So, way back on 9 May 2005, I posted an entry here saying that I'd gotten and was very happy with SunRocket's Voice over IP (VoIP) service. Last week, while I was traveling on business in Mexico, I saw a headline saing that SunRocket was going out of business. I immediately signed up with one of their competitors (Vonage) and, as of today, my account is active and my old number has been transferred over.

Here's the thing. Well, maybe more than one thing... As a very (!) small business owner, I have grown to rely on VoIP for my business phone line. They're relatively cheap, easy to work with, and overall very good. My opinion on that has not swayed, despite this bad experience with SunRocket. I wouldn't advise many/most people to get VoIP as their ONLY phone service at home, however. But, as a second number, they're fabulous.

Well, they're as good as your broadband is. I'm fortunate to be in an area where my cable modem speed is superb -- I regularly measure 20 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload. VoIP has NO problems with that.

And I can sympathize with SunRocket's circumstances. They were heavily VC-backed, and their VC investors were unwilling to put any more money into the company. I've been there, done that. But wow, they sure handled the situation in a horrific manner. The fact that I learned of their demise from a magazine headline is inexcusable. The fact that I had to turn to another provider and make arrangements myself to transfer my service is inexcusable. I really wish I hadn't given them any of my business, but that's water under the bridge.

I do hope that their actions haven't tainted the entire VoIP community, though, but I think the damage has been done.