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What's the real price?

The gripe I have with Comcast is the price advertised is the price if you subscribe to the triple play package. Internet is 33 bucks a month provided they are also your subscription TV and VOIP provider aslo at 33 bucks a month each.

Anybody have a clue how much it is for Just the Broadband minus the telephone and Subscription TV?

With Comcast, Broadband Internet service is over $60 a month. 33 bucks sounds like a good deal until you find it subsidised by the telephone bill and basic cable.

I don't do subscription TV. A single item without the other 2 is over 50% of the price for all three combined. Maybe they figured I wouldn't be surfing while watching TV or something saving them broadband. Having the computer surf passing out MP3's while you watch TV is probably why they blocked torrents. The computer can work 24/7 keeping the pipe full while you can't.

I think the real reason to have the triple play tied to the cost of Internet service is to have leverage against Dish Network. The phone company resented the bundling of the landline phone customers and fought back with the same triple play plan and better Internet. The bundled service price wars are in full swing which sucks if you don't want a package. This bundeling hurts companies like Vonage and Packet8 who don't have packages. One of the VOIP providers recently folded. http://www.sunrocket.com/

I hope Qwest starts rolling out fiber soon. The price for just Internet on cable is kinda expensive. Over the air HDTV is less compressed than on cable.

This is worrisome. I've been really happy with my service--I signed up on a "buy one year, get the second year free" deal, so it's about $8/month for service. When I hit the Sunrocket website, http://www.sunrocket.com/, it doesn't seem to have changed. They're still asking for business, and there isn't any mention of this story. The only difference that I notice is that when I log into my member page, there's a message that says "Voicemail is currently not available." But again, no mention of ceasing operations or anything else. I guess we'll just have to see...

I pay a company called Sunrocket about $17/month for unlimited calls, and Sunrocket has no installation fee.

On March 14, Web Telephony LLC filed a patent infringement suit against Verizon, AT&T, EarthLink Inc., SunRocket Corp. and Vonage. Web Telephony, based in Illinois, holds and licenses patents governing Web control of telephony services. The company claims the defendants are infringing on two of its patents, issued in 2002 and 2004, respectively.

There is SunRocket.

Sunrocket and Packet8 are also quite good, or at least that's what I've heard.

Sunrocket and Packet8 look like promising VOIP providers. I'll be switching to one of these shortly. I never liked the idea of Vonage being the 100 Lb gorilla anyway, they seemed to be a good example of the proverb about keeping 'all your eggs in one basket'. And as The big player in independent PSTN VOIP interoperability they also seemed taylor made for Verizon to come along and kill them off as an example to others, so they could keep their market position.

Also seems that if this Verizon patent is valid and actually being used by anyone who routes calls from IP to PSTN, then Verizon could possibly use this to kill off Comcast and RCN phone services depending on how they have architected their systems. Though they would presumably have some alternative to IP routing since they control their own wires.

I've been with Vonage for about 3 years now and I'm in the same boat - looking for alternatives in case this ends up badly and I need to change providers. The two I found immediately are Packet8 and SunRocket. I'm just now reading a comparison article on them.

Skype is no good for me either, I want an adapter to plug into my broadband connection and light up my regular house phones like Vonage does, without the aid of an always-running Windows computer in the background. All the Skype phones and adapters I've seen to date need a USB connection to a computer.

What will happen to the other VoiP providers? I am primarily thinking of http://www.sunrocket.com/ and http://www.viatalk.com/. Are they not also infringing upon the Verizon patents?

Recently switched to FIOS myself and I'm saving compared to my Comcast bill.

$117 Comcast (Digital Cable without any of the premium channels, broadband at 7 Mbps (although never actually saw rates near that))
$69 Verizon FIOS (Digital TV without any of the premium channels, broadband at 5 Mbps (actually saw rates exceeding that but generally very close to the advertised speed))

Since Verizon FIOS was available in the area (Maryland), Comcast has been pretty heavily advertising their bundle for new customers where you get the Digital Cable ($33), VoIP ($33), and Broadband ($33). Unfortunately that appears to be a one year deal compared to Verizon FIOS which doesn't appear to have plans to jump up after the initial year (hopefully I didn't miss some small print).

