Day Two of Wireless Freedom: After a slow start, the number portability picked up some momentum on Tuesday despite the glitches which are preventing people from switching. Nevertheless the carriers are about to get their heads served on a platter. Stores are seeing an increased foot traffic, and as I had said the sales people who work on commission are proving to be clueless about the whole portability thing.
For problems, try calling your phone company and see the wait. The whole thing is a mess - even though the switch should take less than 2.5 hours, the time is 24 hours plus. There have been reports that carriers are asking customers to come back in five days. Such crappola. (Read: Will glitches slow down switching?)
AT&T Wireless is one which is being reported to suffer the most, according to a Loop Capital report. The company apparently is having problems activating new GSM smart phone and the problem is due to a back end system from Siebel Systems.
AT&T which stood to win a lot of new customers as part of the number portability madness is going to be a net looser for its reputation is being done severe harm. AT&T activation glitches are minor in my opinion to the bigger more severe glitches surrounding WLNP mentioned previously. I encourage you to post your switching experiences here and let me know about the problems you are facing or faced.
UPDATE: RBC Capital Markets reports that
* They have anecdotal confirmation of successful Cingular-to-VZ and VZ-to-AT transfers.
* AWE and Cingular are comprising a significant portion of outbound porting requests
* Dealer feedback suggests NXTL, PCS, and Verizon have the most efficient porting processes, though we believe AWE and T-Mobile also have workable processes. Cingular’s porting processes appear to be the least efficient.
Read: Day One Report
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