Hey, folks. Might want to bookmark this: Brosz actually thinks a non-safety regulation is a good idea!

They recently passed a rule that stated that cell phone companies must allow a customer to keep his current number when he switches services. I looked at this, and it seemed to be that rara avis, a regulation that promotes instead of stifles market competition.

Obviously, making it MUCH easier to switch services will make the companies much more competitive with each other and services and prices will improve. This will also enhance the cell phone's ability to compete with land lines.

Equally obviously, I can think of no market-driven reason that cell phone companies would have come up with this feature on their own. Why would they?