Consumers switching phone providers should be sure to follow the established procedure for porting (industry-speak for transferring from one carrier to another) their numbers, said TRAC Research Director John Breyault in the February 16 edition of The New York Times.

Subscribers who cancel their service before a port takes effect run the risk of losing their phone numbers permanently if the subscriber's previous carrier returns their number to the national number pool before the new carrier requests the port. ?It's a significant issue, and consumers are not being educated about how the system works,? said Breyault. Some consumers may try to ?help? the process along by cancelling their service subscriptions once they sign up for new service from someone else. While this may save a few dollars in service charges, the savings likely won't make up for the time and aggravation of having to get in touch with all of your contacts to notify them of a new number. To read the full New York Times article, click here.

Source: Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org