For Professionals: Two iPhones? (One Work, One Personal)

[NoCleverSNForMe]

Hey guys,

I keep going back and forth on this. I was wondering if I could get the thoughts of the professionals on this forum.

I am a real estate agent, and the past two years, I've been blessed to be a busy one. I used to have one cell phone that combined my work and personal. I do not have an office phone (never in the office - my MBP is my mobile office), and my business card only has my cell phone.

I struggle with time management. After 7 or 8pm on a Tuesday night, I have a challenge shutting the "business" down and entering my personal life. For instance, at 9pm, if I want to pick up the phone and call my friend or girlfriend, I'll see a missed call or email from a client or agent I'm working with. I'll want to know what that person said or wants, and then that leads to me either calling them back or emailing them back. Then I check my email and see I have new ones...I continue working.

I got a real estate coach a few months ago who told me that I need to get a second cell phone and "shut down" the business at 7 or 8pm. Just leave the phone at home or turn it off, and don't check it again until the morning.

I did it - my second line is the iPhone 5, my first (business) is the 4S. I gave out the number to my girlfriend and 4 close friends.

I was wondering: how many professionals keep the business and personal cells separate? I feel like most of my friends and colleagues only have one phone and think I'm crazy for getting the second line (it certainly is tougher to keep going back and forth between the two rather than checking the one inbox of voicemails).

Thanks so much!

 

[gentlefury]

I have a google voice number, and use that for business contacts. One phone, 2 numbers.

 

[SilentPanda]

Have you considered getting a Google Voice number? You can route those calls to your cell phone and "shut off" the number during certain hours of the day. Then you only need one physical device.

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

Have you considered getting a Google Voice number? You can route those calls to your cell phone and "shut off" the number during certain hours of the day. Then you only need one physical device.

Thank you so much - both of you - for your replies.

I tried that, and it didn't work out for me. Two things:

1. I noticed that some of the phone calls were still going to my cell phone voicemail, despite my tinkering with the settings. It was only until I unchecked everything except Google Talk that I was able to send ALL voicemails to that number.
2. The Google Voice app on iPhone is terrible. It's like they really, really want you to go Android!

Glad it works for you, though! I guess my only other options are really to stick with the two phones or just go back to one.

Does ANYONE have two phones? How does it work for you?

 

[Aniseedvan]

I've got two mobiles, my company provide me with a blackberry, no other devices are allowed to connect to their network.

Unlike quite a few colleagues I turn my blackberry off when I finish for the day, and for short personal errands in my lunch hour it stays at work.

Customers need a direct mobile number to contact me on, but I don't work in anything as time critical (nor am I important enough) that requires me to answer calls in the evening!

It's annoying having two devices but being able to separate the two lives, esp as I work from home a lot is very important.

 

[gentlefury]

You can even set up times it can't ring.

 

[rockyroad55]

Have you considered getting a Google Voice number? You can route those calls to your cell phone and "shut off" the number during certain hours of the day. Then you only need one physical device.

Pinky Pie! Sorry had to say it.

Google Voice is the way to go.

 

[stuaz]

I have a iPhone 5 (Was a four) for personal use and an iPhone 3GS for work.

I keep them seperate for three main reasons:

1. My work phone when I get home goes straight on charge for the evening and generally only glance at it. I found that if i start answering it in the evening/weekends then people get the wrong idea and *assume* you will answer it even though you are effectively working for free. I work for a large international company as an IT Manager for the UK/Ireland region but do get called in the evenings by the American divison, but most people now know if they email me they will more likely get a response ;-)
2. If I was to leave my place of work I would be without a phone and my friends/family would have an old number. Pain to change.
3. I only have 500MB of data on my work phone and that would soon run out if I used it for personal use as well (Soon to be 1GB though!)

Just easier to keep the two lives seperate imo.

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

I have a iPhone 5 (Was a four) for personal use and an iPhone 3GS for work.

