Archive for Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunflower Broadband to upgrade technology
October 26, 2009
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Sunflower Broadband soon will be among a handful of Internet service providers in the country to make DOCSIS 3.0 technology available to subscribers.
Beginning Nov. 1, current customers in Lawrence and Eudora who have Sunflower’s Gold Internet service and a DOCSIS 3.0 compliant cable modem will automatically be moved to new infrastructure, which will make it possible to experience download speeds up to 50 mbps. The new version of Gold Internet will also more than double the previous 50 gigabyte data transfer allotment, with a total of 120 GB of data transfer. That is enough to download 60 million e-mails, 24,000 songs or 30 full-length movies.
According to Rod Kutemeier, Sunflower’s general manager, subscribers wanting the enhanced Gold Internet service will be required to have a new modem. The new technology will be available to all Sunflower subscribers early next year.
Sunflower Broadband and the Lawrence Journal-World are divisions of The World Company.
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26 October 2009
at 6:20 a.m.
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jayhawk98 (Anonymous) says…
And be ridiculously overpriced just like the rest of their services!
26 October 2009
at 6:30 a.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
“jayhawk98 (Anonymous) says…
And be ridiculously overpriced just like the rest of their services!”
Marion writes:
You are always free to go elsewhere.
26 October 2009
at 7:16 a.m.
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kansasmutt (Anonymous) says…
Now they will be caught up to AT&T, as for speed, but AT&T is much much cheaper. A flat charge of $35.00 a month for AT&T . No hidden fees or line fees or unknown tax`s or service charge, just 35.00 plus sales tax. I have no outages with AT&T like with sunflower, No slow days or weeks like sunflower. I have had AT&T now for 8 months and it is flawless and saving me almost $40.00 a month.
26 October 2009
at 7:37 a.m.
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Eride (Anonymous) says…
I switched from sunflower to AT&T Uverse and it is flat out better in every single way.
Less expensive, better channel selection, better channel clarity, better on demand selection, no ripping and tearing (which I always had an issue with), faster upload speed, effectively faster download speed, no bandwidth cap.
Suck it sunflower, your time has come.
26 October 2009
at 7:42 a.m.
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twinetowngirl (Anonymous) says…
While your at it, maybe you should “update” Broadband Man's car!! No “superhero” should have to drive around in an late 80's Honda. Give him one of those new sunflower cruisers so he can go in “style”
26 October 2009
at 7:45 a.m.
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nschmi04 (Anonymous) says…
kansasmutt (Anonymous) says…
Now they will be caught up to AT&T, as for speed, but AT&T is much much cheaper. A flat charge of $35.00 a month for AT&T . No hidden fees or line fees or unknown tax`s or service charge, just 35.00 plus sales tax. I have no outages with AT&T like with sunflower, No slow days or weeks like sunflower. I have had AT&T now for 8 months and it is flawless and saving me almost $40.00 a month.
––––––––––––––––––––––––-
Quick question: How much do you make working for AT&T? Is the bulk of pay wrapped up in base pay or commissions?
26 October 2009
at 7:54 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
Funny all the AT&T gracing…….
I for one look forward to the up in uploads speeds, my only complaint beside the static IP charge, for my services I run from home. DNS, email, www, etc.
26 October 2009
at 7:56 a.m.
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merrill (Anonymous) says…
The question:
Is AT&T better than Sunflower in all around service?
Simply a legitimate question. How many AT&T users are out there?
26 October 2009
at 8 a.m.
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YouPeopleAreCrazy (Anonymous) says…
I've had both AT&T and Sunflower. While AT&T may have unlimited data, as of now their speed throughout most of the town doesn't even compare to Sunflower. Uverse is here, but not in very many places yet. Also, heaven help you if you have a problem with AT&T's service because their customer service is horrible. Heck, I had to get transferred around and cut off about 5 times before I actually spoke with someone who knew what they were talking about and able to help me fix a problem with their billing. Sunflower's customer service beats AT&T any day, and they are local, so you can just walk in and talk with someone if a phone call doesn't work, which most times a phone call does. I know there's a lot of Sunflower haters out there, and I used to be one, but after seeing the other side, I'm glad I came back to Sunflower as much as it pains me to sound like a testimonial for them.
26 October 2009
at 8:04 a.m.
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hipper_than_hip (Anonymous) says…
Will these higher speeds apply to the Canopy users too?
26 October 2009
at 8:08 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
I'm being lazy, but can someone remind me the date for the FCC rule where as an employers of company must disclose their “cause” in blogs?
I'd have to agree with YPC. Until Uvers, there is ZERO comparison, ime.
26 October 2009
at 8:11 a.m.
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KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
Actually, at last check, Sunflower's 50 Mbps service will be the cheapest in the country at $59.95/month…
Now, if they would just raise their ridiculously low bandwidth caps for Bronze and Silver… Or get rid of them completely, they'd be golden.
