By Andrew Backover, USA TODAY

Several Web sites have launched to cash in on a new rule that lets cell phone users keep their numbers when they switch carriers.

This month, CellUpdate.com began offering comparison of many cell offers by ZIP code and online sales. NumberPortability.com offers information and is adding plan comparison and order capability.

WireFly.com launches Monday. It boasts it will have the most information on offers by the seven major U.S. carriers, plus service and network quality ratings from J.D. Power and Associates data. (Related story: Cell carriers let the deals roll)

The ratings are key, says David Steinberg, CEO of WireFly parent InPhonic, because, "Right now people are driving blind."

Chris Murray, counsel for Consumers Union, which strongly advocated the Federal Communications Commission rule that takes effect Nov. 24 in the top 100 markets, says consumers need "the ability to comparison shop in a convenient way." But he voiced concern about any relationships that might bias a site toward a certain carrier.

The sites get commissions or fees on sales, but they say they are neutral about the carriers.

NumberPortability plans to have a third party to process deals. "We are an information site," says CEO Jan-Joost Rueb.

CellUpdate will use a partner site, LetsTalk.com, to fill orders. CellUpdate "does not push a specific plan," says CEO Bill Hardekopf. "It's a resource."

WireFly, however, plans to do more than inform. Parent InPhonic already runs online cell phone stores for Internet companies such as Yahoo (YHOO), MSN (MSFT) and AOL (TWX). It has used its relationships with carriers to position WireFly as a full-service site for cell number switchers. WireFly will work with the new carrier to move a customer's number from the old service, activate the service and ship the phone.

InPhonic Vice Chairman John Sculley, a former CEO of Apple and PepsiCo, says the Internet is a logical next step for mobile phone sales, just as sites such as Expedia transformed travel sales. "We can simplify this, and the customer is in control," he says.

But can sites keep up with constantly changing offers? Hardekopf says carriers are making them aware of changes "almost instantly, because they want to make their plans available on our site."

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