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What Has Number Portability Done For You?
Coldeagle writes "Number portability has been around for a few days now, I was wondering; have any of you fellow Slashdot readers switched carriers? How was your experience, and have you seen any price warring since it went into place?" Or is number portability so far more hype than happenin'?
...and it seems like the process is relatively painless.
One tip for those who are thinking of trying to port their number. Do *not* do the process online. I ordered my new phone that way and the number ported two days before my new phone arrived. As soon as your number ports, your old phone stops working for anything besides 911 calls. Needless to say, I was without a cell phone for two days while I waited for my new phone to arrive.
Other than that, everything went pretty smoothly.
"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
With my current carrier, I called them and told them I was thinking about switching and they chopped $15 off my bill if I would stay.
It can't hurt to ask!
..is that Sprint is charging me $2.20/month for it.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
Have you noticed how every carrier has a commercial now, saying that if you switch to them, you can keep your old number? As if they came up with this and are the only carrier with which you can do that...
A modern day witchhunt.
...and I've made use of it taking my mobile number with me when switching GSM providers and also when switching from POTS to VoIP/cable.
(oh, and, yes, I'm talking about Europe here 8=)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It'd be cool to be able to transfer my home number to my cell and carry it with me wherever, not to mention cutting out the cost of my phone line, but I'm concerned that the system is not quite working properly yet. I think I'll wait until I hear more success stories.
The other issue that I am wondering about is telemarketing. It's illegal for telemarketers to call your cell phone, but if I take my land line number and give it to my cell phone, how will the telemarketers know not to call it? Did the FCC ever say anything about this?
-R
The fcc has plenty of info:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/numbport.ht ml
Background: What is Telephone Number Portability
Telephone number portability is a service that provides residential and business telephone customers with the ability to retain, at the same location, their existing local telephone numbers when switching from one local telephone service provider to another.
In 1996 Congress reexamined and changed the Telecommunications Act to promote competition and reduce regulation in all telecommunications markets. Before that time, a major barrier to competition was the inability of customers to switch from one telephone company to another while retaining the same telephone number. Congress directed local telephone companies to offer "telephone number portability."
In order to provide the kind of telephone number portability envisioned by Congress, telephone companies had to invest in upgrades to their networks. In 1998 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) evaluated the cost involved in local number portability and determined that existing local telephone companies were allowed, but not required, to recover the costs of implementing and providing telephone number portability through two kinds of charges: (1) charges paid by other telephone companies that use a telephone company's number portability facilities to process their own calls; and (2) a small, fixed monthly charge assessed on telephone customers or "end users."
What is the Long-Term Telephone Number Portability End-Use Charge?
The long-term number portability end-user charge is a fixed, monthly charge through which local telephone companies may recover certain costs of providing long-term number portability service. Recoverable costs include those for creating new facilities, physically upgrading or improving the existing public switched telephone network, and performing the ongoing functions associated with providing long-term number portability. FCC rules state that incumbent local telephone companies may, but are not required to, recover certain costs of providing number portability by charging their customer a monthly fee.
Am I Required to Pay the Long-Term Portability Charge if I Am a Lifeline Assistance Program Customer?
Carriers can not impose the monthly long-term number portability charge on customers of the Lifeline Assistance Program.
Does Long-Term Telephone Number Portability Mean That I Can Keep the Same Telephone Number if I Move Across Town or to Another State?
The type of telephone number portability that local telephone companies must provide is called "service provider portability." Service provider portability allows a customer to keep his telephone number when changing local telephone companies. It does not allow customers to take their telephone numbers with them when they move.
Can I Keep the Same Wireline Telephone Number if I Switch My Local Telephone Service to a Cellular or Personal Communications Service (PCS) Telephone Service Provider or Vice-Versa?
Cellular and other wireless carriers are not required to provide telephone number portability at this time. For this reason, customers cannot retain the same local telephone number if they change their local service from a wireline local telephone company to a wireless carrier, like a cellular or PCS service provider. Likewise, customers cannot switch from a cellular or PCS service provider to a local wireline service provider and keep the same cellular or PCS telephone number.
Will All Telephone Customers Be Charged for Telephone Number Portability?
Local telephone companies can only charge customers in areas where local telephone number portability is available to all consumers. Telephone number portability may not be available in all service areas.
Does the FCC Require Local Telephone Companies to Bill Consumers for Long-term Telephone Number Portability?
The FCC allows, but does not require, local telephone c
sorry to be rude, but was a very worthless .02
you haven't tried to move your number, you're just pissed about choosing to sign a 2 year contract.