I keep them seperate for three main reasons:

1. My work phone when I get home goes straight on charge for the evening and generally only glance at it. I found that it start answering it in the evening/weekends then people get the wrong idea and *assume* you will answer it even though you are effectively working for free. I work for a large international company as an IT Manager for the UK/Ireland region but do get called in the evenings by the American divison, but most people now know if they email me they will more likely get a response ;-)
2. If I was to leave my place of work I would be without a phone and my friends/family would have an old number.
3. I only have 500MB of data on my work phone and that would soon run out if I used it for personal use as well (Soon to be 1GB though!)

Just easier to keep the two lives seperate imo.

Thank you so much for this! Needed the affirmation. I just need to shut the other phone off or leave it on the charger & not look - that's the whole point, isn't it?

 

[alent1234]

i would never get a google voice number for work only because google hasn't done much with it and it may be killed any time like a lot of their services.

get a mobile share plan and keep the second iphone

 

[richmds]

You might just need to learn to ignore certain calls or messages after a certain time.

Even if you have a second phone what happens if you accidently pick up phone one and see client messages or calls?

 

[KandyKane]

My bf has his own business and has 2 phones (both iP5).
He uses it to screen calls, and people call at really stupid times.
Sometimes he does answer the work phone or reply out of hours, but most of the time he doesn't. Gives him the opportunity to switch off.

 

[L-Tuned]

I'd definitely get two phones if I am in your situation. I am a sales person and my company do provide me a iPhone 4 as a company phone. but sometime I don't feel like carrying 2 iPhones with me and this is what I do, I use GV to forward all missed calls from my work iPhone to my personal iPhone and it will show the GV #, not the actual caller ID #. So that I know the call is from my work not someone that I know personally. IMHO, I wouldn't use my personal phone for any work related. Although carrying two iPhones (4 and 5) are pretty annoying sometimes.. specially 4 is like a brick now lol

 

[tymaster50]

Wow I can't get a job like this I hate talking on the phone and having 2 lines for only 1 person sounds pretty expensive.

 

[Black Magic]

Hey guys,

I keep going back and forth on this. I was wondering if I could get the thoughts of the professionals on this forum.

I am a real estate agent, and the past two years, I've been blessed to be a busy one. I used to have one cell phone that combined my work and personal. I do not have an office phone (never in the office - my MBP is my mobile office), and my business card only has my cell phone.

I struggle with time management. After 7 or 8pm on a Tuesday night, I have a challenge shutting the "business" down and entering my personal life. For instance, at 9pm, if I want to pick up the phone and call my friend or girlfriend, I'll see a missed call or email from a client or agent I'm working with. I'll want to know what that person said or wants, and then that leads to me either calling them back or emailing them back. Then I check my email and see I have new ones...I continue working.

I got a real estate coach a few months ago who told me that I need to get a second cell phone and "shut down" the business at 7 or 8pm. Just leave the phone at home or turn it off, and don't check it again until the morning.

I did it - my second line is the iPhone 5, my first (business) is the 4S. I gave out the number to my girlfriend and 4 close friends.

I was wondering: how many professionals keep the business and personal cells separate? I feel like most of my friends and colleagues only have one phone and think I'm crazy for getting the second line (it certainly is tougher to keep going back and forth between the two rather than checking the one inbox of voicemails).

Thanks so much!

I'd have to throw in my vote for Google Voice. Use Google Voice for work and your regular number for personal. Use the google Voice app for calling and texting. Enable do not disturb for after hours. The key is setting up Google Voice properly so that it is easy to identify a work call coming in. I basically set it up so that any incoming or outgoing calls from google voice show the google voice number. I also have it set up as a contact on my phone so when someone calls my google voice, it has a unique ring and I know its a work call.

Or......

Stick with what you got and become more disciplined.

 

[Fattytail]

I used to have two phones back in the day. A company issued Blackberry and an iPhone. Thank god I've been able to do away with the Blackberry. Now I just use my iPhone for everything.

 

[OCS12]

I work in a very different field, but also have to deal with your issue. I turned down letting the company pay my phone bill for my personal phone (my iPhone 5), and instead let them give me the el cheapo company phone. If I know there's something overly important going on at work, I have my work phone forwarded to my iPhone while I'm away from work. If it's just the usual day to day stuff, I don't even look at my work phone until I'm in the car commuting to work.

Sanity is a wonderful thing, and letting work rule your life is a good way to ruin that. I work to live, not live to work. (even though I love my job)

 

[qckslvrsiete]

I've always kept work and personal mobile lines separate, and through the years have gotten very good at ignoring the work line outside of business hours. When I go on vacation, I leave the work phone at home. When I get home from work, I leave the work phone in my bag on silent (I charge it when I get to work). I'm in my sixth year of doing this, and I found that in that time I've grown much better than many of my colleagues at separating work from my personal life who still choose to keep one phone.

Another perk is if you can set it up right, you can also get yearly upgrades. Both phones are on two year contracts that alternate upgrade eligible years. That's a new phone every year assuming I don't want to ride out any of my service contracts.

 

[takeshi74]

I was wondering: how many professionals keep the business and personal cells separate?

How many do or don't doesn't matter. Whichever solution works for you is what matters. I use two to keep things separate mainly because I don't want the company's security policies and such on my personal device. The work phone is forwarded to the personal phone and I manually manage after hours work calls. The work phone doesn't stay with me after hours.

tl;dr version: my reason(s) for two devices seems irrelevant to you.

I noticed that some of the phone calls were still going to my cell phone voicemail, despite my tinkering with the settings. It was only until I unchecked everything except Google Talk that I was able to send ALL voicemails to that number.

You didn't set it up properly then. You also need to set conditional call forwarding to forward calls to GV instead of your carrier's VM center. It's not a GV setting. It's a carrier setting. That said, GV will give you instructions on how to set it up.

The Google Voice app on iPhone is terrible. It's like they really, really want you to go Android!

The app seems the same to me. It's just better integrated on Android. If you jailbreak you can use the GV Phone and GV SMS extensions to Android-like integration with Messages and the Dialer.

I have a google voice number, and use that for business contacts. One phone, 2 numbers.

You could also use GV for everything and manage contacts via groups. I use GV for everything but don't really bother with worrying over work versus personal calls but I don't get that much after hours.

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

How many do or don't doesn't matter. Whichever solution works for you is what matters.

Thanks for calling me out on my post. ;-) What I'm really asking is, how many people have separate lines and how has it been working out for you?

I am really appreciating the feedback. Thank you to all of you would've posted. I think I will keep my two lines and just learn the discipline of shutting the other one off or leaving it at the office before I go home. It's the only way to truly not be interrupted (and without using GVoice).

 

[bogatyr]

I used to have two phones but it became a hassle to manage two physical phones. Now I just have one - a line I own. I use it for work as an IT Professional and for personal use.

Any calls after hours are screened unless I see it is from someone I wish to speak with (i.e. friend's name on caller ID). If they leave a voicemail I'll check it and depending on priority I might call back. Same with emails. 99% of it can wait until the next business day but every now and then there is a legit emergency.

 

[mattopotamus]

I've always kept work and personal mobile lines separate, and through the years have gotten very good at ignoring the work line outside of business hours. When I go on vacation, I leave the work phone at home. When I get home from work, I leave the work phone in my bag on silent (I charge it when I get to work). I'm in my sixth year of doing this, and I found that in that time I've grown much better than many of my colleagues at separating work from my personal life who still choose to keep one phone.

Another perk is if you can set it up right, you can also get yearly upgrades. Both phones are on two year contracts that alternate upgrade eligible years. That's a new phone every year assuming I don't want to ride out any of my service contracts.

Everything you said in that first paragraph is so true. Plus, once you stick to your guns about separating the two people will learn

 

[Farrellcollie]

I am an attorney and I keep a cell phone for work and one for personal. It also gives me the opportunity to have both an iphone and an android phone. I have unlimited phone calls on the work line where I use it a lot more phone call time than on my personal line. It also makes it a lot clearer for me on taxes to have the separate line.

 

[qckslvrsiete]

I use two to keep things separate mainly because I don't want the company's security policies and such on my personal device.

This is also a big consideration depending on what your company's IT policies are. The security policy and certificates installed by the company on my work phone allows them access to everything on the phone. On top of that, they shut down all access to work productivity apps (e.g. mail accounts, calendars) if the phone is jailbroken.

 

[Stu2510]

Can't you use the do not disturb and set the 5 people you want to speak to as VIP's?