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

[tanman]

Anyone have problems with flashing over to a new caller?
ie. When talking on the phone with one person, another person calls in
you flash over to pick up the caller. It will pick up the new caller but when
you flash back to the other caller it is lost. After hanging up with the new caller
the old caller will now ring the phone even though he is already disconnected.
3-way calling is working just fine don't know why flashing over cause the original
caller to be disconnected.

Thanks for any info....

 

[notanotheracct]

Originally posted by: georgepa
notanotheract-

Honestly, I would keep the phones. They must get them in gigantic quantities at, say, $20 a pop. Just the shipping label back to them which they would provide for you and then the labor and paperwork in handling the returned product probably matches that. Besides, someone there may get the wrong idea and assume that you are returning your stuff because you are cancelling the service altogether.

eh. you're probably right. i just hope they don't give away to their demise. how long have they been around, one or two years?

for anyone with experience in porting numbers to and from SR, how long does it usually take to port a number to them usually (i have at&t)? and how long does it take port a number from SR to anyone else such as POTS or another VOIP?
i wanna port my number to them but just wanna know the ground rules. after tomorrow afternoon i might not have internet for a week or two, so i'd like to start the process ASAP.


[edit] and just to be reasurred again, i've got directv+directv brand dvr service, and a fax machine... these should all still work just fine on SR, right?

[edit 2] the number port form on SR, in your account...
Account Number (with that carrier): = the phone number (customer ID on at&t bill) you wanna port?
Caller Id Name: = only if you have caller id with existing carrier?

 

[bulletpr00f]

For the ones sticking gizmo in between router and ur cable or dsl modem, be aware of the slow down gizmo causes to basic your network connection.

Here is the article

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: bulletpr00f
For the ones sticking gizmo in between router and ur cable or dsl modem, be aware of the slow down gizmo causes to basic your network connection.

Here is the article

Let me guess.... Your name is Mike? (somewhat kidding... i'm just irritated that "blogs" have become "articles" -- right up there with the Associated Press and other real news. I clicked the link thinking I'd read some technical description by VoIP industry professionals on how the Gizmo works and some technical deficiency -- not "Mikes blog")

My suggestion is to place the gizmo behind the router (especially an insecure wireless router) unless you simply can't get it to work there and have no knowlege/desire to make it work. SR instructions suggest placing it ahead of the router because they have no way of predicting what issues your particular router may have if you ever experience a problem.
Something to consider is that the cable that comes packaged with the gizmo is a cross-over cable -- NOT a standard straight-through. I'm not using the packaged cable -- mostly because I was too lazy to look up if my router would work with it (plus the fact I already had other [standard] cables in place). Not really sure if this could be a source of issues, but maybe something to consider if your set-up doesn't work, or is flakey.

I personally (and recommend that all) place the gizmo after the router. There was a period of time when the WAN port interface was turned on, and a hacker very knowledgable with SR gizmos could potentially do some very devious things. SR rightfully turned if off again, but who knows if such a 'mistake' could happen again. (and it wouldn't be obvious to 99.9% of the users)

A note for new SR users just now setting up their gizmo and having issues:
When I first placed my gizmo behind my router, inbound calls initially did not work.
The phone would ring, but answering would leave me with "dead air" (and the caller heard the same "dead air"). Outbound calls worked fine. After much tinkering, I finally figured out that an inbound call triggered my (SMC Barricade) routers Denial-of-Service feature, and it was my router that was blocking an inbound call. An inbound call appeared to be an "attack" of unsolicited network traffic. Yay... that feature works .
To fix the issue, I logged into my SMC router and upped the threshold for what it determines is a DoS attack. SR has worked great ever since.
Symtoms: outbound calls work; in-bound calls make the phone ring -- but it appears dead upon answering.

 

[pulse8]

Well, I signed up for Sunrocket and my gizmo is on the way.

They have charged my card twice so far for the $199. When I called to ask why, the guy said that they shouldn't have charged my card at all yet and that it was supposed to be charged on the 7th. I had to send them a screen shot (edited for privacy of course) of my online banking so that they could see the charges and was told someone would be getting back to me. I haven't heard anything yet, but I hope this is a sign of things to come with Sunrocket.

