TDMA Customers Can Keep Their Phone Numbers
Moving To 3G
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) assures that come December subscribers
to the TDMA cellular network in Costa Rica
can transfer their service to the new 3G
network and without the need to get a new
number.
The state telecom says that the 3G network
should be up and running by the middle of
December and TDMA subscribers can transfer
their service to the new network without
having to give up their old numbers.
ICE has also backtracked on discontinuing
the TDMA service with the introduction of
the 3G
Some 350.000 customers prefer to keep their
TDMA service, saying the network works - has
better coverage - than the GSM and forego
services like surfing the internet and
cheking their email from their cellular
phone.
The important point, according to ICE, is
that TDMA customers will not be obligated to
migrate to the 3G or GSM networks, a move
that the state telecom feared would lose
customers to competitors if subscribers were
given a choice, especially when face to
having to change their phone number.
ICE has also been working on improving its
GSM network and coverage, completely
eliminitaing the Alcatel network, moving all
the GSM lines to the Ericsson network.
The switch is expected to occurr on
September 11, when all customers with their
phone numbers commending between 8810 and
8850 will be asked to turn off and turn on
their cellular telephones.
Previously ICE has announced that customers
would have to visit an ICE agency to get a
new SIM chip. That move proved difficult and
inconvenient for hundreds of thousands of
customers.
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