WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are letting people keeptheir cell phone numbers when they switch wireless companies afterNov. 24 and probably will do the same for home-phone customersopting for wireless-only service.
The government is responding to pleas by customers reluctant tomake a change because doing so has meant the loss of phone numbersknown by friends, relatives and business associates.
But people moving from one city to another -- Los Angeles to NewYork, for example -- cannot keep the same local number.
Also, industry officials say customers who want to switch cellcarriers probably will have to buy cell phones because wirelesscompanies use different technology; some companies are offeringfree phones to get customers to switch.
Cell phone users who have long-term contracts will have to payearly termination fees if they want to switch before theiragreement expires.
With the upcoming deadline, companies are offering specialincentives to lock in customers.
''This is potentially very significant to the wirelessindustry,'' Verizon Wireless spokesman Howard Waterman said.''Wireless carriers will have to compete even more fiercely in avery competitive environment.''
For consumers switching cell phone companies, the newregulations from the Federal Communications Commission will firstcover customers in the 100 most populous metropolitan areas, whoaccount for about 60 percent of the nation's cell phone users. ByMay 24, the rules will apply to everyone else.
Consumer groups like the change.
''When we reduce the switching costs of going from one carrierto another, you're making the market more competitive,'' said ChrisMurray, legislative counsel for Consumers Union, which publishesConsumer Reports magazine.
''There's both the economic cost of a new phone number -- havingto print new business cards, having to potentially contact everyonewho might have your phone number -- and massiveinconvenience.''
The wireless industry is ready for the change.
Consumers who want to switch companies could have new service asquickly as 2 1/2 hours after the new carrier has contacted the oldprovider.
The switch will take longer if more than one line is involved.It should take a few days to handle requests from customers wishingto switch landline numbers to cell phones. During the busyChristmas holiday season, customers may have to wait longer for thetransfers.
A study by the Management Network Group, an Overland Park,Kan.-based communications consulting firm, found that about 18million of the cell industry's 152 million customers will changeproviders in the first year as a result of the new rules.
Abigail McConnell, 30, a college fund-raiser from Chapel Hill,N.C., likes the changes.
''Someone can keep the same number for life,'' she said.''People are becoming more mobile and global.''
Wireless companies have stepped up their advertising and areoffering special rates or free phones to entice customers to signup before Nov. 24, according to Jeff Maszel, research director forthe Management Network Group.
''One of the key factors to keeping customers in the earlyphases is the percent of customers under contract,'' Maszelsaid.
Regulators are writing the final chapter of the regulations: howto switch a number from a home phone to a cell phone. An FCCannouncement could come any day.
''Everything we're hearing is consumers really want it,''Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said. ''We're going to head in thatdirection.''
A major problem is that local areas for landline phones are muchnarrower than cell phone areas. The first three digits after thearea code in a traditional home phone number identifies ageographic area known as a ''rate center.'' A move of only a fewblocks may require a new landline phone number because the new homeis in a different rate center, while a cell phone number remainsthe same.
If the wireless company has numbers within the rate center, thenswitching is no problem. The conventional phone companies worrythat the new regulations might require them to transfer numbersoutside the rate center, which they say they cannot readily do withcurrent technology.
''The technical problem is not one we can wave a wand over bythe November 24 deadline,'' BellSouth Corp. spokesman BillMcCloskey said. ''It can be fixed, but it can't be fixed in twoweeks.''
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