Hi, Does anyone have any information on phones or carriers that support having two phone numbers active in the same phone at the same time? I'm going to have to start carrying a cell phone for my work.  I really want to avoid carrying two cell phones around with me all the time. I've gotten all sorts of conflicting information regarding this potential functionality.  Any information on specific phones or carriers that you know who support this functionality (if it exists) would sure be appreciated! Thanks, Chris Hackett [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Any number of carriers will support this. There are many cell phone manufacturers who manufacture 'Dual NAM'  or 'Quad NAM' service.  Buy a 'Dual-' or 'Quad-NAM' phone then ask any cell phone company to turn it on with two numbers. The only catch is, **only one of the two (four) numbers can actually be in service at any time. Incoming calls to the other number(s) are reported as 'out of area' to the caller. The nature of cell phones is such that two or more numbers, both on the same phone available at the same time, is impossible. You have to switch that software in and out each time (which is done with a few key presses.) The 'out of area' calls go to voice mail for your retrieval. This used to be a big thing when (for example) a business person was in two or four different cities a lot, and wanted cell phone service in each town. (Long before roaming became possible or easily paid for.) It was often times much less expensive to have two different carriers in two different cities with a number in each town (thus the Dual-NAM or Quad-NAM approach) than in one place but with a humongous roaming bill each month. It was easier to have these 'foreign exchange' type things with only one actual radio-telephone to carry around with you. I rarely ever see these 'dual-NAM' phones around any more, I guess they still make them. But if you find one, **make certain** the NAM (or software) you want to use is shifted into place **before** you tell the local dealer to turn it on with one of his numbers, otherwise he will write all over it with the new number and you will lose entirely the previous number that was in there. Then go on your way, shifting (with key presses) the soft/firmware you wish to use into place in order to recieve/place calls **on that carrier**. When you do so, the other carrier (represented by the alternate NAM) will be looking for you and not find you anywhere and send your calls to voicemail.   Instead of going to all this awkward trouble (now that cellphones and roaming rates

I'm going to have to start carrying a cell phone for my work.  I really want to avoid carrying two cell phones around with me all the time. My Verizon cellphone on the cheapest plan available, includes alternate answer and busy transfer which will forward calls from that phone to any other number.  I've got them disabled, but you could use them to forward your personal cell number to the business one (or vice versa) then carry only the downstream phone. I use this scheme to forward my landline office phone to my cell. It's better than Call Forwarding because it's cheaper (I pay about $1.30/month extra on the landline) plus you don't have to remember to turn it on or off.  Of course, you pay for forwarding the calls

Hi, Does anyone have any information on phones or carriers that support having two phone numbers active in the same phone at the same time? I'm going to have to start carrying a cell phone for my work.  I really want to avoid carrying two cell phones around with me all the time. I've gotten all sorts of conflicting information regarding this potential functionality.  Any information on specific phones or carriers that you know who support this functionality (if it exists) would sure be appreciated! Thanks, Chris Hackett [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Any number of carriers will support this. There are many cell phone manufacturers who manufacture 'Dual NAM'  or 'Quad NAM' service.  Buy a 'Dual-' or 'Quad-NAM' phone then ask any cell phone company to turn it on with two numbers. The only catch is, **only one of the two (four) numbers can actually be in service at any time. Incoming calls to the other number(s) are reported as 'out of area' to the caller. The nature of cell phones is such that two or more numbers, both on the same phone available at the same time, is impossible. You have to switch that software in and out each time (which is done with a few key presses.) The 'out of area' calls go to voice mail for your retrieval. <snip Pat - This isn't quite true

I'm going to have to start carrying a cell phone for my work.  I really want to avoid carrying two cell phones around with me all the time. To the best of my knowledge, even though many phones can switch back and forth between two numbers conveniently, there are no phones that will actually answer to two numbers at a time. If you really need two numbers, I would recommend getting a virtual number and forwarding it to your cell.  Then your cell will answer to both the cell phone number and the virtual number. If you need to know which line people called before you answer, get a GSM phone (T-mobile or AT&T, but I think TM is better), which will let you know if your number was dialed directly or indirectly.  My GSM Ericsson T38, e.g., shows me forwarded right on the screen when I forward to my home phone to my cell and someone calls my home number. Some phones may even support different ring tones for forwarded and non-forwarded calls. -Joel