Thursday, July 19, 2007

WARNING!!! TeleBlend VoIP Service

DSLReports users have reported that a company called "TeleBlend" has been selected as one of the "official" Sunrocket replacements. However, a quick look at their website's WHOIS information shows that the domain was registered just yesterday:

Registrant:
Network Operations
520 E Zarragossa Street
Pensacola, Florida 32502
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MYTELEBLEND.NET
Created on: 17-Jul-07
Expires on: 18-Jul-09
Last Updated on: 17-Jul-07

Administrative Contact:
Operations, Network domreg@overgroup.com
520 E Zarragossa Street
Pensacola, Florida 32502
United States
(850) 470-5502

Technical Contact:
Operations, Network domreg@overgroup.com
520 E Zarragossa Street
Pensacola, Florida 32502
United States
(850) 470-5502

Domain servers in listed order:
NS51.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS52.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.


Domain Name: MYTELEBLEND.NET
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS51.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS52.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 18-jul-2007
Creation Date: 18-jul-2007
Expiration Date: 18-jul-2009

I would be extremely cautious about this company as they just popped up on the VoIP radar. Their SSL certs do not appear to be verified in Firefox. Even scarier, it appears that they have the complete SunRocket subscriber database. If you go to the Signup page and enter your number, they've got your name and address. My advice: stay away.

40 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi All,
Spent five minutes researching Teleblend. Hope this helps!
Thanks,
James
Visit AboutUs.org for more information about UNIFIEDCOMMS.COM AboutUs: UNIFIEDCOMMS.COM

Registrant: Make this info private
Unified Communications Pte Ltd
390, Havelock Road, #04-06 King's
Centre
Singapore, 169662
SG

Domain Name: UNIFIEDCOMMS.COM

Administrative Contact , Technical Contact :
Ho Colin, Tan
pcjtan@SINGNET.COM.SG
390 Havelock Road #04-06 King's Centre
Singapore 169662
Singapore
169662
SGP
Phone: (65) 2977100
Fax: (65) 2977200

Record expires on 19-Mar-2008
Record created on 20-Mar-1998
Database last updated on 04-Oct-2006

Domain servers in listed order: Manage DNS

DNS1.PACIFIC.NET.SG
DNS2.PACIFIC.NET.SG

Show underlying registry data for this record


Current Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
IP Address: 203.81.61.133 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: SG(SINGAPORE)
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: IIS 5
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited
Web Site Status: Active
DMOZ no listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Web Site Title: Unified Communications
Meta Description: Unified Communications is the premier one-stop shop for all the telecommunications requirements. We provide carrier grade solutions for telecommunications requirements, service providers and enterprises worldwide.
Meta Keywords: unified,telecommunications,communications,roaming solutions,service providers,location based service,sms gateway,mobile solutions,ring back tone,sms,mms,gprs,voip,ussd,mobile data
Secure: No
E-commerce: No
Traffic Ranking: 0
Data as of: 18-Oct-2006

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Oops forgot the link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118479699440570808.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Unknown said...

Darned thing striped my url:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118479699440570808.html

Unknown said...

After reading a few boards, I'm pretty confident teleblend is legit. I'm thinking about pulling the plug on viatalk and going with teleblend, at least until the dust settles, because viatalk is completely unresponsive and I have no idea how long they are going to take to give me a new number.

From fatwallet discussion:
"TeleBlend update: Okay, I just got off of the phone with an apparently knowledgable CSR at "TeleBlend" in an Arizona call center. They were all just informed that they would begin taking calls for TeleBlend this morning (5:00am PST). Basically, United Communications Corp has taken over the SR infrastructure (as they have done previously with other small telecos) and are attempting to staff CSRs (already preset in the call center) and also get some IT folks to staff the infrastructure. They were all presented with a 2 page FAQ to take calls today. At least I am now comfortable that this is not a scam, but rather an attempt by United Communications to absorb another small Teleco and make some $$ using their existing call center in Arizona. The TeleBlend website was just created since this is really a new business unit of United Communications Corp. I thought that I would post this info for those interested ... and since I waited on the phone for 10 minutes this morning to speak to someone at TeleBlend. I fortunately still have some marginal SR phone service working in Cleveland, OH. The CSR could not tell me exactly when the IT staff (tech support) would be fully in place. "

"When you enter your SR number at Teleblend, it pulls out all your info SR had on file. No need to update gizmo. I bet Teleblend is gonna be new reborn SR."

