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VoIP Provider SunRocket Shuts Down

gigaom.com — What is going to happen to 200,000 odd customers who signed up with SunRocket, a VoIP service provider that shut down today.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 17, 2007

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  • dugiehowsa, on 10/11/2007, -0/+23And I was wondering why the Run button was flashing red but the VOIP light was green. That explains it. Ditto on the wife being pissed about this. I'm going to give her some wine and break the news.
  • wonderworm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20What a great business plan based on fraud. Go door to door and sign people up for a prepaid lawn mowing business for a great price. Then pull a Sunrocket and just close operations without any warning and skip town!???

    Am I the only guy here who thinks Sunrocket's actions are basically criminal in nature and deserve charges???
  • FlyboyP, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18CRAP!!!! And here I explained to my wife 9 months ago what a great idea this was to save money. She's gonna roll her eyes to the ceiling and ask how our children who are away at camp are supposed to reach us when they get snakebit.

    Just signed up for ViaTalk in a hurry, hopefully they've got it together. I'm not giving up on VoIP yet.
  • Darklighter, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12Sounds to me like the biggest story is how they *screwed* all of their employees by not giving them notice and I've heard they did not get severance either: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18660180~days=9999
  • stisev, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11Holy *****.

    My number is with SR.

    ***** took my $100 an ran off.
  • flair1, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11we all got screwed. no notice. no nothing. sucks.
  • RoyHobbs, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11SH*T I just renewed another year 2 weeks ago. Damn that CEO Lisa Hook!!
  • AlienHairball, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Reward points?! I'll be happy just to get reimbursed for the remainder of my contract! Man, I'm glad I only did a 1-year instead of going for 2 on my last renewal.

    The question for all us SunRocket people now is when will they actually pull the plug on our service? :( It's still working right now @ 2:45pm MST, but hearing the "we're no longer taking customer service or sales calls..." when you try to call them doesn't leave me with much confidence that service will be around for long.
  • chickenrob, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7My connection went down last night at about 10:00. My wife is also upset. I know I will get modded down for this, but, in sunrockets defense. I have apsolutly LOVED my sunrocket. It was hands down the best deal in full service voip. We have had great reliability for the last two years straight. Customer service was always friendly. My feeling was that many times the customer service was technically unable to do anything. For instance I had trouble with them for the first three months of service trying to port my number. Sunrocket seemed to be trying to do everything they could but the cable company (comcast) who I was switching from was dragging their feet and coming up with bogus reasons not to port the number. They claimed that I had mis spelled my address but when they read it back to me it was fine. I will always look back fondly on my sunrocket experience. I am sad to see them driven out of business by the industries stronhold. RIP sunrocket.
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/11/2007, -6/+12Vonage is next
  • jp3550, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Bring Roses. Make Dinner. Good Luck.
  • rm999, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Viatalk has your back
    http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=561017
    (27 months unlimited VOIP w/ 2 phone lines for $199 when you switch to ViaTalk )
  • sockpuppets, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Until they go under too.
  • rkuchiki, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Oh, and one more thing regarding Sunrocket.
    If you were a customer, you should be happy they are closing.

    http://sunrocket.zefie.com/insecure.jpg
  • FlyboyP, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Local news report about the sudden layoffs at the call center in Kentucky: http://www.ky3.com/news/8534842.html

    "All of a sudden the calls went away and it was dead air and all of our phones were dead and several hundred people are standing up in the building saying, ‘What's going on?’” said Amy Oldfield, another former employee.
  • Ryzir, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5My Sunrocket is still working, but the service has been very bad today (ie. dialing a number 10x before it connects).
  • synapseattack, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Spoken like a true digg user that has not seen the form of a naked woman.
  • RickySan65, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5'amazingly' enough their signup page still works, so they're still ready to take your money, just don't expect anything in return
  • chance1376, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Well their new website design was a worth while investment.
  • redlemon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4mine actually went out yesterday evening, I'M going to get ***** because i talked my father in to signing up.
  • rkuchiki, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Now for those with the old Sunrocket AC-211 box, you can unlock it and do as you please with it:
    http://sunrocket.zefie.com/

