Voice-Over-IP VOiP provider search re SunRocket demise

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Subject Author Date
VOiP provider search re SunRocket demise hdtv? 08-06-07
Posted by hdtv? on August 6, 2007, 12:25 pm
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I have spent considerable time on this issue, so I thought I would
summarize my experience so far.

I had Packet 8 before SunRocket, I left Packet 8 because their
customer support was unavailble via
voice or email. Packet 8 support may have changed as that was over a
year back. I lost
a 5 year established telephone # during the transition from Packet 8
to SunRocket as Packet 8
refused to deal with SunRocket.

As I do not intend to go back to Packet 8, I searched the web and
reviewed my options.
My next choice was VOiP Your Life. They sent the router very quickly
and the # porting process
appeared to be in place. Once I installed their router I had issues,
probably minor but I could not
get a dial tone. I tried their customer service voice line 3 times, a
total of 3 hours or more on hold
and could not speak to a technician. My email request to cancel was
quickly responded to and
their router is being picked up for RMA today. Again, I suspect the
issue of connectivity was minor,
but they were not resolving the problem.

Next up, and also not recommended Cordia. I signed up and everything
appeared normal, except there was no
email confirmation. Today I called and after endless hold time I spoke
to a CSR. My sign on was refused for
"fraud", as I provided a good cc (see below) I do not understand the
refused sign up. This company failed
to notify that I was not signed up and their equipment was not being
shipped. Not Recommended (also
note telephone wait times).

Next up, one of SunRockets recommendations - teleblend. The rate for
SunRocket ejects is great
at $12.95/month, # porting appears seamless, but voice mail is not
available yet. So I moved on
without sign up.

My ISP is Suddenlink and they offer a telephone service. I thought the
service was VOiP but
apparently it's not (I haven't researched further). I had issues with
the Cox to Suddenlink
transfer so I was not ready to jump onto their phone service too
quickly. A call to their
telephone centre was answered in a few short minutes. The problem is
their rate compared
to VOiP. Their rate with voice answering service is $50/month and
Canada calls are not free.

So back to teleblend. Sign on was seamless (same cc as refused by
Cordia) and I have received my confirmation email. I will update my
process in activating the SunRocket Gizmo for their svce. Also another
look at their website appears to indicate their voice answering is in
a rollout stage.

I would be interested in reading comments from other SunRocket ejects!


Posted by D. Kirkpatrick on August 6, 2007, 7:41 pm
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>
> I would be interested in reading comments from other SunRocket ejects!



Not a customer but were the CC rejections due to processing on foreign
soil?

Some VOIP companies may have offices here (USA) but with main
corporate offices and processing in foreign lands.

In many instances CC companies will refuse CC processing from a non-US
location unless you give them a heads up in advance.

When my wife recently travelled to Europe she called her CC companies
to check on policy and found that her cal was necessary to get her
card opened up.

Once opened up she was able to use them in Europe. Had she not done
that her transactions would have been refused. It's a new and
increasingly commonplace policy to prevent fraud.

In our case she gave a starting date and ending date for her travels,
after which her cards returned to US processing only.

DMK

Posted by on August 16, 2007, 8:17 am
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> I have spent considerable time on this issue, so I thought I would
> summarize my experience so far.

SunRocket was the perfect solution for me. I ponied up the $200 in Jan. and was
happy with
their service and support. I geuss it was too good to be true.

Once I got the bad news I started looking around and decided on Vonics. I paid
for another
year and then discovered they didn't offer speed dialing, a feature I need. So I
cancelled
the subscription. The money was returned promptly but three days later I got
their device in
the mail. Oh well...

Next I decided on Voip.com. They had all the features I need and things were
looking good.
It was after the 1st of Aug and I still had phone service! After the delivery
date of the
phone passed I contacted FedEx and they said Voip.com never shipped our device
even though
they provided a tracking #.

Now it's crunch time and whoever you call is blaming the slow down on 200,000
SunRocket
customers (like it's our fault!) scrambling for service. Voip.com says in a
cryptic way that
they have no devices to send out and are trying to get more. This doesn't look
good so I
quickly sign up with Teleblend just to keep the phone.

Two days later I cannot receive calls, but I can make them. The next day all
service is
stopped and whatever I dial invokes a recording that says my SunRocket service
has been
disconnected - sign up with Teleblend! Their web site says I have an account and
it's paid
up. Credit card says they even double billed me.

Lots of time spent waiting on hold w/Teleblend. "Due to the demise of SunRocket
we have an
unusual call load....bla, bla, bla." I call the credit card company and cancel
the payment
to Teleblend since there is no way in hell I'm getting to speak with their
billing dept.

Finally, early this week, a Voip.com device (Grandstream 286) arrives. I plug it
in and
voilla! I have a dial tone. Email from Voip.com says my number has been ported!
Fantastic...
no incoming calls. (Meanwhile I have been using Viop.com's Softphone software to
keep my
sanity). More waiting on hold. More filing trouble tickets that are seemingly
ignored.

Then on Wed., 8/15 I get full phone services from Voip.com, but there is
noticable packet
loss. Need to port forward my router to the Grandstream. No documentation
provided to do
this so I download the manual from the Grandstream site. The default
administrative password
has been changed by Voip.com so I can't find out which ports to forward.

Two calls to Voip. Call #1 tells me I need an RJ45 splitter to make the
Grandstream work.
Huh? Why wasn't one provided? I get cut off before I can ask more questions.

Call #2 is better. No mention of the splitter. She sends me email detailing the
port usage.
She tells me Voip.com won't release the admin password, so all I can configure
is
DHCP/static and IP address. She says packet loss is because I just got my phone
# ported the
day before and it takes 72 for things to "settle down". (I did a speed test and
the results
were near perfect.) Maybe she isn't yanking my chain.

The good news is that support wait times have decreased significantly since the
1st of the
month. Maybe email support will speed up soon too. I have a working phone with
the features
I need and we'll see how long this lasts.

-----

Posted by on August 24, 2007, 10:54 am
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geoff@sunfishdesigns.com wrote:

> The good news is that support wait times have decreased significantly since
the 1st of the
> month. Maybe email support will speed up soon too. I have a working phone with
the features
> I need and we'll see how long this lasts.

Well, it was a nice honeymoon...

Two weeks to the day and VoIP.com has screwed me. All of a sudden I cannot get
incoming
calls. A neighbor actually had to come to my house to tell me this. I spent many
hours on
hold last night waiting to talk to a support tech and my call was dropped three
times.

This morning I called "tech" support twice and they haven't figured out the
problem yet.
Still no incoming calls.

Oh, and they still have my start of service date set at the day I ordered
service, not the
day it actually began, which was one month later. This will screw me because
there is no way
I can cancel before my 30 day trial ends.

I'm looking for better service now.

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