Would you be able to answer this question if you were asked,"Who is the leading and number one Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company in the nation today?" I bet that you would! You have seen their many commercials and would be correct if you answered,Vonage. Now, would you be able to name the company in that lonely number two spot? They don't have any commercials, so maybe not! Well,if you guessed SunRocket then you would have been correct.

SunRocket is an innovative and so called,"up and coming player", in the Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) game. SunRocket VoIP is now number two, but striving through many innovations to be number one! They call themselves the "no gotcha" phone company because they advertise a set price and then don't load up your bill with nebulous charges like some local phone companies that we are all familiar with. SunRocket's gaol is simply to bring to the public the very best, risk-free, easy to use Internet phone service with no hidden charges, and no other "gotchas".

They were the very first VoIP company to offer a $199($16.58/month) flat fee service for a years use of their VoIP! They call this the $199 SunRocket Annual Edition and I must agree that there isn't any other company offering anything close to this. For paying annually(all at once) a consumer gets two phone numbers with enhanced voice mail, over a dozen built in calling features(call waiting etc.), unlimited calling in the USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico, and up to 100 free minutes for international calling, and a couple of free phones! Now, how long will they remain number two offering all of this?

Paul Ericson is the chairman and co-founder of SunRocket along with Joyce Dorris. They are both former MCI executives who had a hand in creating MCI's 1-800-COLLECT campaign(Remember…these advertisements were everywhere). They are used to thinking "outside the box" and started SunRocket in 2004 to brake the mold on conventional and VoIP phone service choices that were available to consumers in the marketplace at that time. They aimed to create a true "no gotcha company" that was easy to use, low in price, without contracts, and with a money back guarantee if a consumer decides that VoIP isn't for them! They also took great strides to put solid and expanding capitol sources together to assure that the quality of what they were building was not jeopardized because they ran out of or short of money.

SunRocket has accomplished putting together a solid company that fills the needs of what consumers are looking for today in a phone company. If service, low cost, features and options galore, are what you are looking for then take a good look at SunRocket because they deliver in all of these areas.

Hugh J. McMarlin has many online endeavors and his informational VoIP site, http://www.voip-carrier-4u.com is his latest. Read his other articles on SunRocket the "no gotcha" company. You can also learn more about the pros and cons of VoIP by reading his article on the Pros and Cons of VoIP.

Sunrocket internet phone service is probably the best VoIP value available in the United States today. At $199 for a year's worth of unlimited local and long distance calling within the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, Sunrocket's annual plan works out to only $16.58 per month. With this annual broadband phone service plan, you need to pay the $199 up front, but you will never see any additional charges. Sunrocket's VoIP plans are "all-inclusive", meaning there are no extra fees commonly associated with other telephone service and cellular service providers. Sun Rocket does not charge extra for the various FCC and governmental access fees, and there are no add-on taxes either. What you see is what you get with Sunrocket, which is one of the really nice things about this VoIP provider.

Unique Features Regarding Sunrocket's Unlimited Annual VoIP Plan

Sunrocket offers some really unique "freebies" for annual subscribers that not common with most VoIP services. For starters, you get a free extra phone number to use as you wish. This number can either be a local phone number or an "anywhere" phone number, the choice is yours. Some people use the extra number as a second local number and give it to a child. What kid wouldn't want his/her own private phone number? Those with home offices can use it as a separate business number. If you like, you can get the extra phone number in a different area code, allowing "local" calling from a different state. This is a great for subscribers who have family in a different area of the country, as they can then call you anytime for free. The number is local to them, so no long distance charges are incurred.

Sunrocket also provides free Enhanced 911 Service (E911) to all subscribers, a service that many VoIP providers charge extra for. E911 is important to have if VoIP is used as your primary residential phone service because internet phone service is by nature not associated with a physical location. E911 technology allows subscribers to enter their current physical address into the system. When an emergency call is made, it is routed to the closest 911 dispatcher, and your address is transmitted as well. Without E911, you would have to tell the emergency services operator your location. E911 provides this information up front, allowing for faster and more efficient response to emergencies.

Other freebies include two free directory assistance calls per month, and $3 per month of free international calling. You might not think that $3 will go very far when making international calls, but with Sunrocket international rates as low as .03 per minute to 41 countries and cities, this works out to 100 free international minutes for calling places like Europe, Japan, China, Malaysia, Monterey, Mexico City and more. If the country you want to call is not included in one of the .03 per minute "sunspots", Sunrocket's international rates to most international destinations are still much cheaper than most other providers.

