VoIP Provider SunRocket Flares Out

July 17, 2007 By Geoff Duncan

Folks familiar with the myth of Icarus may not be too surprised: VoIP provider SunRocket has apparently shut down without any warning to its customers.

You know what they say about folks who fly to close to the sun: they get burned and crash back to earth.

VoIP phone service provider SunRocket, which claimed to have more than 200,000 subscribers in April of this year, has apparently ceased operations without warning, leaving its users in a lurch. The shutdown follows reports that the company abruptly laid off nearly 200 employees at its Springfield, Missouri call center on Monday; those dismissals follow the firings of its CTO and CIO, the resignation of the company’s chief financial officer on July 2, and substantial employee layoffs on July 3.

SunRocket’s 200,000 VoIP customers may not seem like a large number by telco standards—or the nearly 200 million users claimed by Skype—but the company was second only to Vonage in terms of its total number of subscribers amongst VoIP-only companies. And although SunRocket had experienced service disruptions and temporary outages in the past, the firm had been in business since 1994, giving it a track record longer than many leading technology companies.

SunRocket charged its customers $199 per year for VoIP service; as yet, there is no word on whether customers can expect refunds for service they have not received (and apparently never will). The Assocatied Press is reporting that Sherwood Partners, LLC—a well-known "undertaker" for failed companies—is handling SunRocket’s liquidation.

Showing 6 comments

andrea at 4:40pm 28th July 2007 Loved SunRocket, but am skepitcal about "pre-paying" any phone service plans since I took quite a $$$ hit from SunRocket. Is the Teleband $12.95 price a pre-pay or month to month contract ?
Not really comfortable committing to a pre-pay because there has been limited time to research options.
Any info from other SunRocket (and Teleband) customers will be welcome.
~Andrea
Paul Fanta at 9:14pm 21st July 2007 Don't worry. SunRocket has resurrected as a new company. Teleblend. You can't get your money back, but you can relax. Your numbers will be alright. The best plan is to get with Teleblend for a month or two while you review the alternatives. I am in the same boat and have been working to get it straightened out. All the details at my website: 1n2n3.info

--Paul
Harry at 9:03pm 19th July 2007 I have been a very satisfied customer of Sunrocket for 2+ years. A very satisfied customer until my phone service failed mid July and could not get any support! The people of Sunrocket should have sent out a message regarding their financial, organizational, outage issues to the customers!! We were left without service and in the dark! I have found out more information using web search. Bailing out!
Pat at 5:40pm 19th July 2007 If anyone knows when service will be completely cut off, please post here. My service is still working, albiet no voicemail, but I can still get incoming and make outgoing calls. Thanks
Piter at 1:08pm 19th July 2007 Yes, it is true. The good news is that ViaTalk is offering a contract buyout for SunRocket customers. They have unlimited plan with TWO phone lines for only $199 a year, that's ~$16 a month. More details at this link:
http://www.anrdoezrs.net/da74c-7w36LNORUMQOLNMQNMU...

Packet8 is also working with what remains of SunRocket to quickly transfer ex-SunRocket customers. Packet8 has unlimited plan with a bunch of free features for only $199 a year, that's ~$16 a month. More details at this link:
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=apvDC...
shawn at 8:26pm 17th July 2007 I have Sunrocket and at the time of this story +12 hours I have Sunrocket service. I do not know if this is a fluke or what. I have talked to some other people that use Sunrocket also and they have service also. I hope this continues on. I have had Sunrocket for over 2 years now and I think it is good phone service. They do need to stop giving away the second year free or cutting the price in half.