After which, there was a detailed description of the advised replacement services that were available to customers through 8x8 and Unified Communications. The question, however, is whether SunRocket customers will take these recommendations to heart, or whether it's “Once bitten, twice shy.” Talley asserts that the VoIP provider business model is not doomed, per se, but that the companies simply “must be run in a manner that is judicious.” This may mean higher price points and lower acquisition budgets, both of which make SunRocket-level VoIP providers less appealing to the wallet and less visible to the end user. In an era when cable customers are barraged by digital voice offers and FTTH makes a telco triple play more viable, is there room in the customer consciousness for VoIP providers? Especially when some customers have the sound of SunRocket's silence ringing in their ears?

The curtain is down on SunRocket. Now the main attraction is whether the rest of the VoIP world can survive the backlash of a beleaguered customer base and a skittish population.