back to article A quarter of Brits packing multiple mobiles

One in four Brits admit to owning at least two mobile phones, with respondents citing privacy, contracts and handset subsidy as motivation. The study was carried out by Opinium Research for moneysupermarket.com and involved asking 2002 people if they owned more than one phone and, if so, why. Eight per cent reckoned a second …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    that means

    That means a 1/4 of the populace are potential terrorists and should be reported according to the mets poster campaign.

  2. Steve X
    FAIL

    One born every minute

    > people feel they have to sign up to multiple deals to get the best value for money.

    Are these the same people that feel they've got a bargain when they buy dog food at 50% off, even though they haven't got a dog?

  3. John Chadwick

    So isn't there a market for

    Dual SIM phones, I'd welcome it, then I wouldn't have to carry round one phone for work, and one for play.

  4. moylan
    Alien

    currently 2

    i had4 at the start of the year. old phones as i upgraded. now down to just 2.

    but i carry 2. currently a nokia e61 and an iphone. its handy to have very differently capable phones for different tech situations. the bluetooth and ir on the e61 are more usable than the connection abilities of the iphone. the iphone is great at video/media/browsing web. love the keyboard on the e61 while not keen on inputting lots of text on the iphone. wish i could connect a bt keyboard.

    also handy to have 2 phones on different networks so that were one network is crap the other is fine. happens quite a bit in parts of dublin. and been able to be on a call on one phone while digging information out of the other is invaluable.

  5. Ellis Birt 1

    Like an employer is going to buy a dual SIM phone? and other reasons for multiple phones

    So, you get a mobile for work, but you are not allowed to use it for personal calls. In order to cut costs, the phone is several years old or the bottom of the range - they would never buy a dual-SIM phone to allow their staff to use their own account! PHONE 1

    Then you look at getting a dual SIM personal phone to use your work SIM in too - NO SUBSIDY. A personal phone on contract is far cheaper because the contract is no cheaper if you buy the phone outright. PHONE 2

    Then there is 'Line Two' Probably the biggest missed opportunity. Many phones can support it, but the networks have never pushed it very well. For example, you could never get line two on a separate contract so no chance of adding line two to your company SIM and what company wants the admin overhead of recharging line two calls?

    And then there's employment agencies who refuse to use email because they cannot do hard sell! As soon as you make your CV available, the phoone rtings off the hook. Don't they understand that the reason you are a 'hot property' is because you still have a job that your would really like to keep until the right job comes along. Would they be allowed to take a 20 minute personal call every half hour while they are at work? The only option is to get a PAYG phone, give them that number and leave it on silent! PHONE 3

  6. ElNumbre
    Paris Hilton

    Many years ago....

    I only carried one phone many moons ago. Then they started building phones with Internet, Calendar synchronsiation, EMail, Camera's and the like, which work won't pay for. So I have a crappy Nokia something or other with a green and black screen for work, and a Touch Diamond2 to get out in the pub.

    Its not the size of the phone that counts, its whether it can get pictures of puppies off the Internet to impress women with...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Privacy Reasons"

    Some like to have a "Batphone" for when they play away from home.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Ellis is Right

    Having one phone with dual SIM would be wonderful, but work will never stump up for anything more than a basic Nokia 3510 (other basic phones are available) and to get a dual SIM mobile is horribly expensive (UK / big phone makers) or potentially dodgy / risky (far eastern manufacturers off ebay for one example)

    Then again, with one phone for both uses, I would be more likely to forget it / leave it in the fridge* which would leave me well stuffed, while now the work phone lives in the jacket pocket I wear for work and never leaves it except for use or recharging.

    *The fridge is the perfect storage location for most small items. Think about it for a moment, and you'll realise why.

  9. Yorkshirepudding
    Megaphone

    2 in my pocket

    got my crap nokia 6233 for work and my 5800 as my personal gadget phone, they joys of being on call

    - shouty cause i hate having 2

  10. Bassey

    One pub phone

    I have a nice, fancy smartphone for business and personal use and a 6+ year-old crappy little phone that I use when going to the pub (though that was a long time ago!), going on holiday or taking out walking with me as an emergency spare in the bottom of my ruck-sack. Bought it for a fiver from a mate who was upgrading.

  11. Adam 10

    @Ellis Birt

    Actually, there is a real incentive for companies to allow personal calls *within reason* on company phones... Constant contactability.

