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Is SunRocket In Its Death Throes?

Rumors, Conspiracies, etc.

from the no-more-users dept

Fri, Jul 13th 2007 07:18am -

Late last month, we reported that SunRocket, the second-biggest independent VoIP company was having some problems as the fundamentally poor economics of the the VoIP business caught up to it, and VoIP patent issues hindered its ability to attract further funding. Now, Broadband Reports says it looks like the company could be finished, as a poster in their forums said it’s no longer taking new users. While BBR is treating this as a rumor, the folks there were unable to get the company’s order system to work, so it doesn’t look good. The burgeoning VoIP patent thicket doesn’t help things, but the real issue is the falling cost of voice calls. While companies that can tack VoIP into a bundle — like cable companies, which are seeing a lot of success with their VoIP offerings — can make this work, it’s not going to get any easier for independent companies. Update: BBR has another report that SunRocket may have laid off all but 20 to 25 of its employees in advance of a sale to the owner of another small VoIP company. Such a deal would, in all likelihood, merely postpone SunRocket’s demise rather than prevent it.

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Companies: sunrocket

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Comments on “Is SunRocket In Its Death Throes?”

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166 Comments
Tom Meier says:

Re: SunRocket

I’ve been a SunRocket customer for over 2 years and have enjoyed great service, 100% uptime, and great phone features such as caller ID, call forwarding, outstanding calls logs, and all my calls are routed to me via e-mail. It’s ashame that they’re experiencing problems. I dread the thought of costlier Vonage or Comcast service.

SP says:

Umm, screw big cable...

Gee I’ve been a vonage customer for 3+ years. As have many other loyal Vonage customers. Big cable’s VOIP services SUCK ASS compared to vonage. Dont tell me the only business that can provide VOIP is big cable…Christ, it almost sounds like Charter or Comcast just paid you to say that.

SUNrocket sucks but that doesnt mean the other VOIP providers don’t have a chance… talk about biased reporting..damnit Techdirt…you continue to piss me off day by day…

SP says:

Umm, screw big cable...

Gee I’ve been a vonage customer for 3+ years. As have many other loyal Vonage customers. Big cable’s VOIP services SUCK ASS compared to vonage. Dont tell me the only business that can provide VOIP is big cable…Christ, it almost sounds like Charter or Comcast just paid you to say that.

SUNrocket sucks but that doesnt mean the other VOIP providers don’t have a chance… talk about biased reporting..damnit Techdirt…you continue to piss me off day by day…

Gid (user link) says:

Re: Umm, screw big cable...

I’ve worked in the VoIP Industry for four years. Even my hobbies involve VoIP.

The facts are there. Cable companies are picking up alot of customers from the POTS markets by offering the ‘Triple-Play’ option to end consumers (Voice, Data, Television). Who wouldn’t smack their lips at a $20 million business increase?

SunRocket faces the same problems as everyone else in the VoIP industry, poor economics and lots of competition.

Jennifer says:

Re: Ever tried Sunrocket?

I’ve been using Sunrocket for about 10 months, and have loved it up until now.

My service no longer works, and when I try to call for service help, the recording simply states that they are no longer accepting service or sales calls, then it disconnects.

I’m a little concerned that this company has already gone out of business, and has neglected to tell it’s customers.

Have you had the same problems?

Nyle says:

Vonage

I’ve been a Vonage user since 2002. (A year after they were founded.) I still have the same Cisco ATA VoIP box and my service has only had minor interruptions when Vonage has had some server issues. This has affected me making one phone call total so I just used my cell.

My service is like $15 a month for 500 minutes. (You have to use something like 700 each month to justify the unlimited plan. Something I never do.)

I am so tired of the “paid off press” running horror stories about Vonage and other non-big Telco/Cable providers. While I didn’t find TechDirt’s coverage as telling as some of the larger news outlets it still doesn’t help.

Vonage has been running 100% during this wonderful anti-competitive lawsuit from Verizon(Ma Bell) for patents that are so simple they shouldn’t’ be patents. Vonage has stated that they have work arounds for all of the patent issues. The only thing that will kill Vonage is if everyone in the press keeps talking like they are already dead.

SP says:

Bullshit. The “triple play” packages are still insanely expensive. And that $99/month for cable, internet, and phone gimmick usually only lasts for the 1st 3 months, then after that you’ll be paying close to $200/month. NO THANKS.

I can get my phone service for $15/month through Vonage. I have DirecTV for TV and DSL for Internet. Sure, I have to use 3 seperate companies to provide these services to me, but combined, it’s still far less than Cable’s “triple play.” Let me do the math. Vonage ($15) + DirecTV ($50) + DSL ($20) = $85. And I’m not on any stupid “limited promotional pricing” where after so many months they raise the rates. Show me a cable company that can offer me these 3 services for UNDER $85 a month…and where they promise me that rate, FOREVER. It’s not gonna happen.