 

[RideFree]

I haven't heard anything yet, but I hope this is a sign of things to come with Sunrocket.

Personally, I'm hoping that they do not charge your cc any more times...

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: RideFree

I haven't heard anything yet, but I hope this is a sign of things to come with Sunrocket.

Personally, I'm hoping that they do not charge your cc any more times...

You know what I mean.

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: hylanders
I signed up for SR one month ago after reading this forum. So far so good with quality, etc. I'm very pleased with the money saved. My problem is that my laptops won't sign on to my wireless system since I hooked up SR gizmo. (as described in directions of book by SR) When I try to sign on my system with my laptops I get asked for a WEB key. Before SR I had an open access (I know it isn't a good idea) therefore I never had a WEB key and I don't know how to get one. If it helps I have a Linksys Wireless router 2.4 Ghz 802.11b. I've had cordless phones before also and never had a problem with interference. I was always able to get on with a good signal with either lap top (one has an internal wifi and the other has a card), Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this? I called SR and the person they had no idea. FYI I'm not the most computer literate person.

Did you get this resolved?

Some ideas that come to mind are:
When you place the gizmo in front of the router, did you then reset the router and let it acquire its network settings from the gizmo? You should. If you didn't, your router probably has incorrect gateway info -- thus making an attempt to connect from a wifi-enabled laptop impossible. Once the router has been reset, if your laptop still has an issue -- reset it also. (either do a ipconfig renew, or power-down and restart it) If it still doesn't work right, look at your network settings on the laptop and make sure there isn't a hard-coded gateway (or even a hard-coded IP addy). Also verify that you aren't connecting to your neighbors wireless router -- mabe give your router a unique name (change it from whatever is the default for your router).
If you have a machine with a wired NIC, try using it to verify that you have access to the outside world (ping www.anandtech.com from the command line) -- just to help isolate the problem. (It may be your laptop, or it may be 'the network')
Post back your results for thngs you've tried, or PM me if you want to work through it.

edit: wth am I thinking.... Ignore the SR instruction sheet and put the gizmo behind your router. Done.
edit 2: and ya, an open wifi is a bad idea. Find the directions for logging into the admin web interface for your router and hunt around the menus for "Security", "WEP", or "Wireless settings". Once there, put some hard-to-guess gibberish in for a key (NOT "password", or "linksys", or "admin") -- and write it down on a piece of paper. Fire-up your laptop and go to the Network Connections under the Control Panel (assuming winXP, or most other versions of windows). Right-click on your wireless card icon and open the properties. Somewhere in there you can indicate a preferred connection -- put your wireless routers SSID in there. Also choose to use a wep key -- and plug in the hex codes that you wrote down. Sorry I can't be more specific at the moment, since I'm running my machine as a Restricted User and windows won't let me see the details. (You might want to look into creating a Restricted User account for everyday use... but that's a whole topic of its own). Maybe someone with a linksys can give you more specific info on where that setting is, if you can't find it.

 

[Robor]

Hey all... Been a while since I posted in this thread as I switched to Vonage a while back. So ask me, how is Vonage? Vonage has been great. Great clarity, no dropped calls, no issues with the features, waaaaaaait a minute. Since I ported my number over to Vonage I had been getting flagged by my friends "Call Interceptor" service (used to block anonymous calls). It happened once in a while and a 2nd call ususally went through. Well, today I called Vonage support and asked about it. They made 2 changes to my device and since then I can't call either friend with CI service.

Here's a warning to potential Vonage subscribers... The way Vonage handles CallerID is they pass only your telephone number out. Your name is identified "Unavailable" or "Out of Area" (according to my friends). Well, this doesn't work for me so I'm pretty much screwed. I'll be dumping Vonage as soon as I find another carrier. Isn't this fun? I'm sooooooooooo close to going back to Verizon POTS.

