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

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astrosfan90

Golden Member
Mar 17, 2005
1,156
0
0
Originally posted by: Ensign
I disagree. The cause of the problem is completely relevant. Look how Verizon usually blames people's house phone wiring when a customer has a problem with their service.

Sounds like you want to blame SR for a Comcast problem? That doesn't make too much sense.

Oh well...

This is actually why I left Verizon and eventually went with SR to begin with. Verizon told me after my service stopped working 24 hours after getting it that there was a problem with the wiring in my house and they would happily send someone out to fix it. For $200. I had the barebones plan just to have a landline for 911/local calls, and I wasn't about to pay them for almost a year's worth of service to figure out what they did wrong (since I hadn't changed a thing since it was working the day before).

Anyway, it's one thing for my service to drop for short periods every once in a while. It's entirely another for my service to crap out on me completely and the company I'm paying for it to tell me they'll happily fix it for me if I pay them the equivalent of 6-12 months of service on top of paying for that service to begin with.

I think people really are losing sight of that. We're paying an extremely low price for a service that for me at least is up 99% of the time and works beautifully. I was paying more for the barebones Verizon line and couldn't call long distance. With SR I pay less and can not only call across the country for free, but I can call internationally for pocket change.
 

Ensign

Senior member
Dec 7, 2001
281
0
0
Oh well, I tried...

Clearly, you were not satisfied with SR and you are willing to blame everything on them. Perhaps there is a language barrier, as you seem to have a very "loose" grasp of English. (Please notice the proper usage of "loose" as opposed to "lose.")

At any rate, I am satisifed with the SR service after a little over a month of using it. It works great for me so far. Sorry you didn't have more success.

Originally posted by: bulletpr00f
If you think from the customer perspective , it does not matter whether it is SR, comcast, marsians, bush, saddam or whatever the reason may be. If my phone is down, it is down. I bet my $5 on the fact that, if the comcast servers go down for 15 days, SR will loose ton of customers. What happened to it is a comcast problem? The entire chain affects the delivery, saying "I only worry about my little world and do not care about the rest" can not be addressed in anyway other than ignorance.

 

georgepa

Senior member
Apr 3, 2005
498
0
0
Call quality is awesome, as good, in many cases better than landline. For US users there is no lag or echo with this service.

If it is worth getting over messenger with voice depends on what you are looking for.

This costs $16.58 per month, messenger with voice is usually free. You get a $60 phone system for free, so that's some value right there. You also get $3.00 per month in international usage, so, realistically, with the values factored in you really actually pay between $10 and $12 per month for the first year. The big difference to messengers with voice is that this acts more like your regular phone line. You get a box that you plug into your internet and into it you plug the phones they ship with it (or any other phone.) You get a dialtone and talk on a regular phone. You can call any phone, local or in another city. With messenger you are tied to the computer with a headphone set or USB phone and you can only call others who are at their computer with the Messenger with voice active.

There is a big difference in the two types of phone services. Whether it is worth it to pay for VOIP depends on many factors, but keep in mind that some of us have been able to ditch traditional phone lines with this and save a bundle. It is always important to have adequate backup such as cell phones or possibly a stripped-down landline in case of emergencies.
 

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
2
0
Need help w something, been getting a typical telemarketing hang-up call for a week or so now. It shows up as "Unknown/Unknown Number" on caller id and on the website it shows 'Unknown' under caller and just a dash under the phone. I am on the Do Not Call List so that's obviously ineffective in this situation and on Sunrocket's site I have enabled 'block anonymous calls'. Tried blocking "-" but it's obviously not enough digits.....anything I can do to stop this?
 

JoeBaD

Banned
May 24, 2000
822
0
0
My experience with Sun Rocket wasn't as good. The voice quality was quite poor.

However, when I called SR to cancel, even after the initial 30 days they gave me a full $199 credit.

... And I didn't have to return either the gizmo or the phones!

When I feel more confident re: VOIP I will definitely give SR another try. Great customer service like this deserves my future consideration.

Highly recommend. Even though it didn't work out for me it seems to work out for many and they DID take care of me.