No fees whatsoever, and you don't even have to update your gizmo, they promise a quick port, no upfront prepaid charge and no fee for cancellation...

https://www.myteleblend.net/TOS.aspx

(I have no connection to them, not an affiliate link, heck I haven't even signed up with them)

rochar3 said...

I just tried calling all morning and all I get is a busy signal. I already signed up on the net and am waiting for confirmation. Hope I did not screw up. Oh well, only 12 bucks if I did.

Ellen said...

Thanks for the info! I tried to find out who they were as well. Their site is pretty information-free - very little about what the options are, what the agreement is - at least not before signing up. Maybe I'll just see how long my SR service works and then go cell-only. All the VOIP alternatives look pretty ugly.

VetHost.com said...

I'll probably go with them for the 12.95. They say it'll all be the same as my SR account...so I hope they include the virtual number I had previously ported over. As one can imagine, their phones are unreachable now.

I understand if our numbers die before switching, they are lost forever. Can anyone confirm this?

Unknown said...

I found the cached version of Teleblend.com. It seems like they were selling different type of VOIP services before:

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:4-cA5dHLQv4J:teleblend.com/+teleblend&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us


and:

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:2prVy45oFOIJ:teleblend.com/rateplans.php+teleblend&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us

Unknown said...

Just thought I will share my experience with everyone -

My SunRocket service is still working (yeah!), but I finally got the email from them today telling me to switch to Packet8 or Teleblend.

Unfortunatley I am going to lose 11 months of remaining contract time! So I am a little afraid of going into another yearly contract right away.

Also since my phone number is the only "traditional" (well, pseudo-traditional) phone line I have for my home, I am skeptical to go with a new name like Teleblend (don't care about the parent company since they are in Singapore) whose service and quality history does not exist.

I finally decided to switch to AT&T CallVantage just now. I had been researching for last 2 days, and found that many reviews rated CallVantage's voice quality as the best (Packet8 close 2nd).

Plus, when I spoke to the AT&T customer service, I found that as an existing cingular/AT&T wireless customer I am getting a pretty good deal -
$19.99 per month (instead of 24.99),
+ free equipment
+ free shipping
+ free activation
+ free number transfer from SR.

The Cust Svc rep also checked my number while on phone and told me it was going to be available for transfer to them too (suddenly Packet8 and Teleblend were not the only options)!

So with that, at least I am getting a better deal than Packet8 (where I would have paid 24.99 per month), and also getting a BIG name behind the service.

GoogleGrp said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GoogleGrp said...

OK.. Teleblend UNCOVERED....

Here is some info ... first ...let's go back in time! ...

http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.teleblend.com

seems teleblend.com now redirects to mytelebend.com. Prowling around for teleblend...we know they are (were?) in the State of Vermont..and the site hides their real address.

Back in 2005 they published this phone # 802-694-4049 and has $16.99 and $26.99 services

I suspect you all can get more information prowling around the link I provided but there is some more on teleblend.com's domain server. That was opened by someone at: http://.com/ ...huh.."USA TELEPHONE is the alternative for telephone service from Maine to Maryland."


I have not included all the detail simply to leave the holders with some privacy.. but... for the sake of public awareness...

04043 United States
Registered through: TLD Webs
Domain Name: TELEBLEND.COM
Created on: 14-Feb-05 Expires on: 31-Dec-09 Last Updated on: 18-Jul-07

Administrative Contact:
Fogg, Bill bfogg@usacsp.com
xxx Bragdon Lane Kennebunk, Maine
http://center.spoke.com/info/pGQ1gu/BillFogg

joshua said...

OK I havent check these companies out but I decided to go with Viatalk due the offer of 3 month buy out. For me this means I loose 3months worth of service instead of 6 months.

Charlie said...