Why would you say it's a gimmick when you just don't have option to use it because you were stupid enough to sign away two years of money for what sounds like awful service?
what gimmick bought your money?
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
I work for a certain wireless company with a particularly emphasized logo.
:)
We are pushing off the go-live date of at least one major project until early next year because customer service has been getting a LOT of WLNP calls (WLNP = wireless local number portability), way more than expected, and don't want any releases that will further increase call volume. So I don't know if slashdotters are porting, but a lot of people are. I just hope they are porting TO us and not FROM us
Heck, my own mother, who is as non-tech-saavy as they come, is considering porting her home phone number to a wireless phone and just getting rid of the landline. This law is going to shake up the industry. You may even see one or two wireless carriers going under as a result. They've been predicting for years that the 5 major carriers would eventually boil down to 3. This may be the catalyst to make that happen.
- Vincit qui patitur.
I'm a person, not a revenue source!
Stream, you are countless numbers of revenue streams....think you're not. Think it at the gas station on your way to work, think in line at the grocer. Think it at Tax time...LOL 'citizen'...nope not today, citizen = revenue stream.
Are you using Verizon?
I know verizon lets you switch plans in mid-stream, as long as you get a new term on the selected plan that is longer than what remains on your current agreement. IE, if you have 14 months left, you have to get a new 2 year agreement.
I've never had a problem switching to new promotional plans since I got my phones (I have 3 phones in my name for myself, my wife, and the business - no land lines). This may just be a Verizon thing though.
man is machine
I am with Sprint. Before last month or so I planned to switch to ATT; the total cost and cost per minute would have been less. But then Sprint brought out the big guns and allowed nights to start at 7pm. They officially say that you have to upgrade (i.e. pay more per month) and sign a two year contract to get the new nights time if you are an existing customer. I said I wouldn't accept that and I wanted the new time schedules or they would receive a number portability request from ATT *today*. Since I've been there for 5 years now already, they were happy to accommodate me.
sig
Make sure that the new carrier gets your name right with the old carrier, otherwise you won't exist. On top of that, cingular put the request into AT&T as a wireLINE to wireLESS port, rather than a wireLESS to wireLESS. I waited a week to get the new phone working, and I am not all that jazzed about the quality of service.
I am sticking with T-Mobile since they are the only ones not putting additional fees on my bill for this. I was seriously considering Sprint but quite frankly, the only thing T-Mobile doesn't have is coverage in rural areas like Sprint does with analog roam.
More minutes, cheaper, not nickle and dimed to death for features, and I don't have to pay just to play a stupid game on my cell phone.
I was hoping T-Mobile would give me like a free month for renewing my contract but they said neh so I said "well poo poo on you you" but I am sticking with them.
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
Remember: The old adage "fight fire with fire" does not apply to non-metaphorical fires.
;-)
Actually it does -- a wildfire sucks air from earth surface like crazy, so if you ignite another fire just at the right place at the right time it will be propagating towards the original fire and when they collide both will have no more fuel to burn.
Learned from some cowboys/indians book when I was a kid
Paul B.
The law says that phone companies have to allow for number portability. The law does NOT say the phone companies have to make it easy for the consumer.
For instance, when switching from AT&T to Verizon (while keeping your number the same) in my area you are forced to carry both your old phone and your new phone until May 2004. You place calls on your new phone but you still receive them on your old phone.
Call me crazy but I'll wait a good year or so until it's at least a bit more customer friendly.
The only thing keeping them from making it worse is that no one wants to get the worst press. So it appears they're going to drag their feet and make things as difficult as possible for as long as possible, and they're going to do it just up to the point that they can't get slammed any worse than anyone else in the industry. Like some inverse version of competition.
Q-"How poorly can we comply?"
A-"What are our competitors getting away with?"
Operator, give me the number for 911!
He wanted to move from Qwest to ATT. Bought the ATT phone, ATT requested the number from Qwest, twice. Qwest denied the request both times, because the request specified a window of 3 hours, and Qwest requires a 24hr window to make the change.
He now carries 2 cell phones: 1 (qwest) to receive calls, and 1 (ATT) to make calls. This has been over a week, and they still can't get it straightened out. He's even gone to the local news and been interviewed for a story, hoping the bad publicity will prompt some action. It seems like, for all of the warning the phone co's had, they still haven't worked out a lot of the systems necessary to make the switch.
The funny thing is, the FCC only 'recommends' a timeframe for making a switch, but states right on their site that there is no required time limit. Talk about a loophole the cellphone companies can drive a truck full of cash through! My coworker could end up paying for two phones indeffinately.
