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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 14, 2003 Cellular phone service change is months off ‘Number portability’ starts Nov. 24 in major markets, but not here By GREG STILES Mail Tribune Planning to switch cellular carriers but still keep the same phone number later this month? Better not burn your bridges yet. Amid the national hype of the Federal Communications Commission’s cell phone "number portability" rules, scheduled to start Nov. 24, a few important details have been overlooked. Unless your service is from a large metro area, it won’t apply to you. Outside of the Portland area, it will be business as usual in the rest of Oregon for another six months. If customers switch companies, they’ll have to change phone numbers as well. Advertisement "The hype has been Nov. 24, Nov. 24, Nov. 24 — and people haven’t noticed the real small print that says it’s only in the top 100 markets," says Blaine Woodard, who manages AT&T’s office in Medford. "We’re educating customers as they come in on a one-to-one basis." Federal regulators gave the go-ahead Monday for consumers to switch their home phone numbers to their cell phones when the new rules take effect. The FCC will also allow customers to transfer numbers between cell companies as long as their wireless coverage area overlaps the location of their conventional phone. In some cases, cell customers also will be able to transfer their numbers to conventional phones. Much of the impetus behind the FCC’s rule change was the onslaught of complaints by business customers who wanted to change cell companies without incurring collateral damage, says Jack Rooney, chief executive officer of U.S. Cellular, the eighth-largest cell provider in the country and No. 1 in Medford, where it has a large downtown call center. "What you’ve heard is a great deal of frustration on the part of wireless users as to the way they’ve been treated by their carriers," he says. "For small businesses, or businesses period, the cost of leaving a carrier has been just prohibitive." Rooney, reached at his Chicago office, says most of his company’s markets won’t be in the immediate mix. But he’s interested to see what will happen in the half-dozen top-100 markets where the company competes. "We’re the dominant carrier in Milwaukee (Market No. 46), so we’re fair game for everybody," Rooney says. "But we have the highest retention rate among the carriers, especially in our dominant markets." Everything from business cards and stationery to print advertisements and Web sites have to be redone when a phone number changes. "If you have 20 or 30 friends and members of the family, you’re going to want them to have that new number," says Ronnie Jacobson, manager of Cellular World in Medford. "You don’t want to have to give out that number to so many people." She says that the primary reasons her customers change companies are because they need broader geographical coverage, have too much coverage or want more or fewer minutes. "Still, it gets tedious when you’re here in Medford and your family and the people you want to call you are in New York or Vermont," Jacobson says. Industry studies show that 40 percent or more of wireless users desire to change carriers. But Rooney and others say that even when Nov. 24 rolls around, technology problems may thwart some changes. But wireless users have long dealt with irksome issues. "People have waited so long now for portability, what’s another few months?" says James Hughes, manager at Sprint’s Biddle Road store. But while they’re waiting, the whole wireless industry could go through major changes overnight. "Day to day, nothing is the same," Hughes says. "Our technology is like when television was going from black and white to color." One CEO expects portability glitches With federally mandated cell phone number portability rules set to take effect Nov. 24 in the nation’s largest 100 markets, U.S. Cellular Chief Executive Officer Jack Rooney says Rogue Valley wireless subscribers should be happy they will sit out the first wave of change. Among the options some customers will have is the ability to use the same number for home and cell use. But glitches may be as prevalent as connections for a while. "If I were in Medford, I’d be grateful that I was not going to get the opportunity to do this until May," Rooney says. "None of the systems to do this have been tested under fire." Earlier this week, Rooney detailed the hazards ahead to cable-news channel CNBC and noted there has been no testing between companies. He says his company has spent $50 million on systems and training. "We’re ready to go," Rooney says. "The issue is whether everyone else is ready. The question is whether everyone will play nicely together in the sandbox or whether there will be a lot of guerrilla warfare as people try to protect their base. Will they use nefarious means to do that rather than let customers make their choice?" Another caveat already discovered by many cellular users is that technology differs from carrier to carrier, rendering phones useless with some carriers. Rooney says Qualcomm is developing phones that will work with multiple types of systems. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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