AfterDawn: Tech news

VoIP startup SunRocket ceases operations

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jul 2007 5:41 User comments (15)

VoIP startup SunRocket ceases operations After almost 3 years of service, and with little warning to customers, the VoIP startup SunRocket has ceased operations leaving over 200,000 customers without phone service.
Calls to the customer support service of the company were welcomed with the following message, "We are no longer taking customer service or sales calls. Goodbye."

The VoIP company was the fourth largest provider of internet telephone services, behind Vonage, AT&T and Verizon.

Although there was little warning, the signs of trouble were there. In the last month, the CTO, CIO and CFO of the company were either fired or resigned. There was also a significant firing off employees, with over 30 laid off in the last month, a number equal to roughly a quarter of the full staff.

Reports are indicating that if customers act quickly, then can port their service to another carrier as well as keep their phonenumber, but that offer may die quickly.

As the story hit more news outlets today, an employee of the company let his feelings be known about the way the company was run, "Congratulations to the ex-AOL management (you know who you are!) that took over for a new record in running a company into the ground, and congrats to the board of directors for yet another successfully mismanaged venture," he wrote in his blog.



"Internally, SunRocket's politics went further and further in preventing effective execution of the technology vision. But can be expected when you mix telecom and dot-com?"


Source:
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15 user comments

117.7.2007 17:43

That sucks.

217.7.2007 18:18

What a burn....

317.7.2007 18:27

anyone got screwed over by this check out this
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=178782&t=560921

417.7.2007 18:28

What a shame. I hope people move in time.

517.7.2007 18:36

that is weird, I am still getting service. I wonder how much longer I will have service.

Edit: I did call the number and it does say the above quote; i.e., not taking calls or service. I just renewed my membership last month so I better get a refund. We had to pay $199.00 yearly--which was the best deal I could find.

I will have to find the next best deal now. Any suggestions? I am hesitant with going with my cable provider--Comcast.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 17 Jul 2007 @ 6:47

617.7.2007 19:19

Originally posted by gallagher:
that is weird, I am still getting service. I wonder how much longer I will have service.

Edit: I did call the number and it does say the above quote; i.e., not taking calls or service. I just renewed my membership last month so I better get a refund. We had to pay $199.00 yearly--which was the best deal I could find.

I will have to find the next best deal now. Any suggestions? I am hesitant with going with my cable provider--Comcast.
better hurry if u want to keep ur same number

717.7.2007 20:56

Originally posted by gallagher:
that is weird, I am still getting service. I wonder how much longer I will have service.

Edit: I did call the number and it does say the above quote; i.e., not taking calls or service. I just renewed my membership last month so I better get a refund. We had to pay $199.00 yearly--which was the best deal I could find.

I will have to find the next best deal now. Any suggestions? I am hesitant with going with my cable provider--Comcast.
Vonage is the deal I have had it for 3+years and love it I did the same with paying for 1 year at once and it was like $230 or so.. sign up under me and we both get free months

817.7.2007 22:30

Well, the New York Times is reporting that SunRocket is trying to move its customers to another company--but TRYING is the key word. According to them, we are "unsecured creditors" which in plain talk means we are screwed unless our credit cards get our money back before official bankruptcy halts it: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/techno...r=1&oref=slogin .

918.7.2007 05:52

I too have had Vonage for 3+ years with little trouble whatsoever, and would recommend it to anyone.

1018.7.2007 08:24

Originally posted by gallagher:

I will have to find the next best deal now. Any suggestions? I am hesitant with going with my cable provider--Comcast.
I am currently using Comcast for their phone service, I can't being to tell you the troubles I've had.

1118.7.2007 12:32
jpc1958
Inactive

Hey, I had the service, and if you try viatalk, they may still extend their offer of porting your number and giving you some service time credit (up to 6 months). They have the same price as Sunrocket and also offer a second phone number for "free". Sunrocket used to offer a second "signature" number, but recently stared to charge for it. This way you can get two phone numbers, one for friends, and one for work (if you work from home) or one in a different area code (good for grandma who has POTS and does not like to pay for LD).

