Which Phone Number Do You Give Out To Students/adverts? Options

[Holz Gedeckt]

I find a landline with caller display and an answerphone works marvels. If I'm busy, the answerphone takes it. If I don't want to be bothered, the answerphone takes it. If I'm not sure whether or not I want to be bothered, I'll check the caller display first in order to see who it is. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[AmandaL]

Personally, I've never used a landline number for teaching. Mobile is best. Firstly, I'm rarely at home when anyone calls and secondly, it doesn't matter if I was to suddenly up-sticks and move or even go abroad.

I hate mobiles because I dont want to get brain cancer

There is no evidence that mobile phones will give you brain tumours, or microwave it. Yes, mobile phones use microwaves, but at such a miniscule level of wattage power you'd never cook one baked bean with a mobile phone, let alone your brain. I've been using mobile phones extensively for the last 13 years and my brain is the only bit of me that still functions the same now as it did back in 1996! In fact, it's the rest of my body that's packing up instead - and not mobile phone related either. To help alay your fears (and anyone elses who's worried about mobile phones) I will direct you to Here where you will find links to rational information, as opposed to mass-media scaremongering.

I have relented though and have one which I am going to start giving out although it will cost me a fortune to pick up the messages.

Pay-as-you-go phones are expensive if you intend to make regular use of them. A contract phone is far healthier on the pocket. Start on the lowest contract monthly payment available with your provider and then if you find you are going over your allowance, you can always move up to the next level.

It pays to shop around for contract deals, but T-mobile offer excellent value pay-monthly contracts and you even get a free upgrade on your phone every 12 or 18 months, depending on the contract you've got. My latest phone upgrade is a BlackBerry Curve 8900 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

[Holz Gedeckt]

Personally, I've never used a landline number for teaching...and secondly, it doesn't matter if I was to suddenly up-sticks and move or even go abroad.

It might muck up your teaching a bit, though! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Cadence]

If you don't want a full contract but want to avoid expensive call costs and want to avoid paying for voicemail, why don't you have a look at liberty sims?

O2, Vigin Mobile and Vodaphone all offer 30 day contracts at around £10 per month and you get all the benefits, free calls, free texts and free voicemail of a contract but there is no obligation to a full term contract. If you want to cancel, you just give them 30 days notice. I think its fantastic!

[Susie]

I use the home phone which has an answerphone on almost continuously and the rest of the family know not to erase any calls about lessons (in fact I think I'm the only one to erase any calls at all! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) ). This is mainly because I'm not a great user of the mobile phone, and I only have it on for emergencies usually. And I'm petrified of losing the wretched thing.

That said, at least 2 singing teachers I know who are in the 20 - 30 year old bracket live by the mobile phone and use it as a diary and keeper of all information, and sonny Jim's trumpet teacher is a mobile phone person too.

I think it might be an age thing, or a technophobe/philia thing.

[Jane S]

I think mobile phones are great if you wander as you teach as such! Since I teach from home, the land line is the best bet for me and I keep my mobile for friends and family, with emergency contacts for pupils only (delayed unavoidably).

[sbhoa]

I mostly have my mobile number on advertising though on VERY local advertising I use my home number.
I don't use voice mail at all and my phone is usually only on between about 9am and 9pm.
It's also switched off when I'm not in a position to answer it or when I'm in a place where it has to be switched off.
My students have my home number.

[dolce@piano]

MusicSong,

There are 3 sources of natural radiation: cosmic which give you on average 28 mrem per year, terrestial (200 mrem per year, total body, a lot higher for the lungs) and internal, 40 mrem per year.

In contrast, human source radiation is very small - xrays generate an average of 14 mrems and consumer products (including mobile phones) 10 mrems.

Other academic sources have slightly different numbers but the order of magnitude is always about the same.

The vast majority of your exposure to radiation has nothing to do with microwaves, mobiles or any other similar product.

Good luck with your phone choice.

[AnnC]

I advertise only my landline. I do use my mobile to contact students on their mobiles, so they inevitably get my number. I tell them to always ring me on my landline or send me a text, so that the mobile is kept for family, who know only to ring me in an emergency if I am teaching (and there have been real emergencies, when I was glad I answered the phone). If I am away from the house, I don't want to take business calls - nothing worse than when going through the check out at the supermarket, or I could be on holiday abroad. I don't use the message service on my mobile, so they HAVE to ring my landline.
When teaching I let the answerphone take the call. My family have special ringtones on my landline, so I know straight away if I want to get up from the sofa at 11pm!
I have no choice but to answer the phone at 8.30am or late because my husband also uses this line for his plumbing and heating business, and has been known to be called out for a gas leak. However if he doesn't want the business, we let it go to answerphone. We have number display to vet calls, with friends and others we would want to take the call from stored in the phone's memory, so the display would read, for instance, "MARY".
Our number is also ex-directory and we are members of Telephone Preference Service, so rarely get sales calls now.
In truth, the phone isn't going all day, so it doesn't bother me. When students ask a convenient time to ring, I say after 9pm as some students in the last slot of the day are more like friends, and we can often gossip for 15 minutes after the lesson is over!

