Cellphone Service Providers

Over at CBC we learn that we can now keep our cell phone number when switching carriers.

When most Canadians wake up on March 14, they'll be able to do something that at least some of them have been longing for: give their cellphone service provider the boot — without changing their phone numbers.

On that day, major wireless telecommunications carriers across the country will flip the switch on wireless number portability (WNP), which will allow cellphone users to do something that has been possible with traditional land lines for years.

What's more, number portability will extend across the wired-wireless divide. It will be possible to move a cellphone number to a fixed-line phone, or vice versa.

Wow. This actually is something I've been longing for. But I think there is also another problem and it's something that makes me really angry. In order to get a new cellphone for free (or discounted), you have to be a new customer. This means that the company you have been paying for 3 years (because of your contract) does not really value your business anymore. They had you hooked because most people don't want to change their phone number. New customers get a free phone, but loyal customers do not. Oh, Aliant (Bell) will let you have an "upgrade" credit, but it does not cover the price of a phone.

For the last 10 years, I have been switching service providers whenever my contract is up, meaning that my number changed every 2-3 years. This is a real pain in the ass. I wonder what the phone companies will be doing now to screw us over... Oh the article also mentions this:

"That's why you're starting to see Bell-to-Bell and Rogers-to-Rogers calling packages," Wong said.

There ya go.