Brad Ideas - Cell carriers, let us have more than one phone on the same number - Comments

This is what I'm asking for

brad — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:35:57 -0700

and they don't provide it. You could get a number with a service like Grand Central (Google) for free and then have it ring both phones when people call it. Get a T-mobile prepaid SIM for 2nd phone.

Using two phones at one time

Toria — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:14:29 -0700

Ok....so I have this older phone that doesn't have a slot for a SIM card but i really like its a tough phone but i was forced to switch to SIM cards and the phone has just been sitting around. Is there any possible way that i could use the old phone and my new phone that has the sim card and have them both be on the same phone number? Is that even possible? I mean the one phone is that old that it doesn't have a sim card slot...and if i could have both would my sim card be hurt in any way?

Just log in

brad — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:41:39 -0700

And how am I supposed to do this procedure (which is really not so simple) from my car when I am driving down the road and realize I left my phone at home? Even if I had web access on the phone it would be disabled so I could not do this. Nor could people call me until I realized I had forgotten the phone. This is really a poor substitute for what I want, and what I want is not that hard.

any questions...go to

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:28:17 -0700

any questions...go to verizons website lol

yea....if you have verizon,

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:27:07 -0700

yea....if you have verizon, and log into my account (which is free) you can do an ESN swap when ever you want online...so you keep an old ohone at the office or car....if you forget your phone at home simply log in, type in the ESN number located on the back of the phone under the battery and reset the phone...viola! the old phone now rings your number! when you get home that night just switch it back! all free!

Tracfone web site not clear

brad — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:22:47 -0700

Tracfone does have a 365 day card, but it costs almost $100 and only gives you 400 minutes. T-mobile's deal is vastly superior, not just because they give you 1000 minutes on the $100 card, but because after you have done this, all refills last a year. So you can put in $10 *a year*, not $10 a month, after that. I have not seen anything like that anywhere in the world. It's so much better than other deals I wonder if it will last forever.

Sadly, you can't get data service with it. I'm actually a light cell phone user. If we're going to have a long chat, I prefer to be on a landline for better quality (as well as lower cost.) However, since I want a PDA phone with data, I can only use T-mobile to-go for my 2nd phone.

However, if you have old GSM phones, get a T-mobile SIM and set it up this way, then get a VOIP number to ring both your main phone and that one (you must disable voice mail on both, which takes work) and you can almost get what I describe, but you still will send the caller-id of the phone you use, not the master number.

Tracfone

Krupo — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:18:45 -0700

I think Tracfone has the same deal that you describe at T-mobile.

Also, any network using GSM/SIM cards would let you own two, or more, phones and swap out your SIM card as needed.

The trick is to avoid losing the SIM card, of course.

Gotta hand it to T-mobile

brad — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:54:36 -0700

T-mobile's prepaid service offers a deal unlike any I have seen anywhere in the world. With their prepaid service, once you have put $100 of airtime into the phone (which gets you 1000 minutes if you do it at once) then that and future airtime lasts for a year.

This means you can keep a GSM phone alive, if you don't use it much, for $10 per year, after you've put in the initial outlay. Frankly, even $100 per year is a decent deal which you can't get from other carriers. (Virgin Mobile USA will do it for about $80 per year.)

So that's great for a second phone, but it's still not what I propose here, which is a second phone that works on the same account, and rings on the same number.

2 cell phones - Y not?

DoctorSmith — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:41:44 -0700

The other comments on this subject all seem to be written by those folks that ALSO have a wired land line. I just got ordered a new cell phone and account with Alltel. My goal is to completely rid myself of all things Sprint, including my land lines. I thought I could just use a cell phone alone but eventually, it dawned on me that depending upon just one phone was folly. I want at least 2. This does not mean I'll use them both at once, but at least I'd have a spare in the event that my main cell phone dies. THAT would make me feel a whole lot more secure. I just got off the phone with Alltel and was told that I could not do this but they'd be happy to sell me another "line" for a mere $20/month and I could pay retail for another phone just like the one I ordered. By my math, that's $240/year plus the phone - a quarter of a thousand dollars + and I do not WANT another line - JUST another physical phone device.

Why must I be forced into this corner? You know it's a scam and that the cell people are making large money by doing this or perhaps more accurately, they fear they'll not make as much should they implement a policy allowing a second phone. Perhaps they are right - just think of the nasty things they COULD do, like keep track of which phone you are making your calls from and charging one a premium for using that spare phone - kind of like roaming charges. In fact they could even charge actual roaming until the customer gets around to calling in and explaining why they are on the "other" phone or some such plan. I am sure they could cook up something. Surely using 2 identical units might be a restriction? I can see why you can't use an older phone or dissimilar model.

By instituting this stupid rule, they prevent at least me from going completely wireless (cell) so I'll keep shipping Sprint money each month (grrrr) instead of handing it to the cell carrier (NOT Sprint - no way). In my case, they'd make money. I can't speak for others but I want the peace of mind of a backup device just in case. You DO back up your important data on your computer - don't you??