 

MerlinRML

Senior member
Sep 9, 2005
207
0
71
I started as a sunrocket customer towards the middle/end of July. For about the first month, my experience was great. Everything worked out of the box, voice quality was great (much better than a cell), no real complaints.

Towards the end of August, I tried calling my sunrocket number and got a busy signal. It was strange, since I should have gone to voice mail. I check out the website, and there's a nice big announcement on the site about the outage. It lasted about 2 full days for me. They were very communicative about it, I knew what was going on, I knew why. I wasn't thrilled about this, but it was the first real problem, and I still had a cell if I needed the phone.

Mid to late September, I try to check my voice mail. Busy signal. There was apparently an outage. However, this time there was no communication about it. I tried going to the online support chat, everyone was busy. I tried calling support, but after 15 minutes on hold, I gave up. I emailed support. The next day everything was working again, but there was no response from sunrocket. There was no communication on the website, and support never even bothered to respond to my email.

Late September, the voice mail light kept flashing on the phones even when there was no voice mail. I got in touch with support, and they had me try a number of things to no avail. It took 3 weeks, but something eventually got fixed as it finally stopped flashing.

Last weekend, Mid-October, my internet connection went down. It was strange, however, as the phone continued to work, but none of the 3 computers on my network could access web pages. Network troubleshooting showed the problem area to be my cable modem. I started working with comcast tech support, but they kept saying my modem looked good from their end. After about 3-4 hours of trial and error, I tracked the problem down to my gizmo. For some reason, it would just fail after a few minutes and not allow any traffic through, except voice. I fixed this problem by moving my gizmo behind my router, whereas before it was in front of my router. I called sunrocket support, they had just done some upgrades recently. The rep on the phone asked me to fill out a QOS document, which had nothing to do with anything except voice quality, and email it back. I emailed it back 3 days ago and I've got no response yet.

My opinion is that sunrocket is a very low cost service, and when it works it works great. However, I've not had more than a single month without hitting some kind of problem with their service. I'm not jumping ship yet, since I love the idea of VOIP, however, I really can't recommend sunrocket if you're looking for reliable phone service.
 

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
2
0
Just wanted to chime in and say that I've been a customer since February and I've been very happy with the server from beginning to end. Any call quality issues I've had I can directly attribute to maxing out my upload speeds from torrents. Started limiting my uploads to 25KB/s and never had an issue ever since. By far the hottest deal of the year.
 

ttown

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2003
2,412
0
0
Originally posted by: MerlinRML
...snip...
Last weekend, Mid-October, my internet connection went down. It was strange, however, as the phone continued to work, but none of the 3 computers on my network could access web pages. Network troubleshooting showed the problem area to be my cable modem. I started working with comcast tech support, but they kept saying my modem looked good from their end. After about 3-4 hours of trial and error, I tracked the problem down to my gizmo. For some reason, it would just fail after a few minutes and not allow any traffic through, except voice. I fixed this problem by moving my gizmo behind my router, whereas before it was in front of my router.
...snip...
That has all the signs of a DNS problem. Try resetting the gizmo so that it re-acquires it's name server settings -- either from your router, or your isp -- and then things should be fine. Unless you have some reason to put it in front of your router, I'd recommend leaving it behind it. Test incoming calls to make sure your router/firewall isn't blocking them.

 

MerlinRML

Senior member
Sep 9, 2005
207
0
71
I too thought it might be a DNS problem during my troubleshooting, but that was not the case. I'll add some more details. I did not expect anyone would want to help troubleshoot my problems

My configuration followed sunrockets recommended setup. Internet connection, which is through a motoral sb5100 cable modem, connects to the gizmo, which then connects to a microsoft mn-500 wireless router. 2 laptops connect wirelessly, 1 desktop is wired to the router.

I'll summarize to just give the facts, not necessarily in the order that I found them. So I came to the computer, and web pages were not loading. The phone was working, however. Ping showed packets were not getting to either internet names or IP addresses. traceroute showed traffic passing both routers but not hitting the gateway and disappearing after that. Note that the routers appeared to be working fine according to traceroute. I could access both routers through their management interface, but I could not access the cable modem through its web tool. This is why I thought it was a problem with the cable modem. Additionally, I found that if I reset both routers (but I could leave the cable modem completely alone), web pages would load successfully for 5-10 minutes before the problem reappeared. I started a continuous ping and would wait until the traffic just started failing for no apparent reason. I reset the routers about 6 times and watched the problem come back each time before giving up and realizing there was something happening with the routers that I would have to track down.

