4 ms·

If you're in the Bay Area/California, I'd throw a strong recommendation behind Sonic.net and their great Fusion DSL service. $40/month for 20mbit DSL, $70 for 4

If you're in the Bay Area/California, I'd throw a strong recommendation behind Sonic.net and their great Fusion DSL service. $40/month for 20mbit DSL, $70 for 40mbit paired DSL. Plus, their support number is directly answered by human beings who live in the Bay Area. And of course they're on the correct side of the SOPA insanity.

kika 15y ago
Second that. Just ordered Sonic (paired) and if it will show the decent speed, Comcast goes out of the window. I'm having 50Mbit service for $99 with them, company pays. And I don't watch TV since I don't remember when, Netflix filled this niche perfectly.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
  - aw9994 15y ago
    The hardest part about cutting cable, is not finding stuff to watch. It's deciding WHAT to watch. Not only what show, but what episode.
- equalarrow 15y ago
  I had Sonic a few years ago here in San Francisco. They're customer service was awesome and I liked supporting a local company. Plus, they basically don't have data caps and if you're lucky, you might be able to (someday soon) take part in their fiber rollout. We have Comcast now, who is the anthesis of Sonic, so we're thinking of switching. If you live in San Francisco, then you can also try MonkeyBrains.net wireless internet. I have a friend that loves it and it's $35/mo for 'up to' 20mbs.
catch23 15y ago
Not necessarily great from my perspective -- seems like phone junction boxes are typically exposed to outside elements more often than cable boxes. When I was with sonic, data connection became crap when it rained.
- thaumaturgy 15y ago
  I think it depends on your local area. I live in an area with really old telecom infrastructure, we have problems like that all the time. Rather than being in the MPOE, trouble is usually on the poles or in the air -- the bigger lines with bad insulation filling with water or other major equipment losing its battle with the weather. Areas with newer infrastructure don't seem to have as much of a problem with this.
- mbreese 15y ago
  That's probably an AT&T issue then... they have to use the same lines that AT&T does for their DSL service.
house9 15y ago
I had Sonic for many years, back in the days of dail-up, but then comcast started offering high speed where I was living - stuck with them after I moved again (out of laziness), but this is the perfect opportunity to go back to Sonic
tlrobinson 15y ago
If you're in a new-ish multitenant building in San Francisco or Oakland I highly recommend WebPass: http://webpass.net http://webpass.net $45/month for 100Mbps up/down
- derwiki 15y ago
  Thanks for reminding me about this; when it comes time to look for a new apartment this list is going to be very important.
bgentry 15y ago
Wow, thank you for this. I live in SF (Pac Heights) and did not know there was a decent alternative to Comcast (I don't qualify for Monkeybrains). Just signed up for the two-line Fusion service. Peace out, Comcast.
ajacksified 15y ago
Thanks for the recommendation! I didn't know about them, and I hated the fact that I had Comcast. I'll be planning a switch.
mbreese 15y ago
I've been pretty happy with our Sonic.net service since we moved to the Bay Area (Redwood City) from Indiana this fall. One caveat is (at least where we are), is that Sonic has to run over the same copper that AT&T does, so you won't get any better signal than what you get from AT&T. And while you get the best service that Sonic can offer, 20Mbit is the upper limit. We get about 6Mbit. I've been seriously considering getting the paired Fusion service to bump that up to 12. Overall though, I've been very happy with them. The only reason why I've considered switching is the speed. Cable is usually faster, but it's also more expensive and capped. So far though, I haven't been limited by the speed to worry about switching.

kika 15y ago

Second that. Just ordered Sonic (paired) and if it will show the decent speed, Comcast goes out of the window. I'm having 50Mbit service for $99 with them, company pays. And I don't watch TV since I don't remember when, Netflix filled this niche perfectly.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- aw9994 15y ago
  The hardest part about cutting cable, is not finding stuff to watch. It's deciding WHAT to watch. Not only what show, but what episode.
equalarrow 15y ago
I had Sonic a few years ago here in San Francisco. They're customer service was awesome and I liked supporting a local company. Plus, they basically don't have data caps and if you're lucky, you might be able to (someday soon) take part in their fiber rollout. We have Comcast now, who is the anthesis of Sonic, so we're thinking of switching. If you live in San Francisco, then you can also try MonkeyBrains.net wireless internet. I have a friend that loves it and it's $35/mo for 'up to' 20mbs.

catch23 15y ago

Not necessarily great from my perspective -- seems like phone junction boxes are typically exposed to outside elements more often than cable boxes. When I was with sonic, data connection became crap when it rained.

thaumaturgy 15y ago
I think it depends on your local area. I live in an area with really old telecom infrastructure, we have problems like that all the time. Rather than being in the MPOE, trouble is usually on the poles or in the air -- the bigger lines with bad insulation filling with water or other major equipment losing its battle with the weather. Areas with newer infrastructure don't seem to have as much of a problem with this.
mbreese 15y ago
That's probably an AT&T issue then... they have to use the same lines that AT&T does for their DSL service.

house9 15y ago

I had Sonic for many years, back in the days of dail-up, but then comcast started offering high speed where I was living - stuck with them after I moved again (out of laziness), but this is the perfect opportunity to go back to Sonic

tlrobinson 15y ago

If you're in a new-ish multitenant building in San Francisco or Oakland I highly recommend WebPass: http://webpass.net http://webpass.net $45/month for 100Mbps up/down

derwiki 15y ago
Thanks for reminding me about this; when it comes time to look for a new apartment this list is going to be very important.

bgentry 15y ago

Wow, thank you for this. I live in SF (Pac Heights) and did not know there was a decent alternative to Comcast (I don't qualify for Monkeybrains). Just signed up for the two-line Fusion service. Peace out, Comcast.

ajacksified 15y ago

Thanks for the recommendation! I didn't know about them, and I hated the fact that I had Comcast. I'll be planning a switch.

mbreese 15y ago

I've been pretty happy with our Sonic.net service since we moved to the Bay Area (Redwood City) from Indiana this fall. One caveat is (at least where we are), is that Sonic has to run over the same copper that AT&T does, so you won't get any better signal than what you get from AT&T. And while you get the best service that Sonic can offer, 20Mbit is the upper limit. We get about 6Mbit. I've been seriously considering getting the paired Fusion service to bump that up to 12. Overall though, I've been very happy with them. The only reason why I've considered switching is the speed. Cable is usually faster, but it's also more expensive and capped. So far though, I haven't been limited by the speed to worry about switching.