26 October 2009
at 8:27 a.m.
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gsxr600 (Anonymous) says…
Being a poor college student, I can only afford silver internet. Gold used to be $50 for 40gb, now it's $60 for 70gb. When they raise it to 120gb, you can believe they're going to make you pay. This “news story” is no more than an advertisement.
If you want to talk about Sunflower being different than everyone else, you might want to start with their bandwidth caps. THAT is something unheard of in this country.
I'm looking at AT&T U-Verse right now :)
26 October 2009
at 8:34 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
GSXR,
Bandwidth caps unheard of?? say what? since when?? What is you time frame for that remark; the last year, 7 years?
26 October 2009
at 8:35 a.m.
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labmonkey (Anonymous) says…
When I lived in Lawrence, Sunflower Broadband was a very good service for a reasonable price. Whenever I called, I talked to someone local and they were quick with their service.
I have had ATT since I moved, and started out happy, but ended up disappointed. You used to be able to reach an American, the service was good, and you got some good extras (like Yahoo Radio). They got rid of Yahoo radio, you had to wait an hour on the phone to get service, and you talked to someone in a different country now (the latter two are the reasons why I cancelled my Time Warner and got ATT in the first place). You talk to Surewest quickly and reach an American….plus their service is good.
If you still reach someone local with Sunflower Broadband (it has been several years since I lived in Lawrence), stick with them. The extra few dollars per month is worth the service and to help keep jobs in the region. I wish I could get Sunflower Broadband where I live now.
26 October 2009
at 8:40 a.m.
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gsxr600 (Anonymous) says…
You can't tell the difference between 50mbps and 10mbps anyway.
Let's do some numbers… I'll lowball it. With an upload speed of 50mbps, and 2mbps upload, you have an aggregate of 52mbps. With a 120gb cap, that will give you 7.7hours of fully utilized service per MONTH!!!!! Wooohhoooooo!
For 15.4 minutes of full capacity p/day, no one in their right mind is going to take this seriously.
26 October 2009
at 8:44 a.m.
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gsxr600 (Anonymous) says…
Most ISPs don't limit their customers to gb limits, and the one's that do don't do it at the ridiculously low limits of 3gb p/month, 30gb p/month, so on.
26 October 2009
at 8:46 a.m.
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snoopy_79 (Anonymous) says…
I'm stoked about the upgrade. U-Verse can't give me that kind of speed….anywhere! Cable is leaps and bounds better and more reliable than any fiber or pair out there today. It's a fact.
26 October 2009
at 8:50 a.m.
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joejarvis (Joseph Jarvis) says…
I'm an AT&T customer because I despise Sunflower's bandwidth caps. But I think I'll switch. I have AT&T's fastest service plan for East Lawrence (pathetic 3 Mbps down, 512 Kbps up) and a static IP for $70. Not sure what Sunflower's static IP fee is, but tacked on $60, 50 Mbps down/1 Mbps up and 120 GB usage is enough to tip the scales. If only switching didn't involve AT&T customer service. It's AWFUL. Setup of my static IP when I started AT&T service took three weeks and several phone calls.
26 October 2009
at 9:10 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
GSXR,
“You can't tell the difference between 50mbps and 10mbps anyway. ”
You're saying that if you were connected and surfing my httpd server that is serving up large pdf's, you wouldn't notice the difference in speeds if MY END would only Tx 10mbps compared to MY END being able to push 50mbps Tx?
Or, how about that multi-gig HD movie download?
What if your work involves downloads to get systems going (network installed *BSD's)? Time is money, for someone.
You might not notice it with daily surfing on Rx, and I'd maybe agree with your comment on this regard, but otherwise, I kindly disagree.
To many variables to make com
26 October 2009
at 9:11 a.m.
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labmonkey (Anonymous) says…
Joe- Prepare to waste an afternoon on hold to get rid of your ATT. My normally patient wife nearly blew a gasket trying to cancel ours.
26 October 2009
at 9:24 a.m.
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beawolf (Anonymous) says…
Had AT&T but switched to the Sunflower Silver. Cost was almost the same. AT&T had a better, more consistent service and unlimited downloads, but Sunflower was faster (at times). Recently Sunflower has been slowing to a crawl which I imagine is due to more users in my neighborhood so I'm thinking of changing back.
26 October 2009
at 9:27 a.m.
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kuhusker (Anonymous) says…
I was excited to hear about Sunflower's new service, but then I saw the upload speed is still an awful 1 megabit. That is crazy….do Sunflower customer never upload videos or photos?
26 October 2009
at 9:31 a.m.
