Are Numbers Portable Between Wireline and Wireless Phones?
Top On November 10, 2003, the FCC issued rules requiring portability of home/wireline phone numbers to wireless phones. As with wireless, implementation was staged, with the top 100 markets effective on November 24th, and the remainder on May 24th, 2004. The FCC ruled that porting is required “where the requesting wireless carrier’s coverage area overlaps the geographic location in which the wireline number is provisioned.” Importantly, this includes transfers that are not within the same rate center, which are the very small geographic areas where wireline to wireline portability had previously been allowed.
