For those of you who used Amp'd Mobile as your service provider, you'd better find someone else. And quick!

The word from PhoneNews.com is that Amp'd Mobile will likely be shutting down on 24 July 2007. To make matters worse, according to the FAQ on the Amp'd Mobile site, customer service will be shutting down after 23 July 2007. That means if you don't want to lose your phone number, you'd better port it somewhere else pronto. PhoneNews.com is reporting customer service hold times are pretty bad.

The Q&A on Amp'd Mobile does provide some misleading information regarding the ability to use your Amp'd Mobile phone with another carrier. It's true that Amp'd is a CDMA carrier. However, what's true with most CDMA providers is that they do not permit you to use another carrier's CDMA device with your network.

It's possible, since Amp'd Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator served by Verizon, that Verizon may let you use your Amp'd-branded device with the Verizon network. However, I would not expect an Amp'd branded device to work with any other CDMA network out there. This includes Sprint and a number of smaller, regional CDMA carriers.

This is a prime example as to why you should strive to buy unlocked GSM mobile phones without carrier branding. If the carrier you use suddenly goes belly up, your expensive phone doesn't suddenly become a paperweight or lose functionality. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments.