SunRocket port goes awry

Imagine getting a call from a total stranger who proceeds to read your phone bill to you. It happened recently to a Washington, D.C.-area resident and former SunRocket subscriber, according to Brian Krebs of The Washington Post. Left abandoned in July by SunRocket, Bill Adler signed up with ViaTalk of Clifton Park, N.Y., one of the many third-party VoIP providers that swooped in with rescue offers.

Adler used a temporary number while waiting a few weeks for the old one to be ported. He then heard from a Northern Virginia man who'd subsequently inherited Adler's temporary number and phone records. The man realized there were calls he hadn't made, and went through ViaTalk to reach Adler. ViaTalk chief Brendan Brader told Krebs the company was investigating the mix-up. Adler told Krebs he was "trying to divorce my anger over this whole thing from the reality that switching to another phone company is going to cause a lot more headaches."

There's been a lot of garment rending about VoIP this year based on SunRocket's ridiculously irresponsible exit and Vonage's legal floggings. Yet here's a guy who lost voice service completely, went to another VoIP provider that gooned up his records, and he's still a VoIP subscriber. If anything, the third-party pratfalls will just become marketing manna for cable companies.

For More:
- The Washington Post piece is here

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