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artful38 (Anonymous) says…
In case anyone is interested in comparing U-Verse with Sunflower's offerings, I found a blog by a local Lawrence person who subscribed to both services and did a comparison. It's fairly geeky and in-depth, but there's some interesting info there
http://lawrencebroadband.blogspot.com/
26 October 2009
at 9:34 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
KUhusker,
Man, my thoughts exactly… I was hoping to read of at least T1 (1.4Mbps) Tx, (upload speed), but then…..
C'mon Sunflower…. (; please!!
26 October 2009
at 9:38 a.m.
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Sigmund (Anonymous) says…
“The new version of Gold Internet will also more than double the previous 50 gigabyte data transfer allotment, with a total of 120 GB of data transfer. That is enough to download 60 million e-mails, 24,000 songs or 30 full-length movies.”
You know when you cite a rate, usually it is helpful and customary to provide specific kind of ratio in which two measurements are related to each other. Like 24,000 songs per minute, per hour, per day, per month? Or 30 full-length movies, a day, a week, a year, a month?
26 October 2009
at 9:45 a.m.
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kuhusker (Anonymous) says…
Sigmund, they mean per month.
A 1 hour episode of HD television on Hulu is about 3-4 GB
A Netflix or Amazon unbox movie in HD is about 6-8 GB
If you buy shows on iTunes, HD shows are about 3 GB and movies about 6-7 GB (roughly)
So their numbers aren't fully accurate. You can basically watch 10 or so movies and another 10 or so episodes of HD television per month before blowing through your cap, assuming you don't use the internet for much else.
26 October 2009
at 9:48 a.m.
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kuhusker (Anonymous) says…
FWIW, I looked on that http://lawrencebroadband.blogspot.com blog and U-Verse (for those who can get it) is 50% faster then even the new Sunflower Gold for upload speed, and Sunflower is about 50% faster for download speed. Also AT&T has no bandwidth caps if that matters. Hopefully the competition will do both companies some good and make for better choices for us customers.
26 October 2009
at 9:59 a.m.
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kmat (Anonymous) says…
After talking to my IT dept, they advised that you run a test to see what the real speed is you're getting from Sunflower. As all of these professionals put it, you never really get what Sunflower tells you their speed is. They advertise their potential top speed, but you don't ever really get close to it. When they saw what Sunflower was advertising now, they laughed. I checked my Gold service, and it's miserably less than what they say it should be (I could have told them that based on how slow it seemed to be). So the moral here - don't assume you're getting anywhere near the speed they say you are capable of getting. Sunflower always has been and always will be a joke. But we unfortunately don't have a lot of choices here.
26 October 2009
at 10:11 a.m.
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Eride (Anonymous) says…
“snoopy_79 (Anonymous) says…
I'm stoked about the upgrade. U-Verse can't give me that kind of speed….anywhere! Cable is leaps and bounds better and more reliable than any fiber or pair out there today. It's a fact.”
Which is why every telecom company in the world is replacing their copper wire with…. fiber? LOL. Okay, anyways…
Fiber offers better reliability and performance by far which is why every company out there is spending billions replacing their infrastructure with it. Fiber ISPs are already providing 100-200 mbps service in larger cities on the east coast to residential customers, it might take awhile for the infrastructure to get there that this kind of speed is even useful but its getting there slowly and it is getting there with *FIBER*.
I had sunflowers top broadband internet package for over 6 years and I never, ever got greater than ~40% of their advertised speed and this was in two different houses on opposite sides of town. Not to mention sunflowers internet would go down at least once a week… sometimes for significant periods of time. Not to mention the bandwidth caps which I actually believe are a good idea (I have a colo server and have no problem paying for premium bandwidth…) but the limits they impose for the price they charge and the performance the service provides is a rip off, pure and simple. It used to be like 25 gigabytes for the top plan! And the performance and reliability aren't even good! Pure greed!
I haven't had my AT&T Uverse internet go down for even a second in the two months I have had it now. I don't know about the regular DSL service as I have never owned it, I only switched over once Uverse was offered in my area. The speed is almost always between 75-95% of the advertised speed and there is of course 50% more upload speed and……. no bandwidth cap!
As for the TV service at Sunflower, as I stated above there was always issues with that as well. I will admit the customer service was great but that doesn't make up for frequently poor TV quality, a fair amount of downtime (HMM… this seems to be a problem with sunflower…), poor channel selection and exorbitant prices.
Just like the Uverse internet the TV hasn't had one second of downtime and there hasn't been one second of tearing and ripping which was a constant problem with Sunflower's TV. It is nice that Sunflower has such great customer service but that doesn't really matter when reliability, quality and performance (not to mention getting your bang for your buck with their rip-off prices) are so low.
Maybe having some decent competition will make them feel the need to get competitive. I hope so, competition can only make things better for all of us.
26 October 2009
at 10:13 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
Kmat, correct.
One thing.. It may not be sunflower but the other parties service..
