Is Number Portability a Good Thing?
Like everything, there are elements that are positive and negative. There is no question that some of the 135 million wireless subscribers in this country stay with a provider they don’t like because they don’t want to lose a phone number that might be well known to friends and business associates, or which may be part of advertising. For example, if a contractor spends thousands on a once a year Yellow Pages ad that includes a cell phone number, he is essentially locked into a carrier. For those people, portability is definitely a winner. At the same time, we envision the cost of implementation of number portability may lead to increased rates and phone prices over the medium term.
