Sunrocket

Sunrocket

Introduction

SunRocket, the "No Gotcha Phone Company", as it is branded, provides home phone service over a broadband connection. You must have a broadband service such as high-speed cable or DSL to use their service.

SunRocket Service can replace your current phone company. In fact, you can also keep your existing phone number. The service enables you to call anywhere in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico for one fixed monthly or annual price, as low as $9.95 per month. There are a number of other additional features which are included as part of the internet phone service Sunrocket provide.

SunRocket Service includes competitive rates to nearly every country in the world. There's no need to pay an extra fee or sign up for a special international plan to qualify. Furthermore, their annual plans include a credit towards international calling, valid every month.

Sunrocket Calling Plans

Sunrocket offer three different tiers of calling plan, as highlighted below :

Annual Edition - $199 per year

Includes unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, plus over 12 built-in features, Enhanced Voicemail, bonus international calling, and more.

Limited Edition - $9.95 per month

200 minutes of calling to the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and 41 international SunSpotsSM, plus over 12 built-in features.

Monthly Edition - $24.95 per month

Unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, plus over 12 built-in features, Enhanced Voicemail, bonus international calling, and more.

Sunrocket Reviews

"This is one of the cheapest -- if not the cheapest -- VoIP services around. For $199 a year (that's less than $17 a month), you get unlimited calling anywhere in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The company's international calling rates are pretty low, compared with other VoIP providers, too: Each month, you can do $3 worth of international calling (it's included in your plan). Calls to China, for example, cost 3 cents a minute, which is quite low.

Better yet, even though SunRocket is cheap (most low-end VoIP services start at $19.95 a month), its set-up took, like, two minutes; normally, you have to spend two hours walking through the set-up with some help from tech support. And its quality and features are impressive.

The voice calling clarity and quality are about as good as a traditional phone's. And its features are as plentiful as those of many other services I've trialed.

I could block outbound international or 411 calls. I could block anonymous calls, or calls from specific numbers (the caller I blocked would get a busy signal). Enabling caller ID, and forwarding calls from all of my friends to another number when I don't pick up was a piece of cake.

Voicemail was very easy to configure through the SunRocket site. I could get my voicemails sent to my e-mail address (I got the e-mail virtually immediately after a voice mail was left). I couldn't record a greeting from the Web site, though, and it took me a little while to figure out how to record it over the phone.

SunRocket also offered one important extra that most other VoIP services charge for: You get a free additional phone number with each service. That can come in handy for families where a teenager wants to have his or her own line. When a call to that line comes through, your SunRocket phone can emit a different-sounding ring. The additional number also has its own voicemail box and its own set of features. The best part is, all of this stuff doesn't cost extra.

Now, moving on to a couple of things I didn't like about the service. First off, believe it or not, SunRocket's brochures say it can take up to 10 days since you activate the service for you to be able to receive inbound calls. Granted, I was able to get incoming calls right the way. Still, I've never heard of any other VoIP service companies saying that users might have to wait for up to 10 days for their service to start to work. That's a bit over the top, that.

Second annoyance: You only get to make two free directory assistance calls per month. Most other VoIP services make all 411 calls free. Lastly, I just need to mention that the first DSL adopter SunRocket sent me was defective. That said, the company had already discontinued that equipment line. And the new gear they sent me works like clockwork."

Olga Kharif
The Tech Beat
February 14th 2006