To check what you are capable of, on sunflower, use their speed test on the local netork.
http://speed.sunflower.com/
Download Speed: 19256 kbps (2407 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 925 kbps (115.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
I just ran this at 1003ish. Upload is higher than I've ever seen, even on my Motorola DOCSIS 2.0.
from speedtest.net at 1009 I get;
19.84Mbps
.94Mbps
http://www.speedtest.net/result/60318…
Seems the upgrade has taken and I only need the new modem if I want the additional Rx speeds.
26 October 2009
at 10:13 a.m.
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bmelm (Anonymous) says…
That's funny. When my Sunflower is running well (which is most of the time) I get better than advertised speeds. I'm on the silver which is 7mbps speeds and I consistany run over 8mbps. If I have problems Sunflower is usually good about getting it going but I do get alot of pixilation some times on the tv stations.
26 October 2009
at 10:20 a.m.
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hipper_than_hip (Anonymous) says…
Canopy is $50/month from Sunflower, and I'm getting 104kbps.
There's no DSL in my area, but Sunflower has broadband lines within one mile of my house, but is waiting on federal stimulus dollars to extend it out my way.
26 October 2009
at 10:26 a.m.
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nobody1793 (Anonymous) says…
Will the upgrade stop the constant pixelation of my cable tv? The “report pixelation” link on sunflower,com is my new favorite website!!
26 October 2009
at 10:43 a.m.
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kuhusker (Anonymous) says…
Sunflower's speeds are really variable. If you run a speed test in the morning, you get pretty much 100% of the advertised speed, but if you try in the evening when more people are using the network, you'll be lucky to get 50% of advertised speed. I think this is inherent in cable technology.
26 October 2009
at 10:48 a.m.
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jimmyjms (Anonymous) says…
And this is news?
Only in the paper that owns sunflower broadband.
26 October 2009
at 10:56 a.m.
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kong (Anonymous) says…
nobody1793 (Anonymous) says…
Will the upgrade stop the constant pixelation of my cable tv? The “report pixelation” link on sunflower,com is my new favorite website!!
—
No. You should call them and get a service call set up.
26 October 2009
at 10:59 a.m.
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Sigmund (Anonymous) says…
kuhusker (Anonymous) says… “Sigmund, they mean per month.” “A Netflix or Amazon unbox movie in HD is about 6-8 GB.” “So their numbers aren't fully accurate. You can basically watch 10 or so movies and another 10 or so episodes of HD television per month before blowing through your cap, assuming you don't use the internet for much else.”
So a “30 full-length movies” a month at an average of 7 GB per movie equals 210 GB. The Gold Internet Allotment is 70 GB and any overage is “is billed at $2.00 per GB if not purchased at a discount before the end of the billing period.”
http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/int…
210 GB less 70 GB allotment is a 140 GB overage and at $2/GB that amounts to $280 EXTRA a month. Add the monthly fee of $60/month (not including tax and franchise fees) and you would have a monthly bill of $340/month.
More isn't necessarily better when Allotment Caps are in place. I know two customers that have received monthly bills in the mid $200 from Sunflower with the old bandwidth (before they cancelled). Can't wait for the horror stories with the new faster bandwidth. Thank goodness their customers almost never get the advertised bandwidth.
26 October 2009
at 11:02 a.m.
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YouPeopleAreCrazy (Anonymous) says…
From what I've read, AT&T is just running fiber up to the exchanges, and copper is running the rest of the way to your house.
http://www.reuters.com/article/reuter…
26 October 2009
at 11:02 a.m.
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Fixed_Asset (Anonymous) says…
Thanks for the link, artful.
26 October 2009
at 11:34 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
Sigmund,
Sunflower does offer a plan with no cap;
High-Speed Internet
$49.95 Included
Palladium Internet..
Download speeds variable and optimized for video
3 e-mail accounts
Service for up to 4 computers
Bandwidth usage not metered
docsis 3.0 Modem required
I have no idea on what the “variable and optimized” speed accounts for, but, it sounds like you can download as many HD movies in a month as you choose, for 50 a month.
I'd love to hear from someone who has this plan, and what they get for speed??
Side note, on the customize order page as sunflower.com, you can select both Gold and Palladium packages. Reading into that, you can get Gold Internet Speed, with No Cap for ~110$ a month..?
https://secure.sunflowerbroadband.com…
26 October 2009
at 12:07 p.m.
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SFBroadbandSarah (Sunflower Broadband Customer Care) says…
I've read everyone's comments and there are a few points I'd like to clarify.
The price for the new Gold Internet service is $59.95 per month. ($69.95 per month with no other Sunflower Broadband services).
