: 6,600ft
• 30Mbps/2Mbps: 5,000ft

For existing customers, price reductions will be reflected automatically on your next billing cycle.

With these price reductions, existing customers should consider upgrading their speed if their location is qualified.  If you’d like to upgrade an existing circuit, please write to sales@sonic.net to get the process underway.

Residential locations, dynamic IP:

• 1.5Mbps/1Mbps $35/mo
• 3Mbps/1Mbps $40/mo
• 6Mbps/1Mbps $45/mo
• 10 12Mbps/1Mbps $65/mo $50/mo
• 18Mbps/1Mbps $80/mo $55/mo

Residential locations, 8 static IPs:

• 1.5Mbps/1Mbps $60/mo $55/mo
• 3Mbps/1Mbps $65/mo $60/mo
• 6Mbps/1Mbps $70/mo
• 10 12Mbps/1Mbps $90/mo $75/mo
• 18Mbps/1Mbps $105/mo $80/mo

Business locations, dynamic IP:

• 1.5Mbps/1Mbps $60/mo $45/mo
• 3Mbps/1Mbps $65/mo $50/mo
• 6Mbps/1Mbps $70/mo $60/mo
• 10 12Mbps/1Mbps $90/mo $70/mo
• 18Mbps/1Mbps $105/mo $80/mo

Business locations, 8 static IPs:

• 1.5Mbps/1Mbps $70/mo $55/mo
• 3Mbps/1Mbps $75/mo $60/mo
• 6Mbps/1Mbps $80/mo $75/mo
• 10 12Mbps/1Mbps $100/mo $85/mo
• 18Mbps/1Mbps $115/mo $100/mo

I am very pleased with the growth in customer signups for Fusion and FlexLink products on our new network, and I appreciate everyone’s continued patronage. Please tell a neighbor about Sonic.net Fusion!

Note: Product speeds noted above are delivered as a range from the next lower product up to the maximum, for example 18Mbps/1Mbps service may be delivered as any speed greater than 12Mbps (the next product down) up to 18Mbps, with upstream of up to 1Mbps. Actual delivered speed is based upon copper line quality and distance. If the delivered sync rate does not meet the range of the product ordered, a downgrade and pricing reduction to the lower speed product tier is applied.

The idea is to over deliver a little bit extra to Fusion customers who are obtaining the maximum speed in their selected tier. So, a customer who buys “up to 6Mbps” Fusion now is actually set to a profile of 6592kbps in the DSLAM, and an “up to 18Mbps” customer is set 19776kbps.

Maybe racing stripes really do make things go faster!

This week we have demonstrated ADSL2+ connection speeds of 46Mbps downstream and 4.8Mbps upstream. Our network design team achieved this speed in the lab environment, on a short copper loop.

Because of longer loops and interference, this is not a speed that we will see in the real world, but it is very exciting to see the full potential of ADSL2+/Annex M.

Today we have staff with real world loops running at over 30Mbps, so that is a more realistic goal.

Two pairs of telephone wire were used in the test to deliver a bonded (double pair or four wire) ADSL2+ link, with Annex M (double upstream) capability turned on. Actual FTP transfer speeds were demonstrated at over 42Mbps upstream and 4.5Mbps outbound after overhead.

We are working on the wrap-up of product design and pricing for our new pair bonded Fusion products, and we plan to announce the details shortly.

Sonic.net Fusion Broadband continues to bring customers innovation in Internet access.