I guess we all, at some point in our lives, have experienced changing our mobile phone number, for one reason or another. It is good that, nowadays, with the help of apps, it is quite easy to transfer stored data from one phone to another.

I remember some years back when I changed my mobile network, I had to painstakingly and manually, in the absence of an easy transfer data app, move the numbers on my contact list one by one to my new unit. That meant having to migrate something like 600 contact numbers. I had to do them in batches, because after some time, my fingers went numb from having to punch my phone’s keys seemingly endlessly.

You want it perpetually even if you switch to another mobile network. There’s no more fear of losing it solely because of the necessity to jump to another provider.

But even with the apps today, it still is quite cumbersome to change mobile numbers.

Imagine having to inform everyone on your contact list. And if you are at the receiving end, you sometimes just automatically store your friend’s new number, without deleting the old one. When the time comes to contact him, you forget which is the present one. Worse if you forgot all together that he changed numbers: you text and wait for a reply in vain.

So, whether you change or are informed about someone’s number change, you get into some annoying inconvenience.

So, you wonder — or even hope — if you can have the same number, even if you change network providers. Seems impossible, isn’t it? Mobile providers will certainly not allow that.

In this day and age though, this can already be done. The President just signed into law Republic Act 11202, otherwise known as the Mobile Number Portability Act. This provides for a porting process, which “refers to the process by which a donor provider moves a mobile number to a recipient provider or change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa…” (Section i, RA 11202). As provided, the original number is retained even if transfer is made from one service provider to another.

Undoubtedly, this calls for a celebration to all of you who hold your numbers dearest to your hearts. Your number may actually be the spelling of your name, an important date (i.e., anniversary, birthday or what-have-you) or passcode. And because of this you want it perpetually even if you switch to another mobile network. There’s no more fear of losing it solely because of the necessity to jump to another provider.

The only minor drawback I foresee from this type of portability is our automatic association of the prefix number (first four numbers) with a specific network. Time will come when it may no longer be safe to assume that a number assigned to a mobile provider is still being serviced by the same network. And with the unli-call and unli-text packages offered by mobile networks, we will have to be careful and diligent to find out from the person we are communicating with if he still belongs to the network his prefix number is originally assigned to. Otherwise, the unli programs will not work. Instead, you get an unli-bill! One day, you might get floored by your bill that is sky high. You check the numbers you called and find them still the same and usual. No change. But if you do some further investigation, you might discover that some of these same numbers may have migrated to other networks; thus the surge of your bill.

But anyway, that should not be a major concern. All it takes really is diligence to check that the number you are calling still belongs to the same network as you are. And I am pretty sure when this mobile portability program kicks in, there will be a notification to the people on the person’s contact list about the network switch. And when you receive that, it will be most prudent for you to take note of it immediately. Do not delay.

Once piece of advice: why not modify your contact list a bit? Annex to the person’s name the mobile provider (i.e., Pedro [x provider], Juan [y provider]). That way, you keep track whose number is in which provider. More importantly, you don’t get shocked when you receive your bill.

But rejoice not yet. Like any other law that just got signed, wait for its effectivity and implementing rules. Only then will the mobile portability program roll out. The law just got the President’s imprimatur this month.