Sadly though ownership of the phone number was never negotiated when the customer setup the acct, and at least in canada the carriers s/a reads "you do not own your number" Hopefully something can be worked out instead of a rather large and justifable fee if you join a company and want to "purchase" your phone number.

Some look at it like the telco holding customers hostage by their phone number, now reversing it will in the long run increase prices, which I guess for some customers will be ok, since they get to keep their number

Dreaderus