All,

Hello! I was a SunRocket customer for roughly 4 months. I signed up for the Annual Plan (12 months + 3 free months) where you pay $199+taxes & fees upfront. I charged it to my credit card. After receiving the SunRocket e-mail this morning, I called my bank. My bank's Card Services group is prorating the SunRocket service. They will issue me a credit for the 8 months of service that I didn't receive. They will then go after SunRocket using, in this case, Visa channels. I recommend that everyone call their banks and see if this option is open. As an FYI, SunRocket does say that they will be dealing with creditors over the next month. However, I don't look at SunRocket subscribers as being at the top of the food chain. Hope this helps!

I too have concerns about going with Teleblend.


Charlie

Leah said...

I found out that Teleblend is affiliated with Nationwide Internet, a division of USA Telephone, which has been in business since 1994. They also have a sister company that has been providing VOIP services for 10 years now.

I am much more comfortable switching to Teleblend now, after talking with a Nationwide Internet representative directly.

Skipper said...

After the SR fiasco I signed up with BOTH ViaTalk & later Teleblend when I couldn't get through to ViaTalk. Finally reached ViaTalk after 60+mins on hold! They're overwhelmed w/ SR customers and say it will be 3-5 days before shipping new equip, even if you paid the extra $9.95 expedite fee to go to the front of the line.

After repeated calls, I finally reached a live person at Teleblend. It's obviously a contract call center since the CSR had NO access to Teleblend customer information. They couldn't even verify the status of my order or provide a direct contact number! ...FLASH: My wife just got through and confirms the call center is a 3rd party capable of answering very basic sales questions but can refer trouble issues to Teleblend.

Our service has been up all day but impossible to determine if I'm still on SR or Teleblend! Pity folks w/ only 1 telecom provider!

Unknown said...

I just would becareful ot Teleblend, even if they are recomended by a failed company!

I signed up for TB and all I got was at $13.96 charge, no nothing about how long it would take or anything concerning my service. So I tried calling their phone number, DISCONECTED! Grrrrr...Now I am MAD.

By the way called my Citibank card today and they said they have been receiving a lot of calls about disputing SR.

jon said...

I sent the Teleblend support team an email with questions about their service and why they were able to take over SR so easily and got a very quick and satisfying response to my questions. Here is their response:

"Dear Sir or Madam,

At this time, we are only offering service to former SunRocket customers. However, we will soon start offering service to everyone.

TeleBlend is owned and operated by USA Telephone, based in Maine. USA Telephone has been offering traditional voice and VoIP services for 14 years.

We are able to continue service for former SunRocket customers because we have reached an agreement with the assignees overseeing the bankruptcy of SunRocket to purchase their assets. This has allowed us to ensure that the transition to TeleBlend is quick and easy.

You can transfer additional virtual numbers for the fee of $4.99 per line per month plus applicable taxes and surcharges that vary by state.

Thank you for the inquiry. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Thanks!
TeleBlend Support Team"

Unknown said...

I signed up with teleblend I have service both in and out all day today (took less than a day for full functionality outgoing worked in a matter of minutes). I figure worst case I am out $13.96 plus I think for now on I will always stick with month to month.

Sure ViaTalk is great now but at one time so was Sunrocket. Don't want to be screwed out of my money again!

Unknown said...

my service still works as a sunrocket customer and when I dialed "0" on my sunrocket phone I got myteleblend rep on the phone with no wait time and he told me that my service is provide by mytelblend and that he does not know how long it will work. its very strange that they took over my service without me taking any action. the only thing that does not work for me is international calling.

workingirl said...

I signed up on Thursday evening for Teleblend and by 6:15 Friday morning I had a welcome email saying my payment went through and that my number was activated. My number was never not activated. They also said they are working on porting voice mail within the next few days. I wrote back an email and asked when all of the features would be available to use internet management of our phone services. They just said they were working on it and "sorry for the confusion". I sent them an email Friday night to ask them to cancel my service and return my money per their 31 day money back guarantee. I have written twice more and cannot get a response. I have now turned it over to my bank to dispute the debit transaction. They put themselves out as a full service phone company that would take up where SunRocket left off and then when you access their website it is a scam.

