SunRocket VoIP is currently offering 2 years of phone service for $199, expiring tomorrow (3/28). If you miss it, this “special” seems to come around once every few months. I’ve been using SunRocket instead of a landline for well over a year now now and I remain very satisfied for the price (I paid $199 for the 1st year and $99 for the 2nd) – check out my SunRocket Review for details. There have been no added or surprise fees.
Added: You can also get two years for $229 from ViaTalk VoIP.
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SunRocket sounds like a good deal. I’ve had considerable success using an even lower cost (and a tiny bit less user friendly approach). Skype (www.skype.com) allows unlimited PC to phone calls for about $30 per year (the rate was only $15 before January 31, I believe). No one (including me) likes to sit behind their computer to make all of their calls, so I connected one of my cordless phones to a handy little device called an Actiontec Phone Wizard (see the product at Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/2287gy) that allows me to use my cordless phone to make Skyp- to-regular phone calls for very little money. Sound quality is quite good (almost always better than most cell phones!).
Very interesting. Does your computer have to be on for it (the Actiontec Phone Wizard) to work? If so, does it slow down things?
You are seeing a lot of the VoIP providers trying to lure customers away from Vonage since the recent Verizon judgement. My only question is, aren’t they at risk too? And is signing up for 2 years a smart thing to do prior to the appeal in the injunction?
I’ve had SunRocket since last summer and I’m overall satisfied. I got the $199 for 2 years deal ($8.29 a month). You can’t beat that price for all the features. The call quality is sometimes bad. But when that happens, I just switch to my cell.
I use sunrocket as well. My experience has been good overall (not FANTASTIC). The features are just awesome + u get $3 credit for international calls per month.
Occasionally, my friends on the other side are not able to hear me. When this happens, i have to hang up and call again or reset my VOIP thingy. This happens maybe twice a month.
When i first got the sunrocket equipment, i set it up kinda wrongly, which will mess up the quality of the call if ur using the computer and the phone at the same time.
I have a router –> Wireless router –> Sunrocket router –> PC1
So as u can see, my PC1 was connected to the sunrocket router when it should have been directly connected to the wireless router (used for my laptop). Hope this makes sense.
I have been using sunrocket for a year now. I had just got the service and within a week they had this $199 for 2 years offer going. I called the customer service and they gave that offer to me as well. When I moved to Kansas, I had a low cost low speed internet connection and I was dropping almost every other call. I called the customer service and they instructed me to change some setting on their Gizmo and the problem has been fixed. Overall the experince has been very satisfying. Also with $3 worth international calls each month, the price is unbeatable.
In regard to Jonathan’s query, the computer needs to be on. But I haven’t noticed the setup slowing down my modest computer at all. Another advantage to this approach is that it effectively provides a second phone line. If I am using my cordless phone on a Skype call and another call comes in on my landline, the Phone Wizard device sends a call-waiting-esque tone through too let me switch and answer that call.
I understand that there are some new devices on the market now that allow you to use Skype as I am without the computer on, but these are still quite pricey (around $200, I think).
I’ve had ViaTalk for some time now. I love it. My only complaint is that for long distance calls I have to wait anywhere from 10-25 seconds for my call to go through. Local calls don’t seem to have this problem. I will never go back to a land line again.
I’ve been using Viatalk for a couple of months now, and my plan includes 2 years of service for only $199. The international rates are cheap, and the service is great.
Looks like the current rate is $229 for two years:
http://www.viatalk.com/
I’ve used SunRocket for about 9 months.
– Excellent service/reliability
– Useful features and unbeatable price
– No dropped calls at all
– The computer DOES NOT need to be on despite what another commenter said, I just double checked 🙂 ***
– Your router/cable modem however, need to be working
If your cable or power goes down, so does your SunRocket phone service.
*** You get a ‘gizmo’ which is a small device that connects to your router on 1 end, and to your phone on the other. IT DOES NOT connect to your computer in this configuration.
I believe Dave! I know nothing about SunRocket and whether the computer needs to be on with it. I do know that the device to which I originally referred (the Internet Phone Wizard) does need to have the computer on.
Yes, I was wondering about the phone wizard thing. One day, I feel like everything will be data – phone, internet, tv, movies, music. I don’t know if my ole’ computer could handle Skype running 24/7 + all the other stuff I do on it.
Mine is set up as
Cable modem -> Gizmo -> Router -> PC(s)
and works great. If you have a certain kind of router that can limit bandwidth then having the Gizmo afterwards can help it not slow down everything.
I have recently switched my phone service to using SIP, and I purchase DID (inbound numbers) and termination (outbound calls) from different providers. It’s very cheap; I pay $1/month for USA phone numbers, and $3.50/mo for Canadian phone numbers.
I have to pay per minute, but I don’t make many calls. The result is our home phone service is around $20/mo for three phone numbers, and our fixed costs are around $9/mo.
I use http://www.les.net/ for my incoming Canadian calls, and http://www.sellvoip.net/ for incoming USA calls. My outbound calls are handled through les.net and gtcomm.net.
For eqiupment, I just bought $15 machines on ebay; DVG-1120S boxes have two phone jacks, two ethernet jacks, and they can act as a gateway to connect to your SIP providers directly.
– Gavin
As Todd have mentioned, there are now a whole lot of phones that you can connect and use with Skype service without your PC in the loop. They cost between $100 and $300. NetGear just released a dual Skype/regular phone for $179. You can connect it to your broadband modem and your landline if you want and use it as a dual Skype/regular headset.
I will be moving in couple months and really considering signing up for Skype to supplement my cell phone. I do not believe that you can get incoming calls from landlines with that service though.
Dima
Jonathan:
Cable modem -> Gizmo -> Router -> PC(s) is a bad configuration. The Gizmo is not a good router, you are betteroff connecting the Gizmo to the router. I had lots of issue with the router using gizmo connection. For a single computer system its fine, but if u have more than one it would limit the bandwidth
use:
Cable modem -> Router -> Gizmo -> PC(s)
Is the link incorrect? Because the sunrocket page doesn’t seem to mention the offer. Thanks.
Hi Dima,
I believe you can receive incoming calls from landlines using Skype. . .it is through an additional feature called, SkypeIn, I believe. See: http://www.skype.com/products/skypein/
Todd
I’ve had Sunrocket for 1 yr. Loved it up until this point. But I recently moved (and my SR was automatically renewed for another year – Luv that do yah) and have been having static problems on outgoing voice quality since then. Since moving, I’ve also set up an Apple Airport Express on my upstairs stereo to play music. I’ve got a Comcast cable connection with D-Link cable modem connected to the Gizmo connected to my D-Link wireless router which is connected to my desktop and also used to connect to the Airport Express & a laptop. Other than the move and the Airport Express, everything is the same as it was, and we never had problems before.
Anyone else had problems getting SR to work when using a wireless router out of the Gizmo? (I’ve tried to set it up with the Gizmo after the router – no improvement.) I’m bummed b/c my experience was great until I moved, but now I’m concerned that I’ll have to cancel.