Fusion Annex M available for testing in Santa Rosa

April 20, 2010 – 2:11 pm

For Fusion customers served out of the two Santa Rosa central offices (COs), we now support Annex M ADSL2+ profiles, in addition to the standard Annex A. Switching to Annex M can provide higher upstream speeds of up to 2.5Mbps per pair, though generally at the expense of some amount of downstream.

The Annex M profile option is in beta test, and the capability may come and go as we wrap up the deployment, so please do not rely upon it at this time. Your loop may not perform better with Annex M than with the standard Annex A profile. We encourage you to experiment and select the profile that you prefer for stability and speed. Loops which prove not to work well with Annex M cannot be “fixed” to do so, and an Annex A profile should be your expectation if the loop is unreliable with a Annex M profile. Loop performance is influenced by many factors.

Due to the decrease in downstream speed associated with switching from the Annex A profile to the Annex M profile, we anticipate that it will be something users may wish to turn on and off as needed, for example before a really large upload or off-site backup. Today, our customer support group can turn on Annex M in the network, and then you can enable and disable it in your modem in order to turn on and off the Annex M support. In future, we anticipate releasing a member tool that will allow you to toggle the setting in our network, allowing you to avoid changing your modem settings locally each time.

For more information on Annex M and details on how you can enable it, see the Annex M FAQ.

Annex M support will be coming to our other central offices in the near future.

For those interested in details about the technology, you can read more on Wikipedia about Annex M, and about ADSL2+.

  • http://twitter.com/iansltx Ian L

    Just to confirm, if you’re subscribed to a low-end Fusion package relative to line capacity, Annex M will not negatively impact downstream speeds?

  • http://www.sonic.net/ Dane Jasper

    Ian,

    Yes, if for example your loop could carry 20Mbps, but it was capped at 12 because that was the speed you purchased, the move to Annex M might take something off the 20, but it might not come down as low as 12.

    That said, Fusion will soon be de-tiered, so everyone will have the opportunity to be full rate shortly.

    -Dane

  • JD

    Dane – this is great news. I can’t wait to try it in SF!

    Can you explain more about Fusion de-tiering?

  • http://www.sonic.net/ Dane Jasper

    JD,

    Currently we offer five tiers of single pair product (1.5, 3, 6, 12, 18) plus five tiers of dual pair product (3, 6, 12, 18, 30), with different prices for static versus dynamic. So, there are twenty discrete “products” for the residential end-user. For business, a whole different set of price points, forty products in all. It’s really quite complex.

    In the not too distant future, we’ll simplify this – a single pair one phone line product with flat nationwide voice and uncapped broadband at up to 20Mbps, and a two pair two phone line product at up to 40Mbps for … twice as much. Eight static IPs can be added for a flat fee, regardless of which product.

    Business location pricing isn’t set yet, but will be similarly simple.

    This means we’ll have two simple products for each customer type (residential versus small business.) A one line product and a two line product – so really the number of voice lines may dictate your decision, or price, or a desire for maximum speed. But either way, it’s a far easier product for buyers to understand.

    Current customers will be able to stick with what they’ve got, or upgrade and eliminate caps and add voice.

    I’m excited about this because it eliminates the artificial speed tiers, and the $5 price hike to increase speed at each tier. Instead, we just run everyone at max speed, for one simple and fair price.

    -Dane

  • JD

    Can I ask what the residential price will be? :)

  • http://www.sonic.net/ Dane Jasper

    JD

    It will be a very exciting rate for uncapped ADSL2+ and nationwide flat rate POTS. =)

    -Dane

  • johnv

    Cool. Whenever you have voice available from the Los Alamos CO, sign me up. I already have Fusion….but I think I am capped at about 9Mb due to line quality/distance. Also, I have a static IP, so I assume my price will be about $25 more than dynamic.
    It is nice that you offer 8 IPs but they are wasted on me.

  • johnv

    Speaking of IP addresses, see this article:
    http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/I-Bought-This-IP-Address-On-The-Black-Market-108227

    Maybe you can offer a single static IP and sell the leftovers on the black market! ;-)

  • phototristan

    POTS through Sonic.net sounds awesome. I bet it will be quite popular and if it will be a savings over paying the monopoly otherwise known as AT&T for voice phone service, I’ll be the first to sign up!

  • ben mukoro

    Just wondering if/when fiber will be available in the north side of Santa Rosa (fountaingrove).

  • JD

    Any news on when Annex-M might be available in SF?

  • http://www.sonic.net/ Dane Jasper

    JD,

    We’re working out some bugs with Adtran in the new code, and once that’s resolved we will be pushing upgrades across all cities. Watch the system messages (available on the home page, RSS, Twitter, etc) for updates.

    -Dane

  • phototristan

    Does it hurt anything to turn Annex M on in the ADSL router now, ahead of the rollout?

  • http://www.sonic.net/ Dane Jasper

    phototristan,

    No, you can certainly enable it now. Then when it’s available, it can be toggled on/off in the DSLAM on our side to enable and disable.

    -Dane

  • http://www.sonic.net/ Dane Jasper

    FYI folks, Annex M is now available across the entire Fusion network. If you would like to give it a try, phone support for assistance and they can toggle the setting for you.

    -Dane

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