Sun Rocket VS Vonage...

[MisfitsFiend]

Husband and I are looking to transfer our SBC service to either SR or vonage....damn CSR from SBC called one too many times trying to sell me long distance, and now it is time to make good with my threat....I am changing phone companies...


So, which one?? Both are in my area...

 

[loup garou]

Just signed up for SunRocket. I'll give my impressions once I'm all set up. $200 for a year of phone service is a great deal. The free phones didn't hurt either.

 

[RossMAN]

I also recently signed up with Sun Rocket, so far it's great

I love the online call detail and the features. Works out to $16/mo including taxes, charges and fees.

woot!!!!!!

 

[luv2chill]

Has anyone compared the two feature-wise. Is there anything Vonage offers that Sun Rocket doesn't (and vice versa)?

l2c

 

[MrNutz]

When I first started looking at VoIP I was seriously checking out Vonage. They didn't have my area code. I kept looking and ended up getting SunRocket even though they still don't have my area code. Their deal is too good.

How are they better than Vonage?
Customer service is better and they give you a free 2nd virtual number. (They call it a signature number.) Plus when you pre-pay for a year, you are only paying 16.88/month and you can get 2 Free cordless phones.

SunRocket good.

 

[MisfitsFiend]

just signed up for sunrocket...we'll see I hope there won't be too many problems with transferring my old number...

 

[jamesave]

i was wondering how much you guys paid for phone monthly (local and long distance)

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: jamesave
i was wondering how much you guys paid for phone monthly (local and long distance)

Local telephone service was $32 for local calls only including taxes, fees and surcharges.

Sun Rocket VOIP is only $16.88/mo ($199 per year prepaid) plus 2 free cordless phones and UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE plus $3 free international long distance every month. So my wife gets to call her family in Australia for 100 minutes per month, free

 

[MisfitsFiend]

I have an SBC "call pack" with 100 calls a month, no long distance...$33.00 or $35.00...having to use a calling card is getting pretty old though! and I go over the 100 calls...

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: jamesave
i was wondering how much you guys paid for phone monthly (local and long distance)

Local telephone ONLY was ~$24/mo after taxes, fees, fees and taxes on fees. Plus another ~$1.17 for LD "service" that I don't have, but they kept charging me monthly for anyway -- which is why I even considered VoIP.
I don't mind pre-paying to get better rates -- so $199/year at sunrocket was for me.

It took a while of impatient waiting before I got it (11 days shipped to WA) -- but it came and everything worked great right out of the box. I don't have incoming calls yet, but outgoing is fine and is good quality. The free phones (with promo-code) are still boxed -- cuz I don't really need them -- so I can't comment on the Uniden phones. Others seem to like them, and they appear feature filled.

One day, I may ask SR to change my "signature number" to one in a different area-code, so people I know in that area can call me (long-distance) free -- but they currently dont service the area I want (my home area is covered). I've heard that this is possible -- but don't see it asked in their FAQ.

The one feature I like about vonage that SR doesn't offer (yet?) is the "click-to-call" idea integrated with something like MS Outlook. I'm researching how I might be able to write my own contact-list-caller application that doesn't require me to log-in to their website.
Their website contact-list "manager" is fairly weak -- but probably good enough for most.
(Any software developers already put something simple together? I'd love to see/hear-about it. Java or vb.net code preferred, but I could probably get a good sense of what's going on in most any language.)
Also, something lacking in the call-log on the website is a call-duration statistic. Since international calls are limited to $3/mo -- how would someone know if they've exceeded their limit?? I don't know anyone over-seas, so it doesn't concern me -- but it might to other people. I guess you'd need to buy a stop-watch if you plan on using up just your $3/mo in international calls.

 

[jono8]

Vonage definately has more features (like automatic call forwarding when your internet is down), but for some reason I find that sunrocket has better voice quality which is more important to me, and their customer service is excellent. Also, if you make a lot of calls to Canada, Vonage includes those for free, but sunrocket doesn't (although you would get 100 minutes free/month with sunrocket since they give $3 of international calling credit per month)

 

[Doggiedog]

Does Sun Rocket have 911 service?

