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Sonic.Net Offering 1 Gbps, Unlimited Phone for $40 in California

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Re: Sonic.Net Offering 1 Gbps, Unlimited Phone for $40 in California

#5
post #4

I sincerely hope more companies will follow in Google's footsteps with cheap prices for fast internet. As much as I love what Google does with its innovations, the more competition the better.

I hope so, too, because I'd worry about what a Google in Comcast's position would do. Google isn't the net neutrality champion it was a decade ago. They are still in the group that promotes net neutrality right now, but I don't think they're trying too hard. Even AOL [1] seems to outspend them on pro-net neutrality lobbying (AOL!). Google must be quite worried about FCC reclassifying Internet providers are common carriers, too, and they probably don't want that either, otherwise they'd outright push for it.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/16/5724952/companies-that-hat...

Re: Sonic.Net Offering 1 Gbps, Unlimited Phone for $40 in California

#7
post #4

I sincerely hope more companies will follow in Google's footsteps with cheap prices for fast internet. As much as I love what Google does with its innovations, the more competition the better.

I hope so, too, because I'd worry about what a Google in Comcast's position would do. Google isn't the net neutrality champion it was a decade ago. They are still in the group that promotes net neutrality right now, but I don't think they're trying too hard. Even AOL [1] seems to outspend them on pro-net neutrality lobbying (AOL!). Google must be quite worried about FCC reclassifying Internet providers are common car…

That's why I'm thrilled it's Sonic doing this. They've been my (DSL) ISP for almost 3 years now, and I couldn't be happier. (Well, it could be faster; I'm 9k-odd line-feet from the CO, so even with bonded Fusion, I'm only getting 10/2 — but I'd rather pay Sonic more for less bandwidth than subsidize the stain upon the species that is Comcast.)

Re: Sonic.Net Offering 1 Gbps, Unlimited Phone for $40 in California

#8
I fail to see how this model works unless it's being subsidized by some other source. Fiber is not cheap to purchase, deploy or to maintain as a medium, let alone all of the equipment that lights it, routers that will route it, and upstream network to offload the traffic. I see that the city will be leasing them the conduit, which will make deployment significantly cheaper, but didn't see any details on rates. If one person uses 500Mbps (half of their bandwidth) for 37 hours out of the month, and sonic.net has negotiated basement bottom prices for bandwidth alone at say $0.50/Mbps, that is still a $250 cost to them as a provider. Sure there's over-subscription models, but even if a small percentage of their users actually use the bandwidth, they would have to be losing money on this approach unless they traffic shape or cap speeds slower as a "shared" resource. Can someone please explain how the economics of a deal like this could lead to profit for the provider?

Re: Sonic.Net Offering 1 Gbps, Unlimited Phone for $40 in California

#9

I fail to see how this model works unless it's being subsidized by some other source. Fiber is not cheap to purchase, deploy or to maintain as a medium, let alone all of the equipment that lights it, routers that will route it, and upstream network to offload the traffic. I see that the city will be leasing them the conduit, which will make deployment significantly cheaper, but didn't see any details on rates. If one…

[deleted]

Re: Sonic.Net Offering 1 Gbps, Unlimited Phone for $40 in California

#10
post #4

I sincerely hope more companies will follow in Google's footsteps with cheap prices for fast internet. As much as I love what Google does with its innovations, the more competition the better.

I hope so, too, because I'd worry about what a Google in Comcast's position would do. Google isn't the net neutrality champion it was a decade ago. They are still in the group that promotes net neutrality right now, but I don't think they're trying too hard. Even AOL [1] seems to outspend them on pro-net neutrality lobbying (AOL!). Google must be quite worried about FCC reclassifying Internet providers are common car…

Also, supposedly Google met with cable/phone companies to try to make pretty much the current fast lane proposal for their own content a few years ago (2008) [0]. Apparently those companies were "reluctant so far to strike a deal because of concern it might violate Federal Communications Commission guidelines on network neutrality." so Google's position here is somewhat confusing.

[0] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB122929270127905065

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