 

[mm60]

Originally posted by: ttown

Originally posted by: hylanders
I signed up for SR one month ago after reading this forum. So far so good with quality, etc. I'm very pleased with the money saved. My problem is that my laptops won't sign on to my wireless system since I hooked up SR gizmo. (as described in directions of book by SR) When I try to sign on my system with my laptops I get asked for a WEB key. Before SR I had an open access (I know it isn't a good idea) therefore I never had a WEB key and I don't know how to get one. If it helps I have a Linksys Wireless router 2.4 Ghz 802.11b. I've had cordless phones before also and never had a problem with interference. I was always able to get on with a good signal with either lap top (one has an internal wifi and the other has a card), Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this? I called SR and the person they had no idea. FYI I'm not the most computer literate person.

Did you get this resolved?

Some ideas that come to mind are:
When you place the gizmo in front of the router, did you then reset the router and let it acquire its network settings from the gizmo? You should. If you didn't, your router probably has incorrect gateway info -- thus making an attempt to connect from a wifi-enabled laptop impossible. Once the router has been reset, if your laptop still has an issue -- reset it also. (either do a ipconfig renew, or power-down and restart it) If it still doesn't work right, look at your network settings on the laptop and make sure there isn't a hard-coded gateway (or even a hard-coded IP addy). Also verify that you aren't connecting to your neighbors wireless router -- mabe give your router a unique name (change it from whatever is the default for your router).
If you have a machine with a wired NIC, try using it to verify that you have access to the outside world (ping www.anandtech.com from the command line) -- just to help isolate the problem. (It may be your laptop, or it may be 'the network')
Post back your results for thngs you've tried, or PM me if you want to work through it.

edit: wth am I thinking.... Ignore the SR instruction sheet and put the gizmo behind your router. Done.
edit 2: and ya, an open wifi is a bad idea. Find the directions for logging into the admin web interface for your router and hunt around the menus for "Security", "WEP", or "Wireless settings". Once there, put some hard-to-guess gibberish in for a key (NOT "password", or "linksys", or "admin") -- and write it down on a piece of paper. Fire-up your laptop and go to the Network Connections under the Control Panel (assuming winXP, or most other versions of windows). Right-click on your wireless card icon and open the properties. Somewhere in there you can indicate a preferred connection -- put your wireless routers SSID in there. Also choose to use a wep key -- and plug in the hex codes that you wrote down. Sorry I can't be more specific at the moment, since I'm running my machine as a Restricted User and windows won't let me see the details. (You might want to look into creating a Restricted User account for everyday use... but that's a whole topic of its own). Maybe someone with a linksys can give you more specific info on where that setting is, if you can't find it.

I have my gizmo in between my cable modem and router. I am planning on moving the gizmo behind the router (I have a Dlink DI-624). I will unplug the gizmo for an hour (to lose the IP address) and then plug it into the LAN port of my router.

I have read posts where it is possible to access the gizmo configuration screen when the gizmo is behind the router. Can someone please PM me with the details?

 

[bulletpr00f]

I'm lucky enough to kick SR out of my home for good and no my name is bond .. james bond.

I have previously placed the gizmo box behind two separate routers, wrtg54g and dlink 614. Alchemy firmware on wrt54g among all gave the worst results (breaking voice etc.). Nevertheless other trouble spots are (for cable people), # of splitters out or inside of your house and your signal strength.

The IMPORTANT part here is that SR as a company recommends you a certain network model (modem --> gizmo --> router ) as per their installation instructions and their hardware is horribly competent on multiple fronts.
1. Slows your network connectivity (I personally did not tested this and it is as per the "blog", link here )
2. Compromises your security
3. Continuously takes over your port 80

In addition when you deploy the gizmo behind the router you have to jump through the hoops in order to get to the admin module (through the LAN interface).

Originally posted by: ttown

Originally posted by: bulletpr00f
For the ones sticking gizmo in between router and ur cable or dsl modem, be aware of the slow down gizmo causes to basic your network connection.

