November 24th 2003 is an important day, whether or not you realize it. Today is the day that number portability goes into effect as mandated by the FCC. Number portability is an idea that has been in the works for quite some time. What it means for you, is that if you have cell phone service with Company A, and you want to switch your service to Company B, you get to keep the same number. This strikes down one of the biggest barriers to service switching, and will probably start a price war between the major carriers. So not only do you get flexibility, you’ll likely get lower prices because of that flexibility. Also included in this change is land lines. You are, as of today, able to turn your home phone number into a cell phone number. More and more people (like myself) have decided to ditch their landline altogether and rely solely on a mobile phone for communications.
The only thing you may not be able to do is to keep your home phone number (on a landline) if you move to a new location that is out of your “rate center.” For example… if you move from Miami, FL to Fort Meyers, FL… your home phone number will change. This is the same as it was before. You can, however, convert your Miami home phone number into a mobile number and use that number on your cell phone in Fort Meyers. I am looking forward to a future where nationwide roaming and calling is standard on landlines as well as on mobile phones. Area codes and 3-digit prefixes are increasingly losing their significance and soon may be eschewed altogether.
For more information, I recommend you read this Wired News story.