VOIP SunRocket Internet Phone Service $199 for 15months = $13.27/month

[georgepa]

lotust-

If you have bandwith problems you should put the Gizmo behind the router and not worry about accessing it at all. Telco recommends putting their Access211 unit behind the router. I did so without any reconfiguration and it works perfectly. The only reason SR recommends it before the router is because of QOS settings. Most people have access to massive bandwidth. My Fios gives me 5000 down and 2000 up. I have almost no bandwidth loss at all, can download from multiple sources simultaneously without any call degradation. If you have Roadrunner Lite or DSL Lite with very low up you will have bandwidth issues, no matter where you place the gizmo. It is more an indication of POS connection in need of upgrade rather than an indictment of the Access211 router.

 

[randomlinh]

welp, after two months.. it seems to have deteriorated for me. echo's, static, not being able to make outgoing calls... I brought these up w/ tech support, but haven't had any response back. I believe it is partially due to my comcast connection not up to par as earlier in the year.

But regardless, it doesn't seem as though sunrocket is trying to help me whatsoever. I'm going to have to have verizon unfortunately. Reliability just isn't there anymore.

 

[georgepa]

lnguyen-

That has GOT to be all your broadband provider. For me and everybody I know who has been on it the service is as good and clear as ever. Seems to be so nationwide, we don't see massive "Call deterioration" reports. What exactly is SR supposed to be working with you on? Sounds weird. Since it is not SR you need to be working with Comcast to either upgrade your service to more bandwidth or work with you on getting your service back to previous levels. You wouldn't blame your TV's manufacturer (i.e. Sony) if your cable TV showed a grainier picture, no? You would call Comcast to get your cable quality back to acceptable levels, not Sony.

Given the bad reviews Comcast has been getting, you may want to put blame where it belongs:

http://www.broadbandreports.com/comment/1900/50404


As for SR, Reliability is there, your broadband provider just has gone down the drain. Until you fix that you won't find another VOIP provider using a similar codec working for you. If you can live with the lower call quality you may try to go with a provider like Packet 8, as it requires slightly less bandwith. However, I would suggest upping your broadband speed instead or getting whatever got you slowed down fixed up again. Once you get used to the quality of the g.711 codec you won't want to subject yourself to the latency issues and lower quality (crackling. echo) that comes with the "lower bandwith" services like Packet 8 or Lingo.

 

[georgepa]

tekwiz-

Found this in another forum:

>>>>>>I just got an update from sunrocket about callerid with name.

Actually I have just been informed today that the caller id fix has been delayed until on or by May 25th. But it is still in progess and being worked on.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Jeff
Sunrocket Member Services<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


Seems to be pushed off by 10 days.

 

[deejayshakur]

one more important tip (for those moving the gizmo behind to in front of your router):

make sure you go into the gizmo's settings>LAN>port forwarding and FORWARD the standard ports: 21, 80, 443, 110, 53, and for bittorrent as well if you use it. internet browsing was SUPER slow all night and it took me a while to figure out why. again, it coulda been due to my own stupidity cause SR doesn't remind us to do this, but it really does speed things up. SR missed another near hit. good luck!

 

[imported_TekWiz]

Originally posted by: georgepa
tekwiz-

Found this in another forum:

>>>>>>I just got an update from sunrocket about callerid with name.

Actually I have just been informed today that the caller id fix has been delayed until on or by May 25th. But it is still in progess and being worked on.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Jeff
Sunrocket Member Services<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


Seems to be pushed off by 10 days.

Ohhhhhhhh:disgust:, .... was really looking forward to it... I wonder why it's such a big issue... With all this technology, can't be that difficult!!! Send man to moon, but have people's name show up on caller ID...

 

[Ctown]

Originally posted by: TekWiz

Originally posted by: georgepa
tekwiz-

Found this in another forum:

>>>>>>I just got an update from sunrocket about callerid with name.

Actually I have just been informed today that the caller id fix has been delayed until on or by May 25th. But it is still in progess and being worked on.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Jeff
Sunrocket Member Services<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


Seems to be pushed off by 10 days.

Ohhhhhhhh:disgust:, .... was really looking forward to it... I wonder why it's such a big issue... With all this technology, can't be that difficult!!! Send man to moon, but have people's name show up on caller ID...

What a bunch of crap. I think they're just stringing us along. If they don't have a date, just tell us they don't know. I'm tired of getting false commitments.....

 

[NightFalcon]

Hi there, not that it looks like there's an absence of opinions in this thread, thought I'd share mine so far for those that are thinking about switching. I've had the service for almost a month now and have only good things to say about it. Absolutely no problems with call quality (no echoes, static, or anything else), and the features are top-notch.