Here is the article

Let me guess.... Your name is Mike? (somewhat kidding... i'm just irritated that "blogs" have become "articles" -- right up there with the Associated Press and other real news. I clicked the link thinking I'd read some technical description by VoIP industry professionals on how the Gizmo works and some technical deficiency -- not "Mikes blog")

My suggestion is to place the gizmo behind the router (especially an insecure wireless router) unless you simply can't get it to work there and have no knowlege/desire to make it work. SR instructions suggest placing it ahead of the router because they have no way of predicting what issues your particular router may have if you ever experience a problem.
Something to consider is that the cable that comes packaged with the gizmo is a cross-over cable -- NOT a standard straight-through. I'm not using the packaged cable -- mostly because I was too lazy to look up if my router would work with it (plus the fact I already had other [standard] cables in place). Not really sure if this could be a source of issues, but maybe something to consider if your set-up doesn't work, or is flakey.

I personally (and recommend that all) place the gizmo after the router. There was a period of time when the WAN port interface was turned on, and a hacker very knowledgable with SR gizmos could potentially do some very devious things. SR rightfully turned if off again, but who knows if such a 'mistake' could happen again. (and it wouldn't be obvious to 99.9% of the users)

A note for new SR users just now setting up their gizmo and having issues:
When I first placed my gizmo behind my router, inbound calls initially did not work.
The phone would ring, but answering would leave me with "dead air" (and the caller heard the same "dead air"). Outbound calls worked fine. After much tinkering, I finally figured out that an inbound call triggered my (SMC Barricade) routers Denial-of-Service feature, and it was my router that was blocking an inbound call. An inbound call appeared to be an "attack" of unsolicited network traffic. Yay... that feature works .
To fix the issue, I logged into my SMC router and upped the threshold for what it determines is a DoS attack. SR has worked great ever since.
Symtoms: outbound calls work; in-bound calls make the phone ring -- but it appears dead upon answering.

 

[SLEEPER5555]

i have two SR accounts and for a couple days now neither phone is sending through ID when i place calls. and when receiving calls they only ID with the # and CELL PHONE as the tag where the tag used to say the callers name (when calling from a cell) This all seemed to happen a few days ago when they fixed the issue with the incoming voicemail light on the phones (the light previously stayed on all the time even when there was no new voicemail)

Anyone else have this problem? HELP!

 

[ttown]

Originally posted by: SLEEPER5555
i have two SR accounts and for a couple days now neither phone is sending through ID when i place calls. and when receiving calls they only ID with the # and CELL PHONE as the tag where the tag used to say the callers name (when calling from a cell) This all seemed to happen a few days ago when they fixed the issue with the incoming voicemail light on the phones (the light previously stayed on all the time even when there was no new voicemail)

Anyone else have this problem? HELP!

Same problem here.... I just checked my caller-id, since I know I got a call from my friend with a cell phone yesterday -- sure enough: "CELL PHONE". It does show the number, though. I don't normally pay attention, so I can't say how long it's been like that.
Call em up and gitter fixed.

 

[GTFan]

Originally posted by: laketrout

Originally posted by: georgepa
Sunrocket has 96% of their area covered with full E-911.


96% of SunRocket Customers Have Full E-911

whereas

Vonage may be banned from adding new customers

Very interesting stuff. Was talking in another thread and someone brought up Vonage's potential IPO in the near future. This really going to cause some problems? Its great to see SR on the top of their game.

But the Vonage bash is very misleading, IMO. From a quote in the article:

"Vonage further said in the report that it was capable of transmitting a number and location for 100% of its users, but couldn?t do so because of lack of cooperation from competitors that control the 911 network."

Specifically, they have said that SBC has done everything in their power to keep Vonage from using the E-911 services under their control. It's hard to compare 911 availability for Vonage's 1 mil+ customers to SR's (relatively) puny 50k when the RBOC's don't want to play ball on that scale.

 

[DoozerM]

I just hooked up my Gizmo for the first time. Put it behind my DI-624, turned it on, and 1 minute later the Voice light came on. Sound quality is EXCELLENT, Caller ID works excellent both outbound and inbound. Cell phones show 'CELL PHONE' and the number, BUT Verizon POTS only showed the cell number with no name at all, so I am actually happy to have more than my old service did. BTW, the message screener IS documented at SR: https://www.sunrocket.com/shared/members/help/voicemail/screener.html Tomorrow, I am going to unhook my Verizon POTS from the demark box in my back yard and hook up the Gizmo to my phone system in the house. Then I have to test my Alarm system and Fax......