I started reconfiguring. I plugged a laptop directly into the cable modem. 30 minutes, no problem. I plugged the wireless router in the cable modem, then the laptop into the router. no problem for 30 minutes. I removed the wireless router, plugged the gizmo back into the cable modem and hung the router off the gizmo. 12 minutes later, the problem reappeared. It was at this point I moved the gizmo behind the router and everything has been working fine since.

I am more than open to ideas or suggestions you guys might have.
 

laketrout

Senior member
Mar 1, 2005
672
0
0
I think it is time for me to make the switch as well with my gizmo location. My wireless router appears to be dead but I fear that the gizmo may be getting int he way. Plus side, sunrocet has been exceptional lately. I'll update later.

On a side note, I ma going to china in a week and was considering bringing my gizmo to test out the international capabilities. Supposedly I will have internet access. Anything I need to know from anyone who has traveled overseas with the device?
 

RideFree

Diamond Member
Jul 25, 2001
3,433
2
0
Originally posted by: laketrout
...I ma going to china in a week and was considering bringing my gizmo to test out the international capabilities.
You're "considering" bringing the Gizmo?
Earth to Lake...bring the Gizmo...

 

Navid

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2004
5,053
0
0
SunRocket is not available in my area. But, packet8 or Lingo or Vontage are all available here.
Where can I find a comparison between different service providers?

I do not make many phone calls. So, I am considering getting the $7.95/mo from Lingo.
http://www.lingo.com/voip/residential/link_internet_phone_service.jsp
But, I am worried that I may be sorry.
Can anyone point me to where I can get more info/comparisons?

Can I use a regular answering machine with these VOIP services, or do I have to use the voice mail that comes with the service?
 

georgepa

Senior member
Apr 3, 2005
498
0
0
laketrout-

Bring it along with a phone. It should be fine, even from China. Only thing is that you need broadband, not just internet access. I know Asia has been at the forefront in providing inexpensive broadband to the masses with speeds unheard of in the US, not sure about China though.
 

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
2
0
Originally posted by: Navid
SunRocket is not available in my area. But, packet8 or Lingo or Vontage are all available here.
Where can I find a comparison between different service providers?

I do not make many phone calls. So, I am considering getting the $7.95/mo from Lingo.
http://www.lingo.com/voip/residential/link_internet_phone_service.jsp
But, I am worried that I may be sorry.
Can anyone point me to where I can get more info/comparisons?

Can I use a regular answering machine with these VOIP services, or do I have to use the voice mail that comes with the service?

$30 activation fee + $40 if you cancel within a year +.03/minute? Do you have a mobile phone? If so, I would think you're better off just bumping up your plan with them.

 

Navid

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2004
5,053
0
0
Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
$30 activation fee + $40 if you cancel within a year +.03/minute? Do you have a mobile phone? If so, I would think you're better off just bumping up your plan with them.

I do have a cell phone. But, I don't want to lose my landline number. My plan is to transfer the number to Lingo.
I don't even call for 100 minutes a month. Even if I do, it will be $3.00, which is ($10.95) much less than what I am paying now for my landline.
Their long distance rates look amazing too.

Please answer:
Can I use a regular answering machine with these services?
Can I call a 1-800 number for free in the US if I live in the US?
 

georgepa

Senior member
Apr 3, 2005
498
0
0
Lingo is a poor choice due to the voice codec used. The same is true for Packet 8. Call quality is not up to par. Look for a provider that uses the better codec, g711u. If SR is not available out of the 3 that would be Vonage. You are better off with either Broadvoice or Voicepulse, if available. Voip.net is also a better choice.

To your questions: Yes, you can use a standard answering machine.

If you are getting the limited minute plans 1-800 calls should still be included for free.

What city in NC are you installing this in?
 

