Portability near for wireless set

Customers want it and the FCC says they soon can have it, but wireless number portability won't be without its hassles.

The FCC has given wireless carriers until Nov. 24 - just in time for Thanksgiving - to let customers switch providers without giving up the numbers they hold so dear.

But carriers continue to fight the seemingly inevitable, seeking the commission's permission to charge more fees to cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades and looking to impose further restrictions on customers. The FCC, which has granted carriers three deadline extensions in recent years to let them better prepare for wireless number portability, says it plans to make this deadline stick and settle the ongoing debate well in advance of Nov. 24.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Customers want it and the FCC says they soon can have it, but wireless number portability won't be without its hassles.

The FCC has given wireless carriers until Nov. 24 - just in time for Thanksgiving - to let customers switch providers without giving up the numbers they hold so dear.

But carriers continue to fight the seemingly inevitable, seeking the commission's permission to charge more fees to cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades and looking to impose further restrictions on customers. The FCC, which has granted carriers three deadline extensions in recent years to let them better prepare for wireless number portability, says it plans to make this deadline stick and settle the ongoing debate well in advance of Nov. 24.

For their part, many customers are ready to see what's on the other side of the fence. Some say they hope to strike better deals; others, such as Intrust Bank, are looking for improved customer service.

"[Wireless number portability] is a tremendous opportunity for business users," says E. Patrick Rooney, assistant vice president of operations at Intrust, a large chain of banks in the Midwest. "It is a huge administrative and customer relations problem if you have to change phone numbers because you've changed your wireless carriers."

Jeff Maszal, principal at The Management Network Group, says the research firm's findings show that about a quarter of businesses are ready to switch providers once portability becomes available and about half of those companies say they'll switch within 90 days of portability going into effect.

Click to see:

Analysts encourage customers to explore new opportunities but warn them not to necessarily jump right away, before kinks are worked out of the new system.

Down to the wire

The FCC is mandating that carriers support wireless number portability in the top 100 cities in the U.S. in November. The remaining cities are expected to come online in the following six months.

As the FCC deadline nears, wireless carriers have stepped up their efforts to ensure that portability happens on their terms. They repeatedly stress the high cost involved in supporting portability: The Cellular Telecommunications and Industry Association (CTIA) estimates that carriers will spend almost $1 billion to upgrade their networks to support wireless number portability and $500 million per year every year thereafter.

Just last month, a band of service providers dubbed the Wireless Carrier Group filed a document with the FCC calling for new rules and regulations that will let all carriers impose service fees and restrictions on customers that want to ditch their carriers but hang on to their numbers. Group members include Alltel, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, Nextel Communications and Sprint PCS.

Conspicuously absent from the anti-portability pack is Verizon, which filed a document with the FCC refuting the Wireless Carrier Group's claims that fees and restrictions are needed.

Verizon, the largest wireless service provider in the U.S. with 33 million users, once vehemently opposed portability. In fact, Verizon and the CTIA in June had their attempt to sue the FCC over portability shot down.

Since then, Denny Strigl, CEO of Verizon Wireless, has been quoted by the Associated Press saying, "I don't intend to stand in the way of having local number portability become a reality on Nov. 24."

Despite the lack of FCC comment regarding the latest demands from other wireless carriers, some customers already could be paying surcharges related to wireless number portability (some observers speculate carriers actually will turn a profit on these surcharges). 

Cingular, Nextel and Sprint PCS have started or plan to hit customers with monthly surcharges to recover expenses associated with number portability. The fees range from $1.10 to $1.55 per line and would be in addition to those the Wireless Carrier Group hopes the FCC will let them charge.

Verizon Wireless says it might charge users 10 to 15 cents to recover some of the costs associated with supporting portability once the feature is available. Strigl told the Associated Press that the company has spent about $50 million to prepare for local number portability.

Putting on pressure

While carriers are zeroing in on the price of portability, analysts say they really should be focused on improving their services. A recent J.D. Power and Associates survey of 16,800 wireless users found an average of 9% of calls are affected by static or other interference and 8% get dropped or disconnected.

"Large companies will leverage [portability] as a negotiating tool for some groups of subscribers that aren't happy," says Bob Egan, founder and CEO of consulting firm Mobile Competency.

"In the case of Sprint PCS, AT&T Wireless and Cingular, they have some pretty unhappy [users] from a customer service perspective. Those companies will likely be impacted," he says.

Users who are frustrated with their current providers "always think the grass is greener with another carrier, but that may not be the case," says Phil Redman, an analyst at Gartner. Users might find similar problems with other carriers, especially if the issues are related to billing or customer service, he says.