US LEC Signs SunRocket

In addition to a big customer win, the VoIP wholesaler plans to deliver that VoIP feature that the FCC tried to destroy.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [July 26, 2006]

Russ Intravartolo has been making ISP industry news for longer than ISP-Planet has existed. The founder of StarNet MegaPOP sold the business to US LEC but still runs it, now as part of a larger business. He was recently promoted to the position of president of the Internet Telephony and ISP Operations division of US LEC.

That job title shows that VoIP is big for US LEC, the iconic CLEC (its NASDAQ ticker symbol is CLEC) and MegaPOP has two major announcements on the subject.

A big customer, a turnkey VoIP product
ISP-Planet can report that nationwide VoIP provider SunRocket will be using MegaPOP's nationwide last mile infrastructure to serve customers.

Intravartolo says that MegaPOP built a national network back when its key offering was dialup, and that infrastructure continues to serve it well. "We have phone number banks all over the country. We peeled off a layer of phone numbers for VoIP."

Intravartolo is eager to point out that the two companies do not compete with each other. Just like MegaPOP sells only wholesale dialup, not retail, it does the same with VoIP. "They provide the retail layer, all the features such as voicemail and fax and billing and tech support, everything that differentiates the service. We get the inbound call and then we hand the calls over to their infrastructure."

He says it makes sense for each company to do what it's best at. MegaPOP has the national infrastructure and is accustomed to working with service providers. SunRocket has the VoIP skills. "The service we provide to SunRocket requires that each residential subscriber have an ATA. SunRocket subscribers select a phone number provided by the MegaPOP infrastructure. The ATA seeks out our SIP gateway near that city."

The authentication, Intravartolo says, is very similar to the service a wholesale dialup provider offers. "The business is about synching two authentication servers on the same day a purchase is made."

Two products for ISPs
Intravartolo says the company can offer a wholesale VoIP service to other ISPs, and it can also offer a full featured turnkey private label VoIP service.

Volume discounts are, of course, available.

Both products are fully 911 enabled.

Nomadic 911
Perhaps the biggest news, however, is that US LEC is in the process of implementing nomadic 911. When the E911 rules were implemented, commentators (including ISP-Planet) saw the rules as an assault on a key value that VoIP offers but which regular POTS telephony never will: the ability to take your phone on the road, on business, to a show or a sales opportunity, and have the same number ring at your location no matter where you are.

Intravartolo says that, with the assistance of the US LEC team, explaining how 911 is implemented, MegaPOP has built an application that will allow a customer to fill out an online form and change the address that their phone shows to 911 operators, and change the 911 office that gets the call.

After the interview, US LEC confirms by e-mail, "SunRocket will be leveraging US LEC's nomadic 911 capabilities, available now to US LEC's MegaPOP customers, as it moves towards rolling out nationwide nomadic 911 for its customer base in the near future."

— End