Navid

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2004
5,053
0
0
Originally posted by: georgepa
Lingo is a poor choice due to the voice codec used. The same is true for Packet 8. Call quality is not up to par. Look for a provider that uses the better codec, g711u. If SR is not available out of the 3 that would be Vonage. You are better off with either Broadvoice or Voicepulse, if available. Voip.net is also a better choice.

To your questions: Yes, you can use a standard answering machine.

If you are getting the limited minute plans 1-800 calls should still be included for free.

What city in NC are you installing this in?

Thank you for all the tips. :beer:
Greensboro, NC
 

bulletpr00f

Member
May 30, 2004
80
0
0
Originally posted by: laketrout
I think it is time for me to make the switch as well with my gizmo location. My wireless router appears to be dead but I fear that the gizmo may be getting int he way. Plus side, sunrocet has been exceptional lately. I'll update later.

On a side note, I ma going to china in a week and was considering bringing my gizmo to test out the international capabilities. Supposedly I will have internet access. Anything I need to know from anyone who has traveled overseas with the device?


Make sure you have at least 128 KBPS upload. I used 64 and it was brutal. I could hear people but they could not hear me. If you have any kind of issue with SR and need to contact customer support via chat, do not mention to them that you are connecting from China. For whatever reason, when you use the "overseas" word, the response simply is "it is not supported".
 

bulletpr00f

Member
May 30, 2004
80
0
0
Originally posted by: astrosfan90
Originally posted by: Ensign
I disagree. The cause of the problem is completely relevant. Look how Verizon usually blames people's house phone wiring when a customer has a problem with their service.

Sounds like you want to blame SR for a Comcast problem? That doesn't make too much sense.

Oh well...

This is actually why I left Verizon and eventually went with SR to begin with. Verizon told me after my service stopped working 24 hours after getting it that there was a problem with the wiring in my house and they would happily send someone out to fix it. For $200. I had the barebones plan just to have a landline for 911/local calls, and I wasn't about to pay them for almost a year's worth of service to figure out what they did wrong (since I hadn't changed a thing since it was working the day before).

Anyway, it's one thing for my service to drop for short periods every once in a while. It's entirely another for my service to crap out on me completely and the company I'm paying for it to tell me they'll happily fix it for me if I pay them the equivalent of 6-12 months of service on top of paying for that service to begin with.

I think people really are losing sight of that. We're paying an extremely low price for a service that for me at least is up 99% of the time and works beautifully. I was paying more for the barebones Verizon line and couldn't call long distance. With SR I pay less and can not only call across the country for free, but I can call internationally for pocket change.


So based on this, should we expect SR to lay the internet cables in your house?
 

laketrout

Senior member
Mar 1, 2005
672
0
0
Originally posted by: RideFree
Originally posted by: laketrout
...I ma going to china in a week and was considering bringing my gizmo to test out the international capabilities.
You're "considering" bringing the Gizmo?
Earth to Lake...bring the Gizmo...

Heh. Done and done. Will be a fine little test. Thanx for the help georgepa and bulletproof. I am guessing I will also need power converters as well right? Speaking of which, on the plane UA, do they supply power for laptops or have internet access yet? As you can tell I have never travelled that far.

 

Ensign

Senior member
Dec 7, 2001
281
0
0
Uh oh, does this mean you're going to try to use SunRocket while in the air on the plane? That would be pretty cool. Can you imagine what the passengers around you would think?


Originally posted by: laketrout
Originally posted by: RideFree
Originally posted by: laketrout
...I ma going to china in a week and was considering bringing my gizmo to test out the international capabilities.
You're "considering" bringing the Gizmo?
Earth to Lake...bring the Gizmo...

Heh. Done and done. Will be a fine little test. Thanx for the help georgepa and bulletproof. I am guessing I will also need power converters as well right? Speaking of which, on the plane UA, do they supply power for laptops or have internet access yet? As you can tell I have never travelled that far.

 

Ensign

Senior member
Dec 7, 2001
281
0
0
Originally posted by: TheCoop
Looks like they are down again. In Maryland, at least.

*sigh* Yep, down for me in Maryland this morning too. This is my first outage! Weird thing was, some people called late last night and must have left messages. My phone was indicating voicemail messages, but I could not get a dial tone.
 
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