 

[aircooled]

sun rocket = not available in my area. but I do love my vonage!

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: jamesave
i was wondering how much you guys paid for phone monthly (local and long distance)

Local telephone service was $32 for local calls only including taxes, fees and surcharges.

Sun Rocket VOIP is only $16.88/mo ($199 per year prepaid) plus 2 free cordless phones and UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE plus $3 free international long distance every month. So my wife gets to call her family in Australia for 100 minutes per month, free

we all know you love free

 

[MisfitsFiend]

Does Sun Rocket have 911 service?

Yes

 

[Freejack2]

Been a vonage user for a couple of years now. I have 2 complaints about Vonage.
1) You can't use a fax modem to send or receive faxes. For the one time every 2 years that I need to fax something I use a pay per internet fax service. 2 pages cost me like 35 cents. Luckily I haven't needed to receive a fax yet.
2) Voicemail is seriously lagged. I have a cordless phone that blinks when there is a message and has autodial for the voicemail. More often than not the voicemail will either not answer or if it does it takes so long (upwards of 10 seconds) that it'll miss when the phone auto-enters the password. Also when it's like this it'll take as much as 2 days for the message light to stop blinking.

It's annoying, I know the fax situation probably applies to all voip services, but the voicemail they really need to fix.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Been a vonage user for a couple of years now. I have 2 complaints about Vonage.
1) You can't use a fax modem to send or receive faxes. For the one time every 2 years that I need to fax something I use a pay per internet fax service. 2 pages cost me like 35 cents. Luckily I haven't needed to receive a fax yet.
2) Voicemail is seriously lagged. I have a cordless phone that blinks when there is a message and has autodial for the voicemail. More often than not the voicemail will either not answer or if it does it takes so long (upwards of 10 seconds) that it'll miss when the phone auto-enters the password. Also when it's like this it'll take as much as 2 days for the message light to stop blinking.

It's annoying, I know the fax situation probably applies to all voip services, but the voicemail they really need to fix.

I only check my voicemail online. The moment I hit delete for the voicemail online, the light stops blinking.

 

[MisfitsFiend]

anyone else have issues with using a fax machine - I was hoping to use the second number for the fax...

 

[randomlinh]

anyone have a tivo and sunrocket? I'm contemplating getting a tivo... altho, I think a HTPC would be a better bet for me (no fees )

So far, voice quality is great I think.. but I still get an occasional echo here and there. My number is still waiting to be active for incoming calls though. After I test it, and find out from the local police how to test 911 to ensure it's working, then I will port the old number over. Our local only phone bill is ~$35 after taxes and such

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: MisfitsFiend
anyone else have issues with using a fax machine - I was hoping to use the second number for the fax...

According to the FAQ, you can. That's a great idea. I think I'll pick up a cheap fax to do the same.

The instructions are weird though. It sounds like the fax can be the only thing plugged in (since phone 2 is disabled). Anyone with a Gizmo want to chime in on what ports are on it? I have yet to see a picture of the device.

EDIT: Looking at the install guide, I don't see how it's possible to have both a fax and phone using the instructions from the FAQ. Maybe it'll be clearer once I actually start setting it up.

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: MisfitsFiend
anyone else have issues with using a fax machine - I was hoping to use the second number for the fax...

According to the FAQ, you can. That's a great idea. I think I'll pick up a cheap fax to do the same.

The instructions are weird though. It sounds like the fax can be the only thing plugged in (since phone 2 is disabled). Anyone with a Gizmo want to chime in on what ports are on it? I have yet to see a picture of the device.

EDIT: Looking at the install guide, I don't see how it's possible to have both a fax and phone using the instructions from the FAQ. Maybe it'll be clearer once I actually start setting it up.