Holger said...

myteleblend.com is not teleblend.com

Teleblend has been around some time. Whois record pulled from register.com

As you can see from the record it has been registrered since Feb 14, 2005

Registrant:
UnCommUm
5 Bragdon Lane
Kennebunk, Maine 04043
United States

Registered through: TLD Webs
Domain Name: TELEBLEND.COM
Created on: 14-Feb-05
Expires on: 31-Dec-09
Last Updated on: 18-Jul-07

Administrative Contact:
Fogg, Bill bfogg@usacsp.com
UnCommUn
5 Bragdon Lane
Kennebunk, Maine 04043
United States
2074679004 Fax --

Technical Contact:
Admin, Sys hostmaster@prexar.com
Prexar, LLC
40 Summer Street
Bangor, Maine 04401
United States
2079744300 Fax -- 2079744378

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.PREXAR.COM
NS2.PREXAR.COM

Holger said...

You can still use your sunrocket account and I just forwarded my numbers to my cell phone to use my cell phone's voicemail. I can call out and receive calls. I am not quite sure about the teleblend account but I will give it a day or two to pan out.

Unknown said...

I just moved my SR service to Teleblend. The Gizmo was back on wtihin 5 minutes and working fine. The only issue I have is the voicemail. It is not there any longer and I called the 800 number to see what the deal is and nobody answered. Although, I didn't speak with anyone...I navigated my way through their names directory in vmail and left a few messages around the company. They seem to be legit, based on the fact that some of the VM boxes I reached referenced SERVER ROOMS, OPS CENTER, and CSR MAIN VOICEMAIL...so that tells me that some work was done to set this up, even in haste. I'll give them a chance. HEll...you can't afford not to for the inital price!!! Hope that helps.

Unknown said...

Get your MONEY backIf you paid for sunrocket through credit card, you can get back the amount by calling ur credit card and disputing the payment. I did it and got the money back.

Sidekim Foods said...

its now been 2 weeks without phone service thru Teleblend. You are placed on hold for 30 -45 minutes to find out there is nothing they can do at the moment. The support page on states service is up, well no in Massachusetts.

BEWARE

teleblend is still recruiting Sunrocket customers "service up in 24 hours" that's BS..

Best of luck to all with your service

Unknown said...

Support hasn't help us. We can call out but can't receive calls. They said to unplug and replug the gizmo and internet but that hasn't worked. Its been 2 weeks without service. I'm looking for another service.

Jeff

Unknown said...

2 weeks and still can't receive calls. I can call out but no calls in. Support is very limited, like unplud and replug the gizmo and internet service. That hasn't helped. I'm looking for another service.

Anonymous said...

Teleblend useless - no service for lats 2 weeks - no response to fault reports - no answer on phone - no response to eamils - pretty crap. Also tried calling other VOIP services and cannot get to speak with a person. AT&T cannot provide me with my 307 area code - can you believe it? Look like I will be back with the old POTS service!

Unknown said...

I had 3 months service with SR and had paid for a 12 month contract.To say the least I was very disappointed in SR and the voip experience. I filed a claim with my credit card company, we'll see if that helps. In the mean time after investigating other voip services I gave up for the lack of time it would take to get new equipnment and signed up with TeleBlend. What a mistake!!! It took 3 days to get back up after being down. The service lasted 2 days and went out. After several e-mails and not getting any responce I started trying to call TeleBlend late in the night (after 2am), WOA!!! they actually answered. All I could get out of them is let's start a trouble ticket. They have no idea what they are doing. Anyone considering them.......I SAY STAY AWAY.They are not equipmed to handle the number of accounts they are taking. I am going to file a complaint with The Attorney Generals office in their state and mine (Tx.) as well as the FCC and anybody else that will listen. I had 2 lines with SR that I transfered to TeleBlend and now I can't use either. I work from home and it's costing me big time.
I've already starting porting one of my numbers to my sprint cell phone, but it will take 7-10 days. I found another voip called powerphone that actually answered their phone in the middle of the day. They have a special for $9.95 a month for 6 months. I signed up my other number with them. Maybe at least I can keep one line working until I can test this new service out on powerphone. Powerphone has a lot of extra featurers. You do have to pay $14.95 shipping for the box, but they say you should get it in 3-5 days. Traditional land line companies are raping us and voip can't get it's act together.Voip has a lot going for it, but they need to learn what it means to be professional.For anyone considering Vonage I recomend caution. Right after I signed up with SR I saw a blurp on their website saying they were an affliate of Vonage. I suspect the lawsuit problems Vonage has with Verizon may have caused the demise of SR.
Good luck to everyone, do your due dilengence.
Dale

Unknown said...

