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Multi numbers w/distinct rings

Multiple phone numbers with distinguishing ring patterns
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There are three significant wireless 'roles' for which different call-in numbers would be useful. Rather than buy multiple phones, it would be great to access multiple numbers through the same phone. Here are what I see as commonly useful roles:

* Business - allow your colleagues to reach you at odd hours or while traveling

* 'Domestic' - Less frequently useful - sort of a "public" personal wireless number, that is, calls ignored with compunction. Could be most useful as a voice-mail box - allows access for mobile people, but avoids piling up airtime minutes. I would give this to a personal vendor or creditor -- e.g., service station, stock broker, lawyer -- to reach me wirelessly when travelling. It also is a good replacement for personal calls on one's employer's telephone system.

* Private - family, schools, caregivers.

awolfe_ii, Oct 19 2001

(?) Dual Sim battery http://www.imobile....sp?ID=accessaug0002
Lets you switch what SIM card you use, but only uses one at a time. [pottedstu, Mar 06 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]


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Annotation:







       Hmm, could be handy, especially if you can turn the numbers "on and off" individually.
"This is my emergency number. It's the only one I keep turned on while I'm in the cinema."
Lemon, Oct 19 2001
  

       I hate my cell phone and rarely use it, but criossant anyway.
phoenix, Oct 19 2001
  

       Just patch your mobile calls to a voicemail system ("Press 1 if you are awolfe's boss. Press 2 if you are a customer of awolfe. Press 3 if you are a friend of awolfe. Press 2353543544645354364554364355631 if you are a creditor of awolfe.")
pottedstu, Oct 19 2001
  

       Baked, via the wonder that is call-forwarding. Just forward the business number to the domestic number, then forward the domestic number to the private number.   

       If you want to "turn off" any number (say business number, after hours), just de-activate the forward.   

       My SO does this all the time -- she tells people to always call her cell number. If the cell is on, she'll answer it; if not, the call gets forwarded to home.
MrWrong, Oct 19 2001
  

       [waugsqueke] True. Maybe merged with [PeterSealy]'s phone it could work, though...   

       I guess what [awolfe_ii] is looking for is a Party Line cell phone... One long ring is business; one long, one short is domestic; two long, one short is private; etc.
MrWrong, Oct 19 2001
  

       My home phone works on two numbers, normal ring for the number listed in the phone book, short ring for the number given my family and close friends.   

       My partner's business calls are diverted home after hours. With this system, in conjunction with caller ID, we always know who should answer it.
Helium, Oct 19 2001
  

       No baker found yet? Business and private numbers in the same phone would be neat, but I would like to see even more: a cell phone where I can insert two cards from two different countries, so I can be reached, let's say, under a U.S. number as well as under a French number. With roaming, the number issue is no problem; technically, it should be possible to provide a second slot in a cell phone, and electronically, everything is possible. It would be immensely useful to international travellers.
hthimm, Mar 06 2002
  

       hthimm: You can get things to use 2 SIM cards in the same phone, but they seem to be manually switched, rather than running on both services simultaneously (see link).
pottedstu, Mar 06 2002
  

       Well, pottedstu, that's the problem: how do I know who will call me next? But I guess I could give everyone two numbers, and if one doesn't work, they have to call the other one because I'll have one card in my cell phone for sure. That will do for the moment - thanx!
hthimm, Mar 07 2002
  

       I think what we would really like to see is more than just putting two sim cards into a cellphone, or call forwarding, to reaceive calls to all phone numbers on the same phone. There would be one sim card in each phone, that represents NOT a phone number, but a user account. This list would possibly be maintained by a nation-wide, independent authority (the FCC comes to mind). Then, you could add/remove phone numbers to your account at will. This does not only let you receive calls to multiple phone numbers on the same cellphone, but could also let you choose which account you make a phonecall with. For example, you could set all outgoing calls during the day through your company-paid-for account, then on evenings/weekends use your own, personal account... Just like Outlook, where you can have multiple mail accounts. You get the mail that arrives in all of them, and when you compose, you can choose through which account you'll send the email.
azimout, Sep 15 2005
  

       I just came here to post this idea. damn you. [bun]
ericscottf, Feb 12 2008
  


 

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