I wonder if any of the RBOC’s have to charge tax for their VOIP offerings? Anyone know?

So they’re charging full-set tax? Interesting - this would mean that they loaded telco tax data into their billing system, but I am not sure where that money would go.

But I commend you for your monthly contribution to the NYC Metro Transit Authority, and the taxes on taxes. My friends appreciate it.

Cheers,

Jaydub

For 12.99 and 1.60 in taxes to teleblend I was up in 5 minutes.

Sunrocket voice mail was third party. I am sure in the next few days packet8 and teleblend will find new IP voice mail providers or strike up a new deal with the old voice mail providers and provide vm as a value added service. BTW I signed up for SunRocket in June 2007 and at that time they did not offer vm on the account (technical difficulties they claimed I could not even purchase vm) I would suggest installing a phone with built in vm as in the old days until the services work out online voicemail.

As a voip engineer I feel Teleblend has the keys to the kingdom at Sunrocket. They have a provisioning interface into the sunrocket database and access to the servers actually providing the sip/pstn interconect. Essentially it is SunRocket operating as Teleblend. There would need to be a few techies and business people from Sunrocket who now get their paychecks from Teleblend involved.

Really it is all done in software once the proper connections are in place the “company” providing service is just an entry in a database.

There are various voip resellers that allow you to set yourself up as a telco. You provide provisioning, billing, and support labor. pay them a flat fee for each number and you are good to go. Provisioning is the key it can be automated to work via the web.

PS I used my Visa/Debit card to purchase SunRocket services in June. Entered a dispute on the amount and have a provisional credit back in my account right now. I have forms to fill out. company (SR) has 10 days to respond then I get my money.

Sure I lost my money for the 1 year contract, just be greatful that if you took the risk that your phone works, although not complete with fax and voice mail as yet.

I expect the Unified operation to be more accountable and better run than the idiots that ran sunrocket. I will never prepay a year again and i will bet money that Vonage is the next to sink its ship.

Questions:
Does anyone have voicemail with Teleblend yet?
Are there forwarding options?

At the moment their website is a huge lost opportunity to provide comfort and information to new customers, and suicide for their call center. If they can’t update some HTML - how can they run a VOIP company?
****

Follow the post ‘SunRocket and Consumer Recourse’:

“Now, you can knock SunRocket on consumer laws, but most of these only take effect in the case of outright fraud, are difficult to prove, and moreover require there be assets in that company to allow the damages to be paid. Which means that if you do take them to court, even if you win, no matter the size of the judgment, there probably won’t be enough to take to even pay your lawyer.”

As far as other providers I am looking at all available resources. I believe Packet 8 is well known but there are also many others out there that might be just as viable.

Well, I switched to Teleblend as well… not sure that was the best idea. I have no voice mail either. I had distinctive ring on my line as well.. and my cost is going to be

$12.95 per month
+ 4.99 Distinctive ring #
+ 6.82 Taxes.

I am not sure why my taxes are higher than the others.. maybe because I have an extra number. I agree.. since they are not regulated, I am not sure what the taxes are for and I intend to find out.

I chose them because of the ease of transfer, although I did have SR service this morning. I had no idea there was any problems until I got an e-mail this morning, and like other - I had paid a year in advance (Feb 07).

I have spoken with an attorney this morning via phone and he seems to think there is grounds for suing the company. He is looking into it and will get back to me this evening or tomorrow. If this proves feasible, I will be willing to go that route.

I sent an e-mail to Teleblends (pitiful name) and asked them how to access voicemail, etc. No answer as of yet, but if they can’t come up with a solution within 48 hours, I will move my service to Packet 8.

If anyone gets any information about configuring services .. please let the others here know.

Nope, Red run light still blinking away. No formal invoice yet. Hitting SR’s “00″ for voicemail does nothing. And, I had call-forwarding switched on via the SR site before signing up with TB. Interestingly, after my service switched back on with TB, I went back into the SR site to manage call-forwarding and was able to successfully turn it off. Looks like TB was set up in a hurry and is more or less just managing the basic infrastructure.

Here’s the confirmation email:
————————-
Dear ,

Thank you for allowing us to serve you. Your credit card payment of $22.32* has processed succesfully** and your account has been setup.

Your new account number is: XXXX
Your receipt number is: XXXXXXXXXX

We are working to update our website to enable you to fully manage your account, but in the interim you can access account information and make online payments at your convenience using our Customer Portal.

You can access the portal at MyTeleBlend.net/login using the following information:

Login: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.com
Password: XXXXXXXX

Email us @ info@teleblend.net if you need any assistance.

Thanks,

TeleBlend
————————-
* fyi, the $22.32 charge was the $12.95/mo rate plus a 4.99 add’l line fee and then tax.
** yes, they misspelled another word.

The TB site provides for very little control over the account. I’m pretty confident that they’ll just copy SR’s site at this point. If not, there’s no cancellation fee… so who cares. :)