SunRocket – In a blaze, no glory! But why?

If a prepaid annual plan didn’t clue you in to the fact that SunRocket was in “we need lots of money, and fast” mode, you are probably looking for answers to why SunRocket is more train wreck than high flier.

You are not alone. In fact, as the founder of Junction Networks, for four years now, I have constantly been asked by prospects, customers, friends and family members- “Why isn’t your service like the ‘other’ residential providers? Can’t I get a cheap unlimited plan and free hardware, etc. from Junction Networks?”

My answer to them is a resounding “NO" and my explanation may shed some light on why SunRocket has run out of jet fuel.

Our business-oriented service has three key differences, which should clue you in as to why our model is sustainable and delivers what business customers of all sizes need.

1. We don’t sell UNLIMITED PLANS. We charge per minute.
Now many people don’t like this because of it’s inherent lack of predictability. But, we generally find our customers save money by only paying for what they use. We don’t make any attempt to figure out what you are going to use and set prices based on excel models. It’s too unpredictable and is a recipe for disaster.

We figure with unlimited plans, customers are either going to figure out ways to abuse the plans or are going to make so few calls, they will perceive the Unlimited Plan as a waste of their money. In one case we would not like you as a customer, in the other, you would not like us as a provider. Not good for customer retention nor profitability!

2. We don’t require any specific hardware and won’t sell you any hardware.
If you are old enough to remember (like I am), the telephone companies used to have stores where you would buy one of their phones in order to use their service. Seems crazy right? You should use the hardware you want to use and a quality VoIP provider should be able to support it as long as it is SIP capable. You may be staring at your “FREE” ATA from SunRocket right now and wondering what it is good for now and how you are supposed to configure it. Good luck.

3. We charge for SERVICES, not SEATS.
This one is most important for businesses. The typical provider today will sell you services based on the number of phones or users. But what if you have some phones that will simply be used for internal calling or extension dialing? Other than the phone itself, these calls cost your provider close to nothing and you should not pay for them.

Junction Networks sells services such as voice mailboxes, auto-attendants, dial-by-name directories, etc. as standalone features. If you think about it, your company has an auto-attendant and how much you pay for it should have nothing to do with the number of people in your company.

My point is, if your telephone provider's deals seem too good to be true, it's time to find a new telephone provider.