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Hong Kong's Lessons on Number Portability
Dr.Hair writes "Dan Gillmor once again hits the nail on the head with his comparison of Hong Kong's competitive mobile phone market to the United States. Experiences of incumbent carriers trying to thwart competition and stifle the free market in Hong Kong should be remembered as the FCC nudges US carriers to carry out number portability. In the end competition should provide better customer service, better coverage, and better pricing in the US, all of which will eat in to carrier profits. But it also might bring the US out of the tech backwaters, where customer lock-in is the marketing strategy and "innovation" is the spin of the day."
I am a hacker, look I smell and read slashfag.org every day!
Man, and I've wasted so much time reading slashdot.org!
I feel like a kid on Christmas eve waiting for tomorrow. Not only will I be able to switch carriers while hanging onto my number, but I can't wait to see the consumers finally regain some of the power over mobile phone companies. Customer service has gone to shit, but starting tomorrow, companies will be forced to be accountable for how they treat the customer, the quality of service they provide, and the overall price of what they offer. Only a few hours to go... Monday can't get here soon enough.
All mobile numbers are obliged to start 07, for the sake of portability and also to let people know they're calling a mobile phone (so it'll be more expensive).
:-)
Having said that, I changed my number last time - because the new one was much easier to remember
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
can schoolchildren type 70wpm with their thumbs.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
And its the governments job to see they don't get it. Free markets aren't a naturally occuring phenomena any more than a bonsai tree. The FCC would do very well to remember this.
If you look at the current homogenized radio market you could argue that the FCC has encouraged filesharing by ruining radio. Television the less said the better. At least, there is hope for phones and the internet.
If this is going to make the US more like Hong Kong, then God help us all! I don't want to be in a restroom stall listening to 20 other guys talking on the phone... That was ackward to say the least...
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
So we weren't the first to integrate a technology? Shocking!
...don't question it!!!
Things will be interesting for a while starting tomarrow as people take advantage of this new policy, but I think soon enough we'll see the phones change to everyone's benefit.
OK, I've said that 3 times now, so what do I mean? I mean that right now my Sprint phone wouldn't work if I go to AT&Ts network or Cingular's network or someone else. They all use different systems. It's mentioned at the end of the article that that just isn't the case in Hong Kong (and I believe in Japan and Europe and other places where they have number protability). The having to get a new phone part is still going to be a little bit of a wrench in this plan, but soon enough one or two carriers will try to make it so competitors phones will work on their network and maybe we'll end up with a standard (or just 3 standards that work everywhere). When this happens, our mobile phone market will be better.
It's about time this is fixed. Imagine if the government allowed TV to develop this way. You'd either be able to watch NBC, CBS, or ABC, but not all 3 unless you had 3 TVs. And if you tried to switch, you'd have to buy a new TV. Yeesh.
Horray for number portability, it's time to let the free market decide what sucks so things can improve more.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
The big thing about this new number portability feature (now it's not really a free feature, mind you -- we pay for it with a small fee on each montly phone bill -- but anyway, I digress) is that it will benefit enterprises who want to switch phone services easily.
No longer are enterprises locked into a bad contract for several years at a time. We are all now free to roam (pun intended, bitches!) across various telecoms and contracts and services. And that's a Good Thing(TM) for J. Foxy Consumer.
Read more about it at InfoWorld in this article URL
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Hmm, when reading without my glasses I almost thought it said: "Hong Kong's Lessons in Nuclear Portability". But I guess it's the same difference: Cell phones, using part of the radio spectrum, its effect isn't much different. =)
I'm looking forward to this, but how about equipment portability? Carriers refuse to move your ESN over from an older carrier. Since the device is "activated" with a particular carrier from the start, what's to stop it from being re-activated with a new carrier? This is costly to me, and forces me to discard an otherwise perfectly functioning mobile phone. I know there are charities that take this old equipment as a donation, but I'd have a lot more cash to donate directly if I didn't have to pay an extra $40 to $100 USD every time I switched carriers.
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
We have had number portability for some time here in Sweden too. I've also changed cell phone providers a couple of times but at least to me it hasn't been the great competitive thing I hoped it to be. The phone companies just have differentiated more heavily their prices, much like insurance companies. So one is cheaper to connect a call with, another is cheaper to SMS with, yet another is cheaper for something else. To really compare prices you need to know exactly what services you use a month, exactly what time you use them AND to which numbers. This is a very hard job with an individual result, so in the end not many people compare prices at all.
At some point I hope they legislate to prevent the mobile carriers from crippling the phones they sell.
When GSM first got going in N.America I bought a Motorola triband GSM phone ( 900,1800,1900 frequencies) from a Circuit City in Minnesota.
It was sold with a VoiceStream activation package.
Of course, when I took it home to Canada I found it was "SIMM locked" to only work with VoiceStream!
After some longish and not amusing phone conversations with VoiceStream I managed to get it unlocked by reminding them that they do not have service here in Canada.
Then I took it with me this summer to Malaysia and Singapore. That is when I found it was also crippled. The only frequency it would work on was the N.American 1900 band.
When I got back I contacted VoiceStream and Motorola to ask what it would take to restore the phone to allow it so work with the frequencies it was advertised as being capable of.
The response was that as VoiceStream ordered these with only 1900 capability the rest was "turned off" in the ROM version shipped to VoiceStream.
"Can they "repair" it?"
"No."
I will pay ( even though I should not have to)
"No"
Can I return it?
"No"
Total rip-off..
Maurice W. Hilarius Voice: (778) 347-9907
For those Slashdotters who are skeptical about capitalism, competition is a good thing.
Firms that can settle for making less profit, or who can innovate ways to legitimately earn top dollar for their products and services, will rise to the top, while those who can't compete will go out of business.
Amazing magic tricks
What you are going to see is the mobile companies chasing after customers with lower prices. The WalMart of pricing - with the service to match. Since nobody talks about phone SERVICE, the only thing to compete on will be price.
This means we will see lower prices, worse service, worse coverage for rural areas and the big markets will be saturated with low-cost plans.
We might see some hardware consolidation - because only the really big players are going to be able to afford to stay in the game.
the fat bitch?
It's got to be easier when there are a lot of them. There are one or two guys in my hallway (I'm a college student living in a dorm) who talk on their cell phones in the bathroom. We've only got 3 stalls, they don't do it often, and it's usually talking to a girlfriend. It's quite unnerving hearing people say "I love you," out of nowhere in the stall next to you.
GL
but... This does little while we're locked into yearly and even double yearly contracts. I just went to look for a new phone last week - all we're rip off's. At least $150 and up. And (this was AT&T) they all required two year contracts.
So, for the average consumer, number portability will do you no good while locked into a contract. Step in the right direction tho..
I'm going right after school tomorrow to get my new phone and make the switch final. If your planning on switching you probably should have contacted the carrier your considering beforehand. I know cingular had a pre-number port form on their website you could fill out thats supposed to make it go quicker tomorrow. Name, address, phone number to be switched, old carrier etc.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
In England you have to have your phone "unlocked" to use it on another network. The process isn't legal, but small shops will do it for about 10 quid.
GL
Here in Germany we have number portability (only mobile phones) since exactly one year and :
nobody cares.
Only a small percentage of the swappers
take their number with them.
This is partly blamed to the high costs
around 25 Euros.
...the increased competetion will likely force companies to offer short-term contracts with less limitations.
GL
Column...
eJournal
There seems to be a high potential for a cartel/oglopoly where prices are unfairly fixed to some agreed amount. The pessimist in me sees this happening to nullify any benefit of number portability.
Logically I would deduce the chances of happening in North America would be the same as everywhere else, but I know of price setting happening here where as I don't know of any instances of it elsewhere (that doesn't mean that it doesn't happend elsewhere.
However, the spirit of competition is strong in Telecomm, so it may not be such a bad idea.
Just a couple of years ago, the standard contract length seemed to be one year. I imagine the standard contract lengths were increased to two years as a kneejerk reaction to this pending legislation. After all, there's no need to give better service to keep a customer if they've got a two year contract. I'm guessing that contract lengths will be reduced in the near future as a way for the major carriers to entice customers to switch.
