Sonic Internet Review: Plans, Prices, and Speed ​​Comparison

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Sonic is unusual Internet Service ProviderUnlike your typical ISP, Sonic doesn’t offer a range of speeds or price points. Instead, it offers a flat rate of $50 per month that doesn’t increase each year. What speeds do you get for $50? Up to 10,000Mbps.

When you compare it to the prices and speeds offered by the top providers in the country, it’s hard to ignore.

By the way, the highest level offered by Top Fiber Providers Like AT&T Fiber and Google Fiber They are 5,000Mbps for $245/month and 8,000Mbps for $150/month, respectively. XfinityTop Cable Providers In California, you can get up to 1,200Mbps for $75 per month.

But that attractive $50 price tag comes with a slight catch: to get 10Gbps speeds, router Bandwidth capacity is scarce. Sonic doesn’t provide routers. If you lease a router from Sonic for an additional $20 per month, the monthly fee will be about $70. That’s certainly a pretty reasonable price for the speeds, and beats the cost-effectiveness of plans offered by AT&T Fiber and Google Fiber.

Founded in 1998, Sonic was originally DS-L1000 Investing in a complete fiber optic network from a provider in Santa Rosa, California Fiber optic InternetIn 2016, Sonic launched a gigabit tier for $50 per month, and in 2021 launched a 10 gigabit tier for the same price, making it one of the cheapest. Affordable Although it is small, it has the largest number of fiber optic internet providers in the country.

If you live in California and have access to Sonic fiber, you won’t find a better deal, even at a total cost of $70 per month. Let’s take a look at some of the details of Sonic’s internet plans so you know what to expect.

Sonic Internet Plans and Pricing

Source: CNET provider data analysis

According to Sonic’s website, they’re an ISP that “doesn’t believe in tiered internet services,” so there’s currently only one speed available with Sonic: For $50 per month, you can sign up for Sonic’s Standard Fiber 10 Gigabit plan, which gives you average symmetrical download and upload speeds of 8,700 Mbps.

Sonic doesn’t offer a “cheap” plan, but $50 per month is on par with many entry-level internet services, regardless of connection type. spectrumFor example, they advertise speeds of 300Mbps download and 10Mbps upload for $50 per month. Price Increase Sonic reserves the right to increase prices, Broadband Nutrition Labeling The monthly fee is advertised as not being a one-time fee, meaning Sonic won’t increase the price every year.

Sonic offers easier-to-understand terms of service than many other ISPs

Sonic’s terms of use are very easy to understand. No data limits and No contractHowever, you’ll have to pay to rent a router or provide your own. Plus, there’s no installation fee for new customers, and Sonic will pay up to $200 to buy out your contract with another internet provider, a nice addition for customers who are locked into a contract to get the best price from other ISPs.

Add a landline exchange for just $10/month

Sonic offers just one bundling option: For an extra $10 per month, you can sign up for Sonic’s Fusion Fiber 10 Gigabit plan, which gives you the same speeds as the standard 10Gbps plan but adds Voice over Internet Protocol phone service instead of landline service.

VoIP can often be a cost-effective alternative to a landline, and with Sonic there are no international calling charges and no limits on the number of calls you can make. Sonic has released an app to help you manage this calling feature if you decide to add it to your monthly fee.

Set aside some money for your router

Sonic’s $50 monthly fee doesn’t include a router, so if you don’t already have one, you’ll need to buy or rent a 10Gbps-capable router from Sonic. Sonic uses Eero’s routers, which range from $5 per month to $20 per month depending on bandwidth potential.

It’s important to note that routers offered by Sonic have different bandwidth possibilities depending on whether they are wired with Ethernet cabling or used without cabling. Ethernet always gives you faster speedsHowever, keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of 10Gbps speeds, you’ll need the right settings.

Sonic Router Comparison

• Sonic WiFi 6: Up to 1Gbps (wired) and 500Mbps (wireless) capabilities, bandwidth for 75+ devices, $5/month.
• Sonic WiFi Pro 6E: Up to 1Gbps (wired) and 1.6Gbps (wireless) capabilities, bandwidth for 100+ devices, $10/month.
• Sonic WiFi 7 Max: Up to 9.4Gbps (wired) and 4.3Gbps (wireless) capabilities, bandwidth for 200+ devices, $20/month.

To get a 10Gbps-capable router, you’d have to pay an extra $20 per month, bringing the monthly fee to $70, and to get that speed consistently, you’d need to use an Ethernet cable — a wireless connection to the WiFi 7 Max will only get you around 4.3Gbps.

Where can I get Sonic Internet?

Unfortunately, Sonic is limited to a few major metropolitan areas in California, including Santa Rosa, San Francisco, South San Francisco, Oakland, and San Mateo, as well as some areas around Berkeley, Brentwood, Concord, and Walnut Creek.

Fiber expansion is fairly expensive, and Sonic used its existing DSL network to lay the fiber foundation, costing over $10 million. Still, according to the company’s website, Sonic surpassed 100,000 customers in 2019, and it can only be assumed that it has been growing steadily since then.

Customer Satisfaction: Hard to Measure Without Data

It’s a little hard to see how Sonic’s customer service ranks against much larger ISPs because Sonic isn’t large enough to be included in data collections from organizations like JD Power or the American Customer Satisfaction Index. There are a few sources to see what customers generally think of Sonic’s service, including Reddit, the Better Business Bureau, and ISP Reports, but customer reviews should always be viewed with caution.

According to the Better Business Bureau, Sonic only has a rating of 1 out of 5, but that’s just due to a few customer reviews about service cancellations and installation issues. Keep in mind that the BBB has a rating of 1.1 out of 5 for AT&T Internet and 1.2 out of 5 for Google Fiber, so the standards aren’t as high.

In Reddit threads in Oakland and the Bay Area in general, Sonic is touted as one of the best internet service providers in the area, with some users encouraging Xfinity or AT&T Fiber customers to switch. Reviews on ISP Reports are also generally positive, rating the provider 4.33 out of 5. Across all websites, there were mixed reviews on technical support, overall quality of customer service, price, and speed.

Sonic’s conclusion: Worth the money

Sonic is worth a try, especially if you’ve been paying a lot for gigabit speeds with Xfinity or are considering investing in a fiber optic connection. The only caveat with Sonic is that, unlike many other fiber optic providers, their $50/month rate doesn’t include router rental. You can’t go wrong with a fiber optic connection; with the right router, you can get lightning-fast speeds for just a little extra each month.

As Sonic expands its fiber network, we expect it to expand its price and speed tiers for customers, but if you live in Western California and are looking for affordable fiber internet, you can’t go wrong with Sonic.

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