    It is great for asterisk as well.
  • Darklighter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Is your comment based on being an *employee* or a subscriber?
  • rkuchiki, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Anything you want it to. You can connect it to an asterisk server and the possibilities are limitless
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Please tell me more, I have one left over after I dumped SR over a year ago. What can this little box do on custom firmwares etc?
  • Surefoot, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6No surprise here. SunRocket was as shady as they come.
  • DogDog, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3If you paid them in the last 60 days by credit card dispute the charge!
    If you don't want to lose your number switch quickly!
  • merm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Hi guys,

    I work for a Venture Capital funded internet startup. I can tell you that there is no big decision that isn't made without the approval of our board, the board on a VC funded venture is comprised of the CEO and then members of the company that funded the venture.

    You can bet that the Sunrocket VC's were in on the decision to leave customers hanging (if not the ones who demanded immediate closure to get their money out). Please take a moment to call the VC's and let them know how disappointed you are in the way they have handled this. This whole thing lacks of corporate ethical responsibility. Leaving customers without 911 access or phone service is on the level of Enron corporate greed. Please take a moment to make your voice heard.

    NYTimes:
    "SunRocket was founded in 2004 and backed by Doll Capital Management, BlueRun Ventures and the Mayfield Fund."

    Doll Capital Management
    Silicon Valley Office
    2420 Sand Hill Road
    Suite 200
    Menlo Park, CA 94025
    Telephone: 650.233.1400
    Fax: 650.854.9159

    BlueRun Ventures
    BlueRun Menlo Park
    545 Middlefield Road,
    Suite 210
    Menlo Park, CA 94025
    United States
    Phone: +1 650 462 7250
    Fax: +1 650 462 7252

    Mayfield Fund
    2800 Sand Hill Road, Suite 250
    Menlo Park, CA 94025
    Phone: (650) 854-5560
    Fax: (650) 854-5712

    NYTimes:
    "The customers also could lose money paid in advance to SunRocket, which offered unlimited telephone service for a year for an upfront payment of $199, said Martin D. Pichinson, co-founder of Sherwood Partners, which signed a contract on Tuesday to handle the distribution of assets to creditors."

    CONTACT:
    Sherwood Partners
    Bernie Murphy
    650-329-9996 x235
  • rkuchiki, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Also, glad I didn't fall for this little trick they sent out May 17th:
    http://www.sunrocket.com/shared/epsilon/winback/images/winback-half.gif
  • billizm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Wow, I was just about to switch to SunRocket from Vonage because Vonage customer care sucks and SunRocket had the best deal. Guess I'll be sticking with Vonage for a while.
  • firelord24, on 10/11/2007, -0/+22 weeks ago you can dispute it when it hits your credit card.
  • visca, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2As a marketing affiliate for SunRocket, I was always puzzeled as to how they were going to make any money.

    Their agressive promotions such as the year of unlimited calling, all call features, free phones, no activation, no shipping fees, etc for $199 were enough to make you wonder on their own. But when you take into account that affiliates would pull in $100 per new customer, you REALLY had to wonder how they were going to keep rolling with only $100 per customer for the first year. The break even point would be somewhere between the end of the first year and eternity.

    The first sign this was coming was when the affiliate network sent out a notice last week that all SunRocket campaigns had been suspended. Other VoIP providers are unfortunately showing similar signs on the affiliate marketer's side - it is unfortunate that new customers are usually the last to know.
  • cgomez, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5This is a look into the future of Vonage.

