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First-year undeclared student Charles Evans Jr. on the phone outside of Kerckhoff Hall. Cell phon

Cell phone customers may be using their final minutes to say goodbye to their current service on Monday, when they will be able to easily switch carriers without changing their phone numbers.

Communications analysts expect the new federal rules, created by the Federal Communications Commission, to increase competition among wireless companies, resulting in lower costs, better reception and more competition-cutting promotions.

Being able to switch cell providers without changing one’s cell number – known as portability – is a convenience the FCC and analysts expect will help unhappy customers switch services without the hassle.

“I never got reception in the dorms my first year here at UCLA,” said Katie Rivera, a third-year communications studies and comparative literature studies student.

“I’ve had the same provider since the seventh grade because switching is really inconvenient, but I would have switched had this rule been in effect then,” she added.

The rule takes effect in the 100 most populous metropolitan areas Nov. 24, and nationwide six months later.

It will also allow some customers to use their home or business phone number as their cell phone number, and visa versa, provided that the customer remains in the same local geological area.

“That would make it much easier to move apartments without worrying about distributing your phone number again,” Rivera said.

Currently, about 3 percent of cell customers change carriers every year. After Monday, turnover rate will swell to about 20 percent, The Management Network Group, a communications consulting firm, predicted.

In a cell phone market saturated with countless service providers, portability is “great for consumers, who will laugh all the way to the bank,” said Patrick Comrack, a telecom analyst with Guzman & Company.

Analysts said customers will have the FCC to thank for the new phone features, lower prices, more minutes and better service that will follow the implementation of the portability rules.

Robert Foster, a marketing professor at The Anderson School at UCLA, said consumers will see marketing strategies such as creativity in pricing plans and bundling, where carriers offer a number of services together for one flat fee.

“You’ll be able to get a gazillion minutes for like $3,” Foster joked.

He said that competition may also pressure carriers to improve indoor reception – a component that is often poor for UCLA students living in high-rise apartments or on-campus dorms.

“I always see students carrying their conversations by a window or outside because there isn’t reception in the dorm rooms,” said Charles Evans Jr., a first-year undeclared student at UCLA.

Though Evans also holds “conversations by a window,” he said he would be hesitant to switch plans because he just updated his contract to two years, with a $150 cancellation fee.

Whether or not various providers decide to increase termination fees in order to hold onto their customers “depends on how confident they are,” Comrack said.

Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, said the company supported the passing of the rule because of its leading network base, consisting of 36 million subscribers.

Well-established companies such as Verizon and Nextel will adjust better to the portability rule than others, Comrack said.