I am about to embark upon an exciting new job, and I'm having a dilemma regarding my smartphone. My new job will not give me a phone - rather, they will reimburse me for my bill.

I would like to only carry one smartphone and so my question is as follows: Should I purchase a the smartphone I really want and use a single phone number for personal and professional calls? Is this as scary as it sounds or does it not make any difference in the real world? I kind of hate the idea of wondering if a call is about work or a personal issue. Any thoughts from anyone who has had to use one number for work and personal calls?

On the other hand, I could purchase an unlocked Lumia 640XL Dual SIM. The benefit of that would be that I could have two numbers (one work, one personal) pointing to a single phone. The down side is that it's not exactly the type of phone I want.

So what does everyone think? Is it better to have a Lumia that has two numbers dialing to it, or should I take the plunge and use a single number for every aspect of my life?

Thanks in advance!

Another option would be to assign two numbers to one phone. Google Voice/Hangouts is one way to do that. Caller ID would tell you which calls are coming from your work number.

If you get an office phone and set it to forward to your GV number, you can screen calls before answering them.

I use two phones: work issued and personal. But personally, I don't mind work calls going to my personal cell. I list my personal cell and home phone as alternate contacts numbers in our corporate directory.
My bigger concern is having corporate data on a personal device (noting that there are devices/ways to separate work vs personal data on a device) and all the potential issues around that.

I used to do the two phones thing to keep things separate but now only carry one. I have no problem with people who call me and wondering if I should answer.

Has anyone been able to get text messages to be forwarded?

I have a dual SIM phone which keeps my work and personal life nicely separated.

The only country I know of with SMS forwarding on any regular basis is Hong Kong. You can stick your SIM in a junk Android phone and use various apps to forward the messages. Not sure if that is what you want.

I have 2 phones, since I've not enjoyed the dual sim Android options. Wish Apple would offer a dual sim iPhone.

Although I know it can be a pain, I'd suggest two separate phones--or a clear understanding of what your employer's willingness to reimburse you means in regards to access to all of the information on your phone. Depending on the size of your employer, this may require a review of both HR and IT policies.

I work for the government, so anything on my work phone is subject to FOIA requests. As a result, no personal information, including personal texts, goes to my work phone. It sounds as if you probably don't work for the government, but your employer may feel they have a right to anything on the phone for which they reimburse you. Clarify that before making any decisions. Even there, I'd err on the side of caution and assume that if your employer ever felt the need, they'd try to access everything, both business and personal, on your phone.

I concur. I work for a major healthcare organization and they have our work phones looked down quite tight. Some of my colleagues use it for personal use but I also carry my own phone. it's a pain but that way if they ever need to remote wipe my phone for HIPAA reasons then it's not a big deal....

FDW

I've been told that using a work phone for personal use has tax implications but since I'm not in that situation I never explored it.

I have only one cell phone, and most calls are business related. The personal calls are easy to identify with caller ID, which most cell systems provide.

The real problem comes with calls that block their ID (as for some government agencies I need to deal with, and also call centers staffed with people I don't want to talk to).