Tag: ADSL2+

Fusion Launch

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Fusion reactions power the stars, and the rising star here at Sonic.net is our new “Fusion” Broadband+Phone service. (Direct link: Fusion Residential | Fusion Small Business)

Sonic.net’s carrier class network delivers a number of exciting new products for our customers. One of the most innovative of these new offerings is our Fusion service, which offers broadband access and telephone service without compromise.

Fusion service is delivered without artificial speed tier limits or usage caps. Fusion can deliver up to 20Mbps with a single line, or twice the speed (up to 40Mbps) with two lines bonded.

Fusion combines traditional landline phone service with the latest ADSL2+ broadband and bonding technology. There are no complex speed choices and no artificial speed constraints.

Just select the number of phone lines you need, and we will deliver the fastest possible broadband along with landline telephone service.

Fusion is a simple and exciting concept; a powerful combination of data and voice service elements.

To learn more about Sonic.net Fusion Broadband+Phone, visit www.sonic.net and select Solutions for Home or Small Business.

BT: You are doing it wrong.

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On the other side of the pond, BT recently turned on Annex M support in their ADSL2+ network in the UK. Annex M is an ADSL2+ configuration profile that allows for a trade of downstream speed for more upstream speed on a broadband connection. BT’s fee for Annex M: £7, or almost $11 per month to their wholesale ISP customers.

Network World covered the story, and the folks at Entanet are pretty positive about the new capability. Entanet offers wholesale access to BT’s ADSL2+ network, and they say to ISPs who use the network, regarding Annex M, “Most importantly – How do you make money from it?”

BT and Entanet are missing the point. Annex M is a capability without a cost in the edge of the network, and the right way to do it is to include it as a flexible option for customers at no charge.

Yes, bandwidth costs money. But BT provides layer-2 hand off of broadband end users to ISPs, so the ISP covers the cost of any additional upstream bandwidth usage. BT’s £7 fee is just to turn on the Annex M feature – they have no additional costs for bandwidth.

The folks at ThinkBroadband call out this quote from BT’s spokesperson. (Note: “our customers” refers to ISPs that BT wholesales to.)

“Annex M allows our customers to expand their portfolio and so find themselves in a better position to tailor – and differentiate – their broadband services by matching them more precisely to the needs of individual businesses. Annex M is just one of the one of the number of broadband developments to help our customers deliver an ever better customer experience and grow their sales in the mixed economy marketplace.”
Colin Annette, (Client Director) BT Communication Service Provider Group

Hint: “tailor – and differentiate” are code words for “charge more”.

BT misses the point.

The opportunity BT ignores is the opportunity to deliver flexibility to the customer. Let the customer choose if they want more downstream (Annex A) or more upstream (Annex M). The carriers edge costs are the same!

There is no reasonable basis for a £7 fee, BT is just doing their own “tailoring” – to their customers wallets.

Upcoming Fusion Product Changes

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In the near future we will be improving the Fusion product, moving to a fast and simple configuration that delivers more capabilities at a very aggressive single price point.

This new single product will offer broadband as fast as the line will go (uncapped ADSL2+, up to 20Mbps), plus nationwide voice telephone service, all for one flat fee.

Current customers with standalone data only service will be invited to add voice at that time as an upgrade.  For some tiers, this would be a small additional cost, for others it will be a wash or a cost reduction from their current price.

That said, if you are absolutely sure that you do not ever want voice and that you prefer one of the slower “capped” speed tiers of service, you should order now.  The tiered products will only be available for sale until the new flat rate service launches.

Once online, customers who are on one of the various tiered services (1.5, 3.0, 6.0Mbps products) can retain those speed capped services, or upgrade to uncapped with voice at their option.

Questions? Post a comment and we’ll try to get them answered!

Oakland construction complete

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Downtown Oakland and the Bay

Downtown Oakland and the Bay

Sonic.net’s innovative carrier Ethernet and ADSL2+ products are now online in the Oakland area.  FlexLink’s Ethernet access is perfect for business users with symmetric bandwidth needs, and includes a string business grade service level agreement to back up it’s reliability.  Fusion Broadband’s ADSL2+ and pair bonded ADSL2+ services bring fast asymmetric speeds to small business and residential users.

With Oakland online, we are now offering service in a pretty big chunk of the Easy Bay.  The coverage spans from Oakland, through Berkeley, Albany and Richmond.

Fusion and FlexLink now available in Richmond

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All: FlexLink Green/Yellow: Fusion (approximate)

All: FlexLink Green/Yellow: Fusion (approximate)

As we continue our expansion, Richmond is our latest market to come online.  Adjacent to the Albany and Berkeley COs that we’ve been serving for some time, and just across the bridge from San Rafael which came online a few weeks ago, this continues the growth of our next generation product offerings around the Bay Area.

Our Fusion Broadband product for consumer and small business offers asymmetric broadband access without the need for a voice telephone line, using ADSL2+ technology to deliver speeds of up to 30Mbps/2Mbps.  FlexLink Ethernet for enterprise business provides carrier metro Ethernet access with high reliability at speeds of T1 up to 30Mbps/30Mbps symmetric.

Napa deployment complete

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Napa

All: FlexLink Green/Yellow: Fusion (approximate)

We are now taking orders for our next generation carrier services in the Napa area. This new network brings an awful lot of bandwidth through Napa because it’s on our big new fiber ring. Consumers and small businesses can get products up to a max of 30Mbps now in many areas in Napa.

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!

San Rafael deployment complete

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San Rafael

All: FlexLink Green/Yellow: Fusion (approximate)

We’re now taking orders for new Fusion Broadband and FlexLink Ethernet & T1 services in the main San Rafael SNRFCA01 central office.  This site is one of our big new fiber signal regeneration sites, so it’s got an amazing amount of bandwidth passing through.  Scoop some of it up for yourself as it passes by if you are located in the San Rafael serving area.

Cotati, Sonoma Fusion/FlexLink availability

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We have deployed equipment in two new central offices on our new technology platform. Both Fusion and FlexLink products are now available to customers served by the Cotati and Sonoma central offices.

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.

Fusion Broadband pair bonded

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One pair and two pair jacks

(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