Cell users switch providers in droves

NEW YORK — Phone companies reported brisk business Monday as cell phone users took advantage of new federal rules enabling them to change providers without switching their numbers.

Verizon Wireless, the nation's biggest mobile carrier, reported more than twice the usual traffic in its stores, while No. 2 Cingular Wireless said portions of its Web site were down for about two hours as the company added capacity to handle heavier-than-normal visits.

Industry sources, however, said probably fewer than 100,000 customers requested the switch, well shy of forecasts that perhaps millions of cell phone users might try to switch on Monday. Anecdotal reports indicated that many people were waiting to make sure the process runs smoothly and they are not left without service due to unexpected glitches.

Rosemary Stuessy, a 34-year-old Dallas resident, wasn't among those willing to wait. Tired of dropped calls on her cell phone, she switched from Sprint to Cingular.

"I've been shopping around for several plans for several weeks — I want the best deal," she said.

And Howard Markowitz, a cell phone user since 1985 who has had the same wireless number for about 12 years, was planning to change providers as soon as Monday evening because he cannot get reception inside his plumbing company in the Bronx with his current carrier, AT&T Wireless.

"I have to walk out in the street to use my phone," said Markowitz, who still has his very first cell phone, a giant-sized handset made by NEC that cost him about $2,000. "I check my voice mail two or three times day from a landline phone to get my cell phone messages."

The long-awaited rule change, which some called "wireless emancipation," set off a marketing blitz by cell phone companies, fearful of losing their customers and eager to snare new ones from rivals.

"The companies were smart. They started making deals two months ago and called them holiday deals, so it looks like nothing has happened," said Morgan Narayanan, a salesman at Bytes-To-Go, a Dallas mall kiosk that brought in two extra workers for Monday's switch.

The day was rife with publicity stunts by mobile phone companies determined to put the best spin on how they were faring with possibly the biggest change to hit the cellular industry.

Cingular issued a statement announcing "one of the first" conquests of a rival's customer: five-time world boxing champion Felix "Tito" Trinidad, whose request to switch was processed just after midnight in Puerto Rico.