    Heh.
  • firelord24, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I had just switched away from Sunrocket because it would randomly give a horrible screeching noise when talking to a cell phone. I wonder how long they were running right against the threshold.
  • drdom, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This should not come as a surprise to anyone. I signed up for SunRocket not once, but twice. I cancelled the first time when I couldn’t get more than 3 days uptime in a row. They convinced me to try them again claiming they had fixed their technical issues, but with the same results. I moved to viatalk, and have had no problems whatsoever. Vonage was also solid, however was more costly and lacked some features. Long term, if you pre-pay, you take your chances. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the comments of many. The cable companies have the stability and lower cost of operation. But their pricing isn’t better in my market than traditional telco. So what’s the point of switching to VoIP?
  • delhokie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2If you sign up for ViaTalk, use SHIPFREE as a coupon code for free shipping- I found this AFTER signing up for service. http://vtinside.com/blog.html
  • lodleader, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I live in springfield, mo and they just shut to doors and told people to GTFO. And then LP guys were checking their personal items to see if they were stealing any sunrocket equipment as they left. Around 200 people with no jobs with zero notice. I call BS.
  • tmanka, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm still getting sunrocket service....any bets on how long it will last??? Where are people switching to? Not sure if I want to pay up front again...I feel totally ripped off. :-(
  • Jook, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Just tell your new provider the number you want ported, plus the company name and your account #. Usually takes from 1-7 days. I have seen it as fast as 4 hours or as long as 2 weeks.
  • rkuchiki, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2According to a post on Broadband Reports, VoicePulse claims it can have your account back up within 24 hours due to using alot of the same "underlying carriers".
    http://www.voicepulse.com/

    Don't take my word for it.
    http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18660180~days=9999~start=1240 (first post on this page)
  • AlienHairball, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Follow up: service went down for me about an hour after I posted the above comment. :-( At this point I have dial tone, but can't actually place calls. The phone rings periodically and even shows caller ID, but there's only dead air if I try to answer. I've logged into my account on their website and set my number to forward to my cell phone, but no luck there. Calls to my home number either ring, ring, ring... disconnect or I get a cannot be completed recording.

    I've got a couple of co-workers that already jumped to ViaTalk. They couldn't afford to have their numbers down so had to do something fast. I'm not in as much of a rush so I may hold out another couple days and continue doing my research on VOIP options. I hope the rest of my fellow Sunrocket survivors end up with reasonable solutions and my sympathy goes out to the Sunrocket employees that got really the worst of all this.

    He's dead, Jim. Time to move on.
  • FordFrank, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5Just checked and my Sunrocket line is dead.

    So they bail out and leave everybody in the lurch with no notice. Anybody know offhand the names of the sleazeballs involved? I want to make a point of never again having anything to do with any company they're connected to.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2DAMMIT! Goddamn SunRocket! Our service was messed up all day yesterday!
  • noisey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Looks like its time to do some reading!
  • edhm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Just called the Bank to dispute the charges. Told them I signed up two months ago, company went bankrupt and that I could not get a hold of anyone at SR to get a refund (full or partial) for services not provided. The Bank gave me my money back while they investigate the case. Hopefully they rule in my favor but I wont know for a few weeks.
  • chevyorange, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Sunrocket. Suckrocket.
  • noisey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1They went down for me at around 7PM in Los Angeles.
  • nogami, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Which is why the rent-a-cops are checking everyone as they leave...
  • mordea, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I was supposed to be getting a raise and promoted to SunRocket technical support, but it was pushed back for unknown reasons about a month ago. I guess they were planning to shut down for a while now.
  • Pplus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I am wondering about the bigger issue of liability. There are a few comments scattered above that says their dial tone is gone and their service no longer works. If I hooked my Grandmother up with SunRocket, they shut her service off, and she has a heart attack and tries to call someone for help, there are going to be lawsuits. Bankruptcy and sign-up waiver forms be damned. They must be regulated by someone who will force them to work on some kind of emergency transition plan. You can't simply pull 200,000 customers life-lines and expect your excuse to be, "Sorry Grandma's family, we went bankrupt..." Or maybe they can, does anyone have any KNOWLEDGEABLE input on this issue?
  • paulajohnw, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Skype FTW
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