• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Some Small Iowa Telephone Companies Delay Phone Number Shifting

Posted on: Friday, 21 May 2004, 06:00 CDT

May 20--Nearly all of Iowa's smaller telephone companies have been released from a Monday deadline for local telephone number portability, setting up a regulatory battle with wireless carriers eager to help Iowans "cut the cord."

Local number portability regulations took effect last November in the 100 largest U.S. metro areas. They were to take effect Monday in the rest of the United States.

Portability will arrive as scheduled for Iowans served by four companies -- Qwest, the state's largest telephone carrier, and Frontier Communications, Century Telephone and Shell Rock Telephone Co.

But it will be delayed for most Iowans served by rural and small phone companies, which have asked the Iowa Utilities Board for a delay.

The new Federal Communications Commission rules require phone companies to install systems that essentially forward telephone calls made to a former customer's old number to their new assigned carrier.

Under the change, people also get to keep the same phone number if they switch wireless carriers or "cut the cord" on their home land-line phone and rely solely on wireless service.

Previously, customers could only keep the same phone number when switching between some land-line companies.

In Iowa, more than 150 companies obtained a delay in meeting the new rules' requirements -- apparently more than any other state -- under a joint regulatory filing by the Rural Iowa Independent Telephone Association and the Iowa Telecommunications Association.

Providing the service would be too costly, the associations claim. Their members would have to raise all customers' rates from 50 cents to $8 per month for a service that has been sought by few, according to Dave Duncan, president of the Iowa Telecommunications Association.

Land-line phone companies appear to have little to gain from local number portability because it could prompt more customers to give up their land line for wireless phone service exclusively.

For rural phone companies, "it's all for the fact of losing a customer," Duncan said.

"After the company loses a customer, every time that customer gets a call, they have to handle that call, and sometimes even transport it on to the wireless companies' points of presence."

Duncan said phone companies can't recoup the costs because the customer is gone.

The position galls wireless carriers U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Western Wireless, which spent millions preparing for number portability. They formed a coalition that filed a strongly worded motion for reconsideration of the Iowa Utilities Board rulings that exempt the small phone companies.

Exempting a large bloc of phone companies without considering the merits of each's company's situation goes against the FCC's intentions, according to Anne Hoskins, regulatory counsel for Verizon Wireless.

She said more phone companies have been granted exemptions in Iowa than in any other state.

Verizon officials questioned Duncan's claim that few telephone company customers want number portability, saying customers haven't even had a chance to exercise the right. The thrust of the FCC's number portability plan was for it to be available everywhere, Verizon officials claim, and the FCC provides mechanisms for the phone companies to recover the costs through rates.

"We're particularly concerned about Iowa Telecom," Hoskins said. "They're a carrier that has actually ported with other local exchange carriers before. We know they have the capability to do it, and they're a much larger carrier than the others."

Iowa Telecom officials were not available for comment.

Utilities board spokesman Rob Hillesland said Iowa Telecom filed a separate motion from the associations, and is seeking temporary relief until it has completed its network improvement plan.

Hillesland said the board must act by May 26 or before on the motion for reconsideration. The telephone companies expect a final board order by Oct. 6.

Porting allows you to switch wireless carriers without giving up your old number, or to discard your land line phone and use your former land line number for a cellular phone account.

The following guidelines can help avoid complications:

--Before switching wireless plans, review your old wireless contract to determine if there are termination fees.

--Don't cancel your old phone account until your number has been successfully ported.

--Bring your last account statement from your old carrier to your new carrier when you request number porting.

--Identify the responsible billing party on your old account; that party must authorize the port.

--Determine with the help of your new provider whether your old number can be ported.

--Expect the porting to take anywhere from 15 minutes to a few days.

--If switching wireless carriers, be prepared to buy a new handset (most require it).

Source: Gazette research

-----

To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazetteonline.com

(c) 2004, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

Q, GBLXQ, CTL, USM, VZ, VOD, WWCA,

More News in this Category