Canadian Number Portability

Good or Bad? Canadian Number Portability Coming Soon
By Barry Nagassar

Canadian Number Portability is fast approaching. What exactly does it mean and include? For one, cellular customers who want to take advantage of better service/prices from other wireless carriers can switch while keeping their cell phone number. The major three cellular providers, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility, Bell Mobility, have until March 14, 2007 to implement the CNP policies. This date was mandated by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), who also suggested that CNP would be released to a limited number of provinces to start (Alberta, Ontario, BC, Quebec.) There is no word whether wireless carriers will go ahead and bypass the minimum mandate and enable the entire country to take advantage of this service.

How does it work? Customers should be able to switch to any service provider in your province (wireline or wireless) and keep your phone number. Hopefully all wireless carriers will enable portability, however, moving from an obscure provider from the East coast to an unknown provider in the West, may prove challenging. In the US customers faced challenges moving great distances, however, the US has many more providers than Canada. Throughout Canada, all wireless carriers will be required to release a phone number to another carrier (port-out customers) and by no later than September 12, 2007, to accept a phone number from another carrier (port-in customers). There is no word on how this will affect prepaid plans/phones.