The transition to portable cell phone numbers is working about as well as ... well, your average cell phone. Industrywide, about half of all number transfers have gone awry. AT&T Wireless leads the pack with a 60 percent error rate -- and is also reported to be losing the most customers.
Regulations say numbers are supposed to be transferred in a few hours but many consumers have had to wait days for the switchover to occur.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that more than half of the complaints it`s received about number-switching have involved AT&T Wireless and it has launched two separate investigations of the problems.
At&T puts the blame on NeuStar, a company that it uses to verify orders for customers switching carriers. AT&T admits it faced "great problems" but claims its record is not much worse than the industry average.
For its part, NeuStar says no single company is to blame for the confusion.
Number portability began Nov. 24 and during the first two weeks, industry analysts say about half a million customers switched carriers, taking their old numbers with them. Although no one really knows which companies have been winners and losers, several analysts said AT&T Wireless was losing customers at a fast pace because of network problems and poor customer service.
AT&T says it is now managing to get most numbers transferred within three to five days.
While cell phone customers have been switching carriers in large numbers, there`s little sign that there`s similar enthusiasm for dropping landline numbers in favor of wireless. The FCC has also required that local phone companies let customers take their home numbers with them if they want to go all-wireless.
"It`s incredibly minimal," said Andrea Ayers of Convergys Corp., a Cincinnati firm that handles portability calls for some wireless carriers. An SBC spokesman called it "minimal."
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10.12.2003
AT&T Wireless Leads In Number Portability Problems
The transition to portable cell phone numbers is working about as well as ... well, your average cell phone. Industrywide, about half of all number transfers have gone awry. AT&T Wireless leads the pack with a 60 percent error rate -- and is also reported to be... |
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03.03.2004
AT&T Wireless Maintains Lead in Number Portability Problems
AT&T Wireless is holding its lead in the number of problems reported with moving departing customers` numbers to new comanies. Since wireless portability began on November 24, 2003, the Federal Communications Commisison (FCC) says that it has received 5,852... |
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07.07.2003
Verizon Buys Into Number Portability
Cell-phone users may soon be celebrating their independence from their current wireless provider. Verizon Wireless, the nation`s largest cell phone provider, has seen the writing on the wall and says it will stop fighting a federal order that mandates "number... |
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20.10.2003
It`s Cell Phone Deal Days As Number Portability Nears
Cell phone consumers are in the cat bird`s seat as Nov. 24 approaches. Though most consumers are unaware of the date`s significance, you can bet it`s circled in red on every cell phone executive`s calendar.That`s the day on which federal regulations require what`s... |
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11.11.2003
Number`s Up for Local Phone Companies
The Federal Communications Commission isn`t considered a very exciting agency but it sent telephone company executives` blood pressure into the stratosphere when it issued new rules that would allow consumers to disconnect their home phones and transfer their number... |
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