Wave Runner (Canopy) service is not a wired cable modem service, therefore the new Gold Internet service is not available to these subscribers. The DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade will not affect Canopy in any way. For more information about Canopy, please visit: http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/int…
We want to make sure we can answer everyone's questions promptly and accurately. The best way to do that is on an account by account basis. Please call us at (785)841-2100 or 800-869-1214 or e-mail us at talktous@sunflowerbroadband.com for more information.
26 October 2009
at 12:12 p.m.
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Eride (Anonymous) says…
It prolly is just hyperbole for the gimping of your speed while prioritizing packets for media streaming. It notes the bandwidth will be varied downstream from 2-21 mbps. It is effectively a bandwidth cap but instead of violating you with excessive fees they will cut your connection down to a decade old, bottom of the barrel DSL line.
26 October 2009
at 12:16 p.m.
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gsxr600 (Anonymous) says…
RidgeRunner,
I understand that in some instances speed = time saved = money. For businesses that rely on quick transfer speeds, this service is great. What kills it though is the 120gb.
Does anyone know how much this new package will cost?
Gold previously: $50 for 40gb
Gold now: $60 for 70gb
Gold future:On track for $70-$80 p/month???
26 October 2009
at 12:57 p.m.
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KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
It will still be $59.95 for the 50 Mbps/120GB month service. For the month of October, customers are getting ripped off though since all they did was up the bandwidth limit.
I would loooove to take advantage of the new Gold service, but I too fall in the poor college student category. Sadly had to back off my Gold back to Silver recently.
For those that are worried about hitting the ridiculously low bandwidth limits, check out Palladium. Variable speeds from 2 Mbps to 21 Mbps (which sort of concerns me; can see getting stuck on the low end most of the time) not NO bandwidth cap for $49.95/month.
26 October 2009
at 12:59 p.m.
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KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
*shoulda actually proofread my reply before hitting submit. That 'not' before 'no' at the end should be an 'and,' lol.
26 October 2009
at 1:02 p.m.
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dgreenbaum (Anonymous) says…
FWIW, in the evenings we got about between 50% and 2% of the advertised speed. Docsis 3.0 allegedly will fix some of that, but I'll wait to hear what other's experience is. I'm pessimistic as the service is already being oversold. Friends that had Palladium report speeds around the Bronze level on average
26 October 2009
at 1:12 p.m.
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was_freashpowder2 (Alexander Neighbors) says…
Sunflower should offer a data storage option, Or something for gamers.
In short, sure faster speed is nice but more services is also better.
I know Qwest has a Data vault option they will hold backups for you.
26 October 2009
at 1:59 p.m.
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kuhusker (Anonymous) says…
was_freashpowder2, that is an interesting idea, Sunflower hosting their own online backup.
Right now with the super slow 1 megabit upload speeds and bandwidth caps, you effectively cannot use any online backup service with Sunflower, unless you want to pay a ton of overage charges and wait all month for your initial backup.
26 October 2009
at 2:46 p.m.
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bigdave (Anonymous) says…
sunflower sucks you can't play your x-box with out losing you host, and I hit the bandwidth caps on gold in a week and a half out of the month!!!And don't have roommates in your house who like porn and Itunes or your bill will be $750!!! pure junk!!! AT&T rocks!
26 October 2009
at 2:57 p.m.
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Sigmund (Anonymous) says…
RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says… “Sigmund, Sunflower does offer a plan with no cap”
True enough, but this news article was specifically about Sunflower’s Gold Internet. So my numbers were for that service.
“Beginning Nov. 1, current customers in Lawrence and Eudora who have Sunflower’s Gold Internet service and a DOCSIS 3.0 compliant cable modem will automatically be moved to new infrastructure, which will make it possible to experience download speeds up to 50 mbps.”
As for Palladium, variable speeds from 2 Mbps to 21 Mbps with much relaxed (but NOT eliminated) bandwidth caps. Just too many caveats and gotcha's.
26 October 2009
at 3:22 p.m.
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headdoctor (Anonymous) says…
Great, Sunflower is upgrading from a gerbil to a guinea pig to run their wheel. Dolph and company still is not getting any money out of me.
26 October 2009
at 3:24 p.m.
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bookemdano (Anonymous) says…
AT&T Uverse offers guaranteed 6Mbps/1Mbps VDSL for $35 a month with NO caps. I switched a few months ago and have not looked back. Sunflower is the only game in town (aside from the cellular carriers) that have such low caps on their internet service. They tout Palladium as the solution if you don't want a cap, but from everyone I've spoken with who has the service, the speeds average around 2Mbps at best. At that point, why not go with Uverse, save yourself $15 a month, and get 3x the speed?
Sunflower's data offerings are just not competitive.
26 October 2009
at 4:59 p.m.
