Canadian Wireless Number Portability Deadline Is Viewed As Realistic

Canada.com carries a story from the Gazette about Canada's cellphone carriers readying a system to allow customers to keep their phone numbers when they switch wireless providers. According to Yankee Group, the proposed deadline of Sept. 12, 2007 for carriers to implement number portability is realistic, rational, and won't encorage consumers to jump ship.

Marina Amoroso at Yankee Group said, "The immediate benefit to just drop everything, run out and leave your carrier and go to another one is going to cost the consumer a few hundred dollars.And the Canadian consumer is very cost-conscious."

Amoroso added that the ability to change carriers and keep your number, whether mobile or fixed, is "an all-at-once hit. Consumers aren't going to be confused."