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: tanman
Anyone have problems with flashing over to a new caller?
ie. When talking on the phone with one person, another person calls in
you flash over to pick up the caller. It will pick up the new caller but when
you flash back to the other caller it is lost. After hanging up with the new caller
the old caller will now ring the phone even though he is already disconnected.
3-way calling is working just fine don't know why flashing over cause the original
caller to be disconnected.

Thanks for any info....

That was my experience with SunRocket as well. I switched to Vonage and I was able to be on a call, receive a new call, flip over, and flip back. However, the "phantom" caller was still there when I hung up and my phone rang just like yours. Had to pick it up and hang up to clear it.

 

[Drizzy]

So those of you that have or have had SR - would you recommend it or would you say go with Vonage? I'm looking to get Voip service real soon. I wish Vonage was 19.99 then I'd not even hesitate.

 

[DoozerM]

Originally posted by: Drizzy
So those of you that have or have had SR - would you recommend it or would you say go with Vonage? I'm looking to get Voip service real soon. I wish Vonage was 19.99 then I'd not even hesitate.

Drizzy - I just went through the same deliberation - Vonage vs. SR. Because of SR's pricing and no cancelation fee policy, I decided to try SR first. If it works (which so far in the 2 days that I have had it, even my wife is impressed), then I made the right choice. If after a while we see major issues that we cannot live with, then I would probably switch to Vonage, knowing that we gave the better priced option a chance first. Since Vonage is a higher price point and has cancellation fee's, I would rather choose it later rather than first. The one thing to keep in mind, SR is newer and growing fast, so it is bound to have more issues than Vonage due to its infancy in the business. All I hope is that as they grow, they solve the issues (whatever they are) as quickly as they possibly can. For the price I pay for their service (I have the $199 a year plan), I myself give them some slack. Others, however, may have different critieria and are just as correct in their decision to go with Vonage (or other VOIP) as I was in SR.

 

[spacelord]

I have had small ups and downs with Sunrocket. Mostly short service interuptions.. none lately though. A friend has Vonage and his has been 100% down for the past several days. Of course he hasn't had the time to call their tech support yet..

Is there any chance of us people with 12 months for $199 getting boosted to the 15 months?

 

[georgepa]

Well, we've seen how much good switching to Vonage did for Robor.

Seriously, IMO Sunrocket is the choice, even if prices were the same.

Price is about a third for the same thing, Vonage is seriously overpriced. Add all the fees on top and SRs feature advantage......

SR currently offers 15 months for $199, which comes out to $13.26 per month. You get a $3 int'l call credit per month, so true base cost could be as low as $10.26 per month. No shipping cost, no fees or taxes, so for a new startup true cost for the month is either $13.26 or $10.26 (if you call internationally).

Vonage's rate is $24.95 plus additional fees of $3.15 for a total of $28.10, almost $15.00 more (or $18 if you make international calls and use the $3 credit with SR.)

But, true apples to apples comparison also has to include the signature number. SR includes a "Signature line" with the basic service free of charge. You get a second phone number to use as you please. It could be the number for a family member, you could use it as a fax number or you could assign it as an ANYWHERE number (set up this number in an area code you have friends, family or clients and allow them to call you dialing a local number.) vonage charges $4.95 plus $1.50 phone number charge per month for that signature line, also another $0.65 in taxes/fees. SRs signature line comes with its own voicemail box, vonage's signature line is just another incoming line without voicemail box. Want to change the signature number from one area code to the next as your family moves or your needs change? SR does it for free, vonage charges $9.99 plus tax.

SR includes 2 free 411 calls per month, thereafter it is $0.75 per call. vonage charges $0.99 per 411 call starting from the first one. A savings of at least $2 per month if you use the 2 free 411 calls with SR.

SR has no activation fees, no shipping cost, no setup fees and no cancellation fees. In contrast vonage has a $29.99 activation fee, a $39.99 cancellation fee, $9.99 shipping cost.


