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Internet Phone Start-up Goes Belly-Up
westlake writes "The New York Times has a short piece on the failure of SunRocket, the second-largest internet phone service after Vonage, with 200,000 customers. Start-ups like SunRocket are under enormous pressure from the telcos and cable, which have marketing muscle and can bundle VoIP with Internet, TV, home security services, and so on. The start-up has only one product, and since they don't own the lines, they can't control the quality of service. Attracting subscribers can put a start-up deep into the red. Vonage added 166,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2007, but lost $77 million."
I'll never forget Leo Laporte laughing about the business model of Dialpad on "The Screen Savers" back in 1999. The idea of giving free phone service away, with no real way to recoup their money, was laughable even in those heady days of "internet 1.0". The model has improved only slightly in the "internet 2.0" era, I'm afraid.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I have broadvoice and on a regular schedule Verizon happens to "lose" the routing information to my local Broadvoice phone number. It just magically disappears and suddenly people calling my phone get a "this number can not be dialed" message.
I end up calling broadvoice letting them know and they have to jump through hoops to get Verizon to quit acting like a 3 year old and put the routing info back in. This happens twice yearly. I also hear of it happening elsewhere as well with providers other than Broadvoice.
Telcos are scared to death of Voip. It sounds way better than cellphones so the current generation see it as great. They also see the $13.95 a month compared to the $49.95 a month from a telco and it's a no brainer. (Yes My VoIP line costs $13.95 a month. Yes Verizon charges $50.00 a month for a basic, every call costs you $0.03 + long distance charges phone line.)
So the telcos screw with the Voip providers, "accidentally".
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
...and I have to say, the quality of service has never sucked so long as my Internet connection is working right. Which just demonstrates why owning the lines (and therefore being able to provide a bit more QA) really cuts both ways: if you put in the extra money and resources to keep your lines and service in working condition, everyone else using those lines to deliver their own service also reaps the benefits.There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
That sorta ruins the point of VOIP. You know, being able to choose your phone provider.
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
So this is (was) the #2 VoIP company behind Vonage? So why is it that I've never even heard of them?! Granted, I've never actually gone shopping for VoIP service. But I am involved in the telecomm/datacom industry, so you'd think I would have at least heard the name.
Perhaps lack of visibility was part of their problem...?
Rule #1 when dealing with level 1 tech support. You know what the problem is--so tell them what they need to hear. "Do you have a home phone number?" Your answer--"No" Problem solved. And whatever you do never tell them you're using a linux computer as your firewall! I'm running ipcop, but if I call tech support I tell them I've got my cable modem plugged directly into my Windows XP computer--and it still doesn't work.