Most U.S. cell phone users can now switch to a new wireless service without losing their telephone number under a new regulation that raises the stakes in the already competitive wireless market.

Under new rules which took effect on Monday, customers may be quicker to dump their current provider for a rival service now that they can keep their current number. They can also disconnect a home phone and swap that number for a wireless service.

While great for consumers, who until now had to hassle with updating friends and business associates to a number change, this ups the ante for mobile carriers. The six major U.S. wireless companies already vie aggressively for the nation's 152 million cell phone users.

Phone companies have been gearing up for the switch, collectively spending about $1 billion to make their networks ready for the technical challenge of swapping phone numbers with rivals. SG Cowen forecasts wireless companies could spend as much as $3 billion more next year in efforts to hold onto their customers and win new ones.

Some analysts expect customers to line up in phone stores or rush to the Internet to change their service on Monday. But others say it could take months to see the impact the new rule has on the industry.

Cell phone companies have been putting together new promotions in the hopes of keeping their customers or even stealing new ones from their rivals. These new deals include extra minutes and slick gadgets offered at a discount to customers who sign up or renew their phone plans.

Providers such as Sprint, Cingular Wireless and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA have extended the hours when customers can make unlimited phone calls.

Another tactic is to offer customers discounts on mobile phones if they sign up for a year-long contract. A two-year contract merits even deeper discounts.

Some providers such as Sprint and AT&T Wireless posted information about the new rules on their Web sites in an effort to lure new customers to their services.

Legg Mason analyst Craig Mallitz estimates that the number of people switching wireless services in 2004 could rise to 44 million next year from his 2003 estimate of about 34 million.

The rule change is expected to shed light on how highly customers regard their service. A visit to a Sprint PCS store in Manhattan on Sunday found one customer who would switch and another that wasn't ready.

An unemployed junior high school teacher, Stella Song, said she was happy about the new rules.

"We're probably going to switch ... I just don't like Sprint," Song said. "It just doesn't work very well for me in the city."

But software developer Tony Wu, who visited the Sprint store on Sunday to change his calling plan, said he was not ready to take advantage of the new rules yet.

"I'm already locked into a (contract). I might change it when it expires," said Wu. "It gives a lot of people freedom."

The rules took effect on Monday in the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Providers in smaller markets have until May to comply.

Consumer advice about the new rules can also be found on www.easyporting.com, a Web site from The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association which represents U.S. cell phone companies.

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