At the time I posted I believe I was the first to say...
Can you hear me now?
----
Subduction leads to orogeny
Just an idea.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
But in the end the number doesn't belong to the customer and these new regulations force businesses to give away things that are rightfully theirs.
I mean, if the US needed to be pushed out of technological backwaters the federal government could simply require all phones and phone services to be immediately discarded and replaced with new ones. Immediately jail any person found using old technology.
I mean, if you're going to start screwing with peoples' property and contract rights like this you might as well go all the way.
Someone mentioned having to buy new equipment, this would be a good time to and grab a new unlocked phone, you can get them from T-Mobile or just look on E-Bay i got an unlocked Sony T616 and it works on the GPRS 850 network, plus unlocked phones work on all carriers so if you are looking to shop around they would be a good idea, for the most part most carriers only ask for a contract for a giving a discount on a phone. But i live in Canada, i like Rogers AT&T, and i have no reason to change, enjoy the number portability.
Hehe, that kind of reminds me of the slashdorks that think broadband is some kind of intrinsic human right.
Or another country with GSM the standard. Yea, it's still possible to run across SIM locked phones, but it's a whole lot easier to move between phones and providers. Just take out your little SIM card, pop it into the new phone -- done! Or get a new card from your new provider :)
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
I couldn't possibly disagree more with your post. Firstly, the one thing that unites just about every civilization since Sumeria is a free market. The practice of barter is just about the most ancient one in human history.
Secondly, I would argue that the FCC contributes to a poor market in this case, by shutting out all but a few players. These companies have licenses which amount to an effective monopoly over a segment of bandwidth. They have little incentive to be good to their customers, since the range of competition is also limited and like-minded.
Ironically, the reason why the FCC exists is to allocate interference-free frequecy bands, but the most advanced communication methods in use (i.e., spread spectrum) are expressly designed to tolerate interference. Perhaps the FCC has outlived its usefulness.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
In Denmark we've had number portability for several years. My current cell number has been through 3 different providers. IMO it's been a huge benefit to competition. For instance, I recently switched provider during a price battle that cut my phone bill in half. (My old one followed through most of the way, but they'd never have done it without number portability) They are obliged to extend number portability to work between cell and fixed line phones this april which I'm not so sure is a good idea - I like to know where I' calling because of pricing.
Best current rates in Denmark are about 10c/min, SMS's are 3-4c apiece with no subscription. Some expect the price to fall even lower within the next year. The government agency on IT and Communication runs a helpful price guide to internet and phone providers. Of course all the providers interoperate, so you can just switch sim cards to switch provider and you can call and SMS anyone.
Several providers offer subsidized phones that can be very cheap, but they're not allowed to simlock it to their network for longer than 6 months. It's not illegal to have the simlock prematurely unlocked and it is offered publicly for 15-20 Euro. (You might get better rates elsewhere). Your contract will however be enforceable, so you'll pay subscription fees. I used this possibility recently to use my phone with a german provider during my stay there. (It's illegal in Germany though - I sent my phone from Germany to Denmark to have it unlocked - go call the police)
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
Yes and no. This IS the FIRST message, we are just waiting for the dupe.
Last week, a Belgian government official said portable bank account numbers should be possible in the very near future. So, you don't have to change your records with your employer, etc. when you close your account. Yummie! :-p
History matters..
I work at a large video store chain in Canada where we also have the cell phone kiosks that we have to be familiar with. I'm getting a little sick of it. The cell phone division of the company can be a little...ok, sometimes they're downright mean to us.
I'm sick of hearing from my coworkers when calling in an activation or trying to fix something on a customer's phone that "I should have this information ready at the start" or something like that. How do I know what information you need until I call about the problem?
Sometimes customers complain about the service they get when they call the customer service lines. I don't blame them and usually quietly mention how they're not always the nicest to us, either.
