Holding Numbers
Posted at 3:49 pm on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, in Technology, and tagged apple, google, iphone, phone.
This is probably the biggest reason I’m not in line for an iPhone (besides the minimum monthly bill): I simply do not use my cellphone enough. I often leave it home, uncharged and unplugged. When I do remember to bring it to work, I often forget it on my desk before heading home. I have asked family members to email me first, Skype me, or call my home line (which sends an audio file directly to my email). Some of the advantages of an iPhone would solve this very problem — visual voicemail, for example — but overall, I am simply not plugged-in enough to need to be plugged-in when I’m un-plugged. I know that makes sense; try again.
In fact, the real reason I even have a cellphone is because of the number. I know that I will need a cellphone some day — even an iPhone — and I do not want to give up the number I’ve had since 2002. I do not want to port it now, which is an option, of course, but one that makes no difference with regards to my current usage. I would love to pay my cellphone company — or a third-party — to hold my number for, say, $5-10 per month.1 That way, I can forget the hassle of a cellphone I don’t use (or an iPhone I don’t need), while retaining my rights to a number — my number — when I do.
Notes- Porting my number to Google Voice is another option, however I would like to have my number back at some point. I don’t feel that Google Voice’s masking of outgoing calls will work for average users. Also, I like my current Google Voice number. I’d like to keep that one in my back-pocket. ↩
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