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Sonopia is a new service launched today, that lets you make a virtual mobile network for your community. The service uses Verizon to serve calls and data, so is essentially just a reseller. Users can set up a network around communities such as schools, sports, religious and political groups and so on, and will then get a cut (3-8%) from the revenue that Sonopia will generate from the calls that people within this network makes. Users can also choose from a limited selection of phones and calling plans along with the option to co-brand.

Sonopia thought it to be a great idea to jump onto the social networking bandwagon to gain traction. However they forgot that just putting everything in the plate is not enough in itself. It has to work seamlessly as well. After I made an account I was unable to figure out what to do. The site told me that I could not figure out how to invite friends, after a while I somehow got to it. The feature is made available (only slightly) when you go to the My Friends tab and then Search for New Friends and then do a mouse over on a Photo (yeah I know you lost me here). Similar is the story with other features. I hate sites that make me thing how to do what I want to do. Sonopia is one such site, till I hear from a trusted friend that it has become better I will not be going back.

For founders out there, this is how not to launch products. Once you are out there in the sun, you only have one go to make or break. The company is founded by Juha Christensen, a Symbian founder and the former head of Microsoft’s mobile division and has raised $9 million in venture funding from comVentures and Sevin Rosen Funds. The service is developed by a team based in Kiev, Ukraine, which comprise of 75% of their work force.

Read: Techcrunch, GigaOm and VentureBeat