Things are getting competitive up here sometimes...currently one of our competitors is offering a deal where you can get your landline transferred to your cell phone. Our customers who want to cancel and switch to that are then offered six months free local calling...on the 2-year contract.
heh, personally, I just wish that I got some warning about the specials we'll have on our cell phones. Currently the "hot" deal is buy a cell phone on a 2-year plan, and get a free DVD player. Our store was sent 5 DVD players. We sold 4 in one day. Of the five, four of them were sold to staff members. Sounds like it's reeeeeally working with customers, guys.
I think that the first company up here who offers number portability would just lead the way. They'd get the benefits, and the others would just have to follow suit...but I know nothing about marketing or competition or anything, so what do I know?
I'm just a video-store till biscuit. Would you like some popcorn for just 99 cents with your movies this evening?
I don't see what this has to do with monopolies. Number portability does decrease the switching costs of consumers, but it doesn't give any company more of an advantage or disadvantage, and it's not going to change the number of companies on the market because it's regulated by the FCC.
Many economists would argue that the only true monopolies are those granted by the government - gas companies, local phone companies, cable companies, ect.
The interesting thing is that one of the most innovative and profitable cell phone companies developed in spite of, not because of government regulation. I'm talking about NexTel. They wanted to start a cell phone company, but couldn't get a frequency, so they bought a bunch of shortwave radio licenses held by taxi companies, messanger services, ect. The FCC said they had to include the radio feature on their phones, so they introduced Direct Connect push to talk service, and it's made them a ton of money.
I have blog like everyone else
The problem with switching carriers is you have to switch phones (unless you get one unlocked, but we wont get into that). What someone needs to do is build a web app that matches up people that need to change phones to get on the carrier they want. 1 to 1 swaps with only shipping costs involved. That way people can walk in with phones similar to the ones they had and get them activated. Similar to the way they had a book swap web app on my college campus to help students swap books without haivng to buy new ones.
These people have such an bizzare facility with language that it would make Orwell's Big Brother blush. "Innovation" is NewSpeak for thwarting innovation, and "competition" means eliminating all competitors.
"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less" - Humpty Dumpty - Through the Looking Glass
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
I currently have a cell phone with a major provider whose name sounds a lot like "Squint." I've also moved a couple times in the last year and a half. The first time I moved, I changed my phone number... then moved again 3 months later. The problem is that the company requires you to start a new contract every time you change numbers, and I wanted to switch providers when my contract ran out. My choice was either change phone # and start a new contract, or keep my phone number with an out-of-state area code - which is what I ended up doing. If I cancelled, I would be subject to early termination fees of several hundred dollars, so that wasn't an option.
Wonder if they will ever introduce legislation that lets you change a phone number without starting a new contract? Probably not, since that kind of thing probably affects much fewer people.
I have blog like everyone else
Prostitution has a long history but it's not correct to therefore claim that every civilization is united by an appreciation of sexuality. Barter took place in Stalinist Russia, but did not constitute a free market. In addition to producers and consumers, a free market requires barriers to competition that are low; this will virtually never occur in the absence of both government oversight and a liquid monetary system, neither of which is required for barter.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
I don't see how any comparision can be made.
Hong Kong is tiny and densely populated. How many cell towers are there in the entire city/colony? 30 or 40, maybe?
The United States is a huge diverse place. The Cellphone business in the US can't be operated the same way.
A Good Intro to NetBS
Oh nos, now you can't join the GNAA. What will you ever do?
Here in Germany, we traditionally have different "area codes" assigned to the different providers. That is, by looking at the area code, you know which provider the mobile is on. This was a good thing, since the cost of calling a mobile depends on the provider (e.g. I refuse to call an O2 mobile before 8 p.m., it's too expensive). With the advent of number portability, this association could get lost. It hasn't yet, since nobody uses it, but the possibility is there. How will I know how expensive my call is going to be?
Have you *seen* the phones they have in Japan and Hong Kong? In terms of wireless communications we *are* in a backwater.