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Not to be rude, but I think this reply is more of, "I can't use the feature right now, so I'm going to piss and moan about other problems being more important"
Number portability is great, and needed. It's not a gimick. Here at the office, it is most welcomed. We recently reviewed our cellphone planes. Cingular was just bending s over a sink. We wanted out. We shopped around, looked at different carriers, and picked the one that best suited us (Sprint).
Of course, this was several months ago. After switching carriers, we had to distribute all new phones, everyone had to learn new phone numbers, we needed to update business cards, and then try and update all our contacts.
What if someone we met at a conference six months ago though, hey, you know so-so's product would work for us real well here, I think I even have his card. He calls a sales reps phone... nope no answer. He can fall back and call the main office number, but thats not good. It gives the appearance of being unprofessional.
If we had number portability, the transition would be seamless for the users.
Bitching about 2 year deals is dumb. You can find PLENTY of one year plans. Also, there are TONS and TONS of per-use plans for people who don't like long term plans. You can go to Best Buy and pick up a Virgin mobile phone that is pay as you go.
Your complaining seems like sour grapes to me. Looks like you chose a bad plan and carrier and now are completely upset with the cellphone world.
.. with AT&T Wireless, at least.
The day after the portability law went into effect, I headed to Verizon to get the new LG VX6000 and to switch over from ATT Wireless to Verizon Wireless.
Verizon seemed to do their part pretty quickly. Activation was quick, I was able to call out in 15 minutes. While I am able to call out on my new phone, I still (and remember, it's been a WEEK) cannot receive phone calls because ATT Wireless is taking their sweet ass time to finish their portion of the porting.
I read the law for the portability, and I expected a major loophole. No timeline or period was stated in the law claiming the maximum amount of time a company is allowed to take with the process. I've called AT&T Wireless a numerous amount of times and they keep telling me the same thing.. "Systems are down". When asked for an explanation, the representative can't even elaborate on the reason because, well honestly, i don't think they have any clue what the hell is going.
I don't know if anyone else is experiencing this (I live in metro New York), but this sure as hell is frustrating. After this post I am planning to call AT&T Wireless, again, and if they dare say "systems are down" I think I'll flip out.. something I rarely do.
So yeah, don't expect everything to work right away, especially with AT&T Wireless.
"The ones who dont do anything are always the ones who try to pull you down" -- Henry Rollins
Of course it doesn't do anything for me. I am locked into a two-year agreement. I can't change carriers, look into other carriers, or even think about other carriers without first being charged $170.00.
The reason you're locked in is because your carrier pays a large subsidy upfront for your expensive cell phone. If you walk in with your own phone, no one is stopping you from getting a no-contract service.
The commercials seem to point at the fact that you can now have your home phone number moved to a cell phone. While I do use my cell phone more than my land line I must say that having an actual phone plugged into the wall not really requiring any batteries, chargers, or antennas is nice.
But for those people that never had a cell phone until now, the number that all their friends and family have known for years are now portable! That's convenient.
Honestly, it's just a gimmick.
The 6.7 million people living in my hometown (Hong Kong), would like to disagree.
They look fantastic until you pull up their coverage area... Here in the Twin Cities Metro area they have great coverage... Problem is I routinely travel outside of the metro area into western and southern MN along with western WI. No coverage there.
Caveat Emptor. It's not really T-Mobile's fault if you decided to pull up their coverage map AFTER being locked into a 2-year contract with them from having them subsidize your pricey cell phone.
I recently relocated to Bay Area, switched to AT&T GSM from T-Mobile because coverage is much better (no penalty since my T-Mobile contract expired a year ago), and I'm happily locked into a 2 year contract, because I got a free bluetooth camera phone that costs $300-400 retail in Europe/Asia.
Until my cell service is mandated not to drop calls, not to require as much recharging, and not to have locked in contracts of 2 years, it won't do me any good.
What really won't do you any good is if you walk into any long term contracts without evaluating the quality of service it offers. Do more research next time.
My cell phone doesn't work all that well in my apartment, it rarely gets a call through on the first four or five times on the weekend, and it drops calls like mad when a plane flies overhead.
Sounds like an excellent reason to use number portability in two years when your contract is up. That's what I did. GSM carriers get shitty reception in my building. Verizon gets perfect reception. My contract was already up. I got a Verizon phone two months ago so that I could make calls from my apartment, and now that number portability is here, I'm going to switch my old number onto my Verizon phone. (Yes, I've been paying for two cellphones for a few months now.)
Worth it for me. I've kept my number and I've got excellent reception in my house. No local phone necessary.
My only question is how are we non-cable-watching non-land-line-phone-using people supposed to get broadband internet access. Fortunately my roomie feels the need to have a land line, so I can piggyback DSL. I've got a bunch of friends that just don't have internet access 'cause of this.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
It's Pi isn't it?