Alex says:

I Love SunRocket

Well, I’ve been with SunRocket for 2+ years and I love their service. It wasn’t perfect at the beginning, but it has improved significantly in the last year or so. Anyway, their unlimited plan for $16 a month is hard to beat. Especially, when you use VoIP as a secondary line after cellular. And I will be really sad if they’ll go under.
One thing for sure, if that will happen, I’ll go to Vonage camp (as the “second best” for my purposes).
And forget Comcast bloodsuckers. I’d ratehr buy more minutes for my cell phone plan, than pay them $40 for VoIP. Enough of their crappy cable TV service.

mark (user link) says:

Re: Re: I Love SunRocket

Funny – yes I am still making calls on sunrocket even though they closed. (Twilight Zone music here please!) I called Time -warner and they are $45 and their cable service stinks. I tried Vonage and it’s cheaper but lots of problems…too bad- Sunrocket closed – their services and prices saved me alot of money and I liked it…

NED says:

Have had Vonage for 3+ years and love it. We have 3 numbers so family and friends make a local call to get through to us and all is well. Now live in a ComCast area and use them for cable internet. I have frineds that use the ComCast Voip service and my service through Vonage is better. They complain all the time about their service while mine is good through Vonage and all through the same internet connection. Love Vonage best service we have ever had.

Anonymous Coward says:

I see the comment posters at least read the words this time. Too bad they didn’t understand the meaning.

The article is just saying that from a business prospective, independent VOIP providers aren’t making as much money in VOIP as cable providers. By selling the service cheaper than their competitors you would think that in theory you would get more customers, and thus more money.

This isn’t true.

For one, most people are sheep. They buy brand names. Vonage isn’t as ‘big’ of a brand name as ‘Comcast’ and since people are ‘happy’ with their cable TV, they figure the VOIP phones will be the same ‘quality’.

These people don’t understand the technology behind it, or the business models. They want their TV and their phones and they will pay extra for the Coca Cola equivalent.

By its very nature, a independent service provider is going to be facing an up hill battle and most will lose. For those of you with Vonage or whatever, enjoy it while you can.

For the meanwhile, I’m going to continue to use Comcast VOIP because I personally can tell no difference between them (I get my Caller ID, call waiting, voicemail and the sound quality is a little crisper than my cell phone and I don’t have to remember a different support number if anything DOES go wrong). It works fine, doesn’t cost much more, and thanks to the ‘bundle’ saves me some money on my cable so it works out to be about the same over all.

But yea. Just had to point out, I don’t think he was ragging on the independent VOIP provider’s service quality as much as how hard it is for them to make money compared to a big company.

toodles says:

SunRocket

I work for SunRocket and it’s all true. Don’t bother calling the customer service to verify the rumors because not only are these employee kept in the dark about what is happening to SunRocket but have also been threaten with what little jobs the have left to be terminated if they speak of any negativity.

Jennifer says:

Re: SunRocket

I’ve been subscribing to Sunrocket for the past 10 months, and I have loved it up until now.

I don’t seem to be able to use my service, and I can’t make a call to the 800 number because the recording simply states that they are no longer accepting sales or service calls and then it disconnects.

Why aren’t the customers being informed of what’s going on?

kamash says:

Re: SunRocket Demise

yeah, I think they are dead! I also can no longer make any calls. I’ve had sunrocket for 1-1/2 yrs and only kept because it is dirt cheap. The customer service was horrendous!!! They would literally argue with you instead of crediting the amount due to you. Anything for you to just hang up and give up! I’m actually relieved they are out of business! You get what you pay for.

MJ says:

Re: Bye Bye SunRocket

I HOPE THIS IS NOT TRUE — BECAUSE I HAVE JUST CONTACTED THE NEWS AND HOPEFULLY BAD MEDIA WILL MAKE SUNROCKET THINK TWICE ABOUT RIPPING PEOPLE OFF — ESPECIALLY AFTER A FEW OF US RENEWED OUR CONTRACTS. I WAS A HAPPY CLIENT WITH THEIR SERVICE — AT LEAST THEY COULD OF WARNED US IN ADVANCE VIA EMAIL OR MAYBE A PHONE CALL. MY FAMILY RELIES ON THIS PHONE SERVICE FOR EVERYTHING. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THIS EQUIPMENT IF THE COMPANY GOES BROKE?!!!!

Rob says:

SunRocket goin out of biz

Tried calling them today (7/16/07) & you get an automated response “we are no longer taking customer service or sales calls, bye bye”

& I’ve only been w/em for approx 3 mos….paid the whole yr up front as well. Never rwally had any major issues w/em at all….service was pretty good for the price.

Figures….about par for the course for me.

