This is topic Can Multiple Cell Phones Share The Same Number in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 08-24-2009, 03:30 PM:
 
Does anyone know of a way to make more than one cell phone respond to the same phone number, like land line extension phones, using Verizon Wireless?

Or in other words, is there any easy way to modify the EIN number so 2 phones have the same id number?
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-24-2009, 04:37 PM:
 
It's definitely possible, but not legally (from what I remember of the cell business when I was in it).
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 08-24-2009, 07:15 PM:
 
I believe it's called "cloning" if I'm not mistaken.

(At least that's the answer I was given when I asked that question of a Verizon guy.)
 

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Posted by Dwayne Benallie (Member # 4443) on 08-24-2009, 09:21 PM:
 
Have you tried gettin' a google voice account, it's invite only for now. But try putting your name in the hat and you might get one, unless you know anyone with a ".mil" email account that it is an instant invite. I have one and it allows one number that i chose to ring all my phone numbers at once. There more features included like group calls and visal voicemail where an email of the voice mail is sent to you, with a written script of what the person said. www.google.com/voice is the site for the invites, hope this kinda helps.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-24-2009, 09:49 PM:
 
I used to be a cell phone salesman for GTE MobileNet, before they turned into Verizon.

At that time you COULD have two phones programed to work on one phone number but it didn't work very well. Only one phone could be turned on at a a time. If you turned on the second phone while the first one was still on they could interfere with each other. If you tried to place a call with one phone while the other was on-air with its own call it was possible for the second phone to "steal" the call away from the first.

It created some very confusing situations for people who didn't understand the rules. Eventually, we quit selling it.
 

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Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 08-27-2009, 10:48 AM:
 
I've had a desire for the opposite: two phone numbers and one phone. With distinctive ring for each number.

I was told by Verizon and U.S. Cellular it was not possible. Seems odd that it's not...
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-27-2009, 12:17 PM:
 
Scott, 90% of Verizon customer service people are half-wits and couldn't tell you how to flip open a flip phone if their lives depended on it. No matter what you ask, if they don't know the answer (or even marginally understand what you are talking about, they will just tell you it can't be done -- it's like talking to zombies). So just because one or two or ten of these hacks tell you it can't be done, means nothing. Even talking to the supervisors is no guarantee either -- they are barely any better than their underlings.

By now you probably have heard the incredibly frustrating call to Verizon trying to get 4 supervisors in a row to see the difference between .002 cents and .002 dollars. Verizon Idiots - Click on Original Full Length Recording These people must be brain dead. The guy who is trying to explain this has the patience of Job. I would have gone ballistic long before this guy.

Someone else posted this on that site -- how about this for frustrating"

I called them to ask them why I was dropping calls when my cell phone was showing me 5 points of signal. The conversation was like this: "Are you indoors sir?" "No, I am not, in fact, I am in the middle of a playground, no trees, no buildings nearby, 5 points of signal, and I am dropping calls... " -"Ok, this is what happens: when you try to walk through a door that is closed, you can't! it is the same for the airwaves... walls are closed doors to them" -"Yes, I know that. I am doing a PhD in EE so I probably do know that better than you. My point is that, right now, I have 5 points of signal, I am in the middle of a field, and I am dropping calls. My phone is 2 weeks old, so I doubt it is the phone, hence I want to know if you are making changes in my area" -"Sir, if you are indoors, we cannot guarantee anything" -"But when I drop the calls I am outdoors, hence your argument doesn't hold" -"Sir, I am sorry for the inconvenience. If you are outdoors you should have no problems" -"I know, that is why I am asking you why I am having them outdoors" -"I suggest you to go to a Verizon Wireless store, they can explain you better why you drop calls outdoors".

And so, I went to a Verizon Wireless store... the very same one where I bought my cell phone, and they tell me: "hmm.. This could be your phone. I am going to be honest with you, these phones are bad... buy a new one, a better one!" -"But I bought this one 2 weeks ago!!!" -"yes, but you can change it for something better!" -"So, are you telling me that you are selling phones that you know are going to fail, so people have to expend more money?" -"No... I am telling you that this model of phone is not really good, so you should change it to solve your problem" -"But you sold this phone 2 weeks ago. Furthermore, you are still selling it..." -"so, do you want to see a new model?" -"No, I want an answer... are you selling phones that you know are defective, and then suggesting people to buy another model? That is what you are telling me" -"But the other model is better, so you win" (by this time, since I was speaking louder and moving through the store, I had enough people looking already at the argument) -"So, you sold me this phone two weeks ago, now you are telling me this model is not good, you are not taking any responsibility whatsoever, and are asking me to change it, right?" -"sir, with a better phone you will not have that problem" -"Please, answer my question... did you tell me that this model is defective yes or no?" -"sir, with a different mod..." -"Yes or no?" -"It is not a good model, ok" -"And you are still selling it, right? is that the model you have there in display, and the one that this other person is choosing, right? (I pointed to one of the guys that was looking at the argument) is the same model?" -"Sir, with a diff..." -"Is it the same model, yes or no?" -"yes, but if you buy a diff..." -"Ok, so you are selling models that you know are defective, so you can sell another phone two weeks later..." (the guy that was going to buy that phone walked away from the store) -"do you want to discuss this privately in my office?" -"No, I have had enough from you". I left, I send a letter complaining, never got an answer. I cancelled my contract, had to pay the penalty fees, but much better than dealing with those incompetents.

 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-27-2009, 01:57 PM:
 

quote: Scott Jentsch

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I've had a desire for the opposite: two phone numbers and one phone. With distinctive ring for each number.

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quote: Randy Stankey

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because too many people couldn't figure it out.

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Randy, too many Verizon people or too many customers? I'll put my money on the Verizon dunces.

I've called to ask if there was a way to temporarily suspend my cell service and if Verizon would put a message to that effect on my number. It took 4 supervisors to figure out how it could be done after 3 of them said it couldn't.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-28-2009, 02:32 PM:
 
Doesn't Vonage offer this?
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-28-2009, 08:40 PM:
 
Kind of, but it's not a function that you can control via the account management on the internet or by any functional options that can be accessed from the cellphone. You literally have to call customer service and find someone who is only partially brain dead and tell them you want to turn off incoming. To get it back on, you need to go thru that process again. You can't do what I wanted was to turn it off say, in the morning and then turn it back off at night as many times as I want. It is much MUCH more complicated because you have to deal with, well....zombies.

Why they don't make this a switchable function accessible from your control panel is beyond me.
 

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Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-29-2009, 12:29 PM:
 
If you have the right software you can clone a phone. The key is you have to have access to the encryption key. The EIN number (at least on GSM and I assume CDMA also) is only used very rarely and then the system assigns the phone a temporary EIN (which isn't really temporary, it's pretty long term). To generate that the phone's encryption key must match what is in the system database.

Once you do it, you will have issues if the two phones are on simultaneously in different areas. When a call comes in the system only sends the incoming call signal on a select group of cell towers in the viscinity of the last tower the phone talked to. If the phones are in two different tower groups, only one has a chance of ringing. If they are in the same tower group, the call will likely fail when both phones are trying to send the acknowlege signal and set up the call channels.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-29-2009, 01:12 PM:
 
Mobilnet would regularly roll out features and rate plans that promised all these wonderful things only to retract them in a few months or weeks.

Sometimes it was because the plan didn't make money. Other times it was because the plan didn't fly well. When we asked why, they simply made the excuse, "It was too confusing."

 

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