Number portability just adds to the cost of the network as more inter carrier links and number crunching is required. Cheaper calls are offset by higher rental charges or contracts. As The US state of Australia found out, competition may have some impact at the beginning but once the smoke clears the total cost of communications is about the same to the average person. Competition has given us easier to get mobiles and kids with $450 per week mobile phone bills.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Suncom, at least, is charging an extra monthly fee because of the FCC's number portability mandates. Yet another attempt to gouge the customer. Okay, so it's less than $1.50 (it's bundled with the 'E911' fee. Sneaky, that.), but the principle remains.
Okay, so say that I'm with Voicestream and I want to move to AT&T. Who actually makes the transfer? Or more specifically, if Voicestream makes the transfer, what's to stop them from screwing it up or just not doing it at all. It's not like they're going to care very much, you *are* leaving their company after all.
As one of the few regulated monopolies allowed in our economic system, it is ludicrous to expect telecoms to do anything other than seek monopolies look at what is going on in telecom land:
* AT&T is trying to enforce it's monopoly rights over certain kinds of electronic transactions.
* The cell industry just was drug kicking and screeming to number portability.
* Annual service terms are being snuck into many isp and t1 contracts
I would say that there is no news that a utility opposes anything that affects their ability to be a monopolist.
-- $G
Apparently there will come a time in the US where you can switch your landline phone number to a cellular phone and vice versa.
They're not there yet. I was able to retain my landline phone number when switching providers (BellSouth to Birch). However just moving down the road required a totally new phone number - with the same phone company. Makes no sense to me, because the cell phone companies and now the VoIP phone companies can give you a number in any area when you set up or move service. Especially intriguing is the offer from iconnecthere.com to give subscribers a choice of international numbers (presently UK and Israel) that a person in the USA could have on their VoIP phone. It means that theoretically my UK family could call me for pennies at the weekend!
However, this doesn't mean people will suddenly get multiple phone numbers so that Auntie Flo can call them on the cheap. Rather, it is nationwide calling plans on landlines which will capture that market - services like former Worldcoms' Neighborhood - $50/mo and unmetered across whole USA. Speaking on nationwide calling plans it's about time European telecom operators got together to offer "unmetered" calls across Europe for a single monthly service fee. Oh, and to have a Euro plan where standard minutes are used rather than the expensive ones presently charged.
Mark.
Its not a signal issue, per se, because I can use it downtown inside of huge office buildings. I called their tech support, and essentially got the answer that they arent doing any further maintenence on their TDMA network; their answer was to switch to GSM. Thats basically my auto mechanic saying that instead of getting my engine fixed, I should buy a new car.
Add that to the fact that, from what I hear, GSM has terrible coverage area and service, and it seems I am going to be switching.
My last point (which I had intended to write the post for) was that I dont see this law really changing anything. For at least a year, if you want to change anything with your account (like switch call plans for more or less [!!!] minutes), they force you to extend your contract.
So all they are going to do is force people to extend their contracts for every account alteration, thus bullying people into staying with them. Especially given how cheaply made phones are, and that they need to be replaced every year or so, this seems like a conspiracy to make sure nothing changes for the better.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Carl Kassel has done the message on my voice mail? Can I get message portability or do I have to win again on "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me"?
"When portability went into effect in 1999, about 45 percent of the local population had mobile phones. Today it's north of 99 percent, says Kwan, and portability is one reason."
Wow, that means the telecoms stand ready in the hospital when a new citizen is born. Fierce competition indeed!
Yes, I now work for a large mobile company and am one of 200 or so that will be handling all your porting needs. :)
That's not exactly true. We reported to training a mere 2 weeks ago, plucked from Wal-Marts, welfare and nursing homes. I'm only barely kidding. We don't know _shit_ and here's the reason: my company put this off _hoping_ the FCC would let the mobile carriers stall for longer (ie, they did _not_ want this to happen). And so they rushed us through what should have been 4-6 weeks training in 12 days, then 2 working days before we go live they train us in Porting... which really only lasted 1 day since the last day (Friday)was spent on cake, speeches and making sure our terminals worked.
The highest score on the assesments was an 85%, the average was 65% (though even if you got a 0 you still passed).
