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AT&T Wireless Fumbles Number Portability
cloudscout writes "The FCC is demanding that AT&T Wireless Services explain their number portability failures. Apparently, tens of thousands of customers are having their number portability requests delayed because of computer system problems at AT&T Wireless. Sadly, the FCC did not say they were going to be imposing fines for this breach of regulations yet but I'm sure that will follow if things don't improve quickly." Reader (54)T-Dub adds: "As many of you already reported on wed, there have been some pretty serious delays for people switching cellphone providers according to this NYTimes article (free reg required). Most notably former AT&T customers can expect to wait up to a week for their number to switch."
AT&T Wireless has some serious customer care issues right now, whatever the actual reason. Hopefully, everyone will be compensated for this bullsh!+, but probably not.
-- PhoneBoy
The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of anyone, including the poster.
If you want to be the very first to try the hot new stuff, be prepared for things not to always go as planned.
If they're fined, they'll just increase their rates, perhaps they'll add another 10 cents to everyone's "Number portability surcharge". It will cost them nothing.
Boo fucking hoo
Click here for your reg free linkage.
I don't think that having trouble doing this means they're "completely technically incompetent on a fairly amazing scale". If you've ever designed a software system, you know it can be difficult when the base assumptions you designed against change: in this case, the assumption that you would be assigning new numbers from an existing pool of numbers. Having to add in any new number from like any zipcode could be a hassle, and I'm sure there are other infrastructure issues that they have to sweat.
They may have known for a year that this was in the works, but they were fighting it, and hoping it wouldn't come to pass. No sense paying your techies to undermine the moral of your lawyers by assuming the latter were going to fail to prevent it, eh?
That said...I would consider leaving Sprint, but the reception just really improved at my house, and I think it's still super crappy with some other people's phones on other networks...
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
'fumble' implies that at&t didn't mean for it to happen.
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Crudely Drawn Games
It's called Local Number Portability for a reason. As of right now, if you move out of the area, then you can't port that number to another carrier.
ie: If you move your landline to your wireless phone, then move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, you can still use your wireless phone up there. However, you cannot port that number to another carrier or landline...
Doh!
however, in raising rates they loose a small amount of competitive edge. so the fine would d something--minor, yes--but tangible.
This statement would be a lot more convincing if we weren't talking about people unlocking their AT&T phones to use on OTHER networks.
I can take my unlocked (Cingular) V3682 or my unlocked (Voicestream/T-Mobile) P280 and put an AT&T SIM card in it. AT&T have no control over what other carriers do, and I have used many unsupported phones on a variety of networks. Rogers, for example, don't support the V3682. Telcel don't support the P280 and hadn't got the 3595 when last I went down there and popped my Telcel SIM into the phone.
No, the reason AT&T don't unlock telephones is because for the non-tech-savvy it's a good way to keep churn to a minimum. That way, when you want to switch from AT&T, you can't just take your phone that you're used to with you.
Zaphod B
When duplication is outlawed, only outlaws will have
As I recall it AT&T actually records a Q&A session with you when you extend your contract on the telephone. I would suggest asking them to show the documentation of the contract extension.