DoctorSmith

No, you missed the point

brad — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:50:22 -0800

The two phones would not look at all similar, would not have the same serial numbers or imeis or anything like that. They would be two completely different phones. The "joining" would be in the network, so that both phones ring (if both on) for calls, and calls from either phone generate the same caller-id. And of course, special billing.

This could even be implemented with the second phone having its own number that's not used for any outside purpose, other than making it easier to implement things.

Again, let me point out that you can already do this today on your own, with two exceptions. First you need two accounts (ie. it's twice as expensive) and second a call from the 2nd phone would not send the caller-id of the first one, unless you used a fancy call forwarding app. There is absolutely zero issue related to phone cloning.

Violates carriers methods of detecting cloning abuse, but nice

Ben Barrett — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:09:46 -0800

This would certainly be helpful to many folks, however I believe it would make their abuse- and fraud-detection methods more difficult.
There are currently big ops which filter through masses of detailed data from signal strength, which can be (and presumably is) sifted
to find patters for abuse. For example, what appears to be the same phone suddenly appearing on the network, at a reasonable geographical
distance from the "active" phone/device. It seems that those operations would have to vectorize as it were and further invade the privacy
of consumers to maintain their attempts to protect their business.

The tools (hard & soft) to basically "clone" a phone, would be handy for plenty of Fair Use situations,
although I guess stopping by the kiosk isn't a big deal.... story: I just had a friend whose phone broke in half, and
although she could still read her phonebook off it, she needed a replacement... I wanted to offer her either
of two older models I have here, but, difficulties ensue, as you might know about the abundance of incompatibilities in SIM cards and so forth.

These problems are in fact an SEP (not my problem), and I'll hope along with other readers that good market competition along with DIY culture
and open source innovations will spur enough positive changes for all users, that we'll be enjoying a really enabled tomorrow with appropriate
technology trumping bad implementation. I enjoyed reading your article, 'Replacing the FCC with "don't be spectrum selfish"', and appreciate
the directives therein, however it is nearly impossible to explain invisible things to people :) I suppose the more reasons there are to care,
the more attentive and imaginitive the public's reception of and response to RF issues will be.

tnx,

ben

Second cell phone on same number

KC — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:56:53 -0800

I do a lot of water-oriented sports such as kayaking and fishing. I use a Palm Treo 700p for business, but am disinclined to carry it with me in a kayak because damaging it is a very expensive proposition. Being able to use my existing number on a cheaper phone would be very useful.

AMEN, BRAD!

Lori — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:18:21 -0800

I was just searching the web (google: can you have two cell phones on the same line) and stumbled across your thread... Finally, someone who thinks like me. I wish they would offer this service because, yes, it would be great to be able to have an "emergency backup" phone in the car at the office, just in case I left mine at home. It happened to me today. I hadn't thought all of the problems through, but your suggestions are great (specifically the phone registration thing). Someday, maybe it'll happen... that would be SO helpful. :)

Mostly specialty services

brad — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:05:39 -0800

Such as the voip services. Since Vonage does it, and they are the market share leader, I think just about all the other voip services do it.

I do it myself by buying cheap numbers from voip providers such as, currently, icall.com, and routing the call through my own Asterisk server. Probably not for the casual user but many do it this way.

Call my voip numbers and you are actually ringing 5 different phones at once.

But not, alas, the cell phones because they go to voicemail if off, which screws it up. I tried to get tmobile to turn off the voicemail, and have not yet managed to make it work.

Which services?

batura — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:36:16 -0800

Do you know which service providers allow you to ring multiple phones? I would love to be able to call either of my cellphones just using one number. I don't know if it is possible with Sprint, my provider.

Thansk!

Cell carriers, let us have more than one phone on the same number

brad — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:14:36 -0800

Everybody’s got old cell phones, which sit in closets. Why don’t the wireless carriers let customers cheaply have two or more phones on the same line. That would mean that when a call came in, both phones would ring (and your landlines if you desire) and you could answer in either place. You could make calls from either phone, though not both at the same time.

Right now they offer family plans, which let you have a 2nd “line” on the same account. That doesn’t save much money for the 2nd, though the 3rd and 4th are typically only $10 extra. That’s a whole extra number and account, however.

Letting customers do this should be good for the cell companies. You would be more likely to make a cell call. People would leave cells in their cars, or at other haunts (office, home or even in a coat pocket) for the “just in case I forget my cell” moments. That means more minutes billed.

The only downside is you might see people trying to share, both the very poor, or some couples, or perhaps families wanting to give a single number to a group of kids. While for most people the party line arrangement would be inconvenient, if it becomes a real problem, a number of steps could be taken to avoid it:

They know where the phones are. Thus don’t allow phone A to make/answer a call a short interval after phone B if they are far apart. If they are 1 hour apart, require an hour’s time.
To really stop things, require the non-default phones to register by calling a special number. When one phone registers, the others can’t make calls. Put limits on switching the active phone, possibly based on phone location as above.
Shortly after registering, or making/receiving a call, only the active phone receives calls.

I don’t think these steps are necessary, but if implemented they would make sharing very impractical and thus this service could be at no extra charge, or at worst a nominal charge of a buck or two. It could also be charged for only in months or days it’s actually used.

This is a great service for the customer and should make money for the cell co. So why don’t they?