Not that I'm complaining, I make a lot more money now and have benefits
Anyway, take the advice of a professional number porter, wait a few weeks after the start date till we (the operators) figure this crap out.
I have this really cool idea, that I "innovated" back in 2001. (See verbing doesn't weird language, it makes it synergistic!) It'll be this box, with a television connected to it, and the box will make its own graphics and text! Not only that, but you'll be able to play games like Scrabble and Monopoly on it! And here's the kicker; it'll be able to connect (or 'Network') with other machines over the telephone lines! You'll be able to see things going on other states, and play games with people you don't even know! Let's see here... It'll sell for a few thousand dollars, and I'll call it the "Computer" since it computes things very quickly. This is the kind of innovation that will keep the US years ahead of those backwater countries in Asia and Scandinavia!
Excuse Me!?
Anyone who has tried to get thier phone replaced, or any of those other little things you might need, knows that it's a pain. There are hundreds of places for me to get a cell phone in my city, but 2 places that I can go for service after the fact. Two places in the greater Portland area that are actual AT&T stores.
Case in point:
I am stupid and don't get a service plan/warrenty on my phone (This will not happen again). Of course, my phone starts going crazy hanging up on people, switching the audio from my headset to my handset and back again, and all sorts of things like that. I call AT&T, ask if there is anything that can be done. Thier answer,Buy a new phone. Well, I bought a phone, I broke it, I should replace it. But good customer service in my eyes would have been a little more. When I tried bargaining with them, it had no effect. I offered to extend my contract another year, or even 2, no use. Being that I was broke, I begged my brother to give me one of his old phones, and am using a sub standard phone to get by until I can scratch up some cash.
Pretty Pictures!
Remarkable I have not seen any comments from Hong Kong. I happen to live there for 1 1/2 years now, and of course I have my mobile phone.
So far I have once switched providers - an easy and painless issue. It cost me like $20 admin cost (1USD=7.8HKD, so that is abt USD2.5), and three days later it was ported over.
On calling cost: that is indeed truly low. I pay $89 (abt USD12) a month for 500 mins airtime (calling and being called), including call forwarding (press when being called on the mobile, and answer on the land line: no airtime paybable!), voicemail, SMS services, etc.
Calling landline to landline is free. Calling landline to mobile is free (mobile pays airtime only).
Calling cost are so low, many providers do not send you a paper invoice (costs $10 (just over USD1) service cost), only SMS and e-mail invoice.
Don't forget Hong Kongs 7mln people live on an area only 30x50 km in size, of which a large part is water. The high buildings are the largest problem for the networks: reflections. Buidling a country wide network is therefor easy and cheap. Networks are good and reliable, also high in the mountain (up to 990m high it goes here!) you have network.
Oh and for price comparison: though life is expensive, and Hong Kong has a name of being an expensive place to live, that is only housing. Everything else is cheap here.
Wouter.
We have had number portability in Australia for a number of years now, so have many other countries - It's like so many other outdated ideas that are still carried on in the US. :P
My litre of water (weighing 1kg) will boil at 100C, and then freeze when it gets down to 0C. It's just so much easier....
Saying your OS is the best because more people use it is like saying MacDonalds make the best food
I have worked in telcoms for 28+ years and all I hear is how great the US is and how we must be like them, we have 45% of our TV from the US and most of our music. Most big companies in Oz are owned/controlled by the US. And we follow them into war without careing about what the population actually says. We are about to go into 'free trade' with the US and the records already show that the US will use this to it's best advantage and to the detriment of Oz. Just add another star to the US flag.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
As soon as a kid can travel alone between home and school, he/she would receive a mobile phone from his/her parents. Not 100% of parents are doing this, of course, but it is the norm here, in Hong Kong.
We've already gone through porting twice. Once for 800 numbers. And once for landline numbers.
To wireline and wireless companies November 24th is a day that will live in infamy. It only will be available for about the top 100 markets. Everyone else has to wait until May 2004. Consumers will be able to take their cellular numbers from one carrier to another. Say like from SprintPCS to Verizon, or from their landline to a cellular carrier like SBC to Cingular (they are really the same company), or from a cellular carrier to a landline like AT&T to Qwest. Keep in mind all phone companies are evil. Some are more evil than others.
