I agree about the number portability thing. Cell numbers are just DIDs that come in to cellular service providers' switches. These numbers are now being sold in blocks of 1,000, not like it used to be where a service provider had to buy numbers by a full exchange code (10,000 numbers). Gone are the days of Verizon being "409" and Nextel being "831". Office codes are being split all over the place. They are also being split between land line, CATV, VoIP and cellular providers.

I have my cell phone service from Verizon Wireless, but technically, "the new at&t" owns my number since Cingular bought the 623 exchange code and block of 10,000 numbers as the incumbent.

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE EXCHANGE CODE FOR MY CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER THAT IS WIRELESS-ONLY

THIS ONE IS SPLIT BETWEEN VARIOUS CELL CARRIERS AND LAND LINE CUSTOMERS

AND MY FAVORITE, MY LOCAL LAND LINE EXCHANGE THAT INCLUDES A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING.

I can't believe that there can be a national database out there that is intelligent enough to record number and ownership data down to the last few digits.

Not to mention keeping it up to date on an ongoing basis.........YET.

Ed Vaughn, MBSWWYPBX