Gap in mobile phone market

robt_2

toastiest wrote: »

I'd love to see phone number 'aliases' like you can have for email addresses.
i.e. mail can be sent to multiple email addresses but all redirected into the same account.

It would be brilliant if we could have free/very cheap and easy to set up - essentially call forwarding - on multiple numbers without the sim card having to be inside a phone.

For what purpose?

toastiest

Say you have recently changed numbers but do not have 2 mobiles phones, so you could have this option temporarily or in the long term.

If the phone is able to detect which number the caller called to, you could have work and personal calls to the same mobile if you wish. Same if you were trying to hold down multiple personalities!

Many practical uses! Same reasons as why anyone may want an email alias really...

robt_2

toastiest wrote: »

Say you have recently changed numbers but do not have 2 mobiles phones, so you could have this option temporarily or in the long term.

If the phone is able to detect which number the caller called to, you could have work and personal calls to the same mobile if you wish. Same if you were trying to hold down multiple personalities!

Many practical uses! Same reasons as why anyone may want an email alias really...

First one is a good idea.

Not really sold on the second to be honest. On the vast majority of phones you can set different ringing tones to groups or to individuals so you could easily separate work and personal.

Of course it would be different outgoing numbers that would make all the difference.

JAYk_2

movilogo wrote: »

There is good [as per my guess] market for following mobile products yet no one seem to offer them [at a major scale]

• Phone with dual SIMs [some cheap Chinese manufactures offer them - not by mainstream brands] - so that you carry personal & office SIM in one phone
• Shared minutes among multiple numbers [as discussed already]
• Very cheap unit rate [e.g. 0.5p/min] instead of bundled minutes

The reason is these plans are beneficial for consumers but not network operators.

How about the ability to have more than one number on one mobile phone; without having to buy a new handset. But as you said possibly beneficial for the customer not the network unless they charge a monthly fee for this...?

movilogo

The mobile operators severely oppose dual SIM idea.

They want people to buy more phones and more plans.

Mobile business in UK still very profitable because the cost of call is several times less what they charge.

Few months back a report said it costs less to download data from NASA space ships to earth than what mobile networks charge us

For same reasons, networks often sell locked handsets only (you can unlock some handsets quite easily though it often costs good amount of money).

The shared minutes plan, if introduced, will be very useful. So instead of two plans between husband-wife, they can keep just one phone plan (easy to maintain and cheaper). But networks won't earn much from it - so they don't offer it.

Giffgaff looks quite tempting though. Since they use O2 network, should be good.