That being said, if you decide to take advantage of Wireless Local Number Portability remember the magic word 'port'. The carrier won't mention it unless you do. To start the process contact the company you want to port to. They will take care of the rest, or rather they are supposed to. Do not cancel the service with the other carrier you are leaving until after the number has successfully ported to the new one or you are screwed. You will have to buy a new handset. There may some instances where you can hack the phone and use it on the new carrier. Once the porting process has started, your old carrier cannot attempt to save or they face hefty FCC fines. Don't be suprised if you see new fees associated with porting. You may be able to place calls with your new carrier before the porting is complete. Don't be surprised if you are assigned a temporary number on the new carrier, before the porting process is completed . The time from starting the porting process till the time everything goes through could be measured in hours, days, or weeks. Don't expect to get any firm answers from the providers. Expect it to take at least one day and as much as one week.
If you plan on staying with your current provider, get the best deal you can to stay with them but be wary of the fine print. Lastly if you do plan on switching and your contract is alreay expired I'd wait a few weeks or months to let the pent up demand play itself out and more importanlty all the glitches to be worked out. Yes they are supposed to be ready for it, but when a new service or product is rolled out there are always unforseen problems when ramping up.
How do I know all of this? I work for a stateside vendor call center outsourced to from one of the carriers expected to lose a lot of customers.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
The parent post doesn't know what he's talking about. I've lived in Hong Kong since 1993 and number portability has seen an improvement in service, quality and lower prices. I've changed from one2free to Smartone to Orange to get better pricing and services. My girlfriend is on Orange too and we get 1000 free minutes each month for calling to each other.
On another note - something else the US should emulate...
In HK every time you use a mobile you pay for your minutes, making AND receiving a call. It is great!
Each per minute charge is about half the price I've seen overseas, but total cost ends up about the same. Calls from landlines are made for free, but I pay to receive them as I'm using my mobile phone. This means that essentially I pay for my availability: People don't pay to call me so I can use this as my only phone as there is no cost to them - unless they use their own mobile phone.
I'm frustrated when in overseas countries and using a local mobile phone, no one will call me due to their needing to pay for the privilege. I was amazed at people's reluctance to pay the cost! I'm more than happy to pay for it - I want to be phoned - why should others pay for my convenience?!!! Dumb dumb dumb.
So if the desire is to increase phone use (as well as ownership), decrease cost, increase services then both things need to change.
Portability and a change in time charge.
Airtime charge for both sending and receiving with free calls from landlines to mobiles should also be introduced.
You actually just need to visit an ATT store. If you call your previous provider, they wont be able to do anything. ATT would handle the entire transaction.
The parent post doesn't know what he's talking about. I've lived in The US since 1976, and it doesn't cost any more here to call a cell phone than a land-line phone. For instance, if someone wants to call me at home or on my cell, it is the same price (usually free if you are local, long-distance if you are not local).
There is no penalty for calling a cell. The cellphone owner pays for both sending and receiving calls.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
Yes and no. One carrier would initiate the transfer, but it does require the cooperation of the other carrier. They are following government mandates and could easily be sued or fined for millions of dollars if they were to fail to comply.
It sounds like it is time for the land line providers to follow the cell companies, start requiring a contract for a minimum time frame with large penalties for changing early.
The independent website numberportability.com has some good information on this, check it out.
The new number portability provision will help a lot, but it only eliminates one form of lock-in, one based on the social norms where users become reliant on their current phone number.
Another form of lock-in, one based on economic norms, is the penalty to be payed when switching away from a wireless provider before your service term is up,which we all are bound to by contract.
Most people I know hate switching not because they have to switch numbers, but because they have to pay a stepp $200+ fine for ending a service contract prematurely.
I don't think number portability will have as huge an effect for competition as they say they will. It will help consumers switch when their contracts are done, but because we are bound by contracts with such steep penalties, most people will remain locked into their poor performing carriers.