Sonic CEO talks expansion, broadband policy

Dane Jasper may run a broadband provider, but he wants you to know that his company is on your side.

Jasper is the co-founder of Sonic, the Santa Rosa-based company that’s tried to establish itself as the consumer-friendlier local alternative to Comcast and AT&T. Sonic promises to protect its own customers’ privacy. And Jasper publicly supported the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial moves to re-regulate internet access and put in place strong net neutrality and broadband privacy rules, the latter of which Congress recently overturned.

Sonic’s policies and positions have drawn plaudits. Consumer Reports ranked it as the second-best broadband provider in the country, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave it a five-star rating for protecting privacy. Its reputation has helped Sonic not only be one of the few remaining internet providers to have survived since the dial-up era, but to position itself for the future as it builds out its own fiber-optic network to deliver super-fast gigabit service.

Jasper spoke with this newspaper about broadband policy in this country, including his support for net neutrality, and about his company’s build-out of its fiber network. This interview had been edited for length and clarity.

Q Why do you support net neutrality and the FCC’s just discarded privacy rules?

A I think it’s good business to take care of your customers. Your customers will be loyal to you when you take good care of them. That might be good pricing. That might be good customer service. Or it’s that you don’t sell them out to advertisers or that you don’t engage in practices that would violate their privacy for whatever small commercial gain that you might have.

Also, I think the ecosystem of the internet is something that needs to be preserved. As I’ve watched the internet blossom from the early start of my career more than 20 years ago, I am stunned by the wonderful ideas and amazing services that people have put together. And they’re the reason that every day, consumers are signing up for Sonic.

It’s important to preserve neutrality so we can continue to see great new ideas come to fore, even if those ideas use a ton of bandwidth, or even if those ideas require really low latency. Read More