Small Business

Alternatives to SunRocket

By Rick Broida

Updated on: July 20, 2007 / 3:00 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Pity the poor home- or small-business owner who relied on SunRocket for phone service. As you've probably heard, the country's second-largest VoIP provider went belly-up this week, leaving 200,000-plus subscribers without service. I should know: I'm one of them.

Never mind that SunRocket didn't bother to warn us that the plug was being pulled; the situation begs a mess of questions about the long-term viability of VoIP for business users. But while we debate that, we need, well, phone service! Once I learned of SunRocket's demise, I was able to log into my account and set up forwarding: All calls to my business line now go to my cell. But that's undoubtedly a short-term solution (at some point forwarding will cease to work), so it's time to consider the alternatives:

Another VoIP service The word came down yesterday that Packet8 is SunRocket's "recommended alternative," offering a similar selection of features for the same $199/year price. Of course, there are countless other VoIP services as well, including ViaTalk, VoicePulse, Vonage, and Vonics (no, I don't know why they all start with 'V'). It should be a relatively simple matter to swap out SunRocket's hardware and get your number(s) ported -- but I, for one, am a little gun-shy about VoIP.
All cell, all the time I'm already paying for my cell phone -- why not just make it my primary business phone? Well, for starters, there's only one handset: What if I lose it? What's more, cell reception in my basement office is less than stellar. One option is T-Mobile's intriguing HotSpot-at-Home service, which combines Wi-Fi-enabled cell phones with a special router. When you're in range of any Wi-Fi network, you get free calling. When not in range, it's the typical cell deal. Sounds cool, but for the moment only two phones are compatible: Samsung T409 and Nokia 6086. Check out CNET's review for more details.
Back to landlines I don't relish the idea of paying $500-600 a year for just one line and almost no extra services (like caller ID and voice mail). But I can count on one hand the number of times I had trouble with my old POTS line. SunRocket, on the other hand, was woefully unreliable (though Comcast, my ISP, shares at least some of the blame). There's something to be said for landlines.

Decisions, decisions. While I mull the options, I'd like to hear from you. Were you a SunRocket victim? If so, what's your escape plan? Do you use another VoIP service? Did you try VoIP and go scurrying back to landlines? Share your tales of phone phun in the Comments.