Packet8 CEO: here's how our $199 a year and SunRocket's $199 a year are different

FierceVoIPs Deborah McAdams posts a thorough grok of Packet8 owner 8x8's recent  quarterly conference call.  A good bit of the juicy tidbits pertain to the effect of SunRocket's closing on Packet8.

The big factoid: latest numbers show Pakcet 8 has signed up 19,000 former SunRocket subs.

That's not necessarily an entirely blessed event, though. Sometimes the best-intended carrying  calling plans and welcoming arms provoke questions from stakeholders at the welcoming carrier.

Seems like one of the biggest such doubts can be paraphrased this way- if you, 8x8, are offering a $199 a year plan just like SunRocket did - and SR failed, then how do we know that such deals won't drag you down?

Bryan Martin, who is chairman and CEO of 8x8, acknowledged this has come up.

“I have even received questions wondering if signing up former SunRocket customers to our standard one year Packet8 plan for $199… will cause 8x8 to start performing like a SunRocket,” Martin said.

Martin then took time to describe that Packet8's $199 a year Freedom Annual residential plan and SunRocket's $199 a year residential plan aren't exactly the same.

"We do charge our normal monthly fees and taxes--e911, Universal Service, regulatory recovery, state and local taxes where applicable--on top of the $199 a year fee. Over the course of a year, these fees add up to a substantial amount of money. SunRocket didn’t do this,” Martin said.

Deborah adds that while SunRocket also issued prorated refunds for anyone canceling service before the end of a year (except for those left stranded). Martin added that Packet8 offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, but no refund after that, Martin said.

In the same conference call 8x8 CFO Dan Weirich added that of the 19,000 now-orphaned SunRocket customers who signed up with Packet8, 61 percent took the one-year, $199 deal.