news: Cell Phone Users May Get Home Numbers To Go !!
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The growing band of renegades who are ditching their home phones to use only
cell phones will likely get an early Christmas gift: the ability to transfer
their home numbers to their wireless phones.
The Federal Communications Commission's staff is recommending that local
phone companies be required to let customers switch their home or business
numbers to wireless phones starting Nov. 24.
The FCC already has ruled that as of Nov. 24, cell-phone carriers must let
consumers take their cell-phone numbers with them if they switch carriers.
The only caveat on home number ''portability'' is that the wired phone you
want to switch must be in the wireless carrier's local calling area,
typically true with the big providers. In other words, you can't take the
number to a cell provider across the country.
Most of the agency's five commissioners are leaning toward the proposal,
which is the last unresolved piece of a broad plan to let consumers shop for
better phone deals without having to get a new number if they switch. About
5.8 million people have cut off wired home phone service to go
wireless-only, says the Yankee Group research firm.
Another researcher, Gartner, estimates that would double if customers could
take their numbers with them.
''This will make it a lot easier to just go to a wireless phone,'' says Kim
Kuo of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.
Local phone companies have resisted the move. Three of the four regional
Bells -- SBC, BellSouth and Qwest -- have argued they should have to
transfer numbers only if their customer's phone and the new wireless
provider's call-routing equipment are in the same local area. That would
significantly limit the number of consumers eligible.
The Bells' objection is that they don't have an equal chance to lure
wireless customers to switch numbers to traditional phones because mobile
company local calling areas are much larger than the Bells' areas. Unless
the customer's home phone and the wireless company's equipment are in the
same area, a cell-phone customer who switched a number to a wired phone
could face toll charges to call next door.
''We think that's incredibly unfair,'' says Gary Lytle of Qwest.
Initially, the FCC staff recommended that required home-to-cell number
transfers be limited to instances where the number and wireless equipment
are in the same local calling area. A separate proceeding, which could take
up to a year, would then resolve the Bells' cell-to-home issue.
But many FCC officials now concede there is little demand to switch numbers
from wireless to regular phones. And they say the billing issue can be
resolved while number transfers from traditional to wireless phones begin
SOURCE: http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/22625.html
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