In less than three months, customers' cell phone numbers are scheduled to be as mobile as their wireless phones, but cellular companies say they may not be ready.
A federal court ruling that allows customers to keep their cell phone number if they switch providers goes into effect Nov 24. The idea of number portability has become a popular idea for the business community. Lack of portability could put small businesses and the self-employed at a disadvantage if they decide to switch carriers because they lose numbers their customers know. Number portability could change that.
But wireless companies have opposed number portability since it was first sought in 1996. Now that the regulation is only months away, companies are still waiting to iron out the details. The wireless industry has recently been accused of trying to derail number portability with stalling tactics. But the wireless industry says it needs clarification from the Federal Communications Commission before the changes can happen.
"Unfortunately, important policy decisions that will determine how wireless number portability will affect customers are becoming a competitive slugfest rather than a search for solutions," said Tom Wheeler, president and CEO of Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, a national association for the wireless industry. "Fundamental issues regarding the basic implementation of number portability. remain unanswered by the FCC. Without answers about implementation details, customers will suffer."
One issue that remains unresolved for wireless companies is number portability between wireless and landline phones. Today, many cell phone users are getting rid of the regular landline telephones in their home and going entirely wireless. But they currently do not have the option of transferring their landline phone number to their cell phone. And the FCC has not had much to say on the matter.
"There are not any wireline-to-wireless rules out there right now," said Travis Larson, spokesman for CTIA.
The wireless industry set a Labor Day deadline for the FCC to roll out a final set of rules. With that deadline on the horizon, Wheeler and Larson said the FCC is not coming through and there are still too many open-ended questions to fully implement number portability by November.
"The law says Nov 24 and the companies are working hard towards that deadline, but the FCC needs to help us out here," Larson said.
But the details surrounding implementation are not the only reasons for opposition. Cell phone companies also contend that number portability will be expensive and cumbersome.
"Sprint has never been a proponent of number portability because it is a very expensive endeavor," said Sprint PCS spokesman Mark Elliot. "We do everything we can to make sure customers are satisfied, but we think there are better ways to spend our resources than on portability"
Other wireless providers, including Verizon Wireless and Ntelos, agree. But after seven years of debate, the FCC has decided that November is the final deadline. Despite the mandate, the wireless industry is seeking congressional support for an additional delay of the Nov. 24 deadline, but the FCC already has delayed enforcing compliance with the legislation three times.
"Nobody knows how it's going to impact our industry and what we call the churning of customers," said Mike Minnis, spokesman for Ntelos.
"So when you think of it in those terms, I'm sure every wireless provider has their own set of concerns. Cost is not just associated with expense of implementation," Minnis said.
"There's also the cost of losing customers. But you can also gain them this way, so who knows? We'll just have to wait and see."
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