Make sure you get a fax (or fax modem) that supports distinctive ring. I'm not sure if a fax machine has a pass-through phone-line port which would pass the "other" ring to it.
If not, you could just run a splitter off the gizmo's phone port.
If you're cheap and know exactly when you'll be getting/sending a fax -- you could get any fax/fax-modem and just turn it on/off as needed (so it doesn't need to support distinctive ring).
The back of the gizmo has 2 phone ports (2nd is not enabled 'yet'), a lan connection, a wan connection, and one labeled "life-line". I'm curious what the life-line is for.
hth

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: ttown

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: MisfitsFiend
anyone else have issues with using a fax machine - I was hoping to use the second number for the fax...

According to the FAQ, you can. That's a great idea. I think I'll pick up a cheap fax to do the same.

The instructions are weird though. It sounds like the fax can be the only thing plugged in (since phone 2 is disabled). Anyone with a Gizmo want to chime in on what ports are on it? I have yet to see a picture of the device.

EDIT: Looking at the install guide, I don't see how it's possible to have both a fax and phone using the instructions from the FAQ. Maybe it'll be clearer once I actually start setting it up.

Make sure you get a fax (or fax modem) that supports distinctive ring. I'm not sure if a fax machine has a pass-through phone-line port which would pass the "other" ring to it.
If not, you could just run a splitter off the gizmo's phone port.
If you're cheap and know exactly when you'll be getting/sending a fax -- you could get any fax/fax-modem and just turn it on/off as needed (so it doesn't need to support distinctive ring).
The back of the gizmo has 2 phone ports (2nd is not enabled 'yet'), a lan connection, a wan connection, and one labeled "life-line". I'm curious what the life-line is for.
hth

Thanks...I'll take a look around to see if I can find any cheap faxes with distinctive ring pickup. That's how I figured it would have to work.

From what I saw, the "lifeline" is a passthrough for a POTS line. If your internet connection goes down, it'll automatically switch you over to the POTS line. Kinda silly as the purpose of VOIP is to ditch your POTS, but it doesn't hurt having it there.

 

[dundevil]

Originally posted by: MisfitsFiend
anyone else have issues with using a fax machine - I was hoping to use the second number for the fax...

In SR the second number is NOT (yet) independent, like a second phone line. It is (supposed to be) a distictive ring on the same line. I have not yet got that to work.

I have sucessfully sent/received faxes, albeit a bit slower than on a land line. using SR. You cannot do faxes and talk at the same time on SR. I think that Vonnage charges extra for a fax gadget.

If SR would get port #2 working we would have two separate lines I think.

Dundevil

 

[SirPsycho]

Originally posted by: lnguyen
anyone have a tivo and sunrocket? I'm contemplating getting a tivo... altho, I think a HTPC would be a better bet for me (no fees )

So far, voice quality is great I think.. but I still get an occasional echo here and there. My number is still waiting to be active for incoming calls though. After I test it, and find out from the local police how to test 911 to ensure it's working, then I will port the old number over. Our local only phone bill is ~$35 after taxes and such

I have both, but I haven't tried Tivo using it, as I haven't disconnected my current land-line. Once I do that, I can have the phone lines in the house completely unhooked at the street so that all the phones in the house will go through SunRocket. My Tivo is currently downstairs, and the router and "gizmo" are both upstairs in the office. I'll probably haul it upstairs one of these days to see if I can get it to work, but it's kind of a pain to unhook from all the other equipment, so I haven't done it yet. I know I've seen posts about people getting Tivo to work with Vonage, but nothing so far either way about SunRocket. I'm guessing it's possible. I'll find out soon.

If it doesn't work, it will give me an excuse to crack open Tivo to install a Turbonet card (my Tivo is a Series One, so no USB ports), and I'll probably throw in a 200 GB hard drive and install some hacks at the same time. I wouldn't mind being able to add programs to the to-do list remotely, and I'd really like to have it display closed-captioning (my TV is too old to have it built in).

I'll let you know once I try it out.

 

[Pardus]

been with vonage for 6 mos now, service is great.. saving so much money over verizon.