"Talk minus action equals nothing" - Joey Shithead, D.O.A.
"Talk minus action equals
911: Hello, this is 911. How would you like your emergency today?
Me: Yeah, uhm... this is the only number my phone can dial. Could you relay a message? Please call Mark Portsworth at 343-982-8452 and tell him...
FWIW, Sprint PCS will do the same thing for you. Not that it matters much to me... with my low usage, I currently have a plan that is cheaper than anything offered. By anyone, in fact.
However, I'm hoping that number portability will lower prices and improve services all around. Despite mediocre reception at my last residence and my current job, I've stuck with Sprint as it has allowed me to keep the only mobile phone number I have ever had; I'm sure others have put up with poor service for a consistent point-of-contact. Now that people can jump ship at will, service providers should be tripping over each other to improve their competitiveness, both with better quality and lower prices.
I live in the SF Bay Area and switched from Cingular to Verizon on Monday. After two years of wretched coverage, there was no force on earth that could have made me stay with Cingular.
I walked into the Verizon store, picked out a phone and a plan and within 2 hours was switched over. I didn't even have to bring in any documentation and I was surprised how painles entire processes was.
It was the best buying experience I've had in a long time. I'd rather not have to pay the $1.75 per month for a service that should be standard, but given the choice between the fee and freedom to switch numbers versus no fee but no choice, go ahead and bill me.
You could, of course, get one of those cell phone docking systems that tie into your home phone, then move your number to a cell line.
That way you have the conveniance of using your home phones, but you're only paying for your cell phone.
I find myself thankful every day that the number "1" is still the number "1" no matter where I go.
Thank god for number portability.
I was off-contract with T-Mobile, and had experienced many bandwith problems with them. I'm near an interstate interchange-- traveling calls fill the entire tower. I noticed an amazing deal on a treo 600 on amazon, and decided to get it, knowing that I could port it to SprintPCS, where I have another cell phone, and much better service.
I initiated the transfer on Wed, 11/26. I had heard rumblings of portability problems with the wrong information being entered into the system, so I made sure "customer care" specialist repeated all of the information back to me. They gave me an original "due date" of Saturday, 11/30 at Noon.
Saturday rolled around and no transfer. I called back, and it turns out Sprint submitted the wrong address to the WLNP system. If the addresses don't match, it won't port. Nobody had called me in 3 days. To make matters worse, the address they submitted was my old address- 4 years and 3 addresses ago! It was my original address with Sprint, not even my current one they had on file!!
To cut a long story short, I've called Sprint 5 times since then, still no port 7 days later, and each time I call, they give me the wrong address issue, even though I've corrected it 6 times.
This most recent time, I waited 2 hours (on a landline) to speak to someone in the Sprint WLNP dept. They eventually got T-mobile on the line. Finally, they both agreed that it was the FCC-contracted third party that was the holdup, but that their system was in the middle of an "update" and was unaccessable for 2 hours. (In the middle of a business day?!!?)
This system is not working. If these companies had spent the time and effort making this work instead of fighting it, and maybe tested it at least once, it would work better.
But because there are so many parties involved, they figured they didn't have to, because there are 2 other people they can point the finger at.
I've yet to hear from a single AT&T person online who's successfully ported.
If you've having problems such as me, make sure to REPORT IT.
Other resources I've been using, mostly to comisserate:
Howard Forums
Sprintusers.com
Number portability forum
Wait until they get the kinks out-- the system should take but a few hours, not more than a week!
Well I called both VZW and ATT.. same bs.. except this time I demanded from ATT that they transfer me to their portability department (which seems to be the only way to get through).. the woman was nice.. told me AGAIN the "systems were down", but told me to call in 2-3 hours and gave me her direct extension..
on a further note, if any ATT (or non-ATT) customers have any portability related questions and cannot get through.. try this number.. 1-800-241-0335 It's the "hidden" portability department number. The queue seems to be pretty fast (barely waited 30 seconds), so give that a shot
"The ones who dont do anything are always the ones who try to pull you down" -- Henry Rollins
On Saturday, November 22nd I went into a T-Mobile store and bought a new phone and activated service with a new phone number with an intent to port my old number over from AT&T Wireless Services on Monday the 24th.
On Monday I called T-Mobile to begin the porting process. It took a little over an hour on the phone and at the end of the call they said it would take 3 to 24 hours before the change would be effective.
