Sonoma Business Magazine
January 2002

Joni Rosinski of Sonoma Business Magazine presents Sonic.net CEO and co-founder Dane Jasper with the "Best Network Provider" plaque at the Luther Burbank Center on January 17th, 2002

Sonoma County's Best
2002 Readers Poll

Best internet provider
Sonic.net

"Let's look at some of these."

Dane Jasper, owner of Sonic.net, puts in a search request for all the mails that have been forwarded from technical support over the last few days that he hasn't read yet. He sees this as a way to find some unbiased examples of why 23,000 people - the largest independent ISP customer base in Northern California - use Sonic.net.

We scroll down and view the first half-dozen emails: "...thanks for helping me out..." and "...I did what you recommended and things are great..." and they're all like that, and then...

"Here," says Jasper: "This is a good one."

It's from someone who talked to customer support after they had to be disconnected because they were way behind on their account: "...Sorry for going off on you like that. It was unwarranted. What I really want to do is thank you guys for the work you do..."

Only a year ago, there were more than enough ISPs to go around for Sonoma county. According to Jasper, most ISPs had poorly planned growth strategies and abysmal customer support. "A lot of ISPs are flat or disappearing. We're still growing at a good clip. The quality of customer services from other Internet providers is really on the decline. People have an expectation of poor service.

"When you call Sonic tech support, you don't spend a lot of time on hold, if at all. Our goal is to answer when you call or get to you within two minutes if you have to be on hold. When you talk to someone, they're nice, knowledgeable and they've been well trained. We get high marks for our tech support. Throw in Web hosting and extra email boxes, and people can get online because we're reliable, and people keep signing up.

"What we get are disproportionately happy responses from customers who are blown away by the fact that they were treated decently. They tell their friends, and those friends tell friends, and we get more customers, and that then enable us to continue to improve our product."

The Sonic.net offices have the feel of the early Web days - a fun place to be, with people who like their jobs and who like their co-workers. They're led by a management and business strategy that focuses on respecting the customer, improving the product and managing what has become sustained growth in an industry that has had a bumpier ride than an old roller coaster.

Sonic.net's industry may be high tech, but its success is all about people.-
Michael W. Harkins