    I have a nice shiny smartphone for work, and a nice shiny smartphone for personal use. When I leave the office I put the workphone on silent, but if I really don't want to be disturbed (hard day, perhaps) I turn it off. I can use it for personal calls if I like.

    A lot of my colleagues just have the work phone. That means that for the company spending a few quid a month on personal calls (massive bulk discounts!) people are more easily contactable as they leave it on all the time.

    This wouldn't work if you have colleagues who phone you constantly all evening and weekend as you would soon learn to turn it off. But if it is the odd call, 3 or 4 times a year and only when it's absolutely necessary, then it's money well spent. It's also cheaper than hotel phone rates so you don't have to pay massive costs so your workers can say "yes dear, I got down here alright, weather's lovely!".

  12. Bryce Prewitt
    Thumb Up

    Don't you mean "mobes"?

    Passersby were amazed by the large amounts of mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes, mobes...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    @ElNumbre

    I have some, would you like to see my puppies.

  14. Richard 81

    Dual SIM?

    That would mean you can't turn off your work phone at the weekend or on holiday. Especially useful if you have a pesky boss with no life outside work.

    Not something I've had to worry about in my PhD, but I've known supervisors who'll ring their student at weekends to ask for a lift from the airport.

    Also, how about a decent contract on a decent phone, and a basic pay&go piece of crap for work. You might even be able to claim top ups on expenses.

  15. Dale 3

    In a drawer

    Does having an old phone in a drawer count as owning a second phone? It ought to, in which case I would have expected the proportion to be a lot higher than 25%, and including people who own even more than 2 phones.

  16. Leo Rampen
    Boffin

    @Ellis: Contract no cheaper if you buy the phone

    That is simply wrong.

    A Sim -only contract from any of the big networks will average about £10 - £15 less than a similarly featured "free" phone contract. There's no commitment on a sim only contract. An 18 month, £35/month contract will give you the same minutes as a £20/month sim only contract.

    That means you're spending £15 a month on your phone... and you have to spend that for at least 18 months.

    The networks don't give you anything for free. If you get an expensive "free" phone, you'll almost certainly pay for it in the difference between your contract and a sim-only one.

  17. SmallYellowFuzzyDuck, how pweety!
    Stop

    Saw a guy last year...

    In Amsterdam airport typing away on his Blackberry.

    When he finished he pulled out another identical Blackberry and started typing on that as well.

    I don't care if someone says maybe one was for work, one was for home it still seemed utterly pointless owning two indentical phones which he was doing the same indentical thing on.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Explaining Things Like...

    "* For younger, or American, readers - the "never never" is an old English tradition of agreeing to pay in installments and then hiding behind the sofa when the collector calls."

    Well done for the translation, but... Do Americans call it a 'sofa' or a 'couch' ?

  19. Andy Bright

    re Explaining Things Like..

    Both 'sofa' and 'couch' are good, although sofa is more prevalent. Settee would probably result in blank stares from 2/3rds of the population.

    As for multiple personal contracts - why? What point would there ever be in having more than one contract for yourself? I understand work and home, that makes sense, but if you want 2 or 3 lines all you do is pay an extra few quid per phone rather than an entire new subscription fee for a second or third phone. Even in the US which still uses archaic billing systems that aren't per second, they allow additional phones for around $10 per month on unlimited plans and if anyone was going to rip you off it would be the country that bills you (or deducts minutes) for calls made to *your* phone as well as calls you make to others.

  20. Player_16

    @ AC 16:29 - Explaining...

    Depends on the region. It could be... divan !

  21. Oninoshiko

    Re: Explaining Things Like...

    America is a big place; both terms are understood, and indeed used dependent on reigon.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Either

    Do Americans call it a 'sofa' or a 'couch' Same thing here in Yank land .

  23. Michael Kean
    Thumb Up

    In Australia...

    Telstra, $15 a month, excellent coverage, approx. $1.00 per minute

    TPG, $20 a month, lesser coverage, approx. $0.08 per minute

    Telstra = incoming

    TPG = Outgoing.

    Bonus: Telstra message retrieval approx 65c/min. With answering machine software on E51 message storage and retrieval = free :)

  24. This post has been deleted by its author

  25. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Two phones, one cup

    Notice a lot of people have two because they're on call. Me too.

    But don't you all just put your crappy basic "work" phone on divert to your wonderous gadget phone, meaning irritating Call Handlers and luscious ladies can all contact you in one place?

  26. This post has been deleted by its author

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