I guess since this whole ordeal has consumed my life for the last few days (well this and a work project), I forgot that there are normal people out there who purchase new cell phones and change carriers without thinking twice about trying to keep their old number. I was even normal once, having been through three cell phone numbers myself, but I guess people change (plus I had only had those numbers for about a year each and the whole keeping your number thing wasn't really an option back then).

Anyway, I guess it would be worth it for me to explain briefly what this is all about. Last November, legislation (set forth by the FCC and Congress I presume) went into effect that required cell phone carriers to allow customers to keep their cell phone numbers even if they choose to switch carriers, assuming they are staying in the same geographical area. This whole process is called Local Number Portability - or LNP for short.

Since last summer, I have considered myself "in the market" for a new cell phone and carrier because of my dissatisfaction with my now old service provider and because since its release I haven't been able to get over the Motorola V60 line. Unfortunately, I was still under contract until December 2003 with my old service provider. The contract turned out to be a good thing though, once I found out that LNP would be going into effect in November. Besides, I didn't have the money then anyway, and waiting until after the mad rush of people wanting to switch carriers and port their number was probably a good thing.

So, long story short, when I was in Maryland a week ago, I stopped by the Verizon store and spotted the V60s, sitting pretty and on sale. After inquiring about the complexity of buying the phone in Maryland, away from my home service area in North Carolina, I pulled the trigger, and thus found myself a carrier of the LNP disease.