Today, a mobile phone number is tied to a specific phone device.  If you lose or break your phone, you are out of luck.  When you want to commission a shiny new phone, you must decommission the other.

Why must this be so?  Why can’t we have multiple active phones tied to the same number?  Cellphones are so cheap.

Why not allow multiple phones to be tied to one mobile number?  Then, an incoming call would call all of them.  It would allow all sorts of wonderful scenarios.  You could have:

• You could keep your powerful PDA/communicator/GPS smartphone like the iPhone as your main device
• You could have another tiny mini-cellphone/MP3 player to take running — something like an “iPhone Shuffle”.  (Today I must leave my phone behind because it is too bulky to run with.  But I’d rather have one with me for contingencies.)
• You could have a backup cellphone to grab when you are rushing out the door, when you misplace or lose one
• You could have a real, standalone hands-free cellphone integrated into your car.   No messing with clumsy cables or bluetooth to dock it to your one and only phone.
• You could have a cellphone built into your laptop computer. Your computer would “ring” when someone called.   You could answer it there on speaker phone.  You could process voicemail visually from your desktop.  The cellphone service would provide your laptop with data, voice and video call connectivity when you are away from a friendly WiFi signal.
• You could replace your home service and home wireless phone with 2 or 3 cellphones cradled around the house.  You could walk into the yard or even down the block without losing service.

Readers: We in the USA are mobile phone laggards. Does this capability exist anywhere in the world yet?

NEW request [1/5/09]  If you could have multiple phone lines directed to the same cellphone, then you could have your home phone ring both spouses, and you could have your office number also go to you main cellphone.  Of course you’d want to be able to configure any number to drop right into voicemail.  You don’t want work calls to interfere with your weekend or vacation life.  (This capability is close to what GrandCentral does, but I’m imagining the experience to be more unified, with less players and complexity.)

[Updated 1/5/09 to clarify and add the multiple-numbers per cellphone.]

Posted by Philip Haine on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 5:14 pm.
See similar articles in: Commentary, Product Vision & Strategy, Quick Ideas, Visions to Steal.

8 Responses to “One phone number, many phones”

1. davidc wrote on January 27th, 2008 at 10:55 pm :

   GrandCentral allows you to do this today. You can enter multiple phone numbers, and incoming calls to your GrandCentral phone number can ring all of your phones.

   http://www.grandcentral.com/

   It’s still by invitation only, though.

2. Philip Haine wrote on January 28th, 2008 at 7:58 am :

   Thanks, David,

   GrandCentral does allow the same scenarios, but without the simplicity or economy. You still need to buy, administer and think about multiple phone service plans.

   The model I am wishing for is like webmail, where you have one account and can use any device to access it.

3. barry wrote on January 4th, 2009 at 11:11 pm :

   I am dropping my land line and would like to have
   “extension” capabilities over multiple mobile phones in the house. Can it be done?

4. Philip Haine wrote on January 5th, 2009 at 11:10 am :

   Barry, I think what you are asking for is the point of my original post. I don’t know of a way it can be done.

   It’s been a year since my original post. Does anyone know of any mobile service provider around the world that allows for multiple phones tied to the same phone number?

5. Celesta wrote on September 23rd, 2009 at 1:55 pm :

   Hi Philip,
   You might want to check out Google Voice.
   I am doing a research at this topic (centralized telephony), will get back to this page if I find anything worth a mention.

6. Philip Haine wrote on September 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm :

   Thanks for the pointer, Celesta. Google Voice acquired Grand Central and their service solves the same problems. These are not the same problems that I am talking about in the article.

   Google Voice is about one new number branching to many other phone numbers. It’s nice, and useful, but complex and expensive. You need a service plan for each of those devices.

   What I’m talking about is several mobile devices all tied to a single mobile phone number: your mobile, your car, your laptop, and your backup phone, your skiing phone and your fashion phone.

7. ZIA wrote on November 17th, 2009 at 5:10 pm :

   Dear Philip Haine,
   with kind regards,i have needed your help about a phone line business,
   Q:- spouse i have used one phone card for one time talk,,,but you told me how can i used and make a multipale lines through just one phone card line?

   waiting your answer and solution

   zia
   from italy

8. Philip Haine wrote on November 17th, 2009 at 11:23 pm :

   Dear Zia,

   Thank you for writing.

   I do not have the answer to your question about phone cards.

   I would suggest you try asking Yahoo Answers, and Aardvark.

   Best regards,
   Philip

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