personal and work cell phones

[LivingAlmostLarge]

If work gives you guys a cell phone, do you still have a personal phone? And if you do have a personal one, what do you pay for it? DH has a personal and work cell but i'm not sure why we pay for his personal cell when he rarely uses it. We have 3 cells, 2 tablets for $120/month unlimited. He mostly uses it when we travel and to verify his identity. He usually just switches out the SIM card. In particular he likes it when we travel he'll still take work sim card but he feels bad if we are roaming internationally or outside our normal are.

What do others do? I'm debating flipping him to a different cheapo carrier but honestly I"m not sure it's even worth the hassle

[disneysteve]

I'd say it largely depends on the conditions tied to his work phone. Is he allowed to use it for personal purposes? Is he allowed to download and install apps? Does he ever use his personal phone for anything at all that he might not want his job to know about? And no, I don't mean porn or illegal stuff, but even playing a game or watching Netflix or going on Facebook. You have to assume that work tracks EVERYTHING done on the job phone.

I don't get a work phone but even if I did, I would use it exclusively for work. I would do everything else not directly work-related on my personal device. I wouldn't even call my wife or daughter on the work phone.

[james.hendrickson]

If you use a personal phone for work purposes, you might be able to deduct some of it on your taxes.

[disneysteve]

And if you do have a personal one, what do you pay for it?

I missed that part of your question.

We have 5 phones on our family plan. The monthly bill is about $186, so about $37/person/month.

[cypher1]

Years ago I used to have both (even carried 3 for the oncall rotation at times). My work phone/number was default use. Personal phone I kept but had the cheapest plan, since I wanted to keep my number. Another reason I kept personal was I just didnt know how long I'd stay with my employer.

If I ever had a work cell, part of me would push for a dual sim phone to keep my personal line. On the other hand it's better to keep personal info/activities separate than used on official company equipment for privacy.

[ua_guy]

Ah, the joke of the corporate phone. Both DH and my employers offer to provide devices, but use is restricted. To do anything personal basically requires carrying a second device anyhow, and that's a pain.

So, I take a stipend through my company which is almost nothing ($30/month) and use my personal phone. DH's only option was to take the corporate phone. But... he uses his personal device for work communication, and that's the number that's published in the corporate directory. His work phone sits unused at home. We pay about $200/month+ through Verizon for our 2 phones, but we use a lot of talk time and data.

There's another intentional reason DH uses his personal phone at work, as an executive. If he leaves the company, he's still reachable by all his contacts since the phone and phone number are his.

[scfr]

And if you do have a personal one, what do you pay for it?

Average $29.40 per month including tax.

[mo0n]

I have both. I've been paying $57 a month for my personal (unlimited everything, including hotspot), however I just saw my bill yesterday and my phone bill dropped to $50 and change this last billing cycle. No features were disabled or changed, and the difference I saw on a comparison between an old and new bill, is all my fees and service charges were each lower than normal. I'm guessing a product of COVID-19?

[Mjenn]

I have both so walk around with 2 phones. My work one I barely use and it is quite old. My personal one I pay 45 dollars per month for unlimited calls and 10 gb. That will drop down in about 6 months to 25 once my phone is paid off.

[kork13]

As mentioned, it would depend alot on the policies for use of the company phone. The folks I know who have one do also use a personal phone.

We pay ~$40/mo per line for unlimited everything with Verizon. Later this year though, I'm likely going to add Google Fi to my phone, for use when I get sent overseas (fairly common). They use a "digital SIM" (no physical chip), and let you "pause" your service anytime to not get charged anything. Then when you turn it back on, it's $20/mo +$10/GB of data (regardless of where you are in the world). You could consider something like that for your husband, to only use it when needed.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

interesting it's so varied. DH has 2 work phones sometimes. He tries to return it constantly but he has a pixel he prefers and an iphone. They want him to use both to run tests. But I wonder if I can save more by switching to something like google fi?

[kork13]

interesting it's so varied. DH has 2 work phones sometimes. He tries to return it constantly but he has a pixel he prefers and an iphone. They want him to use both to run tests. But I wonder if I can save more by switching to something like google fi?

I use Pixel as well -- currently an original Pixel with a replaced battery, just pre-ordered their new Pixel 4A as a replacement. If I can manage to talk my brothers into it, I'm gonna try getting them all to switch over to Fi completely. But they're all iPhone people except DW & I, so they may be unwilling to cross the divide to work with Google. Lol

I just see Fi as a super flexible option, plus gives free international dataadata/texting. If don't use much of any data, it can also be VERY cheap.

[scfr]

I use Pixel as well -- currently an original Pixel with a replaced battery, just pre-ordered their new Pixel 4A as a replacement. If I can manage to talk my brothers into it, I'm gonna try getting them all to switch over to Fi completely. But they're all iPhone people except DW & I, so they may be unwilling to cross the divide to work with Google. Lol

I just see Fi as a super flexible option, plus gives free international dataadata/texting. If don't use much of any data, it can also be VERY cheap.

Yep - I'm another Pixel / Google Fi person. (Used to be with Republic Wireless. Made the switch to Google Fi when I had to get a new phone and decided to go with the Pixel.)

[QuarterMillionMan]

It seems lots of new cell services have come online, Spectrum, Visible, Red Pocket, and even Magic Jack (MJ) now has a new cell service. MJ has all the features I want such as International calls, texts, and data and mobile hotspot and plans looks reasonable so I'm intrigued. Not sure which network they use but they're all good.

[jenn_jenn]

I have always just had one cellphone and work reimbursed a set amount - typically around $75/mo. That covers my entire bill.

But my new employer highly encourages to have a separate work phone so I’ll be switching to that. They have a much more restrictive policy than any of my previous employers. I don’t want them to have the ability to wipe my phone clean (and risk losing photos) without notice or track my every move so two phones it is.