No Longer a SunRocket Employee says:

Bye Bye Birdie

I WORKED at SunRocket and today all the managers went into a meeting left all of us out there wondering what was going on.. While when you called SunRocket it says “We are no longer taking Customer Service calls”.. Then after I get back from lunch the manager comes out and lets us know sunrocket went under and we no longer have a job… Pretty crappy.. We had no idea this was coming except for the fact thursday we stopped taking sales calls then today when people tried to call and add numbers.. For some reason WE HAD NO NUMBERS AVALIABLE!! Is that a coincidence or just me? Also we got a new billing system and after you cancel it takes 38 days to get your refund.. So the question is.. Since SunRocket went under and it has been less than 38 days since some people have canceled/we got our billing system… ARE YOU GOING TO GET YOUR REFUND??? I apologize in advance for all of you SunRocket customers.. Wish we could have warned you…

Anonymous Coward says:

SunRocket is the best

O’ve been a sunrocket customer 4 2-years and there service is the very good! it 2 bad that the big guys are putting them OFB, all the big guy sre going 2 do is rases their rats after a few months of getting you to pay for contract, the big guys will get you 2 join them under a contract and after raseing the rates you wil not have , TV, phone,or email because all of your commuincation, TV, Cable, Cell phone, and lan line will be disconnected because the bill wil be to dam high to pay.

Tim says:

Me too

I too had SR and am now without a phone line. Oddlu I get calls in, but nothing going out. Switching to vonage and really want to keep my number. I have had it for almost years! Ported it from verizon to SR. Doubt it can be ported, and I prepaid in April (200). I have been with them since the begining and the value was great for what you paid. I agree about the cable company’s bundles – what a rip off! I am paying 115 now for digital cable with DVR and internet. They want another $40 (and that is a bundle they say) to add phone. I wanted a second DVR for another room and they wanted $28 for that! Cable companies are a rip off! I hope vonage works out for me – others I know have it and say no problems.

Anonymous Coward says:

Former Employee

I am as sorry for the customers as I am for myself in losing my job, medical insurance, etc, etc. SunRocket took away the ability for level 1 and 2 agents to perform refunds and put it all at “corporate” level about a month ago. It use to only take 3-7 business days for the refunds to process, but with the “new” system, it takes 38 days. Just long enough to earn interest on all the double and triple-billing or maybe to just shut down the whole thing. We were also told to ask customers to not dispute the charges with their credit card companies as “charge-backs hurt SunRocket’s credit”. Sorry they Gotcha! They Gotme, too.

Karen says:

SunRocket is killing our company

SunRocket has failed to release our phone numbers and now our customer cannot reach us. It is going on 7 days now since our original carrier has released us and SunRocket has failed to activate our number and no one is answering the phones. I hope to create a class action suit and bring them to THEIR death.

Jeff says:

Re: Sun Rocket Class Action Suit Needed!

Add my name to list of plaintiffs for the class action suit! How dare we lose our phone numbers due to Sun Rocket’s poor business model and inept leadership.

I, like many other outraged posters, have had my number for over 15 years. As silly as it sounds, those seven digits are very personal. And to think my number is going down with Sun Rocket’s sinking ship is completely ridiculous! Come on, fellow Sun Rocketeers, let’s band together and fight for what’s rightfully ours…our digits!!

Any ideas on how to tackle Dead Rocket???

Vicki says:

Re: Re: Call the FCC

I’m with you, Jeff. We have been trying to port our number away from SunRocket for the past six weeks. They said they would release it on July 5, then, on that day, notified the new provider that they wouldn’t release it until July 24 — with no reason given.

Customer service was bad (although the employees have almost all been courteous); now it is non-existent. I was told by our future provider that the number cannot be ported if it is not active. We have had this number for over 14 years and I’m not giving up without a fight!

I called the FCC this morning and was told they are investigating SunRocket and will call me back when they know more about it. (I’m hoping they will release our numbers.)

All former SunRocket customers: CALL the FCC! We have to make this a huge issue for them.

geraldsolley@yahoo.com says:

Re: Re: Sun Rocket Class Action Suit Needed!

I would be glad to work with you, I too am a customer, I just paid for 15 months. I think since my phone works and it is the 22 of july, that they may have contracted a deal for persons whom already paid to continue a voip service.
Pleass let me know if you have service, and let me know if you wish to pursue civil litigation for breach of contract and in property loss. YOUR phone number BELONGS to you.

bill apostol says:

sunrocket work around

i can not dial out most of the time and people tell me that most of the time the sound is broken up when i answer the phone…

this has worked for me to place outbound calls… first, if your sound is bad, reset your voice modem, then to to the sunrocket web portal and enter the number you want to call into your ‘phone book’. then ‘dial’ it from the computer… your phone will ring, answer it… you will hear your music on hold playing until your party answers…

hope someone steps in and bails out sunrocket quickly!

smash says:

I am trying to get my money back via the credit card company. Open a billing dispute. And if we are lucky we may get the benefit of the card companies fraud protection policy. Check with your credit card company. Amex said they cannot block further charges. Sucks that they cannot do it. So any further fradulent charges should have be resolved by a dispute.

Sergio says:

Sunrocket alternative

I’ve just received an email from Phone Labs, they are going after the SunRockets customers and offer a $10 discount + free ground shipping if you use the coupon SUNROCKET when you place an order on their website Phone Labs http://www.phonelabs.com

They offer the Dock N Talk that allows you to use your cellphone as your home service. You can use your landline equipment with your cell phone plan, great deal if you have Unlimited Nights and Weekend and free Mobile to Mobile.

