Well, it seems that conspiracy theorists are running around like mad putting up rumors that TeleBlend, one of the two SunRocket named "preferred providers" alongside Packet8 is really just SunRocket (or ex-SunRocket employees) poaching back their customers.
Now, I love a good conspiracy theory as much as anybody, but I don't think that there's anything that nefarious at play. The theory seems to be based on three specific facts:
- The MyTeleBlend.com domain was just registered on 7/18. The MyTeleBlend.com website has an appaling lack of information about their true identity.
- The phone numbers for MyTeleBlend are the same numbers for sales and support as SunRocket.
- When SunRocket imploded, Sherwood Partners, a respected firm that handles the wind-down of operations for failed companies, acting on behalf of their creditors to get as much value from the remaining assets became involved.
Sherwood has no interest in running a VoIP company - their goal is to get pieces of the company sold off and to also try and keep services running in order to keep the investors/creditors from getting an even larger black eye from the failure. From the chain of events, it looks like Packet8 was one of the first to pony up some cash to Sherwood to become a "preferred" alternative provider. Packet8 really didn't offer much - users still had to migrate over their numbers, wait for new hardware, etc. However, they were probably the first to offer any form of a solution.
Then comes TeleBlend - but who the heck is TeleBlend? Teleblend is a newly formed subsidiary (or maybe just a brand name) of USA Telephone, a CLEC - or Competitive Local Exchange Carrier - which means that they are FCC registered as a carrier. This, by the way, isn't a simple process or cheap. USA Telephone has CLEC (which means standard traditional telephony) status throughout New England and also is a provider/reseller of broadband internet services.
My bet is that someone at SunRocket (or possibly at Sherwood) knew someone at USA Telephone and gave them a little nudge in the right direction to acquire some of the key SunRocket components to facilitate customer migration. USA Telephone is not historically a VoIP provider, so my speculation is that since this isn't part of their key business, TeleBlend was set up - this way if it became a spectacular failure, the division could be closed or sold without any major impact to the USA Telephone brand. This is similar to the strategy behind Close Call America, Nationwide Connect and American Fiber Network, three other USA Telephone companies.
Sherwood, wanting to push calls away from SunRocket's support lines, most likely required TeleBlend to take the sales and support numbers for SunRocket. Most likely, only after the negotiations between USA Telephone and Sherwood were complete was the domain registered and a slapshod site was put up to facilitate migration. If USA Telephone was smart, they probably got some of the infrastructure and even picked up some of the SunRocket staff who were already familiar with the systems. If you see some ex-SunRocket techs posting or boards, I wouldn't be surprised.
Maybe the wool has been pulled over my eyes on this, but in the grand scheme of plausible conspiracy theories, the idea of SunRocket bursting into flames and then rising like a phoenix under another name requires too much cunning, planning and strategic thinking - all skills that would have prevented its failure in the first place.