So, the math:

For a new startup, SR comes out to $13.26 per month or $10.26 per month (for int'l callers.)

For a new startup Vonage (with the signature line SR has) comes out to $28.10 plus $7.10 for the signature line, plus $3.33 in startup fees/shipping cost for a total of $38.53.

Make 2 calls to 411 and you crack $40 with Vonage (cost is $0.99 per call) while SR stays at $13.26 (or 10.26 as it were) because of the 2 included 411 calls.



Features pro and con:

vonage's basic feature list includes a few items that I wish sunrocket had:

1. Busy Redialing - You get a busy signal, hit #5 and your phone will ring you back once the busy number has been reached by the system.

2. Forwarded numbers can be rung simulataneously. SR has sequential forwarding, so if someone calls your home number and the phone rings a set number of times it then rings on the next number listed (say, your cell) then the next number. A lot of rings go by before you may become aware that someone is trying to reach you. With Simulring you can have a few numbers ring simultaneously.

SR has a few features that vonage does not:


1. Better voicemail notification - When new voicemail comes in SR can be set up to notify via e-mail and cell phone, and also via IM (Yahoo, AOL, MSN, ICQ,) pager and SMS.

2. Second signature number with its own mailbox included.

3. Signature Message screener (discussed earlier in this thread)

4. Outgoing Caller ID WITH NAME. Vonage does not display your name with your Caller ID info, SR does.

5. Call Blocking - With SR you can selectively block calls from numbers you define. A long requested feature for Vonage. Vonage has no call blocking whatsoever.

6. DND/Selective Forwarding - You can set SR to Do Not Disturb and get no calls, or set it to call people from your "VIP" or "Family" groups only. Nothing of the sort with Vonage.

7. Contact Lists - Define speed dials from your contacts and simply dial "*01" from your phone

8. Anonymous Call Rejection - Get rid of those anonymous calls you get on your phone.


E-911 is currently deployed in 26% of Vonage's calling area, so it is hit or miss whether true 911 is available for someone's area, more likely not. SR's coverage is 97% of their customer base.

 

[georgepa]

Robor-

Sorry you have that problem with Vonage now. Seriously, if you want to give SR one more try I have a couple of extra gizmos around that are ready to be set up. As you can tell, the "turmoil" we had from early September's massive hardware upgrade is gone. Should work well for you this time around, because your previous issue was definitely due to a faulty gizmo. Since you are local I could swing by and get you set up the way everybody else I have turned on to SR in this area has been setup (basically 100% satisfaction rate.) We could post "how-to" pictures for readers on this site to show setup, equipment, our muggs, etc.


spacelord-

If your service is almost up I would imagine you could get the 15 month deal, no problem. If you are at the start or in the middle of your term it is not quite as easy as just asking. I checked with SR and you could actually refer yourself (giving yourself $50 referral credit) for a new service (Name could be your wife's or girlfriend's), then port your existing SR numbers over to the new service. Then, after the port is done, cancel your previous existing SR service. You'll have value from your referral and the extra 3 months.

 

[StumbleBum1]

Can anyone tell me if you can still get the free phones

 

[georgepa]

You sure can.

Different ways. At Sunrocket.com click on "Special offer" or just click on the phone the bird is standing on.

For monthly service there is a promo code to bring monthly cost down to $19.99, includes the 2 free phones, $3 int'l call credit, unlimited service, etc.

 

[funboy6942]

I been reading this thread and I see alot of problems in it. I have packet8 and I havent had one droped call or problem of any kind since getting it. I was thinking of grabing this deal but I am going to have to wait till I see if they get thier act together. I dont know if I should leave a place im not having any trouble with for one that seems to be having alot of erratic here and there mess ups.

But the free phones are so tempting

 

[StumbleBum1]

Originally posted by: georgepa
You sure can.

Different ways. At Sunrocket.com click on "Special offer" or just click on the phone the bird is standing on.

For monthly service there is a promo code to bring monthly cost down to $19.99, includes the 2 free phones, $3 int'l call credit, unlimited service, etc.

Time to dump Vontage now
I Just signed up $199 for a year with the free stuff..

thanks OP