July 17th, 2007
VoIP provider ViaTalk: we'll buy out your SunRocket contract
Little-known Internet phone provider ViaTalk is the latest to offer special deals to what I have been referring to as “orphaned” SunRocket subscribers.
Orphaned, of course, by SunRocket’s cessation of operations Monday.
The deal is detailed on ViaTalk’s FAQ page about how to switch from SunRocket to ViaTalk.
Here’s some details from ViaTalk:
When you sign up for phone service for $199 a year you will receive up to 6 months of your unused SunRocket contract time for free. For example:
If you had a 12 month contract with SunRocket and only used 8 months of service you will receive 4 months free.
If you had a 12 month contract with SunRocket and only used 2 months of service you will receive 6 months free since the promotion is good for up to 6 months of service.
As to the way the SR contract buy-out works:
Once your account is activated and you receive your welcome email you will need to contact our billing department either via ticket at support.viatalk.com or via toll free call at 1-866-626-7150. Our billing department will tell you what information they need from you in order to process your credit.
Number portability- i.e. moving your old SunRocket number over to ViaTalk:
Number portability can not be guaranteed nor can portability be checked in advance for any given telephone number however most numbers are portable. When you receive your account information there will be instructions for submitting a Letter of Authorization for us to port your number to ViaTalk service.
Wanna use SunRocket equipment? Uh, that could be dicey. It’s probably locked. But if you used your own equipment with the SunRocket service, your odds for equipment compatibility are way higher.
ViaTalk adds that there is currently a backlog on equipment orders, but extra help is being added and those orders should be filled as soon as possible.
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