FYI - Using SunRocket as my VoIP with the monthly cost under $17 so the Comcast package isn't an option for me.

I currently have 2 providers, Vonage and Sunrocket.

If it wasn't for Vonage giving me some credits recently, I would already have cancelled. My bill keeps going up as they raise their fees, and now they are charging me local taxes, too. If I wanted to pay unknown taxes and fees, I would have stayed with my telco.

But anyway, Sunrocket has been great. While their Customer Service is notably lame (but I expect nothing less), they have better features than Vonage, including E911. Plus, they give you some pretty cool free phones when you signup, and there is no signup fees, or wacky charges.

What does it cost? $199 for an entire year (or $24.95/mo) with no other fees/taxes. And, since I know Slashdotters are too lazy to type in a URL, here it is for you: http://www.sunrocket.com/

Not only are you a troll, you don't know what you're talking about. Skype does not equal Vonage.

Skype is free only for computer to computer calls.

Skype charges 1.7 Euro cents per minute (about 2 US cents) for calls to real phone numbers. And you have purchase that time in advance in blocks of 10 Euros.

If you want to get a real phone number you have to get SkypeIn, which is 30 Euros per year.

Skype can't be used for 911 at all, while Vonage is working on it and has gotten it together in many locales.

All Skype phones plug in only to a computer, not a cable modem.

Yes, Skype is a bargain and I use SkypeOut myself to call a friend in Australia but Vonage it ain't.

That having been said I think Sunrocket is a better deal. $199 a year, they give you the phone, and you don't have to keep your computer on 24/7. Also, you can hack it so you that you can use your home's existing phone wiring to plug in more phones.

Try this guys for the change. Sunrocket *No Gotchas* company and best price, with all 10 features working like a charm. Much cheaper so that you don't complain about things like this... but to be honest I only called 911 once. Got to the operator right away but they had no idea where I called from 'cause I wasn't registered.. but I got to the operator right away, which is good. I am still no registered so when my house catch on fire... I just home my neighboor doesn't have Vonage phone... :o) LOL!

I haven't encountered the port blocking either (Comcast in MD area) and I'm using SunRocket. Other than when I first obtained their broadband (about 5 years ago), I really haven't had any real problems other than the price. Initially though, the line from the road to the house was giving me problems and they ended up replacing most of the connections to fix the semi-frequent drops (lasted about 2 months while dealing with the techs trying to resolve it).

Not being a VoIP expert, maybe each vendor has implimented things a little differently (ports) and Comcast is just going after some of the bigger vendors.

• unlimited to the U.S. and Canada
• $3.00 of international calling included per month (3 cents a minute to many countries)
• two free 5.8GHz phones
• voice messaging
• call waiting
• two phone numbers
• caller ID
• call waiting ID
• selective call blocking
• selective call forwarding
• selective forwarding after a certain number of rings to a different number
• check voicemail online
• no contract
• call logs
• distinctive rings you can set up
• no cancellation fee

Long live VoIP. Say good bye to Bell or Quest... or other cousins.

Go with NO GOTCHAS VoIP phone.

https://www.sunrocket.com/sign_up/signup.do?tcd=50 37150829&CMP=KNC-NATannualphone&source=national

my small contribution to fight corporate crimes against people of this country. :o)

It seems like a weird time for an IPO, since http://www.sunrocket.com/ undercuts Vonage by about $9.00 per month if you prepay, and gives away a couple of phones to go with it, and some free international time, oh, and a free second phone number in any area code.