For the debate on networking the gizmo, I spent a few hours last night playing around with it and now have it functioning without a problem from behind my firewall (I use m0n0wall btw). The only issue I encountered with that is that this thing doesn't seem to want to switch its LAN ip. If I change my computer to be on the 192.168.251.0 network then I can talk to it just fine. When I try changing the LAN it to be on my 192.168.2.0 network which is where most of my stuff is, that thing seems to work once and then reverts back to the old ip. Quite strange. But at any rate, I disabled the DHCP server and all the other non-essential features on the gizmo, added its MAC to the DHCP server that is on my firewall, and gave it permission to access WAN. From there on it had no problems connecting.

Glad to see that the caller ID issue is not just me. I was wondering about why all the calls show up as Anonymous, I guess I found the answer. Don't really mind it for the time. Sent in my request to have my verizon number transferred and now just waiting for that to happen. Overall really happy with the service so far, and it was also nice to actually be able to talk with their tech without waiting when I was first setting it up.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: georgepa
lnguyen-

That has GOT to be all your broadband provider. For me and everybody I know who has been on it the service is as good and clear as ever. Seems to be so nationwide, we don't see massive "Call deterioration" reports. What exactly is SR supposed to be working with you on? Sounds weird. Since it is not SR you need to be working with Comcast to either upgrade your service to more bandwidth or work with you on getting your service back to previous levels. You wouldn't blame your TV's manufacturer (i.e. Sony) if your cable TV showed a grainier picture, no? You would call Comcast to get your cable quality back to acceptable levels, not Sony.

Given the bad reviews Comcast has been getting, you may want to put blame where it belongs:

http://www.broadbandreports.com/comment/1900/50404


As for SR, Reliability is there, your broadband provider just has gone down the drain. Until you fix that you won't find another VOIP provider using a similar codec working for you. If you can live with the lower call quality you may try to go with a provider like Packet 8, as it requires slightly less bandwith. However, I would suggest upping your broadband speed instead or getting whatever got you slowed down fixed up again. Once you get used to the quality of the g.711 codec you won't want to subject yourself to the latency issues and lower quality (crackling. echo) that comes with the "lower bandwith" services like Packet 8 or Lingo.

I completely understand there's probably a good amount of fault at comcast, but they won't fix anything most likely. Regardless, I've felt that sunrocket has been ignoring me honestly. For example, I have an issue where when full upload speeds are being utilized, and you try to dial out, the gizmo can't take priority for some reason. I've asked sunrocket numerous times, they tell me to gather info and send to their noc, and I get zero reponse back. Hell, I'd accept the "you need to work w/ comcast" answer, but I don't even get that.

 

[Jlensbo]

I cannot get my fax machine to send anything thru my SR account.

Has anyone found any tweaks that can be done to the fax machine to make a successful send?

Thanx!

 

[GTFan]

Originally posted by: lnguyen
I completely understand there's probably a good amount of fault at comcast, but they won't fix anything most likely.

It's up to you to force them to do something - I find that contacting my county's cable franchise authority will often get them off their rear to fix probs. You can't even start with SR until you get Comcast to fix your HSI, it's just a waste of time.

 

[georgepa]

The Caller ID thing is not up to Sunrocket. If you recall some people had NAME CALLER ID working right away with Sunrocket. That is because their lines are with FOCAL COMMUNICATIONS. The lines that are being handled by GLOBAL CROSSINGS are having that problem. So, anyone who can see "Name Caller ID" is with FOCAL, the other group is with GLOBAL CROSSINGS. You may try another exchange in your local area code to see if it is being handled by FOCAL. Now, keep in mind that if you switch your number to FOCAL you have to wait for incoming calls to work for about 10 days. That is the other thing: If you recall, some people reported having to wait for incoming calls for 10 days or so. Others reported that they were able to receive calls right away. That is because the former group is with FOCAL (and had to wait, but have their Name Caller Id working) and the latter group is with GLOBAL (worked right away, but no Name Caller ID.)

I checked and in my area I have only GLOBAL CROSSINGS, but some other areas use both (I believe LA and NY.) So, I'll have to wait until GLOBAL CROSSINGS gets this fixed. If you have a choice between the two you may want to try to flip one of your two numbers to FOCAL (of course, you'll have to wait 10 days for incoming at that point.)

