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Should I Stay or Should I Go: The
New Portability Act
November
7, 2003
Do
you still remember the phone number you had when you were growing
up? How many phone numbers have you had since then? Wouldn't it
be great if you never had to change phone numbers? For cell phone
users, that wish is coming true beginning November 24th. That's
when the Wireless Telephone Number Portability Act of 2003 takes
effect. It enables cell phone users to move to a different wireless
carrier and keep their phone number.
The
Commonwealth of Kentucky has an enterprise wireless contract with
Cingular Wireless.
Will
the new portability act bring changes? According to Roni Stone
from the Governor's Office for Technology, "The Cingular
contract we've established has been effective by bringing down
the cost per user for state cell phones. But some agencies, especially
those that deal with public safety, are disrupted when their wireless
numbers change. Now, with the portability act ready to take effect,
we have the ability to truly research all of the wireless opportunities.
This will also allow agencies to migrate to the Cingular contract
and take advantage of savings they may not be getting today."
According to Carolyn L. Turner, an Internal Policy Analyst at
the Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children, "The Cabinet
for Families and Children plan to stay with Cingular as long as
the state price contract reflects the market's lower prices."
A study by
the Management Network Group, an Overland Park, Kan.-based communications
consulting firm, found that about 18 million of the cell industry's
152 million customers will change providers in the first year
as a result of the new rules. While
carriers will certainly compete to bring consumers more flexible
plans, more minutes and phones with more features, not all the
news may be good when it comes to the new portability act. Wireless
users should look carefully at the total cost of switching, including
hidden fees. And switching carriers will probably mean having
to switch phones because wireless carriers use different technologies,
making it difficult to keep the phone you've got. That will certainly
mean more phones being throw away, or recycled. To find out where
to recycle your cell phone, visit Earth
911's Website.
In addition, Kentucky's Division of Waste Management has a Website
that lists e-scrap recyclers, several of which will take cell
phones as well as computer scrap. http://www.waste.ky.gov/programs/rcla/electronics.htm
What's
on the horizon? Some Federal Communications Commissioners are
recommending that local phone companies across the nation allow
their customers to port their landline numbers to wireless. If
the proposal is approved
the porting would be applicable to those customers that wish to
switch their landline numbers in their local calling areas to
wireless. A recent report by the Yankee Group indicates that 5.8
million people have cut off wired home phone service to go strictly
to wireless.
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