Sunrocket Calling Features

One of the great things about any internet phone service is all the free calling features that come with it. Like most VoIP providers, Sunrocket service includes free caller ID, call waiting, call return, 3-way conference calling, call forwarding and voicemail. There are around 14 free features with Sun Rocket VoIP; not quite as many as companies like Vonage and Packet8 offer, but these providers are more expensive as well.

About Sunrocket

Sunrocket was founded in 2004, and is committed to providing high-quality, low cost residential VoIP service with "no-hassle" pricing. Sunrocket's top management includes highly experienced people from the internet/information technology industry. CEO Lisa Hook used to be President of AOL Broadband, Premium and Developer Services. Their CIO Robert Kramer formerly served as Senior Vice President, Business Technologies at America Online, Inc.

Sunrocket is probably the fastest growing internet phone service provider in America, and their service area is expanding quickly as well. As of January 2006, Sunrocket service was available to 75% of U.S. households, including 96 of the top 100 United States markets. Sun Rocket offers "unconditional satisfaction" and will provide a reasonable refund to any subscriber who is not completely satisfied with the service.

In addition to the annual service plan, Sunrocket also offers a "limited" monthly plan which includes 200 minutes of local and long distance calling.

To learn more about Sunrocket and other VoIP service providers:

Sunrocket Review
Internet Phone Service - The Future is Here
The Best VoIP Providers for the Money

Sunrocket internet phone service is one of the best VoIP deals available today for those looking for quality service at an inexpensive price. Once a very small player in the broadband phone game, Sunrocket has been growing by leaps and bounds and is now considered one of the best VoIP companies. With call quality comparable to top of the line broadband phone service providers Vonage and Packet8, Sunrocket is the leader when it comes to price.

Currently at $199 per year for unlimited local and long distance calling, Sunrocket will save you $100 a year compared to Vonage's annual price of $299.88. Annual savings over Packet8's 12 month price of $239.88 is around $40. With call quality being about equal among these three VoIP providers, if you're looking for cheap unlimited local and long distance domestic phone service without a lot of extra bells and whistles, Sunrocket is the way to go.

Comparing VoIP Plans

All three providers include free Canada calling with their unlimited plans, online account management and billing, voicemail, voicemail to email, three way conference calling, call forwarding, call waiting, call return and speed dial. These basic features are pretty much standard among all VoIP service providers, and are included free. For most average telephone users who are used to land line service, these features are a nice "bonus", as most POTS (plain old telephone service) users have to pay extra to get these enhancements.

Sun Rocket offers very low international rates, with many calling locations as low as .03 per minute. As a special promotion that has been running for some time, Sunrocket gives new subscribers a free cordless phone when they sign up via a referral.

At $24.99 per month, Vonage offers a larger set of features as well as unlimited international calling to most of Western Europe. Vonage has more enhanced features than Sunrocket, such as caller ID with name, call transfer, ring lists, international call blocking and click to call computer calling. International rates are very competitive.

For $19.99 per month, Packet8 also offers a larger set of free features with their unlimited local and long distance plan including caller ID blocking, anonymous call blocking, simultaneous ringing on multiple phone numbers, and a "find me, follow me" feature that can be set to ring different phone numbers one at a time until someone answers. Packet 8 also offers an optional video phone plan that is used with the video telephone they sell. This allows you to make videoconferencing phone calls with other video phone users. As like most VoIP providers, Packet 8 offers very competitive international rates. An unlimited international calling plan is available for an additional fee.

When comparing VoIP providers, you can see that all digital phone service plans are not created equal. If low cost is your primary goal, you make little to no international calls and you are happy with basic features, Sunrocket is a great choice. If you make frequent calls to Western Europe and want some extra features, Vonage is the option for you. If you want extra features, primarily call within the U.S. and Canada, or want to use video conferencing, Packet8 is an excellent choice.

No matter which internet phone service provider you choose, as long as you stick with a highly rated VoIP company that has a reputation for good voice quality of calls, you can't go wrong. Broadband phone service is the future of telecommunications, and you can save a lot of money on phone bills by switching to VoIP. The only requirement is a broadband internet connection. For home or small business users, cable internet service will provide the biggest savings, as most DSL service requires a land line telephone service account.

To learn more about Packet8 VoIP service, visit http://www.savewith8.com. For more information on VoIP internet phone service, visit my blog: http://www.djvoip.blogspot.com Internet Phone Service - The Future is Here.