Wholesale SIP Gateway Session Initiation Protocol with access to the public switched telephone network and local number portability.
	Number Portability Expansion on May 24th begins coverage of an area of the U.S. that involves small regional wireless providers.
	Cell Phone Number Portability - transferring your current phone number to a PCS Phone.
	Keeping Your Phone Number - FCC regulations allow consumers to switch wireless providers and keep the same number.
	LNP : Local Number Portability - AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless Agree on Local Number Porting Operational Details.
	Switching Wireless Plans - What to do and what to expect when requesting to switch carriers and keep your cell phone number.
	Wireless Plans customer loyalty critical in the wireless industry as phone number portability becomes a reality.
	Cell Phone Porting Verizon has toll-free number for customers to check the status of cell phone port.
	Choosing a Wireless Provider - Verizon Wireless urges consumers to consider their wireless network quality.

Local Number Portability

Telephone Number Portability

Wireless Carriers

Wireless Number Portability

WLNP : Wireless Local Number Portability

Telephone

Today American consumers can switch their wireless service provider without changing their telephone number, or bring their landline telephone number to a wireless service account.

This event, known as local number portability (LNP), requires wireless service providers and landline carriers to cooperate for the good of the customer. Committed to making the process as simple as possible for its new and existing customers, Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless service provider, has been working for more than a year to make number portability happen: Verizon Wireless has completed a comprehensive training program for all of its sales channels and employees; modified its network; launched two Web sites with information for individual consumers and businesses; developed an infrastructure to support all billing and point of sales systems; and integrated LNP into all of its business processes.

Verizon Wireless has trained all its 41,000 employees on the porting process so that all customers porting into or out of Verizon Wireless will have a consistent experience. Each of the employees at the Murfreesboro Customer Service Center, the hub of the company's porting activities, are specialists in the switching process and will track porting requests, troubleshoot any issues with a porting request and call customers to resolve hiccups in the porting process. Also, customers who submit a request to port in to Verizon Wireless can call a special toll-free number to check the status of their port once the process has begun.

For more than a year, an integrated project team has been working together to identify and upgrade every aspect of the company's operations that will be affected to ensure that the Verizon Wireless network continues to be the most reliable network in the country. Each of the established systems -- from billing to customer service to activation and call routing -- has been changed to allow for number portability.

Outside of network architecture modifications, additional switches, software overlays, business-process changes and training, Verizon Wireless has been testing and re-testing the porting process with as many service providers as possible to proactively identify any potential glitches in the porting process to ultimately provide a positive porting experience for its customers.

"Verizon Wireless has led the industry in demonstrating a commitment to ensuring barrier-free porting for customers. And while two and half hours is our goal for uncomplicated ports, initially the porting process may take up to one day," said Lowell McAdam, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Verizon Wireless.