Just a FYI as there seems to be misconception about SR's abilities here. Most people believe that for some people to have incoming working right away vs. waiting for 10 days and for some to have Name Caller ID working while others don't see it has something to do with SR having a quirky system, when in reality it is a clear split between two separate carriers that is creating both of these issues.

It is not Sunrocket per se, as they are working with the signals provided by GLOBAL CROSSINGS.

 

[Rat007]

my experance so far

well upon calling customer service today
to check on a new tracking number for my
misdirected package tracking# 1za752r403132xxxxx
that apparently was sent to texas and
supposedly rectified with a new order that
was taken care of the other day via chat
with matthew ticket number 75xxx
and it was not taken care of according to
the rep i spoke to on the phone today
i'm kind of flustered also talking to the rep
i had a distinct echo of my voice coming back to me
if this is how the service works i'm kind of worried
and one more thing i asked the rep if my order
was going to be expedited and he had no clue what
expedited meant then after i explained he said no
this is the second shipping problem

 

[mm60]

Do not know if any of you have encountered this problem. The message waiting light on my phones seems to have some sort of issue. Sometimes, when I receive a message, the light on the phones starts blinking. After I delete the message, the light does not go off. For example, I had a message yesterday evening at 3:00 p.m., which I deleted promptly. My message waiting light was flashing until this morning. I received another message at 11:00 am, which I deleted. The lights stopped blinking right away. I have complained twice to CSR, but they keep saying that it is a problem with the phones - I use the SunRocket Unidens with 4 handsets and a VTech system with 2 handsets. They told me to disconnect the power from the phones. I told them that the phones are cordless phones and that even if I disconnect the base, the handsets run on batteries (I tried their suggestion anyway which did not work). They then said remove the batteries from the phones. I told them that this was 2 separate phone systems which were not working - which seems to me like a problem with their signal to the phones to make the light blink. If anyone has a solution for this problem, please post it.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: GTFan

Originally posted by: lnguyen
I completely understand there's probably a good amount of fault at comcast, but they won't fix anything most likely.

It's up to you to force them to do something - I find that contacting my county's cable franchise authority will often get them off their rear to fix probs. You can't even start with SR until you get Comcast to fix your HSI, it's just a waste of time.

while true, it takes forever to deal w/ comcast. right now, it's not my high priority, i just need to get back reliable phone service fast. but again, it's not sunrocket's actual service I have any problems with, there are too many variables. The customer service I've had is just not up to par as it was back in January IMO.

 

[lotust]

while true, it takes forever to deal w/ comcast. right now, it's not my high priority, i just need to get back reliable phone service fast. but again, it's not sunrocket's actual service I have any problems with, there are too many variables. The customer service I've had is just not up to par as it was back in January IMO.

yep im in the same boat.

 

[deejayshakur]

**more problems: after getting the gizmo working in front of the router, internet traffic has encountered a MAJOR traffic jam. even after forwarding all the aforementioned ports, i get many connection time outs, all across the network (5 desktops and 1 laptop). right now, i'm fed up with it and ripped out the gizmo. with my bare d-link router, speeds are back to normal.

i'm guessing the gizmo is a very incompetent piece of hardware, even with the latest firmware (4.54). it seems to be the root of the unsolved problem of cutting peoples' downstream speeds nearly in half. whatever it is, i think i'll give SR one more chance and request a new gizmo. if that doesn't do it, i'll probably have to cancel unless anybody has any suggestions. i've tried hard to like SR, but it may be impossible.

 

[randomlinh]

i'm guessing the gizmo is a very incompetent piece of hardware, even with the latest firmware (4.54)

see, that is interesting... i was trying to find out if i had the latest firmware (again, like I said, sunrocket could not get back to me on this), and I definately sitting on 4.50.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: deejayshakur
**more problems: after getting the gizmo working in front of the router, internet traffic has encountered a MAJOR traffic jam. even after forwarding all the aforementioned ports, i get many connection time outs, all across the network (5 desktops and 1 laptop). right now, i'm fed up with it and ripped out the gizmo. with my bare d-link router, speeds are back to normal.

i'm guessing the gizmo is a very incompetent piece of hardware, even with the latest firmware (4.54). it seems to be the root of the unsolved problem of cutting peoples' downstream speeds nearly in half. whatever it is, i think i'll give SR one more chance and request a new gizmo. if that doesn't do it, i'll probably have to cancel unless anybody has any suggestions. i've tried hard to like SR, but it may be impossible.

I would try the gizmo with another brand router.

