Number Portability FAQ

Today is a great day in the USA. Wire­less Num­ber Porta­bil­ity has arrived! I wrote about this last year and am glad that we have finally arrived to the point where num­ber porta­bil­ity is now doable.

So what is num­ber portability?

Well, effec­tive today, you can change mobile phone provider with­out hav­ing to worry about chang­ing your phone num­ber. For exam­ple, if your phone num­ber is (646) 555 1212, you can still keep the same num­ber but choose between dif­fer­ent mobile phone providers.

An added extra is that you can also take your land-line phone num­ber and port it to a mobile phone line.

What’s the catch?

Mobile phone oper­a­tors some­times work on dif­fer­ent net­works: GSM, CDMA, or TDMA. If you are switch­ing between com­pa­nies that are using dif­fer­ent net­works, you might have to change phone.

If you are switch­ing between GSM providers, all you may have to do is change your SIM card. If you are using a CDMA or TDMA provider, you might have to go to the store to get your phone repro­grammed with the new number.

If you are still under con­tract with a provider, some penalty fees will be assessed. Make sure that you are no longer under con­tract with your mobile provider if you want to avoid those charges.

How long does it take?

The FCC esti­mates that it should take about 3 hours but providers seem to have a dif­fer­ent view on this. Esti­mates vary from provider to provider, how­ever 3 days seems to be the aver­age. Do not turn off your old provider imme­di­ately as you may find your­self with­out ser­vice if you do. Wait until your num­ber has been moved to a new provider before can­cel­ing your old service.

At the cur­rent time, about 70% of the USA has access to wire­less num­ber porta­bil­ity. Full cov­er­age for the rest of the coun­try will take effect by May 24th, 2004.

How much does it cost?

This varies from provider to provider. How­ever, most of the providers will attempt to lure you by lift­ing off any charges relat­ing to port­ing your number.

Did I hear you say I could move from a land line to a mobile line and keep my number?

Yes, you did. While the indus­try is still try­ing to fight this pro­vi­sion, it is now in effect so you can change your land line to a mobile one with­out hav­ing to change your num­ber. How­ever, the avail­abil­ity of this may vary from region to region as wire­less and land line com­pa­nies argue over what land lines can and can­not move.

What else?

Wire­less num­ber porta­bil­ity is going to her­ald a new age of com­pe­ti­tion in the mobile phone space. Expect wire­less providers to start offer­ing much bet­ter deals as they now have one less way to lock you up.

Today is a great day for wire­less con­sumers so have a happy P-day!