Profiting Off Of Number Portability

(Mis)Uses of Technology

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.