There is also a service called magicjack (www.magicjack.com) that will sell you a USB adapter for $39.00 and the service for the first year is included in that price. It's unlimited inbound and outbound dialing! (for a freakin' year!) The second YEAR is $19.95! The device is about the size of a "Zippo" lighter. I signed up for the service, (before Sunrocket went dead - just a coincidence), got the device within days, and istalled it on an old laptop via the USB port. I connected it to a cordless phone and I can use the service anywhere in my house. It uses a standard RJ11 connector. Sound quality is a s good as Sunrocket, dependant on your broadband provider and network congestion, etc. I got the service because I travel a bit and it helps me keep my business phone forwarded to my work laptop and even when overseas, it works great. I used it from Cairo and people had no idea I was there. Way cool. It also works with my Verizon 3G wireless card.

The down side is it has limited area codes to pick from (31 more cities coming August, 2007), but if you get it to make outgoing calls, who cares what the area code is!

Hope this helps.

JPC

1218.7.2007 13:27

Hey u guys, i have phone service through myphonecompany.com and i telling you its really awesome. Their customer service is absolutely great and very helpful. I had never had down time through them yet (and im a customer for 3 years). The've been around for around 6 years and its a privately owned company and very well run and organized. Im very happy with them and they dont have those BS fees.
you should all check it out www.myphonecompany.com . Hope this will help you.

1318.7.2007 13:38

Originally posted by gallagher:
that is weird, I am still getting service. I wonder how much longer I will have service.

Edit: I did call the number and it does say the above quote; i.e., not taking calls or service. I just renewed my membership last month so I better get a refund. We had to pay $199.00 yearly--which was the best deal I could find.

I will have to find the next best deal now. Any suggestions? I am hesitant with going with my cable provider--Comcast.

I worked for a cable company when they were rolling out VOIP service and I wouldn't touch it with a ten ft pole unless I was confident in other services they offer. As it happens the company I worked for didn't have good enough service to roll it out, and in many areas had such poor support that a phone problem caused by the quality of their signal might not be addressed until Monday if it happened on Friday night, depending on where the customer was.

If you're comfortable trusting Comcast to provide good service and support, and you already have or don't mind getting cable internet I'd recommend at least comparing prices. If you're not 200% confident with the service you expect to get from them I wouldn't even consider it.

1418.7.2007 22:49

Quote:

I worked for a cable company when they were rolling out VOIP service and I wouldn't touch it with a ten ft pole unless I was confident in other services they offer. As it happens the company I worked for didn't have good enough service to roll it out, and in many areas had such poor support that a phone problem caused by the quality of their signal might not be addressed until Monday if it happened on Friday night, depending on where the customer was.

I think we might have worked for the same company, I'll go out on a limb and guess... TWC?

I worked for a 2nd party contract call centre for TWCNYC, and our bookable appointments were more often than not a good 5-7 days away, unless the problem is absolutely no dial tone, in which case you *could possibly* get someone the next day as an "all day appointment", so long as you called before noon.

Pathetic.

1519.7.2007 05:19

Quote:
I think we might have worked for the same company, I'll go out on a limb and guess... TWC?

I worked for a 2nd party contract call centre for TWCNYC, and our bookable appointments were more often than not a good 5-7 days away, unless the problem is absolutely no dial tone, in which case you *could possibly* get someone the next day as an "all day appointment", so long as you called before noon.

Pathetic.

Different company, but such a familiar story. Actually our bigger head ends actually had good support for VOIP for the most part. If we called at 2PM they'd try to get someone there that afternoon, and usually could. However, before the rollout happened the company decided on standards for signal and noise levels, but found that the majority of didn't have a signal that met those requirements. So they moved the bar until those people did. When we were initially trained I had a couple of ex-field guys with me. They commented that no one in an apartment would be able to get the service. Of course that was before they lowered the standards so everyone could.

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