Firm in Broomfield aids carriers with ‘switch’

BROOMFIELD — On Nov. 24, the long-awaited wireless number portability day when consumers could begin to switch wireless providers and retain their phone numbers, Lightbridge Inc. was working behind the scenes to make those changes go smoothly.

Although Day 1 was quieter than the wireless industry expected, as more consumers make the switch it could mean big business for Lightbridge.

Lightbridge’s headquarters is in Burlington, Mass., but most of the activity around switching wireless carriers without switching phone numbers happens in its Broomfield call center.

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The company’s bread-and-butter is providing credit monitoring and risk assessments of wireless customers, said General Manager Kevin Bresnahan. Lightbridge manages 40 percent of all new customer applications in the United States for carriers including T-Mobile, Sprint PCS, Nextel and AT&T Wireless, Bresnahan said.

A person switching wireless providers has to go through the same qualifying procedures as a new customer application. So on Nov. 24 Lightbridge was prepared for consumers who wanted to make the switch — assessing credit, screening for fraud and authenticating customers. Much of this is done with software, but when questions came up, wireless sales folks call customer service reps at the Broomfield call center.

Wireless number portability should be a good thing for Lightbridge, Zimmerman said. “When we see more applications it means an up tick in our business. It could potentially create more business, more applications, a bigger call center in Broomfield.”

In general, however, Day 1 was somewhat like Y2K, the computer problems expected but not experienced when the calendar rolled over from 1999 to 2000.

Lightbridge, along with wireless carriers from coast to coast, was prepared for the biggest shopping day of the year. But like plenty of retailers who find themselves disappointed on “Black Friday” — so called because it’s the day retailers expect balance sheets to move into the black — Lightbridge’s call volume was “pretty steady,” according to Call Center Supervisor Sharon Swayze.

Lightbridge spokesman Glen Zimmerman said activity “fell within our projections for this time of year.” The wireless industry typically sees an increase in activity during the retail season — the week of Thanksgiving through mid-January, Zimmerman said. “We believe that consumers for the most part listened to the consensus of journalists that said ‘you might just want to take it slow and ease into this portability.'”

Bob Egan, president of Providence, R.I.-based mobile business and technology consultancy Mobile Competency, estimated fewer then 100,000 people decided to change from one wireless carrier to another on Nov. 24.

As part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission mandated Nov. 24, 2003 as the date consumers in the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas could switch wireless carriers within the same geographic area and keep their existing phone number. On that date they could also perform a wireline-to-wireless transfer, taking their wireline number to a wireless phone and thus eliminating their wired telephone.

With a population of 2,581,506 according to the 2000 census, the Denver/Boulder/Greeley market is No. 19.

Outside of the top 100 areas, wireless carriers must be capable of implementing wireless number portability by May 24, 2004.

Consumers appear to be aware of wireless number portability. Overland Park, Kan.-based communications consultants Management Network Group found that 42 percent of wireless subscribers are aware they can take their telephone numbers with them. According to the Management Network Group, this means the wireless industry should be prepared to handle approximately 30 million porting requests or 60 million transactions during the first year, since each transaction must be processed by two wireless providers.

The study also found that 16 percent of respondents knew they could transfer their home telephone number to a wireless line, adding about 19 million porting requests.

Most wireless carriers claimed to have all systems go for Nov. 24, including the ability to meet the FCC requirement to move numbers between wireless carriers within two and one-half hours and between wireline and wireless carriers within four days.

The No. 1 wireless company, Bedminster, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless with 36 million customers, had “a very good day,´ said spokeswoman Jenny Weaver. “Traffic in our stores was two to four times our normal traffic on the Monday before Thanksgiving.” Weaver said.

Verizon had prepared by opening a call center in Tennessee with 1,000 customer service reps and by training employees, resellers and direct channels, Weaver said. She would not say how many porting requests were made.

Although the carriers claimed to be ready, industry experts advise waiting until the dust clears before making a move.

Mobile Competency’s Egan thinks the wireless industry as a whole isn’t quite ready for number portability. On Day 1 “most carriers reported failures in the 40 percent range — inline with our forecasts,” Egan said in an e-main newsletter. He declared Verizon and Nextel “winners” because their porting activities went fairly smoothly, and AT&T Wireless and Cingular “losers. As far as we can determine, AT&T was not able to provision people onto their service from another operator,” Egan said.

“This is a benefit to consumers that isn’t a one day only,” Lightbridge’s Zimmerman said. “It will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks and months. We feel it will be a rising tide.”

Tips for making the switch

Verizon Wireless offers the following wireless local number portability tips:

Portability: Not all numbers are portable; it primarily depends on geography and where the number was originally connected. The carrier you are porting to should be able to tell you if the number you want to move is portable according to FCC guidelines.

Process time: Porting a phone number involves two carriers, and each is only able to control half of the porting process. Carriers expect to complete a majority of wireless-to-wireless requests within three hours. Wireline-to-wireless ports may take up to four days.

Equipment: You may need a new wireless phone, since different wireless companies use different technologies.

Bring a recent bill: You should bring your most recent bill from your old carrier with you, and know any account-related passwords, to speed the porting process.

Expect dual service: You will need to carry your old and new phones until the port is complete, the old phone for receiving calls, the new phone for making calls. In an emergency, place calls to 911 from your old handset as Emergency Services will not be able to call you back on your new handset until the port is complete.

Be prepared to provide “can be reached” number: You should be prepared to provide a phone number where you can be reached during the porting process to expedite the resolution of any problems.

Old features: Saved voice mail messages will not transfer to the your new phone.

Contract terms apply: Portability does not relieve you of contract obligations