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: deejayshakur
**more problems: after getting the gizmo working in front of the router, internet traffic has encountered a MAJOR traffic jam. even after forwarding all the aforementioned ports, i get many connection time outs, all across the network (5 desktops and 1 laptop). right now, i'm fed up with it and ripped out the gizmo. with my bare d-link router, speeds are back to normal.

i'm guessing the gizmo is a very incompetent piece of hardware, even with the latest firmware (4.54). it seems to be the root of the unsolved problem of cutting peoples' downstream speeds nearly in half. whatever it is, i think i'll give SR one more chance and request a new gizmo. if that doesn't do it, i'll probably have to cancel unless anybody has any suggestions. i've tried hard to like SR, but it may be impossible.

Have you looked at the QoS settings for your gizmo? You may be able to fix your problem by only letting your gizmo have "some" of your bandwidth -- and not hog it all.
Or, try putting the gizmo behind your router. That's how I have mine, and it works well.

edit: (after re-reading your issues)...If you just put your gizmo in front of your router, you'd need to reset your router, and at least do a "ipconfig /renew_all" (or turn-off/on) on your PC's/laptop. The connection time-outs may be DNS issues related to you plopping in the gizmo between your router and modem.

 

[deejayshakur]

Originally posted by: ttown
Have you looked at the QoS settings for your gizmo? You may be able to fix your problem by only letting your gizmo have "some" of your bandwidth -- and not hog it all.
Or, try putting the gizmo behind your router. That's how I have mine, and it works well.

edit: (after re-reading your issues)...If you just put your gizmo in front of your router, you'd need to reset your router, and at least do a "ipconfig /renew_all" (or turn-off/on) on your PC's/laptop. The connection time-outs may be DNS issues related to you plopping in the gizmo between your router and modem.

believe me, everything except the kitchen sink has been turned off and thoroughly reset. routerwise, i have disabled pppoe and let the gizmo handle that. anything else?

i have already enabled dynamic rate limiting (with a setting of 280 kbps, about 100kbps less than my full upstream) and putting the gizmo behind the router makes the phone unusable.

to werk, i have read about compatibility issues with the gizmo and some routers (anybody using a dlink di-524?) but i'm not about to go out and get another router just for this.

 

[laketrout]

Check this out...

Go to the sunrocket web-site and click on the phone that the parrot is standing on... INSTANT PROMO CODE. Heh. Enjoy

http://www.sunrocket.com

On another note -- when I answer a call on one Uniden phone the second phone lists it as a "new call." Is this just a call log or is it a missed call log? Anyone else got that?

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: deejayshakur
...snip...
i have already enabled dynamic rate limiting (with a setting of 280 kbps, about 100kbps less than my full upstream) and putting the gizmo behind the router makes the phone unusable.

to werk, i have read about compatibility issues with the gizmo and some routers (anybody using a dlink di-524?) but i'm not about to go out and get another router just for this.

What does "unusable" mean? can't receive calls? can't initiate calls? works, but has echos?
When I first set mine up behind the firewall, mine wouldn't work for inbound calls -- and it turned out being my routers DoS settings. I upped a few thresholds and everything worked well since. I've been in another PM conversation with someone mentioning how they had to do lots of port-forwarding stuff to make the gizmo work.... He changed his DoS settings like I mentioned, and all was fixed for him, too. (and he didn't have to mess with port-forwarding, which -- neither do I)

When it's hooked up behind a firewall, can you connect another PC off the lan port -- and ping any external address? (like: ping 66.117.33.58) If not, then there's a network issue -- not a phone service issue.

You might also try downloading the latest firmware for your dlink HERE. I had an unrelated issue with my SMC router that was fixed with a firmware flash. It happened before I got the gizmo, but I'm fairly sure the issue would have badly affected the gizmo. (My router would "drop" my yahoo login every 20 minutes (exactly 20). Had I not fixed it, I wouldn't doubt that whatever the bug was would also have affected my phone/gizmo every 20 minutes, too)

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: laketrout
Check this out...

Go to the sunrocket web-site and click on the phone that the parrot is standing on... INSTANT PROMO CODE. Heh. Enjoy

Now, why would anyone do that when there's so many willing referers here!
Same promo, plus you help a fellow AT'er out....

 

[deejayshakur]

Originally posted by: ttown
What does "unusable" mean? can't receive calls? can't initiate calls? works, but has echos?

unusable = outbound and incoming calls connect fine. then after 5-10 minutes, the other party (regardless of if they called me or if i called them) cannot hear my voice or sounds become garbled. i can always hear them fine.

i'm almost certain that i'm using the latest fw for my dlink (i'll have to double check when i get home from work tonight).

diagnosis?