How To Get A Second Phone Number

In the modern world, phones have been the glue that holds us all together. Avenues of communication were geographically limited before telephones existed, and phone technology has not stopped growing since.

Some may argue that smartphones make life easier, but they also bring their own complications. Using your phone to manage your personal life, career, and side gig can be overwhelming, to say the least.

Fortunately, there are a few ways to use a phone and still keep your life organized. One of the best ways to do this is to get a second phone number. Getting a second phone number helps you split your contacts and calls to know which ones are important.

Why Should You Get A Second Phone Number?

Here are a few reasons you might need a second phone number:

To Run A Business

Perhaps one of the most significant reasons a person might have for getting a second phone number is running a business.

If you decide to start a business, you'll need a phone to carry out multiple tasks. For example, you'll need to place field sales calls, take media inquiries, and talk to potential employees applying to work with you.

The last thing you want to do, in that scenario, is to have to use your private number. If you do, you'll have people calling you at odd hours - wanting to talk business. So instead, get a second phone number so that you can set appointments, automate greetings, and call your customers.

You can set your working hours and turn the phone off when you close for the day if you have a business phone. Your business messages go to voicemail, and you can check them the next day.

To Deal With Unknown Callers

1 in 3 Americans received a scam calls in 2020. Receiving a call from an unknown number with an unfamiliar area code can be worrisome. You never know if the caller is someone you know or someone trying to catch you in a phone scam.

If you get a phone call from an unknown number, you don't have to accept that they are who they claim to be when you haven't been expecting a phone call. Instead, you can confirm callers' identities by calling with your second phone number.

If the unknown caller turns out to be someone you know, then you can continue the conversation. However, suppose the caller is a phone scammer. In that case, you can block the number and report the scam to the Federal Communications Commission or law enforcement.

To Protect Your Privacy

Some people are very private and don't like to give out their phone numbers. So if you're that kind of person, having a second phone number allows you to be accessible on your terms.

When you have two phone numbers, you can make one public and the other private. You can have one for the general public - so you can stay abreast of what's happening around you. You can also have one phone number that only close friends and family have access to.

To Avoid Getting Burned In Data Breaches

Whenever you give a phone app or online company your phone number, you immediately agree to their terms and conditions. This may not be a problem, as most companies try to use your data ethically. Others don't just care and collect information tied to your phone number unethically.

Hackers can attack an online company, thus compromising all the company's information on its customers. Such a situation could open you up to problems like incessant spam phone calls.

To Meet Online Dates

Dating a person you meet online is simultaneously exciting and scary. Whereas you would meet a person randomly and hope to match perfectly, online data allows you to select criteria that meet you and your match's needs.

However, exchanging phone numbers can be scary. You never know if the caller will be the love of your life or a stalker.

Having a second phone number helps mitigate this problem. You can give your proposed match a secondary number and decide whether you want to provide them with your primary number (after getting to know them better, of course). Having this option helps you protect yourself and stay safe.

To Avoid Marketing Callers

Online vendors are always looking to improve their marketing reach. Thus, it's common for them to ask customers to give their phone numbers in exchange for discounts or other deals. And while you (like most people) like a good discount, you do not want to receive marketing calls or text messages at random hours of the day.

If you have a second phone number, you can confidently exchange it for your discount, knowing that you'll never have to worry about marketing calls. You can simply choose to ignore calls to that number.

Get Another Phone

When most people think about getting a second phone number, they first think about getting another phone. Getting a second phone can be a good idea, as it has many advantages.

Firstly, getting two phones is an excellent way to separate your personal and business lives. As mentioned earlier, using your phone for business can be uncomfortable and unprofessional. You don't have to worry about business interrupting your personal life after working hours if you have a second phone. A second phone also makes tracking phone-related business expenses reasonably simple, which is very helpful when you need to list tax deductions.

Having a second phone is also beneficial if you have to travel for business, as the cost of roaming while traveling can be costly. Switching your SIM card for a local one is possible, but that makes you unreachable to friends, family, or colleagues with your original number. Of course, you can call locally, but you would have no way of knowing who tries to reach you back home.

Having a second phone has many other upsides. For one, it'd be great to have a spare if your primary phone breaks or runs out of battery. Also, if you get a SIM from a different carrier, you'll have more mobile coverage when you move around.

Finally, if you use your phone as a media tool, having two means additional storage capacity.

Having two phones does, of course, come with downsides. The first downside is the cost. Unless your business or job pays for your second phone, you have to buy it yourself. You will have to pay a second phone bill, including talk time, SMS, cellular data, or another mobile service.

There are other expenses to think about. Both phones, ideally, must have their accessories. Each phone will need a case, a charger, adapters, and earphones. You'll also need to get an insurance plan and warranty for each device. If you decide not to insure both phones, you risk footing the entire repair or replacement bill if you damage or lose either.

Get A Dual SIM Phone

If dealing with two devices doesn't sound like your thing, you have the option of getting a dual SIM phone. Dual-SIM phones are devices that have two SIM slots. Using a dual SIM phone comes with advantages and disadvantages.

The first advantage a dual SIM phone offers is convenience. Instead of carrying two phones about, you can put two SIMs in one phone - like killing two birds with one stone. Secondly, you can use different mobile carriers. Having access to two carriers with varying call charges means you can optimize your calling according to favorable rates. This could have a significant cumulative effect on your phone bill. Different carriers also have varying coverage, so you can get broader coverage by combining them.

On the flip side, dual SIM phones have their disadvantages. Compared to single SIM devices, dual SIM phones have a higher battery consumption rate. The higher consumption happens because the phone has to run two active SIM cards simultaneously. For instance, while you receive a call on one line, the other can still send notifications about incoming calls and messages.

This added activity drains a phone's battery power significantly faster, meaning you'll need to charge your phone more often.

Another problem is a loss of additional storage capacity. Most dual SIM phone makers convert what would have been the micro SD slot into a second SIM slot. This means that if you use two SIMs on your dual SIM phone (as you're supposed to), you can't use a micro-SD card. That means you have to buy a device with more built-in storage space, as you'll never have the option to expand.

Finally, using a dual SIM phone limits how much data you can access from each SIM card. Most dual SIM devices use a 4G + 2G Standby implementation. Thus, while you can make and receive calls on both SIM cards, you can only get a reliable data connection from one.

Get A Second Phone Number App

A final option for those who neither want a second phone nor a dual SIM phone is downloading a phone number app.

Phone number apps use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or IP Telephony to assign phone numbers to users and let them make phone calls. With VoIP technology, users can make phone calls over the internet instead of using telephone lines.

Phone number apps can use VoIP technology to assign multiple phone numbers to a single user without the additional infrastructural costs that traditional telephones require. This means that you can get a second number for your business and an entire communications system - for a nominal price.

One easily accessible phone number app that you can use with your existing phone is Google Voice. This app is simple to use and is available for free for personal use. All you need to do is sign in with your Google account, pick a phone number and attach it to your account. Once you do that, Google will forward all calls and texts from the number you picked directly to your primary phone number. Google Voice is available on iOS and Android and lets you make calls with your second phone number from your primary phone. It also offers extra features like cheap international calls, call screening, call recording, and the ability to choose what time of day you receive calls.

Conclusion

Having a second phone number can be a good idea. You can use a second phone number to run a business, deal with unknown callers, protect your privacy, and even meet with online dates.

If you decide to get a second phone, you have several options. You can get a second phone, which gives you twice the benefits of one phone and twice the cost. You could also get a dual SIM phone, which lets you use two SIM cards at the expense of your micro SD slot. You could even decide to get a phone number app and just use VoIP technology to get a second phone number.