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snoopy_79 (Anonymous) says…
Edie….How's your fiber working? Oh ya…..it's prob not available in your area. Fiber, while robust in it's capabilities will take forever to deploy and will never reach its capabilities before the drops that we know and love today will be obsolete. Even if the phone companies get with the program and somehow start making money again they'll never be able to afford the back office networks necessary to support services geared for fiber.
26 October 2009
at 5:15 p.m.
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thebcman (Anonymous) says…
I have DSL from AT&T and have had very little problems, but when you do, you have to speak to some d-bag in India that has no idea how to speak English. You get what you pay for.
26 October 2009
at 5:36 p.m.
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kansasmutt (Anonymous) says…
Just a quick note. I dont work for AT&T i own my own business and depend on my phones and internet to work everytime i need them. Sunflower could not do that with several chances to fix the line issues. When it did work my speeds were slower than 1993 dialup. My phones were noisy and were not (programed right for 2 years) due to a failure at sunflowrers site. When you spend hundreds a month on phones, they best work right. When you order your business inventory and orders online, it best work, or youl be outa business. Ours work fine now.
26 October 2009
at 5:45 p.m.
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kansasmutt (Anonymous) says…
Another thing on the sunflower billing. the price of 59.00 is that without any other services ? Is that without any other fees ? Is that without line tax, state tax, universal fee and all those things ? What is a real bill cost per month ? AT&T is $35.00 plus local sales tax of 2.60 cents. Thats it. very much priced right and dependable as heck. Maybe i am one in a million, but i sure am happy with my AT&T set up and prices.
26 October 2009
at 6:08 p.m.
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Eride (Anonymous) says…
“kansasmutt (Anonymous) says…
Another thing on the sunflower billing. the price of 59.00 is that without any other services ? Is that without any other fees ? Is that without line tax, state tax, universal fee and all those things ? What is a real bill cost per month ? AT&T is $35.00 plus local sales tax of 2.60 cents. Thats it. very much priced right and dependable as heck. Maybe i am one in a million, but i sure am happy with my AT&T set up and prices.”
It doesn't include fees which would probably add at least another $5 and if you only got internet they would add another $10. If you don't own your own modem (and for this upgrade you will have to buy a new one even if you do own your own) it costs $5 to rent it. So with fees you could be looking at $80 a month for just the internet while renting the modem…….
26 October 2009
at 6:17 p.m.
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SFBroadbandSarah (Sunflower Broadband Customer Care) says…
Gold internet is $59.95 in addition to other Sunflower services. If you have no other services the price is $69.95 per month. Internet is not a taxable service so any additional taxes/fees would be based on other services you subscribe to. The only other requirement is a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, which can be purchased from us for $79.95, rented for $5/mo or purchased elsewhere.
26 October 2009
at 6:29 p.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
SFBroadbandSarah,
Do I have to swap out my current modem with you (sunflower) by Nov 1 to receive the credit towards a DOCSIS 3.0 modem? That is, can I take my sb5120 into sunflower on the second of Nov and still get credit towards the DOCSIS 3.0 modem?
Who is the manufacturer of the new DOCSIS 3.0 modems?
Thanks
26 October 2009
at 6:47 p.m.
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SFBroadbandSarah (Sunflower Broadband Customer Care) says…
RidgeRunner,
If you come in on November 2nd to swap out your modem we will honor the promotion, but I would recommend coming in prior to the 1st. Arris is the manufacturer of our DOCSIS 3.0 modems.
Thanks for the question!
26 October 2009
at 8:46 p.m.
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Defender (Anonymous) says…
“I have DSL from AT&T and have had very little problems, but when you do, you have to speak to some d-bag in India that has no idea how to speak English. You get what you pay for.”
Hang up and call again, thebcman, usually works for me! Or even ask to be transferred to someone you can understand. Believe me, I understand your frustration.
26 October 2009
at 9:03 p.m.
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misseve (Anonymous) says…
I have AT&T and had no issues, my customer service has been good and English speakers…
I have HAD Sunflower Broadband and had more than my share of troubles as well as good times with them, but the bad outweighed the good and it was the customer support that I received when I went into the office that left a bad taste in my mouth. There was ALWAYS that one girl who managed to pretty much IGNORE everyone who walked in the door. (My thinking if you aren't going to help up go in the back) and it ALWAYS was when it was busy… But the bottom line is this: I expect to have internet service to work EACH and EVERY time I log into my laptop or desk top unless there is something that makes it impossible not because its 5pm and the number of people logging on has increased.
26 October 2009
at 9:55 p.m.
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Sigmund (Anonymous) says…
Defender (Anonymous) says… “Hang up and call again, thebcman, usually works for me! Or even ask to be transferred to someone you can understand. Believe me, I understand your frustration.”
