The Federal Communications Commission said it received 2,394 informal consumer complaints targeted at wireless carriers from Nov. 24 through Dec. 24, which marked the first month of wireless local number portability. Complaints almost tripled in the latter two weeks of the month, or since Dec. 8 when the FCC reported approximately 600 complaints had been issued.
Most of the complaints concerned delays in porting numbers between wireless carriers, with less than 5 percent of total complaints directed at delays in porting numbers from wireline to wireless carriers. AT&T Wireless Services Inc. was involved in 1,221 complaints, followed by Sprint PCS at 518, Verizon Wireless at 406, Cingular Wireless L.L.C. at 359, T-Mobile USA Inc. at 256 and Nextel Communications Inc. at 154.
The FCC was careful to point out that the complaints do not necessarily indicate violations, nor do they reflect the number of customers attempting to churn because most complaints mention more than one carrier.
