The dog ate my WNP

Carriers are now facing their biggest headache in years: wireless number portability implementation. And unless the FCC gave them yet another reprieve before this issue of Wireless Review went to press, we can now take our numbers wherever we want. Or can we? According to Bob Egan, principal of Bob Egan's Mobile Competency, the only thing carriers likely will have accomplished by now is the claim that they're ready for WNP. In reality, nothing has likely changed, Egan said. As of the beginning of November, not a single carrier had struck any of the crucial deals necessary to port numbers among them, and very few had even tested portability across their competitors' networks. “It takes at least two carriers to dance, and not a single one of them has yet stepped up,” Egan said.