A good solution to replace your sunrocket and save money!!

Lost says:

Very Sad

I have been using SR for almost a year without any issues. Its been great, I don’t know about customer service because I never needed them. I was looking forward to signing up again…

My ISSUE is with getting my phone number released. We have had that number for over 10 years. I saw one note about SR transfering customers to other companies – does anyone have knowledge about this? Any idea about when the phone numbers will be released?

Rich says:

Freakin Pricks!

I have had Sunrocket since Febuary of this year and referred my Mother In Law to them for service. The numebr they had transferred is their livelihood and my business number goes through sunrocket too whcih is my livelyhood too.

I am going to call my CC and dispute this since they won’t answer the phone they can’t argue it.

I hope they burn in hell!

Jennifer says:

Refunds

I cancelled my SR about a month ago when I saw the annual charge come through. SR was always very good, but I decided to go strictly with just my cell phone. Since I have found out about the closing, I am very concerned about my refund of a few hundred dollars. I filed a dispute with my bank. My bank is recommending people to file disputes so that you can get your money back.

Gustav says:

Try the magicJack

If you liked the service Sunrocket provided I suggest you check out the magicJack, http://www.magicjack.com. This device offers the best call quality I have ever experienced and it is incredibly easy to set up. It is all plug-n-Play. I was set up with my new phone number and was making free local and long distance calls within 5 minutes of receiving the device.

Bill (user link) says:

Re: If it helps...

The Nuvio website says, “We will have you up and running in 24 hours, and expedite porting your current phone number.”

My question is what happens to calls to my existing telephone number? Currently inbound calls are still working (except there is no voicemail). So, if I sign up with Nuvio will I lose all my calls to my existing phone number?

EasyFund says:

Agree - Voip looks good - Was able to KEEP #'s

Voip.com

July 03, 2007

Offer could not have come at a better time…

Voip.com Releases Lowest Price Guarantee and Cash Back Rebate Offer

By Calvin Azuri
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Voip.com, a provider of Voice-over-IP consumer technology, has rolled out its most aggressive promotional offers for the residential phone market till date, according to a PRWeb news report.

Earlier, voip.com had hit the market with a lowest price guarantee offer for local, long distance and international calls. The Internet marketing company has now released its second wave of summer campaigns by offering $50 cash back for residential sign ups.

The price guarantee also aims directly at at low-cost phone carriers trying to focus on cheap calling plans.

Martin Toha, president of voip.com was quoted in the report saying, “We took price out of the equation without sacrificing quality. Now there are truly no more excuses for not using voip.com’s services.”

Voip.com’s Cash Back promotion is a joint effort with a recently launched VoIP Consumer Guide – VoipConsumer.org. The collaboration’s focus is to help consumers find the most reliable and most affordable phone services. The rebate offer is provided only with voip.com’s unlimited yearly offer, which is already clubbed with a ‘no fees’ promotion.

Company analysts report positive feedback for the promotional campaigns so far. Residential phone service sales increased by 15% within two weeks in June.

Your SunRocket CSR, until yesterday. says:

Too little help, too late.

I am sorry we (employees) were lied to and made to lie to the members. No, we didn’t always know all the answers, I think because we weren’t suppose to, but like most of you have said, we were polite and most of us cared more than you’ll ever know that we couldn’t help more.

Back in June, SunRocket completely replaced the billing system and took away the ability for CSR’s to view or process credits. Only the highest level had that ability. They also told us to state that all refunds would take 38 days for processing. We all knew and stated that this was hokey, as they use to process within 3-7 business days. We would send up “incidents” (tickets) reporting member’s being double and triple-billed, but those “incidents” sat in the tier 3 (highest level) queue with no one doing anything about them for weeks. Even our supervisors did not know why they were not being worked. We were also told to strongly encourage the members NOT to dispute charges with their credit card companies, as this would make the process take longer and charge-backs hurt SunRocket’s credit. I see now it just gave them time to stash the money. I am very sorry to have been a part of that.

Unfortunately, I also learned while working there, that if your service is cancelled or stopped, it is not technically possible to transfer a number from that account. You must have 2 open ports to port a number. Even if your account is still active, if you start the process and the service is cancelled anytime before the transfer, you could still lose the number. I don’t advise anyone to go to any voip companies. It seems that you CAN believe what you read on some of these blogs and boards.

We were told business as usual right up until they turned off the phones and said “go home”.

Again, I am truly sorry to have been part of the “Gotcha”, but know that they “Gotme”, too.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Too little help, too late.

I also want to say something about loyalty. Myself and many of the people working for SunRocket hired on with them after losing their jobs at MCI because this was MCI “family”. We didn’t know what it was or how it would go, but we worked hard for these people and tried to be proud of them. I even have the SunRocket service in my house! So businesses go under, a lot it seems with some, but can’t you treat people better who risked so much to help you out? We were flat-out lied to by SunRocket and Bell Industries. We got news-letters saying how there was no way Bell would let us go, as they had just spent 1.2 million on a new phone system.

GOTCHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Josh says:

Re: Re: Too little help, too late.

loyalty no longer exists. It’s all about the bottom line in contemporary business.

In a different era, the company would have given notice to it’s customers and employees but they knew questions would be asked and feared reprisals.

The executives handled things like this to cover THEIR butts. My heart goes out to all the parents who walked into work one day and were told they no longer had employment. We live in a C.M.A. (Cover my ass) world.

B Patt says:

SunRocket

In addition to ourselves, we have two other family members on SunRocket service. It has been down since last night and the support line states they are no longer taking customer service or sales calls. So, we think we just no longer have a phone until we order with another service.

Very nice. Forget VoIP, I’m going back to a land line.

snakster says:

still SOME service

I don’t know why, but I have actually had service a couple times. Last evening I was able to place one call. A couple times last night my phane rang, but only got choppy sound at best (it was my new provider trying to contact me to confirm my order). When I walkied in the door this evening, my phone rang and I was able to have a converstaion with my parents. Unsure how this is possible. Thoughts?

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: still SOME service

I was on a long-distance call and it dropped, when I tried to call back I got a fast busy. I was able to make a local call, though. Just now (a couple hours later), just for giggles, I tried a long-distance number and it went through. I know they have their own servers in Indiana, so maybe no one will make them take them down right away?

Elvis McNeely (user link) says:

my sunrocket died

I too was a sunrocket customer. Too bad for them. I originally wanted to go with packet8 before deciding upon Sunrocket. I am somewhat glad this is over because I have had many problems over the year. I am hoping packet8 will give me better service. Today I went ahead to http://www.packet8.net and it turns out they are giving a ton of discounts to get sunrocket customers. I deciding on the annual plan which came to $160 bucks. That is $13.35 per month folks. All activation and shipping fees waived. Here are the details: http://getpacket8.packet8.net/sunrocket

I think my dead rocket brought me some luck today! Thanks DeadRocket!

KC says:

june 17, 07 5:38pm Estern time, serivce is on

My friend’s phone is off, mine is still on, but I can’t dial out int’l calls. Calling my bank to dispute the charge.

…

Oh My God. Just got the info from the claim person at Chase bank, two weeks ago I switched to a supposedly better plan which was $199 for a full year upfront. A bank lady just told me my account was charged $327.95 instead of $199.
W T F ?

Bill (user link) says:

Transfer Initiated - Fingers Crossed

Today, I setup to transfer my 15-year old phone number from SunRocket to my cell phone provider. They claim it will happen within 24 hours and that no one at SunRocket needs to be talked to. We will see. I have my fingers crossed!

I’m also ordering that MagicJack product and in September I’ll transfer my number to MagicJack. That’s the plan!

BellSouth ripped us off for years. VoIP WILL BE the only telephone service in the future anyway. It is pure consumer economics. If you have a high-speed Internet connection, VoIP service is simply another application. VoIP does not require a phone company of any kind.

If everyone had VoIP today, then even the VoIP phone companies would be out of business. “Phone companies” (AT&T [POTS], Vonage [VoIP], etc.) only exist because legacy POTS lines still exist. Today for example, two users using Skype can talk to each other over the computer and not pay a penny. Many many similar “softphone” examples exist.

The only negative I’ve seen recently is that the pace of new broadband connections is slowing. Sooner or later we will get to a tipping point.

Perhaps the MagicJack is the beginning of the end. It solves one key problem. It puts the users phone connection at the edge of the network, provides support for legacy handset devices and packages the digital requirement in a $20 device.

How many decades did AT&T rip my parents and grandparents off? How many decades did AT&T hold back telephone progress? They were destroyed and have arisen once again. They are no different than they were the first time. They will be destroyed by VoIP unless they are successful in creating enough folks that say things like the above “Very nice. Forget VoIP, I’m going back to a land line.”

It is sad to read that some consumers do not realize we are in a battle.

Creg (user link) says:

FCC complaint inre Sunrocket Inc.

The Sunrocket fiasco needs “Federal” attention. Go to FCC website, fill out form 475, give all info inre your Sunrocket fiasco, include how much $ they scammed from you, file the above form electronically (on FCC website), copy or print your complaint info, copy or print your complaint number (Acknowledgment & Fax Cover Sheet), keep all above info for possible further action inre Sunrocket.
Good luck

Ingrid says:

VIOP.COM CAN PORT

I just switched to VOIP.COM and for now if you have not canceled you SR before shutdown.They can port your old number the the new system. The same price of $199.00 per year holds and the reviews look great. The cash back offer is no longer valid. But My number is worth it.
Go the the URL and you can check to see if your numbe can be ported……….

Jeremy says:

Just filed a dispute charge with American Express

I just got off the phone with my American Express and filed a dispute charge. They said “no one will be there to dispute it so I am not sure you will have any luck, but I can go ahead and create the dispute if you want and we can see.”

Guess I’ll try everything I can. My SR still recieves calls but won’t dial out.

