(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick




Profiting Off Of Number Portability

from the if-you-gotta-pay,-why-not-use-it? dept

Last month, Senator Schumer from NY charged Sprint PCS with trying to profit off the new rules requiring local number portability for mobile phones (letting you keep your phone number, even if you switch service providers). Now, it seems the press has finally picked up on this topic, and are accusing Sprint PCS of profiting off of portability. Of course, Sprint PCS can do whatever they want, but it's a little shady that they're sneaking this extra fee (like so many other fees) in with federally mandated fees. It also seems clear that Sprint PCS is collecting much more in the way of fees than is necessary to build the system. Sprint says it's costly to put in place the systems to handle portability, but Verizon Wireless (which has said they won't charge any fees and has told other carriers to shut up and stop resisting what customers want) has said it's nowhere near as costly as Sprint PCS is making it out to be.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Aug 14th, 2003 @ 2:25pm
  • No Subject Given

    by Bored Tech Geek

    Am I the only person who doesn't CARE about # portability ? I'm THANKFUL I can change phones every year and discard the old # ... As a cell phone user only ( no land line ) I'm glad that after giving out my # for everything I have a way to " strip " once a year and only send one or two emails to important family, friends & associates letting them know I've changed #'s ...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Aug 14th, 2003 @ 2:25pm
  • ???

    by Joe Schmoe

    With increasingly longer contracts (2 yrs now) and phones that are still network/provider locked, what have we really gained?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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