Hobby Phone?

[dodger]

I've seen the advice; have a hobby phone, have a hobby computer. OK .. I can kind of understand the hobby computer ... but the hobby phone seems more dangerous. My concern is what Hardracer experienced. Do you have a good rationale for having the additional phone? If yes, great. Having a phone which a SO could stumble over seems fraught with peril without good reasons.

For one thing, having a hobby phone and computer seems to lend itself to holding on to some information longer that may be wise. As said by a character in the promo for the new sitcom: I need a wife with a trust fund who doesn't know how to check my Inet browser history.

I saw some good suggestion, like putting a provider's number under vendor services ... that's good. Give a provider a name that an SO would not be inclined to contact. Delete info as soon as practical. In Hardracer's cased, it was a text msg he may not have even seen, yet.

I could probably explain a "spare" PC or notebook more easily than a phone. Of course, I suppose I could keep some old cell phones in a drawer as spares after the contract expires. Just keep the hobby phone in the same drawer. Seems like a lot of work.

What are your thoughts?

[bslither10]

Google Voice. No more thought necessary.

[bigtimewaster]

Google voice is not fool proof since it is merely a call forwarding system. It must be tied to another number. If you use google voice from your cell, you cell phone records will reflect a lot calls to google voice number which may be a red flag itself. Better to have a hobby phone and a google voice account.

[Sawyer]

Sure you'll see lots of calls to google voice but here is a plus. If you have a cellphone plan that charges you minutes, you can say but honey this saves me minutes on outgoing calls. You can set Do not Disturb on your google voice for incoming calls and texts and you wont get someone calling you at an inopportune time. My kid uses google voice on his Iphone and only burns less than 100 minutes a month. Hopefully he's not using it to call providers
I can explain google voice a lot easier to my SO than I ever could if she found a phone stashed in the garage. If you MUST have a hobby phone hiding a SIMM card is so much simpler. Besides unless she's tech savvy it wont occur to her to try it out in her phone. But she might. Just like WALDT we have preferred methods of maintaining the veil of secrecy.

[OldGrump]

Google voice does require some management. All calls to that number will be forwarded to your designated number unless you turn off forwarding (for a meeting, day, etc).

I can just see someone cruising down the highway with their SO & bluetooth linked to the GPS when a provider calls and says (over the speaker) "babe, we need to reschedule our session". That would put a new meaning to "recalculating".

[Judge Smails]

Agree with Sawyer that a second SIM card is easier to deal with then a second phone.

[pmdelites]

Originally Posted by OldGrump

Google voice does require some management. All calls to that number will be forwarded to your designated number unless you turn off forwarding (for a meeting, day, etc).

I can just see someone cruising down the highway with their SO & bluetooth linked to the GPS when a provider calls and says (over the speaker) "babe, we need to reschedule our session". That would put a new meaning to "recalculating".

:mf r_lol:

[VegasLicker]

Another bit of advice for the guys....

With a hobby phone or your main phone, enter your friends in the address book and then add your regular / sugar baby phone numbers as an extra number on your friend. That way, if you get an unexpected text, it looks like it is coming from your friend.

"Hey wanna meet tomorrow" coming from your GUY friend will look innocent when she picks up your phone and sees a new text come in.

This has saved me a LOT of grief.

[sdguy08]

Originally Posted by VegasLicker

Another bit of advice for the guys....

With a hobby phone or your main phone, enter your friends in the address book and then add your regular / sugar baby phone numbers as an extra number on your friend. That way, if you get an unexpected text, it looks like it is coming from your friend.

"Hey wanna meet tomorrow" coming from your GUY friend will look innocent when she picks up your phone and sees a new text come in.

This has saved me a LOT of grief.

Yeah, but how would you explain a text like, "Hey sweetie, I had fun yesterday and I liked how pulled my hair and smacked my ass! " to your SO?