Elvis McNeely (user link) says:

Re: Just filed a dispute charge with American Expr

American Express won’t leave you hanging dry. I have filed several disputes in the past and AMEX never had any problems being fair and issuing a credit back. Now, they might have a loss on their hands because I am sure a small percentage of all of us (200,000 deadrocket customers) use AMEX. But AMEX shines in this area, keeping the customer happy.

I called up AMEX today as well and explained the deal and the lady is going to run the dispute. The thing that is on our side, we paid for a service and didn’t get it – at least not completely. I was just charged on the 10th of this month for the full year. So I told the AMEX rep that I would pay for 6 days of service but not anymore. That is fair and AMEX and any other credit card should see it that way too. If not, leave them and go to AMEX or Discover!

Payback says:

Just wrote to major news stations

I just wrote the following email to ABC, CBS and NBC I hope one of them takes my cue and gets the word out about this and gets the ball rolling on this because I too have been “gotten” I am due back quite a bit of money since i paid a year in advance as well back in mid april. Read on:

I thought you might be interested in hearing about this story as this affects over 200,000 VoIP Telephone users. As of yesterday customers of the company Sunrocket have found themselves with out service with no warning what so ever. This is a company that advertises that if you pay $199 for 1 year up front, you get 3 months free with a “No gotcha’s garantee”. Now it seems that they have laid off all their employees, locked their doors, and turned off their service.Any idea’s about what to do? I am one of these customers who has prepaid for a year and now face not only the lose of my telephone number but most of the money that I have prepaid for what was supposed to be 15 months worth of service. Thanks for any help you may provide in putting the word out there for us.

I hope this helps in providing us all with some sort of compensation for our losses.

KCBelles says:

Shame

Really liked SR – never had an issue with the service – a pity they couldn’t make a go of it. I’ve filed both with the FCC and with that class action lawsuit site – be nice if we could get refunded the balance of months we didn’t use. Paid back in Feb for a full year using my debit card – don’t think I’ll be able to “dispute” the charge 5 months later.

Jeremy says:

Bellsouth / ATT

FYI,

I was a loyal Sunrocket customer until they screwed me. I posted that I filed a dispute with my Amex card and am awaiting the results. Anyways, last night I was looking online for another VOIP company since I make a lot of long distance calls, it was handy.

I almost signed up with Vonage but found that for the same cost my local phone company (Bellsouth/ATT) have an “unlimited” plan for the same cost, $24.99. I immiediatly signed up and it will kick in tomorrow morning. It will be nice to have reliable phone without worrying about surfing the internet, etc while on the phone. I advise everyone else to do the same.

Vonage worries me about the issue they are having with Verizon still. I worry they may be next to close down. And these other companies are offering the sun rocket, $199 a year plan. But come on, after getting screwed by Sun Rocket I am not about to front another $199 up front. No thank you, I rather do a month to month deal.

Anyways, I’m glad Bellsouth can hook me up on unlimited long distance for the same cost as vonage, plus I get the extra’s vonage has like caller ID, forwarding, etc.

KC says:

Local companies

24.95 does not include any features such as call forwarding, vm etc.
Also, local LAN line companies charge ridiculous taxes, you’ll probably pay another 25 bucks just in taxes.

About CALLVANTAGE, if anybody wants to know about the nightmare I went through with them for 8 months email me. mockba21@hotmail.com
Don’t sign up with them, no matter what. Nobody can say a company or service is great until they actually run into some issues and see how those issues are resolved by the company. CallVantage (ATT) sucks knots.

jkelly says:

Re: Sunrocket is Deadrocket

I phoned Optium on the 17th and they said that they could not give me old number as SR was out of business but if my SR account was passed to a new provider they would be able to port it for me. Is the $20 discount for new customers of Optium only. I already have TV and internet with them and they are going to charge me the full $34.95.

I still have local service on Sunrocket but no international

KC says:

Another truth about VONAGE

I work for ADT and we can’t provide alarm service for Vonage customers, I believe it’s the only VOIP provider alarm companies don’t work with. There’s only one way to go around it is to go with Vonage’s own alarm system which they send you in mail and you install it yourself. Not sure how good that is.

dezigntek says:

Sunrocket - any chance of

I’ve had sunrocket service since March. Got in as a 2/year plan for $200. I got the email they closed doors today. Called Customer Service.. and got the “Not taking calls or sales” msg. and call ended. I wonder if a law suit will result that pays the remained of service contracted to those that have service remaining? Maybe that’s a long shot but I’ll cast my wishes in that direction.

jkelly says:

I phoned Optium on the 17th and they said that they could not give me old number as SR was out of business but if my SR account was passed to a new provider they would be able to port it for me. Is the $20 discount for new customers of Optium only. I already have TV and internet with them and they are going to charge me the full $34.95.

I still have local service on Sunrocket but no international

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Am i the only one with service?

Still have service in Missouri. I am one of the CSR’s who were walked out Monday. We went in today to get our last checks, etc and I asked about the service. The servers are still up, I am told, but there is no one to service them if they go down. So if you have service, your service (node) is working, but as soon as there is a glitch, it’s gone.

