But not all parties involved may get what they bargained for. Consumers seeking greener call-rate pastures are likely to find sales staffs overwhelmed with questions about the policy. They could also encounter high charges for switching, as carriers try to pass on the $1 billion they spent adapting networks. (Sprint PCS and AT&T Wireless are already adding small monthly charges to all customers.) The carriers themselves could face an avalanche of defections. One of the few models is Hong Kong: when it allowed number portability in 1999, one in 10 phone owners started swapping services each month. The U.S. carriers now seem resigned to the new rule, with some concentrating on lobbying to prevent the FCC from also allowing customers to move numbers from mobile phones to land lines and vice versa. An ironic possible outcome: a law meant to foster competition actually drives small mobile-phone operators out of business.
