Tech Forum

I am increasingly having to deal with multiple phones numbers per household. For example, both husband and wife each have a cell phone. About 95% of the time these couples do not even have a landline phone. So, I've been putting the husband's phone number in the household's Primary Phone field, with the wife's phone in the Secondary Phone field. I will put their first names next to the phone number (example: 435-590-4555 (Steve). This has worked out "ok", but leaves a lot to be desired. There are many reports that only print the primary phone number. The Relief Society is getting really frustrated because they end up calling the husband's cell phone, who NEVER passes the message on to their wives.

So - does anyone know if there are plans to take this growing trend into account?

Thanks for the help!

dotson wrote:I am increasingly having to deal with multiple phones numbers per household. For example, both husband and wife each have a cell phone. About 95% of the time these couples do not even have a landline phone. So, I've been putting the husband's phone number in the household's Primary Phone field, with the wife's phone in the Secondary Phone field. I will put their first names next to the phone number (example: 435-590-4555 (Steve). This has worked out "ok", but leaves a lot to be desired. There are many reports that only print the primary phone number. The Relief Society is getting really frustrated because they end up calling the husband's cell phone, who NEVER passes the message on to their wives.

So - does anyone know if there are plans to take this growing trend into account?

Thanks for the help!

There has been a lot of talk around this support for MLS and for LUWS (the Local Unit Web Sites). Browse around some of the threads in this forum and you will happen upon at least a couple of them. If anyone wants to take the time to post links to them here, that would be helpful. I gotta run, sorry!

It's been talked about. I'm sure the developers are aware of the situation. As for when MLS or LUWS gets the new features, well, there's a lot of projects competing for attention from the developers. A solution will arrive when it arrives. We're not privy to that information.

RussellHltn wrote:As for when MLS or LUWS gets the new features, well, there's a lot of projects competing for attention from the developers. A solution will arrive when it arrives. We're not privy to that information.

I think that this quote should be included in the FAQ or Community guidelines and hope that everyone would take it to heart.

As for the reference to the forum that talks about this feature check out [thread=593]Next Revision Unit Web Sites Wish List (pages 3 and 4)[/thread] and [thread=771]How I think the ward websites/Mls can improve.[/thread].

dotson wrote:I am increasingly having to deal with multiple phones numbers per household. For example, both husband and wife each have a cell phone.

Be glad you are not in a student ward.

In my student ward, everyone had cell phones, and no one had a landline. People also liked to keep the area code from their hometown, so the ward had LOTS of area codes from all over the US in it.

That wasn't a problem for MLS, since people were not grouped into households or families, but it was obnoxious to try to get in touch with anyone from the church (no long distance), or to try to find out if someone was at their apartment.

Nicely, even now that many of us have moved from the ward, and married or whatnot, we can still find each other since we have phone numbers for each other.

This 'problem' is only going to get worse as cell phones become more common, and things like VOIP and WIFI phones start moving out.

I am of course, running into the same issues. In fact, in my own house, there is the land line, my wife's cell, and my cell. It gets even worse when there are children in a family that are 16, 17, or adults, and they have phones too.

The addition of the name of a person in front of his or her cell number that was mentioned is something that I do, to the extent the current limitations allow. One thing that I would like to see improved is the number of characters that can be entered to describe whose number it is. It would be nice if this was extended to at least 32. Using myself as an example, I'd like to be able to enter "Terry's cell: xxx-xxx-xxxx". Currently, it just lists our home number, then a line that says "Terry's xxx-xxx-xxxx", and no listing for my wife's cell. As we all know, the Web site only allows for one number.

With me being ward clerk, and my wife serving as a counselor in the RS presidency, it would be nice for ward members to see all of the ways they can contact us.

If people would just use e-mail, life would be much simpler!

Here is what I do in the current system. I used the " | " (pipe)

435-999-9999 | 435-999-5555

And if I do not have a current phone number for the member, I will enter NOT LISTED
until the local Priesthood leaders or Member give me an update.

ensign_avenger wrote:If people would just use e-mail, life would be much simpler!

Thing is how often do people check there email? Email isn't very useful for instant communication that cell phones or radios can provide.

"Not Listed" means, basically, the member does not wish to have his number published. This is especially common to medical professionals, such as my Branch President. Perhaps "unknown" or "Needed" or "Please Supply" would serve better for what you have in mind.
I LOVE the "|" idea and will try to implement it here in our units.