KC says:

Email from SunRocket

Dear Customers, After significant effort by the Company to avoid this result, SunRocket is in the process of closing its operations and therefore will no longer be able to provide you with the phone service that you have been accustomed to. However, this email provides you with an opportunity to sign up with select service providers who we believe will offer outstanding replacement service In order to assist you, we have entered into negotiations with a number of service providers. As a result of those negotiations, we have entered into agreements with 8×8, Inc., provider of the Packet8 service, and Unified Communications Corp., provider of Teleband service to offer you the best options and we are proud to recommend the following alternatives to you. Please make your decision to move to a new service provides immediately as future service is uncertain. 8×8/Packet8 The Packet8 Internet phone service incorporates patent protected technology from 8×8. Inc., a publicly traded company in business for more than 20 years. The service works in the same way as SunRocket.s and offers a virtually identical feature set. . No Startup Costs. FREE activation. FREE equipment. FREE shipping. FREE first month of service. Quickly port your number at no charge A Savings of over $100! Copy and paste the following link into your Internet browser: http://getpacket8.packet8.net/sunrocket/ or call 1-800-868-0068 and mention special offer code SUNROCKET Unified Communications Corp./TeleBlend The TeleBlend Internet phone service incorporates patent-protected technology from Unified Communications Corp., a privately held company in business to provide outstanding customer service and telephony products. Teleblends has been working behind the scenes already to restore and continue service for all Sun Rocket customers The service works in the same way as SunRocket.s and offers an identical feature set with our Unlimited Transfer Plan. . No Startup Costs. FREE activation. USE your existing hardware. FREE and Quick transfer of your current number. No Need to port your number to another provider. UNLIMITED calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico Copy and paste the following link into your Internet browser: http://www.myteleblend.net It has been our pleasure to service you at SunRocket!

JC says:

I still have service as well... strange.

I didn’t even know anything was going on until late yesterday evening.

I’ve had SR since last fall. I had tried Vonage before, but dropped them before 30 days because I could never call cell phones in Japan. SR never gave me a problem with any of my calls, most calls being cellulars in Japan. I tried to call last night, received a message “error ##. can not complete call” Coincidentally, I received an email later that evening stating that SR has closed. I immediately logged into my SR account online, checked everything, and still see incoming calls, missed calls, etc. Just no int’l service. Not sure what’s going on. Sucks cause I signed up for a whole year in March. Haven’t even used 6 months worth.

However, I’m guessing the calls were probably alt-routed with someone else. It has be to routed somewhere because all voip calls eventually have to go through a PBX switch no matter what if you’re calling a lan line.

TC says:

E-mail from SunRocket

I e-mailed sunrocket when my phone stopped working and got the following reply from them
——————————————————–
From: sunrocket@sunrocket.com
Date: Jul 18, 2007 4:11 PM
Subject: Important Message from SunRocket
To: xxxxxxxxxx

Dear Customers,

After significant effort by the Company to avoid this result, SunRocket is in the process of closing its operations and therefore will no longer be able to provide you with the phone service that you have been accustomed to. However, this email provides you with an opportunity to sign up with select service providers who we believe will offer outstanding replacement service

In order to assist you, we have entered into negotiations with a number of service providers. As a result of those negotiations, we have entered into agreements with 8×8, Inc., provider of the Packet8 service, and Unified Communications Corp., provider of Teleband service to offer you the best options and we are proud to recommend the following alternatives to you. Please make your decision to move to a new service provides immediately as future service is uncertain.

8×8/Packet8

The Packet8 Internet phone service incorporates patent protected technology from 8×8. Inc., a publicly traded company in business for more than 20 years. The service works in the same way as SunRocket.s and offers a virtually identical feature set.

. No Startup Costs
. FREE activation
. FREE equipment
. FREE shipping
. FREE first month of service
. Quickly port your number at no charge

A Savings of over $100!

Copy and paste the following link into your Internet browser: http://getpacket8.packet8.net/sunrocket/ or call 1-800-868-0068 and mention special offer code SUNROCKET

Unified Communications Corp./TeleBlend

The TeleBlend Internet phone service incorporates patent-protected technology from Unified Communications Corp., a privately held company in business to provide outstanding customer service and telephony products. Teleblends has been working behind the scenes already to restore and continue service for all Sun Rocket customers The service works in the same way as SunRocket.s and offers an identical feature set with our Unlimited Transfer Plan.
. No Startup Costs
. FREE activation
. USE your existing hardware
. FREE and Quick transfer of your current number
. No Need to port your number to another provider
. UNLIMITED calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico

Copy and paste the following link into your Internet browser: http://www.myteleblend.net

It has been our pleasure to service you at SunRocket!

——————————————————-
Does anyone know anything about this MyteleBlend service? It sounds pretty good that they can use the existing Sunrocket gizmo but I wonder how long they will be in business?

Jim T says:

Got a credit from Chase for 1 year SR contract

Hi,

Just got off the phone w/Chase (my credit card) and they have gotten many calls regarding SR. Chase is crediting me for 6 months ($104.63, half the $209.26, the SR yearly plan + taxes) and will “pursue” SR. Pretty awesome!!

