Sonic.net, LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryInternet and Telecommunication
FoundedSeptember 1994 (1994-09)
Founder
  • Dane Jasper
  • Scott Doty
Headquarters
Santa Rosa, California
,
United States
Area served
California
Key people
Dane Jasper, CEO[1]
Websitewww.sonic.com

Sonic is a telecommunications company and internet service provider based in Santa Rosa, California, acting as a competitive local exchange carrier in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.[2][3]

History

Sonic began as an effort to bring network connectivity and Internet access to staff and students at the campus of Santa Rosa Junior College. In 1994, Sonic began formal Internet operations by way of a partnership between Dane Jasper and Scott Doty, both of whom had worked on the network at the college.[4] In 1995, Sonic moved into its downtown Santa Rosa location.[5]

In 2011, after becoming concerned about increasing legal requests for users' data, mostly related to copyright infringement involving pornography, Sonic cut the time it stores logs of user activity to two weeks.[6][7]

Later in 2011, the US federal government forced Sonic and Google to provide e-mail addresses of people who had corresponded with WikiLeaks volunteer and Tor developer Jacob Appelbaum. Sonic and Google fought the secret court order, which CEO Dane Jasper characterized as "rather expensive, but the right thing to do," and the court agreed to lift the seal on the Sonic order to give Appelbaum a copy of it.[8][9]

In 2012, Jasper told TorrentFreak that Sonic will not be participating in the so-called "six strikes" plan, in which major US internet service providers will begin to warn and punish people suspected of infringing copyrights, saying that ISPs are not equipped to police the actions of individuals, and that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have not invited small, independent ISPs to participate.[10]

In late 2014, Sonic.net rebranded as Sonic, after acquiring sonic.com and @sonic twitter handle.[11]

In April 2015, the company partnered with AT&T to expand service, using fiber-to-the-node. Due to this partnership, Sonic customers have to follow AT&T policies, including any access given to the federal government. Sonic customers can utilize a VPN to avoid AT&T policies and Sonic requests court orders for any investigations requested by the law.[12]

In December 2018, Sonic announced a partnership with eero inc., creator of the first whole-home WiFi mesh system, to improve WiFi connectivity across the entire home.[13][14]

Services

Sonic offers a number of services including:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Dane Jasper interviewed on the TV show Triangulation on the TWiT.tv network
  2. ^ "CLEC Update". Sonic.net. January 5, 2008. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Moving Outside: From ISP to OSP". Sonic.net. July 31, 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  4. ^ Hiltzik, Michael (July 5, 2018). "Sonic is a small ISP that competes brilliantly with the big guys — so they're trying to throttle its business". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  5. ^ "The History of Sonic". Sonic.net. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  6. ^ Greenberg, Andy (22 June 2012). "CEO Of Internet Provider Sonic.net: We Delete User Logs After Two Weeks. Your Internet Provider Should, Too". Forbes. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  7. ^ Greenberg, Andy (11 July 2012). "Five Ways Wireless Carriers Could Rein In The Government's Surveillance Of Your Phone". Forbes. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  8. ^ Angwin, Julia (9 October 2011). "Secret Orders Target Email: WikiLeaks Backer's Information Sought". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  9. ^ Brooke, Heather (11 October 2011). "How the US government secretly reads your email: Secret orders forcing Google and Sonic to release a WikiLeaks volunteer's email reveal the scale of US government snooping". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  10. ^ "Has Your ISP Joined the US "Six Strikes" Anti-Piracy Scheme?". TorrentFreak. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  11. ^ Allemann, Andrew. "Why Sonic.net rebranded as Sonic, and how it got Sonic.com". Domain Name Wire. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  12. ^ Gogola, Tom (19 August 2015). "Sonic Truth". Bohemian.com. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Sonic Partners with Eero Inc. For More Secure WIFI". Mirror Review. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  14. ^ "Sonic introduces new service to boost Wi-Fi reception". The North Bay Business Journal. 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  15. ^ "Get Better, Faster Internet. Get Sonic Gigabit Fiber".
  16. ^ "Will Sonic upgrade DSLAMs to VDSL2? (if not already done?)". forums.sonic.net. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  17. ^ "Will Sonic upgrade DSLAMs to VDSL2? (if not already done?)". forums.sonic.net. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Fusion FTTN VoIP settings". forums.sonic.net. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  19. ^ "Fusion x2 same as FTTN??". forums.sonic.net. Retrieved 29 April 2015.

External links


Internet service providers of the United States
Cable, satellite, and other specialty television providers (multi-channel video programming distributors) in the United States
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