I have good new for guys. For the first time that teleblend came to exist I finally talked to somebody in the company! What a surprise! But not new was said to me. I am porting my number to my cell phone company.

Unknown said...

forget teleblend - we signed up over a month ago - july 20 and they have yet to provide one full day with complete service - we finally decided to switch to Charter phone and now teleblend has twice refused to let Charter port the phone number we have had for 29 years ,
I will be filing complaints with the FCC - our attorney general and the media - but I would recommend you stay away from them based on our experience.
They may be cheap but you pay for what you get.
good luck trying to port if you get fed up.

Unknown said...

Here it is mid Sept 2007, and I have three voip services waiting to see what happens in the post SunRocket days. Voip.com works fine, clear calls no chatter or drops, ported my SR number in 2 weeks, nice features, using voice mail, speed dial, call wait, block, etc.. a 2nd service: ITP. very basic, clear quality of call most features, pd an activation fee. and my 3rd is TELEBLEND which is all my old SunRocket service, voice mail call features, block, id, spd dial, wait, etc and it WORKS VERY WELL. Truly, SunRocket was a great system, and if Teleblend can stay afloat and manage their $$$ using the SR equipment, it will prosper and grow. Right now, it is equally as good as VoIP.com's sys.

Kerry said...

The problem I see with Teleblend it that you cannot recover your number if you ever want to change providers again.

We have been trying to bundle our services and Teleblend does not release numbers! We have been trying since sunrocket went down and we switched to Teleblend just so we could keep our business number of 11 years.

FYI, in case you have a number you need to keep for business or something.

Unknown said...

Here it is November 26, 2007 and I can honestly say today, Teleblend has become my best service. simply because it is the old Sun Rocket system! all Features work, Voice Mail, clear and fast connections. .
My Voip.com voice mail went out in October for two weeks... had to forward all calls to Teleblend # in order to have a working V.Mail... Voip.com has many more problems in the past month people are leaving voip.com.

Unknown said...

I switched my phone number from former Sunrocket to TeleBlend in Aug 2007 since then my phone start having problem. It only work about 10% of the time so I called for support they told me they got the problem fix but it still doesn't work. After two months without service I decided to cancel my account and go w/ a local telco. Under normal circumstance when you port your number they suppose to cancel the account, but they keep billing me for the past 4 months. I called this morning and they told me I need to call in to cancel service and porting number over to new telco is not going to terminate the service. The representative was rude and also told me that they can't give me the refund.

Lucinda said...

I was happy with teleblend until a few days ago, when suddenly anyone who tried to call me was informed that mine was no longer a working number. I have spent hours on the phone with them (when I could get through) only to be told that my firewall was keeping the gizmo from working. Totally bogus as I shut down my firewall and it did nothing. I was also told I could wet up forwarding from my old SR login -- once again, pure bullshit.

I cannot leave this company fast enough. Good luck to those of you still hanging in with them.

Unknown said...

Here it is February 2008, if anyone is reading these blogs. My Teleblend is working the best of all. VOIP.com is having major problems with dropped calls, v.mail and sometimes dead air after dialing.
Teleblend is clear, dials well into menu prompts, vmail is great...

Truth..Only but Truth said...

Teleblend SUCKS... JUST LIKE SUNROCKET. They are the same ppl with same biling problems.. Dont go for it... I GOT SCREWD WITH THERE BILLING AND U WILL BE> GUESS WHAT.. THE REP TELLS ME THEY DONT HAVE A PHONE LINE FOR THERE BILLING DEPT.. CAN U F"IN BELIEVE IT?.

Truth..Only but Truth said...

Teleblend SUCKS... JUST LIKE SUNROCKET. They are the same ppl with same biling problems.. Dont go for it... I GOT SCREWD WITH THERE BILLING AND U WILL BE> GUESS WHAT.. THE REP TELLS ME THEY DONT HAVE A PHONE LINE FOR THERE BILLING DEPT.. CAN U F"IN BELIEVE IT?.