In Sunflower's defense, their customer support on average is amongst the best in the industry. I regularly deal with HP, Cisco, EMC, Symantec, Veritas, IBM, Sun, ATT, and other “World Class” back line Tier I mission critical support organizations. Sunflower's front line support is as knowledgeable, friendly, and effective in their jobs as those back lines are. Most front line customer facing support organizations are crap. It is a shame that Sunflower's management is so stuck on their pricing structure complete with allocation caps. I am willing to switch and pay a premium for the Sunflower support, but I am not wiling to pay that much of a premium ($2/GB over allocation) when ATT DSL is reliable and my bandwidth at a fixed cost is a necessity. So I'll probably call and check Uverse pricing and availability this week.
26 October 2009
at 11:04 p.m.
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dgreenbaum (Anonymous) says…
To get to the better customer service with AT&T ask for Tier II or ASI—that will get you to the people in Texas.
Ironically, I prefer a little distance from the customer service people. Because World Company operations are so ubiquitous in this town, there is an uneasiness with local people knowing all about my TV, Phone, Internet and reading habits.
Lawrence is a small town and everyone's already in each other's business. When you realize the customer service person you are discussing the playboy channel with…is in the seat next to you at church… conversations are awkward at best
27 October 2009
at 1:23 a.m.
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sad_lawrencian (Anonymous) says…
First — this is more of an advertisement than a news story. If the same company didn't own both the local newspaper AND the local cable company, we wouldn't be seeing this “story” at all.
Second — I was a Sunflower Broadband subscriber for the first few months that I lived in Lawrence. Never had anything but billing problems and excess charges they couldn't explain. Example: I was supposed to get three months of free service as part of a new-subscriber promotion. I got my first bill, and guess what? It was nearly $200.00 (installation, prorated service and an additional month in advance). I had to call and talk to no fewer than THREE customer service reps to fix this (the third CSR was an older woman who took my information, worked on it and called me later that day to tell me they would, after all, honor the “free” part of the deal).
Third — they gave me a crappy, old DVR cable box. It was dirty and dusty and looked like it had been kicked around in the back of someone's pick-up truck for a few years. The gentleman who installed my cable TV put the nasty cable box on top of my (brand-new at the time) Blu-ray player, which got my player dirty. The recorder part of the DVR actually worked for 7 or 8 weeks, and then around the time of Obama's inauguration (which I was recording to view later because I was at work) it stopped functioning completely and I missed the inauguration. When I called Sunflower to get a replacement, they told me my box was the last one they had in stock and they weren't getting any more.
Fourth — I thought the TV service (other than the DVR) was pretty good (On Demand, HBO Hi Def, etc) until I went to my dad's house in Wichita. He has Cox Communications digital cable with a DVR from Cox, and wow!! It's like night and day. I'm talking about the firmware/operating system that Cox uses for its On Demand service. Light years flashier and more advanced than Sunflower.
As time went on, I still had nothing but billing and service problems with SB. Finally I just switched to AT&T for everything. I've never looked back. There are no usage caps on the Internet service. TV is wonderful. My bills are the same $$ amount every month. Thank you, AT&T.
27 October 2009
at 7:21 a.m.
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kansasmutt (Anonymous) says…
Thank you for the real charge price Sarah. I am glad to see you post that for your customers and future ones. This lets people do a real price check on what they can spend and be able to pay for. You have $81.24 a month for SFB, with sales tax. Plus a one time charge of $79.00 for the modem. With AT&T it is $37.94 with sales tax. They (AT&T) rebate you back your $39.00 for the modem for the servive. As for customer service, well, both are good. I do have to say im my case AT&T has been better for me.If i have had questions i have allways had great english speaking people at at&t and been helped fast and never had a billing issue. I had billing issues with SFB and never got it fixed, just the run around and it was what it was, nothing to tell me why. I guess in this economy with AT&T being less than 1/2 of SFB , and my service being better, i am a happy at&t customer. I cant speak for others, but this is my opinion.
27 October 2009
at 7:58 a.m.
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compmd (Anonymous) says…
I love all the people who gush over AT&T, the company that gives your data to the NSA, and took hundreds of millions of tax dollars for infrastructure upgrades and used it to give their executives bigger bonuses.
Still enjoying no bandwidth cap on Freenet…
27 October 2009
at 9:30 a.m.
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kuhusker (Anonymous) says…
I don't think it is that AT&T is that great (as any iPhone user can tell you, no, AT&T isn't that great!) it just that Sunflower isn't that good, compared to AT&T and other providers. The bar's pretty low here.
Sunflower's main advantage is that they are local, but the banjo-playing boy from “Deliverance” was “local” too!
27 October 2009
at 11:21 a.m.
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Ami (Anonymous) says…
I had both AT&T and Sunflower.
Sunflower's service is great, can't even compare it to AT&T.
I had Gold service with Sunflower but I'm not willing to pay more to get it. So they actually lost money on it as due to the upgrade I had to downgrade my service…
28 October 2009
at 4:01 p.m.
