Residents and businesses in the top 100 metropolitan telephone service areas in the nation will be able to switch their wireless phone company or switch from a regular wire-line to a wireless company without having to change phone numbers beginning today.

However, other communities, including Madison, will have to wait about another six months to get this service, known as number portability. The feature is expected to be available by May 24, 2004 in Madison.

The proposal to require number portability was approved by the Federal Communications Commission earlier this month.

“When it comes to local number portability, federal and state regulators couldn’t agree more,” FCC Chairman Michael Powell and National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President Stan Wise said in a joint statement. “On Monday, we reaffirm the basic truth: your phone number belongs to you, and you can take it with you. Companies will now have to use better service, lower prices and innovation to keep customers.”

The only limitation is that the wired phone the consumer wants to switch must be in the wireless carrier’s local calling area, as is typically true with the big phone service providers. This means that the user cannot take the number to a cell provider across the country.

During the debate over whether or not to implement this law, many local phone companies have resisted the move. Three of the four regional Bells, including SBC, BellSouth and Qwest, have said they should only have to transfer numbers if their customer’s phone and the new wireless provider’s call routes are in the same local area, significantly limiting the number of consumers eligible. These Bell companies say they do not have an equal chance to attract wireless customers to switch numbers to traditional phones because mobile company local calling areas are much larger than theirs.

However, SBC has said it is ready to implement number portability throughout its 13-state operation region. SBC said it would allow customers throughout its service area, including Madison, to cancel their landline service and move their current phone number to a wireless phone starting today as long as the wireless company they choose is ready to make the change.

“We’ve ported nearly seven million numbers to other wire-line companies since 1997,” said John Atterbuy, SBC group president of operations, in a statement. “We’ve got the experience, the people, the technology and the network to meet our customers’ needs.”

Phone companies, including SBC, have already spent millions of dollars over the last few years preparing for the new rule. Some have charged customers a fee to cover the costs. For example, SBC charged 28 cents a month since 1997 — a fee expiring in January 2004.

According to research firms, about 5.8 million people have cut off wired home phone service and rely only on their cell phones. A survey of more than 1,000 people by the Management Network Group recently found that about one in five wireless customers, or 30 million of the estimated 150 million subscribers, will change carriers during the 12 months after the new rule takes effect.

FCC officials say there is little demand to switch numbers from wireless back to regular phones.