24 hours later, nothing had happened yet. I called T-Mobile back and was told that the request had been rejected by AT&T because my name on the request didn't match my name in their system. I grabbed my AT&T bill and reconfirmed with T-Mobile that it had, in fact, been entered correctly the first time. They resubmitted the request and said to check back in another 5 hours if it hadn't gone through.
5 hours later I called back to learn that AT&T rejected the request again saying that the ZIP code didn't match. We double-checked and it was exactly as it was listed on the AT&T bill. They said to check back again on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, more of the same. We went through again to make sure that all of the information in the request was exactly as it was listed on my AT&T bill and resubmitted the request. They said that if it failed this time, I was stuck until Friday since they wouldn't be open on Thanksgiving.
On Friday, nothing had changed. I called T-Mobile again and was told that AT&T was having serious computer problems and that all requests were being rejected. They said there was nothing else they could do right now and that there was no ETA. We were all at the mercy of AT&T and were simply stuck.
I checked again on Saturday and Sunday and got the same answer both times.
On Sunday I sent an eMail to AT&T Wireless Services telling them that there was no excuse for their incompetence given the fact that they've had over seven years since the original FCC mandate to prepare for this.
On Monday I called T-Mobile again and talked to someone about the situation... specifically about my concerns regarding double-billing since I have an active T-Mobile account right now and I have to keep my AT&T service active until the conversion is complete or I forfeit my number. The T-Mobile rep was very sympathetic and said that she would take care of it by making sure I am not charged for my T-Mobile service until after the portability request is successfully completed.
It is now Wednesday. 9 days since I submitted my port request. Three days since I sent an eMail to AT&T Customer Care. I still haven't heard anything from AT&T regarding the eMail I sent them on Sunday except for an automated form letter stating that they received my eMail and would respond as quickly as possible. I'm not holding my breath.
I honestly believe that their problems may not be as severe as they claim and that this is, at least partially, an attempt by them to get their existing customers to "give up" on switching to another carrier. Many people who have requested number ports away from AT&T have done just that... after become so frustrated with the delays and excuses they've decided to just stick with AT&T rather than suffer through continued aggravation. If nothing else, AT&T is delaying the departure of dissatisfied customers, forcing them to continue paying for poor quality service until the alleged computer problems are corrected. In fact, a number of customers have reported in various Internet message boards (including AT&T's own support forums) incidents where they have called in to simply cancel their service and were told by the AT&T rep that they couldn't do it at that time because the system was down and that they would need to call back later.
I, personally, intend to continue my quest to move my number to T-Mobile if for no other reason than to make it clear to AT&T that they're not just losing a customer, they're losing a customer to one of their competitors. Number portab
We do a lot of land line number porting at work to get local sales numbers and its my job to make sure that they all work. Let me tell you not all carriers have the same diligence with updating their call routing. And since most of the phone routing is done on the call's originating side there are lots of places where number ports can go wrong.
After you get your number ported to a new carrier test it from every carrier you can get your hands on. If you don't mind the one time costs do some 10-10 dial arounds to test some LD carriers. If you have any small telcos in your area be sure to test from them. Typically the smaller the telco the worse the porting results. (but many times they are the easiest convince to make a fix) And be sure to test the number by originating a call from your old provider. Providers are notorious for not pulling the routing for the ported number and then don't forward the call.
If you do end up getting a problem with reaching your number after the port bitch up a storm to your new carrier. They do have the power and the ability to get in touch with the companies that are screwing things up and they can get these things fixed. Don't let them tell you otherwise. It will probably take 2 days to a week to get the problem fixed but make no mistake they can get it fixed for you.
After saying all this I want to say that number portability for the most part is great. After all the initial hurdles are out of the way we almost never have a problem with the number ever again.
Uh, have you ever tried this new thingie-a-bod called DNS? It let's your application communicate on the Int'rnet without using those pesky 32 bit IP addresses. I think Microsoft invented it.
And I haven't even changed my serivce yet. I got a letter yesterday saying my monthly rate from T-Mobile was now $10 cheaper. More competition is driving prices down more. Now I just need a plan that costs $20/mo instead of $49/mo.
I tried porting a number from Sprint to Cingular, and they came back and said "not possible", which is bullshit. I decided to just forget that, and port my landline number to the new phone instead, from SBC (which is the parent of Cingular). They said "not possible". I've filed FCC complaints against both Sprint and SBC, and have been hounding SBC customer support for the last 6 days to get this resolved. The long and short of it is, there's a big fine for them to pay if they're not following the FCC mandate, and there's a very easy online way to file complaints with the FCC. Who knows how long it takes for the FCC to actually process the complaints, but I figure it can't hurt the later-adopters for us early-adopters to give the telcos a bureaucratic kick in the ass.