St. Louis ? Wireless-phone customers are a restless lot, and they could get even more restless by Thanksgiving.

Starting Nov. 24, customers can keep their cell-phone numbers when they change wireless providers. Analysts say the change, called number portability, could set off a frenzy of carrier-switching in an industry where customer loyalty is scarce.

Up to half the nation’s 150.7 million wireless customers could switch carriers in the next year, said Janice Baugh, a consultant with Dietrich Lockhard Group of Brentwood. The company advises clients on telecommunications services.

“A lot of people are unhappy with their current wireless providers,” Baugh said. “They’re all going to be churning back and forth” in hopes of getting better deals, better coverage and better customer service.

Today, about 30 percent of customers switch carriers every year, said Kneko Burney, chief market strategist for InStat/MDR, a research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz. She estimates that an additional 10 percent to 15 percent might switch because they can keep their numbers.

“The reality is, I’ve never met someone who didn’t hate their carrier,” said David Steinberg, chief executive of InPhonic Inc., a company in Washington that activates wireless phones online.

“The grass is almost always greener” at another carrier, Steinberg said. “You’re going to have a lot of people moving very, very quickly.”

Customers have had the right to keep their land-line numbers when they switch carriers since 1996, though strict geographic limits apply.