Smartphone Questions

[mommylamb]

Alright, I'll admit it, I know nothing about smartphones. Currently, I have a blackberry for work. I use it as my personal phone too because work is paying for it anyway, and they would pay the same amount if I used it for personal use or not. They know that I use it for personal use (obviously) and no one cares. So basically, I've been avoiding cell phone costs for about 5 years now.

Anyway, my office (all of 6 people) travels a lot less than we used to, and I'm the only one who ever really uses the phone portion of the blackberry, and nearly all my phone calls are personal calls, not work related. We all do use the data portion for work. I constantly return work emails in the evening/weekends, and check it regularly to stay on top of things.

So my boss wants to cut back on our smartphone costs, so she wants to just subsidize our personal smart phones (which I currently do not own), which probably means she would reimburse everyone for the data plan.

This means I need to buy a smartphone. Sucks on the one hand, but it's an excellent excuse to get an iphone . I have a couple of questions:

• Do we really all need to get unlimited data plans, or is that overkill? I have no idea how much 2gb (or whatever it is) translates into actual data usage. I do email frequently on my blackberry, and I sometimes surf the web (mainly to check FB or read BBB), but I don't do much of it because I hate the blackberry for web stuff. It might be different with an iphone.
• Ideally, we want to keep our current work phone numbers, and also have personal numbers on our phones. In other words, my phone would have two numbers that go to it. One would be my personal line, and the other my work line, and the ring tones would be different. I also don't want to have to reprint my business cards, so I want to switch my blackberry number over to the iphone. Anyone know how to do that??
• Is it worth it to try and wait until the iphone 5 comes out? I'm not sure if I have that much time, but it bugs me to have to get something now if something better is coming out really soon.

[swissair81]

I don't have an unlimited data plan. I text, email, and surf on my phone. If you will be doing it all the time, you might want to look into it.

My current phone number has been through 3 carriers. You just ask them to use your current phone number when you get it. As for 2 phone numbers, I don't know as much about it, but you may have to get a cheapie (or free) phone from your provider, and forward all the calls to your iPhone.

I wouldn't wait until the iPhone 5 comes out. That probably won't be for another year (although you never know).

[BabyMine]

I can't answer for the iPhone because I have Android but if you go anywhere always search for a wifi connection. That will lower your data usage. If you are just searching the web and not downloading tons of movies and games you should be fine with 2g.

[ha98ed14]

Originally Posted by mommylamb

[*]Ideally, we want to keep our current work phone numbers, and also have personal numbers on our phones. In other words, my phone would have two numbers that go to it. One would be my personal line, and the other my work line, and the ring tones would be different. I also don't want to have to reprint my business cards, so I want to switch my blackberry number over to the iphone. Anyone know how to do that??[/LIST]

I'll be interested to see if anyone knows if this is even possible! I don't think you can have two (2) "official" numbers ring the same device. The way I have gotten around it is to have my cell phone with it's regular number for my personal number, and then I set up a Google Voice number than rings my cell phone for a "business" number since I WAH. Both ring the same phone, but as far as my cell phone company is concerned, only their number is the real phone number.

[hellokitty]

My DH's opinion about the iphone is that it would be better to wait until the iphone 5 came out. I got the iphone 4, but then, I'm not a tech geek and don't have to have the latest and greatest. If work is going to cover a good portion of your smartphone, don't cheap out. My DH has the samsung galaxy S2, and I kind of wish I would have gotten that over my iphone 4, but oh well. I guess I will eventually get used to my iphone, I'm not as wowed by it as most ppl are.

[mommylamb]

Work will probably cover just the data plan, so I'm hoping they decide to just give us unlimited so that I won't have to worry about possibly limiting my personal use.

I'll have to look into google voice. I've never used that.

ETA: As for other options out there (Samsung, droids, etc), I'm a mac girl, so I think it's probably easiest for me to just stick with apple stuff. I have a macbook at home for my personal computer and an imac at work. DS has an itouch, so I'm familiar with the technology there.

[larig]

unlimited is only possible through sprint, nowhere else. AT&T has best plan cost-wise for low data users (based on comparison chart I found--I can repost later, as am drive-by posting now).

google voice is a good option for 2 numbers. I have a google voice number that rings my iPhone too. the business number will become your primary cell phone number, whoever you go through should be able to transfer that number for you, but since it's not in your name (but a business) to start with I don't know how that works.

I'm pleased as punch with my 4s--its videos are unbelievable and Siri is a great helper). iphone 5, I'd say is a year away (I read macrumors & apple insider multiple times a day--it is my home away from here). I'd get the 4s--a year is a long time to wait. DH and I alternate years on our contract, so that we always have one that is the latest greatest and one is the older (then pass that down to DS after that. He's using the iPhone DH had before he was born).

[AnnieW625]

I have 2 gigs of data through Verizon, and in the 3 weeks I have had this phone and have downloaded 4 apps., I have used less than 500 mgb of data. The largest item that was a data hog was logging on to Amex.com to make sure a payment was made.

I have no clue about having two numbers on one phone.

I am very happy with my 4s. The worst part do far is agonizing over what cover to get, and phone function wise I wish I could set it so the type for web pages and this forum is larger.

[Penny's Pappa]

Originally Posted by mommylamb

Do we really all need to get unlimited data plans, or is that overkill? I have no idea how much 2gb (or whatever it is) translates into actual data usage. I do email frequently on my blackberry, and I sometimes surf the web (mainly to check FB or read BBB), but I don't do much of it because I hate the blackberry for web stuff. It might be different with an iphone.

The iPhone's web browser is pretty good, so you may find yourself browsing the Web more often with it than you did your BlackBerry. As for how much data you need, well that depends. E-mail and general web browsing don't involve much data, so 2GB would probably be fine. Streaming Netflix and the like, OTOH, involves massive amounts of data and could chew into a 2GB allotment pretty fast.

Now that assumes you're using the cellular networks to transmit data and not a Wi-Fi connection. Wi-Fi does NOT count towards data usage, so if you have Wi-Fi networks available to you most of the time, you may never come close to that 2GB limit. Personally, I browse the Web A LOT and my monthly data usage would certainly top 2GB if I wasn't on a Wi-Fi network 90+% of the time. As it is, I typically use less than 1GB a month. You really have to evaluate your own browsing habits and what kinds of resources, in terms of Wi-Fi, you have available to you.

Ideally, we want to keep our current work phone numbers, and also have personal numbers on our phones. In other words, my phone would have two numbers that go to it. One would be my personal line, and the other my work line, and the ring tones would be different. I also don't want to have to reprint my business cards, so I want to switch my blackberry number over to the iphone. Anyone know how to do that??

This is possible with 2 cell numbers from the same provider (this is called "Dual NAM" or "Multi-NAM". It's intended for people who may spend significant amounts of time in several different areas so their phone can stay "local"), but I assume your business phone is a landline so I don't think that will work.

I agree with PPs that Google Voice may be the best option here.

Is it worth it to try and wait until the iphone 5 comes out? I'm not sure if I have that much time, but it bugs me to have to get something now if something better is coming out really soon.

Since the 4s came out recently, I can't imagine the iPhone 5 coming out any time soon. If you're really Jonesin' for an iPhone, I'd go ahead and bite on the 4s.