[AmandaL]

There are 3 sources of natural radiation: cosmic which give you on average 28 mrem per year, terrestial (200 mrem per year, total body, a lot higher for the lungs) and internal, 40 mrem per year.

In contrast, human source radiation is very small - xrays generate an average of 14 mrems and consumer products (including mobile phones) 10 mrems.

Other academic sources have slightly different numbers but the order of magnitude is always about the same.

The vast majority of your exposure to radiation has nothing to do with microwaves, mobiles or any other similar product.

Additionally, it is ionising radiation which (in large quantities), can damage healthy tissue. It does this by damaging the DNA within the cells, so that when they replicate they often develop a mutation in their structure. Cell mutations can lead to cancer or deformities. However, ionising radiation used in very specific doses, is used to treat cancer and other malignant tumours. So it's not all bad.

Ionising radiation is at the short wavelength end of the spectrum - even shorter than UV light wavelengths - and includes x-rays and gamma rays. These wavelengths tend to have very high energies, hence why we can use them to see through soft tissue to look at bone and gamma energy to zap tumours. There are other forms of ionising particles - alpha and beta - but I'll refrain from further adorning my bobble hat and anorak (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Microwave radiation is at the opposite end - long wavelength - this includes radio and TV signals and mobile phones. This is not ionising radiation because the energies are too low and the wavelengths too long to interact with soft tissue or even bone structure. Therefore it does not damage cell DNA.

[Dugazon]

Mostly my private landline, although my mobile number is on my business card, so most of my students have it. They usually only use it for texts or emergencies though, it doesn't happen too often actually.

When I advertise, it's usually the landline as well, because some people still feel reluctant to phone a mobile since it is more expensive (I know I know (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ).
If I don't want to answer the phone (and I normally never answer the phone during tuition), everything goes on the answering machine, I never found this a problem. I usually teach with 15 minute gaps, so I mostly have time for a quick listen if someone tried to phone.

The only downside is that most people know that music teachers tend to work from home, so they seem to think you're permanently "on-call", no matter if it is after 10pm, before 8am or the weekend (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ill.gif) Nowadays, I let these calls bounce to the answering machine and phone them back later (I have caller display, so I can filter the really important "family and friends" calls).

I don't know why some people seem to think that music teachers are always available, I find this quite impolite actually, but what do you do ...

[AmandaL]

The only downside is that most people know that music teachers tend to work from home, so they seem to think you're permanently "on-call", no matter if it is after 10pm, before 8am or the weekend (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ill.gif) Nowadays, I let these calls bounce to the answering machine and phone them back later (I have caller display, so I can filter the really important "family and friends" calls).

That's the one really good thing about a mobile and something not all landline phones have - the ability to switch the ringer off, even if you want to leave the phone on. Leave switched to vibrate only, I can keep the phone with me and still filter the calls.

[Jatzaya]

The jury seems to be out on the whole mobile phone/cancer link so to be honest I think you're being a little paranoid! I doubt you would stay on the phone for long enough to have any ill-effects and you might find that you often communicate with existing pupils via text. I do!

Paranoid - perhaps yes, perhaps no. You might find this interesting: http://www.planningsanity.co.uk/reports/trower.htm

[AmandaL]

The jury seems to be out on the whole mobile phone/cancer link so to be honest I think you're being a little paranoid! I doubt you would stay on the phone for long enough to have any ill-effects and you might find that you often communicate with existing pupils via text. I do!

Paranoid - perhaps yes, perhaps no. You might find this interesting: http://www.planningsanity.co.uk/reports/trower.htm

I think there are too many other factors involved in the reason people develop ill health. I don't think illnesses can be attributed to any one thing. Or lives in general are pretty artificial these days - as opposed to how nature intended us to live.

For as long as humans demand an 'easy way of life', technology will always be pushing the boundaries regardless of any long-term implications - be it global warming, carcenogenic issues or general destruction of the environment solely for the purpose of an ever growing human population. We live in an age where gadgets are the driving force behind most things we do and it is (often) the very people who beat their little drum about microwave masts who'd be the first to whinge when they can't get a signal on their mobile phone........

How would those of you with children feel if your child didn't have a mobile phone to contact if they were stuck somewhere and needed help? or worse still, they had a phone but there were no masts in the vicinity because people had forced companies to remove them, hence no signal. In fact, a mobile phone will be using more power to search for a weak signal, than it will if there are plenty of base stations around.

Let's take away cars, TVs, radios, computers, games consoles and similar gadgets, and see how everyone gets on without them. Not very well I suspect.

[hammer action]

I give out my mobile number to my students and not my home number. That way i can choose to switch my mobile off if i do not want to be disturbed, then pick up the voicemail messages later. Some mobile companies allow you to call voicemail free of charge so it's not costing you anything to do this. It's much more convenient to me as i don't want my husband being disturbed or having to jot down phone messages etc, and pupils can reach me even if i'm out as i ususally always have my mobile in my bag. I really just don't like the idea of students knowing my home number and phoning me at all hours. Having said that though, i've had to make it clear to my teenage pupils not to send me text messages saying they can't make their lesson. I've found some of them only too eager to do this!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)