As of last night I still had SR service (in and out), although no voice-mail. I transferred the service to TeleBlend for $12.95/mo (actually 15.54 if you include taxes) until end of SR contract. We’ll see how that goes and if my # gets transferred over smoothly. I also ordered a MagicJack. Can’t beat the price of $39.95 for device and 1 year license, then $19.95/yr after that (today’s price…coud go up I guess). Does anyone konw if you can transfer your current # to them? Doesn’t say on theri web-site.

JT

Al Wynn says:

Sun Rocket

I was a customer of Vonage soon after they started. I left them for Sun Rocket mainly because the voice quality and other issues like echoing and delayed packet transfer made it almost impossible to use their service. Sun Rocket except for the very beginning has been very good. Not perfect however. Their DST didn’t seem to work consistently and it was impossible to fax to europe until I got a new fax machine which compensated for the VOIP shortcomings where fix is concerned. Now this!
BUT last night when I came home I was astounded to see that I had a message on my answering machine and 5 minutes later my son called. Then I checked my phone and found a dial tone and my gizmo indicating that my line was connected was lit. We have had dial tone ever since.
WHAT’S GOING ON? Is the company back in business? Not according to their web site! Will their service remain up? Has someone taken them over?
If anyone knows I’d really like to know.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Sun Rocket

My phone came on last night also. To little to late I already recieved a refund from my credit card company. in addition after trying to sigh up with viatalk and getting a recording stating im number 1 million on the waiting list to talk with someone I decided to contacted my local cable company. What a nice suprise, I found I can add a phone to my cable and internet service for only five or ten dollars more a month. The service is cheaper and I have no wait to talk to someone if i have a problem.

KC says:

ViaTalk

same happened to me. They said I’m number 45 in line, 20 minutes later of hold, i’m number 40. I just hung up. Looks like another company to go down. Unfortunately my local cable co. is Time Warner, and they want 40 bucks a month for a phone in addition to 45 i am paying for internet with them right now. 🙁
No way out.

PookiePrancer says:

Got lucky

I’ve had Sunrocket for 2 years. Luckily, my contract was about to expire at the end of this month anyway, so I dodged a bullet. Also, my service, after some hiccups early this week, appears to be back to normal…weird. No matter; I’ve decided on Packet8. Just talked to Cust Service; they don’t anticipate any problems porting my number over, and said it should be less than a week (much faster than typical).

Dan (user link) says:

Switch to Open Tone Communications

Why? 1.You can speak to a real person if you are interested in the product or if you have questions about the service you currently have.
2.We don’t have $199.00 for one year of service because there is no margin and unless you are a heavy gambler or AT&T you will go bankrupt. (we did the research)
3.We will customize your service to the areas you are interested in and even give you a point to point connections via cell phones in areas like the Philippines.

RKZ says:

Switched to Teleblend

After reading a lot of emails about how we should not sign up with one of the 2 companies that took over, I signed up with Teleblend since it was completely painless; and I wanted to be sure my number was ported quickly; they have bought at least part of the SR equipment and that money is being used to keep Sunrocket functioning until 8/6 or something like that. I pick up the phone, it works now. There is still a glitch with the international calls but they are working on that. My SR service was not up until mid-Sept. but in the 10 months that I did have SR service, I saved a lot of money over the cost of AT&T, so I got my money’s worth, not like some of the folks who had just signed up or renewed. I will investigate other companies with the extra time to see if I should switch. But so far, so good.

observer says:

Teleblend

I switched to Teleblend on 8/1 and have had very irregular service since. It seems it is still running on Sunrocket servers. When I try to dial out, as of 8/11, a Sunrocket message announces that I should contact Teleblend and sign up with them. So even Teleblend charged me $21 ($13 + $5 for extra number + tax) on 8/1 they still do not provide the service.

brianrobbins17@gmail.com (user link) says:

SunRocket is no more

SunRocket is no more in the list of VoIP providers. I am recommending Lingo to SunRocket customers. In my opinion, Lingo offers comparatively better services to VoIP users. At present, they have good promo offers for SunRocket customers such as monthly $21.95 promotional calling plan and annual $195 calling plan plus one month free, free shipping, free second phone line, free office assistant, free activation, free equipment and 30 day money back guarantee. I think this could be a better option for SunRocket customers.

aaa says:

SR rubbed the balance money on each contract from

All SunRocket(SR) Customer,

I was a SR customer, as I understand that SR played a bankruptcy game to the customer, it looks that they planned this game when they have a promotion for $199/yr plan, they rubbed the balance money on each contract from the customer, TeleBlend(TB) takes over everything from SR except contract, they just changed the company name from SR to TB.

Do you have any idea to handle this issue, it is not a small issue, it is a big,big,big, huge issue, it is related to 200,000 customers

We have to ask goverment to protect us to have it in fair, where is the goverment? where is the policeman? where is the lawyer? where is our congressman? did they know the issue or not?

Reagrds,
A SR Customer

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