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phillipdampier (Anonymous) says…
I am looking for Sunflower customers for a story I am writing about your feelings about their usage caps and the new unlimited, variable speed option.
Looking specifically for views on:
1) whether you ever exceed the cap.
2) do you think there should be one.
3) would you prefer faster speed with a cap or slightly slower speed with no cap.
4) your experience with the new unlimited option.
5) whether you would contemplate switching to AT&T U-verse if it meant escaping a usage cap, even if it had slower speeds.
6) Would you pay more for faster speed and no cap?
7) your overall feelings about Sunflower Broadband.
You can send me a private message here or write pdampier at gmail.com and I will contact you with follow-up questions.
Thanks!
30 October 2009
at 10:28 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
Well, I took advatage of the trade in on modem yesterday, and in general, its been pure hell dealing with sunflower….
I have not had any of my services (Email, DNS, WWW, et al.) for over 16 hours because of their inept service department, and the true network Admins request NOT to have conversations with customers… Besides the fact that the 'techs” will not listen to whomever they are talking with, even when said ” i know it”s your side” fix it!!!!!!
I'll say this: I will be moving over to U-vers if SFB doesn't pull their heads out of their asses and get my Static IP working!! DHCP works fine….. They will not get my $100 PLUS a month pay!!!
Just amazing that out of all the 'techs' I've talked to, 7 or 8 now, not a one has any knowledge of, or even knowing of OpenBSD, amazing!!!!!
For f's sake. I have always advised sunflowers service…. I may not any longer.
30 October 2009
at 10:31 a.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
phillipdampier,
If you do not mind, what's the point of your story and who's it for? Do you work for SFB or LJW?
Thanks
30 October 2009
at 10:39 a.m.
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ShePrecedes (Anonymous) says…
Nice going. I love sunflower.
30 October 2009
at 1:31 p.m.
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SFBroadbandSarah (Sunflower Broadband Customer Care) says…
RidgeRunner,
Please email your service address, attn: Sarah, to talktous@sunflowerbroadband.com and I will review the situation to resolve it as quickly as possible.
Thank you
30 October 2009
at 9:11 p.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
At around 1200h today, in a terminal I'd fired up earlier in the morning and started a non-stop ping of my gateway IP, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a reply! Better late than never I guess.
This is the third Modem exchange I've had with sunflower over the many years in the same time frame of me having the same static IP, and this was the very first time there had been any problems.. with anything/one
Thank you Sarah for the offer of your help. And thanks to the SFB's Network Admins for getting my Static IP, and thus, my services going again.
People with static IP addresses probably pay the extra for it for a reason and to further that, they may know what they are doing to a point to where someone at SFB should think, maybe it's not their end with the problem (;
Have a good night, and again, Thanks!
31 October 2009
at 4:51 p.m.
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RidgeRunner (Anonymous) says…
Since I ripped sunflower like I did, I thought I'd do a little advertising of
their new services speeds for anyone who may come looking at this article.
I'm in no way associated with sunflower, besides the use of there services and the fact…..I kind of depend on them.
Posted below are one-off run speed tests, from sunflower's speed.sunflower.com speed test.
These numbers below are not the quickest, or slowest of the series of tests I took at the time. Only the very first numbers at the time of testing are posted. These test numbers do not take into account what's going on, out of my control (sorta), on my network at the time of the test as everything on my static IP and VoIP was queued with a higher priority than my 'surf' dynamic IP when it comes to throughput, but I've disabled queuing for these test…
I only use my DHCP IP's for surfing and VoIP so everything should be equal now and fighting for what's available in bandwidth on the line.
1230
Download Speed: 45250 kbps (5656.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 941 kbps (117.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
1337
Download Speed: 47107 kbps (5888.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 935 kbps (116.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
1348
Download Speed: 40641 kbps (5080.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 938 kbps (117.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
1357
Download Speed: 30727 kbps (3840.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 569 kbps (71.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Lowest Rx && Tx seen as of upgrade taking hold, out of ALL tests performed.
Assuming a little network traffic.
1434
Download Speed: 46210 kbps (5776.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 937 kbps (117.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
1509
Download Speed: 38998 kbps (4874.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 937 kbps (117.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
1513
Download Speed: 40616 kbps (5077 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 938 kbps (117.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
1521
Download Speed: 47349 kbps (5918.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 938 kbps (117.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
1550
Download Speed: 40705 kbps (5088.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 936 kbps (117 KB/sec transfer rate)
1651
Download Speed: 39248 kbps (4906 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 939 kbps (117.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
I may post some more in the evening, but they will be close to the same. I've seen very little variable in speeds here depending on whatever time of day.
Looks very good to me; and from going from ~80KBs on the my servers to ~118, it's a very noticable difference on the users end!
Danke!