I’ve not been doing my job properly. Here I am – Full Time VoIP News Editor and everything – and what am I doing while ScrewedRocket (Thanks to Vinay for this pun) is going out of business right under the Sun?
If I tell you people that SunRocket is now out of business, I’ll probably be inviting stale eggs on my face for providing stale news. If I tell you that there are 200,000 SunRocket orphans now, you’ll probably add tomatoes to the eggs. So what do I do to ensure acceptance of my news by you and acceptance of the article by my boss? Simple. I tell you that 8x8 Inc, provider of Packet8 residential, business and video VoIP phone services have made a pact with SunRocket’s executors to offer the 200,000 SunRocket Orphans a specially-priced offer to transition their account to Packet8.
8x8 Inc is a publicly traded twenty-year old company, which started offering Internet Phone Services in 2002. It has been awarded 68 US patents for voice, video and VoIP technologies, and is a provider of internet-based telephony solutions for individuals and small to medium sized business organizations. In addition to regular VoIP through its Packet8 system, the company also hosts a Virtual PBX contact center called Virtual Office. At the end of its 2007 fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, 8x8 reported more than $53 million in revenue and approximately $12 million in cash and showed significant progress toward becoming cash flow positive.
Under the terms of the agreement, Packet8 will waive all regular start up costs associated with its residential service plans plus offer one free month of service. SunRocket – or what’s left of it anyway – is supposed to communicate with its 200,000+ subscribers via an email and voicemail recommending they transition their service to Packet8 immediately. If you’re a SunRocket customer and you’ve received this communication – or not received this communication – do let others know in the comments.
8x8 Chairman and CEO had a lot to say about the agreement, but I’ll skip you the effort of having to read the entire text and give you the short version of it –
1)Packet8 is making arrangements with its network service providers to rapidly port SunRocket phone numbers to Packet8’s network in order to minimize the disruption that the transition may to their communication services.
2)SunRocket subscribers will be able to choose from several plans, including the Packet8 $199 Freedom Annual Plan, which essentially offers unlimited U.S. and Canada calling for a year.
3)Packet8 is one of the few service providers who actually own all of the core technologies underlying their services, thus enabling them to also provide video services to their VoIP offerings.
For more information, SunRocket customers should go to Packet8 Sunrocket Special Signup Page or call toll free +1-866-TRY-VOIP, option 2.
It’s a shame, really – a fine VoIP Provider like SunRocket going out of business. I’ve decided to make my next article a sort of tribute to SunRocket – outlining its entire 3 years career, from birth to demise. Of course, this commitment is subject to no drastic newsbreak till the time I finish the article. In case you don’t get the message Vonage, Please don’t give-in to your many legal woes and shut down and make me write two obituaries instead of one.
This article is contributed by our full time VOIP news editor Samarth Chandola.
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