I've been using Sun Rocket http://sunrocket.com/ for about 6 months. The service is superb. First outage was for about 30 minutes a couple of weeks ago. This is the email they sent to all subscribers.
Never got one of these from SBC - and I've had outages with them.
=====================
Dear SunRocket Member,

On behalf of SunRocket and all of our dedicated employees, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience that resulted from a SunRocket network disruption that occurred on Monday, July 11. The disruption was caused by recent surges in subscribers and call volumes. Unfortunately, one of the partitions in our network was unable to handle the demand, and it took several hours for our engineers to fully restore the network. While thousands of subscribers remained in service during the disruption, we failed to meet our reliability standards. Last week, we activated a new partition that doubled our capacity, but we had not begun the process of rebalancing the system load between the partitions prior to Monday's disruption. While that rebalancing is now underway, we will be activating a third partition within the next week to further augment our system capacity and improve the reliability of the SunRocket network.

We also recognize that we need to improve our ability to provide real-time status and notices during network disruptions, though our primary goal is to ensure that our network is fully operational at all times. You expect and deserve reliable phone service, and SunRocket remains committed to providing exceptional service at an exceptional value.

As an expression of our regret for any inconvenience you may have experienced, we will add 10 points into your RocketRewards account. Thousands of SunRocket members have taken advantage of the RocketRewards Referral Program, and we greatly appreciate your contributions in spreading the word about SunRocket to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues. We are also expanding your opportunities for earning RocketRewards points, as well as introducing more redemption choices. You can learn more about RocketRewards at www.sunrocket.com/community/referrals.

We are continuously striving to improve your service and enhance our ability to serve you better. Thank you for being a valued SunRocket member.

Sincerely,

Kevin Bennis
Chief Executive Officer

I just switched my Verizon landline to SunRocket. $16.58 a month ($199 a year), all those bells and whistles included, and no extra fees, monthly or otherwise. Plus, cancel any time and get the unused months fully refunded. Also, a free 2-handset cordless phone. And E911. And $3 of international calling and two directory services calls per month included in that price. And a second incoming number free.

SunRocket, a VOIP company, has a hardware device called "The Gizmo" (see SunRocket How to Install and you'll see their adapter named "The Gizmo"). I can't find anything to indicate which came first though.

I'd be interested in the land line being capable to send 911 calls if possible. I'll have to check with Verizon, who manages the lines in my area.

My service through SunRocket actually provides the phone device and it includes a port to connect to a land line specifically for 911 service if you choose to maintain the land line. As for those who don't, the 911 limitations are very clearly described and the sign up process definitely emphasizes them. They do have a process to setup your 911 location so they can appropriately direct your 911 calls. They also have the process to change your 911 service clearly defined and they state that using the service outside of your 911 area will not call the appropriate service (so if you take your device while you travel, don't expect it to automatically pick up your location).

Anyone else have good or bad experience with VoIP quality?

VoIP has been working well for me so far. My VoIP provider is SunRocket and my broadband is Comcast. I haven't experienced any of the static or dropped calls that you mention, but I've only been with them for about one month so far. The annual plan offered by SunRocket runs $199/year (USD) or roughly $16.58/month, which is much lower than my Verizon bill (about $34/month) without long distance service (I used my cell phone for long distance). One of the features that is really nice for me is that I can pick a second line and assign it to any area code they cover. In my case, I assigned it near family members so they don't have to call long distance to reach me.

My guess is that your friends problem is more related to broadband service or possibly hardware issues.

One problem is that VoIP is pretty economical because of the lack of regulation but they want to force regulation of the network they flow over. This could be opening for overall regulation which they probably would prefer to avoid.

BTW, I just switched to SunRocket so I'll definitely be following this. I'd hate to have my phone blocked (my wife will resort to using the cell phone more for out of state relatives).

VOIP may have issues with 911 service (power outages, network failure - Comcast in my case, etc...) but I'm not completely relying on VOIP. In my situation, my cell phone is my primary line and the home phone is a secondary line. I realize both phones in my case can have failure but will both fail at the same time?

Currently I'm still with Verizon for home service but I'm looking at SunRocket to replace it. The alternative for me would likely be Vonage but SunRocket has a $199/year deal that works out a bit better in price.

Does anyone know off hand if using a UPS is adequate to keep the router and modem online is adequate or does the cable service also draw from the power grid?