A tale of phone numbers and burner apps

There seems to be a problem between someone having too many phone numbers (I'll try him at home, then I'll call his work number, and finally his cell) or not having enough phone numbers (I use this phone number for work, and this one for personal calls).

Grand Central (now Google Voice) and RingTO are software companies formed around the problem of having too many phone numbers. You just give out the one number and you program which calls ring which phones and which ones go to voice mail.

Under the most extreme circumstances, I read where some people are buying a new Sim card every month to take advantage of first month teaser offers. They simply forward their Google Voice to a new phone number every month.

But now we have an app that takes care of the other side of the problem. Named burner app it takes it's name from the practice of drug dealers to purchase a prepaid phone and service and simply to discard the phone after the number has become too hot to use anymore. The burner app lets you create and delete multiple phone numbers without the need to throw away your phone.

So, do you have too many phone numbers or not enough phone numbers.

for complicated reasons, we just joined the ranks of people who only have cell phones, no home phone

It's OK. Some people still try the old home phone of course, the phone book has us listed. We were getting very few legitimate calls, friends and family were calling the cells.

Some things we are finding:

*you need to be more diligent about keeping the phone charged

*it feels really stupid now to call an 800 number, especially to be put on hold [neither of us needs unlimited calls, and we don't have that]

*well, actually, I am going to have to compare my current plan with some other ones to be sure about not needing unlimited or whatever

*perhaps it hasn't hurt our credit, which is otherwise very good, but I don't really know. I do know, in the past, there was a consideration as to how long you were at one residence with a regular home phone, for obtaining credit. And to have an unlisted number was counted against you [it makes you appear to be dodging a bill collector]. It may be acknowledged now that this is just 'old thinking' though.

Quote: Pacomartin

So, do you have too many phone numbers or not enough phone numbers.

My perfect number would be 0

I have one number on my burner fone
and don't know what it is because it's
never turned on. I use Google Talk for
all my outgoing calls.

when I was working, the smartest thing to do, if you could remember and you could get cooperation, was the home number, his and her cell phone, his and her work phone, and back then sometimes someone's fax number was handy too.

one place I worked at was big on getting email addresses. They would use them after the sale, too, to spam their customers. Customers would anticipate that and give you some secondary email address they seldom used [I do that too]. A problem then was having irate customers that were expecting a proposal but forgetting to check their spam filters [a lot of those divert everything not in the address book]. And of course some forgot they gave you that little-used email address.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/t-mobile-digits-phone-number-service-193058035.html
T-Mobile is trying to revolutionize the way you use your phone number December 7, 2016
In many ways this new service from T-Mobile is similar to Google Voice which has existed since 2005 as Grand Central, and 2009 as Google Voice.

Quote: yahoo

There are certainly other services similar to Digits out there, such as Google Voice, Verizon's One Talk and AT&T's NumberSync. But, according to T-Mobile, those don't let you use multiple numbers on your device, while also letting you use your number on other companies' handsets, tablets and desktops.

I have tried to have more than one phone number on my phone, and I found it very confusing.

Its really a question of do you want callers to reach a PLACE or a PERSON. A business call should probably go to an office phone during the day but to a voicemail after hours unless the caller is more than just an acquaintance in which case you might want him to reach your personal cell phone or its voicemail.

I have it easy. If I get a cal its either a telemarketer or a bill collector so I simply do not answer my phone ... I check the voicemail box and the text message box at the end of the day. That's it.