What is local number portability?
Local Number Portability (LNP) allows a customer to retain their current Local telephone number when switching their Local Service Provider (LSP). AT&T has decided to flow through a monthly service charge to its customers to compensate for charges assessed to AT&T by Independent Local Exchange Companies (ILEC). The cost to provide LNP is an industry wide service charge and will apply even if a customer does not plan on retaining the same telephone number in the event of a carrier change. This charge applies only if you have AT&T Local Service with us.
Local Number Portability (LNP) enables a telephone customer to change carriers within a given location and keep the same phone number. The PUC has been a strong advocate of requiring wireline as well as wireless carriers to allow customers to port or take their phone numbers with them when they switch from one carrier to another, viewing LNP as a critical element in fostering competition in telecommunications markets for the benefit of telephone customers. As of November 21, 2003, under the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) wireless LNP rules, wireless carriers in the top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA – geographic designations of population centers compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1999) must implement LNP. Wireless carriers operating outside the top 100 MSAs that receive a request to port a number must be capable of doing so within six months after receiving the request or by May 24, 2004, whichever is later. To take advantage of LNP, consumers should contact thei
Local number portability refers to a policy mandated by the United States Congress that allows consumers to keep their existing phone number at the same location when switching telephone service providers. This policy was originally initiated as a way to remove unnecessary obstacles for service provider companies who wished to enter the market after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed. As a way to encourage and promote competition between local area service providers, local number portability allows customers to keep their existing phone number if they switch to a new provider, thus eliminating the inconvenience of changing numbers.
