High Road Communications

Ok. So, I might actually be able to buy a phone I want – when I want!  I heard Roberta Fox from Fox Group on CBC radio early this week – which resparked my interest - doing a series of spots on number portability and there have been a number of blog posts in Canada looking at how Wireless Number Portability will change the Canadian wireless landscape.

Today, Bell, Rogers and TELUS will allow customers from BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec to switch cell providers and keep their cell number. In addition, other wireless carriers will be required to allow users to make this change by September 12. If you look at how Rogers and Bell have battled it out for the land line market, it will be interesting to see how WNP will affect competition within the wireless space.

With the CDMA and GSM wars still waging and high early termination fees in place, we might not be able to leave one carrier for the other as easily as we’d like. But at least now we don’t have to be at the mercy of the carrier’s choice of which phones to bring into Canada. Canadians who were locked in with one carrier did not have the option to upgrade to the latest and greatest phones.  Now at least the opportunity exists…

With half of all Canadians using a cell phone, I expect that we’ll see this help push carriers to adopt new phones faster, to try to encourage users to switch based on the device/platform.  And although I love my phone – my UTStarcom Pocket PC – I am looking forward to having more choice between some of the cool new devices with Windows Mobile that Americans can already purchase.