I had been exchanging emails with a provider, to set up an appointment
Then during dinner, she sends me a text wit her name and my name.
I often leave my cell phone in the charger in the kitchen, and my wife would have seen it.
Far too close for comfort, I was horrified.
I am pretty careful, but apparently not careful enough....

I only power mine up when I get ready to visit the provider. Otherwise it is all by email.

This is where the hobby phone proponents jump in to argue the need for a cheap throw away, reloadable version cell phone to conduct your dirty business.

I dont do that.

It would be harder in my eyes to keep hidden a second cell phone that I would use exclusively for this game of ours. Therefore I use my everyday cell phone, keeping it locked and out of harms way at all times.

But then there are always exceptions to the rule arent there.

My S O and I recently bought a high end automobile that was going to be driven mostly by her. When we went to pick it up from the dealership there was a two hour " training class " for the two of us that would explain all the vehicles components in detail. My S O jumped into the drivers seat, the dealership ( for lack of a better title ) trainer jumped in the passenger side and I jumped into the rear center, watching over the console.

The trainer was speaking on the sophistication of the in dash computer system when he asked us to take our cell phones out and turn them on. As we complied he then explained how the nav system display panel automatically and wirelessly identifies the user. He pushed a few buttons on the screen display and all my S O's contacts and information quickly began downloading into the vehicles memory visible to us all. It took me about 2.5 seconds before I fully realized what was happening before I shut my phone down and put it away.

The trainer and my S O both glanced over at me in my haste to cover my ass, as the trainer sat looking at me in puzzlement. I said, " there is no reason to download all my stuff onto the onboard computer seeing where this car is going to be hers. "

Shit !!!  Close calls will happen no matter how careful we are.

bet you're still shitting yourself over that one. Guess it's time to get that phone Crazy is talking about

But I want to ask as well about the text. Why would she be sending you a text? If appears it was an unannounced and that should not have happened at all.  Sounds like to me she is not very discrete. However, good thing you were not caught..

Get a throw away or even google voice...just make sure to always delete everything.  I know I have male friends who save my number as a guy in their phones. I sure hope she doesn't look at your bills as well.

Depending on your situation either one will work, although Google voice may be better.  A few pros and cons:

1. Dedicated hobby phone
  - While it is a great solution, a dedicated hobby phone could still be found by an SO, requiring explanation.
  - There is a cost although, given the overall cost of the hobby, it's a pretty small investment.
  - May require another bluetooth setup on your car to avoid getting a ticket for not using hands-free while driving to your appointment.
  - Can be thrown away and replaced as needed, although incurs additional handset purchase cost each time, and probably a new number given to new and old providers.

2.  Google voice number
  - Free, but requires a Gmail account, which could then also be used as your hobby email.
  - Can be forwarded to your existing mobile number, but this can be selectively turned on and off, so you can control when calls and texts sent to your Google voice number are forwarded to your mobile, and you can even control this by person or group.  The level of control is far beyond what a normal phone gives you, hobby phone or not.
  - Can be used with your existing Bluetooth setup.
  - Voicemails can be recorded on Google voice, not your mobile.
  - You can access your Gmail account, Google voice calls, texts, voicemail and even contacts from the browser on your smartphone (where you can easily delete history), keeping nothing on your phone.
  - You can make calls from your mobile using your Google voice number, so that the person you are calling sees the number as your Google voice number.  Calls placed from your mobile through Google voice would show on call logs as placed your Google voice number.
  - If your normal phone is an Android phone and you call the provider from your phone using Google voice as a buitl-in option, it will likely be blocked. But if instead you call your own Google voice number first and follow the prompts to place a call using Google voice, your number will not be blocked.
  - If you ever want to ditch the Google voice number, or change it to a different number, you easily can without changing anything on your mobile phone.

Personally, I have a hobby phone because I already had a business Google voice number that forwards to my normal mobile.  Otherwise, I would have just used Google voice as my hobby phone.

$20 for my phone & 20 for 3 months service...  100 for the first year.  I'll never use all the minutes which roll over.
Oh & I clear all calls before I leave her.  The phone might be found...  but at least I'm not giving away the whole game.  I have a good hiding place.  I do as much as possible through my hobby email.  I swap the phone into my phone holder & no one knows unless it's removed.  The only down side is I must get computer access (with no one arround) to get her phone number when I need it.


-- Modified on 10/13/2012 8:36:22 PM

So the tracfone seems like a great idea. I currently have my commonly used email and phone linked to my hobby information with Room2K, here, etc.

How easy is it to go about switching the phone numbers on all the websites? Fairly straightforward?

Regarding google voice, do verification services allow that? I've seen some sites that say google voice is not accepted.

Thoughts?

Harder to hide a throw away phone than to keep prying eyes out of your everyday phone? I disagree.

Other posters are correct in that keeping the SO, Uncle Leo, and divorce attorneys out of your hobbying biz is key. How could you keep an eye on your phone 24-7 and 365? I use an IPhone and have IPads linked to the account. When Apple launched its ICloud, I found that all my email and phone contacts were now on all of our devices. If I didn't use a Trac phone I might have heard the following: "Say, honey, who are Amber, Summer, and Emily?"

Now stashing a phone unsecured in the house seems like a bad idea, I admit. My solution was to purchase an inexpensive fire safe, putatively for use in protecting deeds, titles, insurance documents and the like. If you control the combo, it's as secure as can be. I keep my hobby phone, hobby computer (used and bought for cash at a yard sale), my hobby cash stash, phone recharge cards, phone charger, and phone info in this.

Peace of mind for 200 dollars! Learn from Tiger Woods's multimillion dollar error, and you can avoid a nine iron to the face.

also remove the SIM card, then hide each in a seperate location - chances of all three being found is very slim

There are glitches when using Google voice to call another Google voice number.
Not only does it show up blocked often you can't call them at all. Idk why that keeps happening.

I have a cheap $30 hobby phone and it includes the capability of password locking, so to turn it on or use it at all, you have to guess my PIN. I'm sure it's more secure to keep the parts separate, but I'd equate it to putting on a second condom.

Even if you split up the pieces like the Triforce, you're still hiding a phone. Whether or not your SO can see the call log and contact list, you'll have some explaining to do about why you have a secondary secret phone.

It happens to me sometimes when I try calling a number directly from my Android phone and tell the phone to use my Google voice number as the outgoing number.  The workaround I use, that hasn't failed yet, is I call my own Google voice number (as if I were going to check voicemail), enter my PIN, and then press option 2 to place a call.  Then enter the phone number you want to call and the call will go through.  At least, it always has for me.