Unfortunately our phones have only 1 SIM slot.

When we travel from Thailand we need  phone numbers from the country we are in. (We usually purchase a SIM at the country we are in airport).

Would a virtual SIM be better?

1. What are the pros and cons of having a virtual SIM?

2. From your experience, which virtual SIM would you purchase?

 

https://esimthailand.com/

1 hour ago, carlyai said:

Unfortunately our phones have only 1 SIM slot.

When we travel from Thailand we need  phone numbers from the country we are in. (We usually purchase a SIM at the country we are in airport).

Would a virtual SIM be better?

1. What are the pros and cons of having a virtual SIM?

2. From your experience, which virtual SIM would you purchase?

 

I have the virtual SIM as my main number, then I can buy and insert anything I want when I travel.

3 minutes ago, sungod said:

I have the virtual SIM as my main number, then I can buy and insert anything I want when I travel.

Thanks for the reply.

How does this work exactly?

 

6 minutes ago, carlyai said:

Thanks for the reply.

How does this work exactly?

 

To be totally honest I'm not sure if its to do with the phone, the carrier or both.

 

I use an iphone 14 and I popped into AIS for them to make it an esim. Best idea would be to talk to your carrier I guess.

1. Determine the model/version of your smartphone
2. Google search for model esim.
3. If you find that your smartphone is capable go visit your carrier's office
4. True converted my service from sim card to esim in a few minutes with no charge.
5. After conversion your sim slot will be empty and you can add a local sim easily.
6. After you add a foreign sim, you may need to configure your phone to make sure you use the correct number for future outbound calls.

22 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

1. Determine the model/version of your smartphone
2. Google search for model esim.
3. If you find that your smartphone is capable go visit your carrier's office
4. True converted my service from sim card to esim in a few minutes with no charge.
5. After conversion your sim slot will be empty and you can add a local sim easily.
6. After you add a foreign sim, you may need to configure your phone to make sure you use the correct number for future outbound calls.

Perfect answer. I wish I knew this before buying phone that cannot handle esims.

1 hour ago, Tom100 said:

Perfect answer. I wish I knew this before buying phone that cannot handle esims.

The feature is usually referred to as Dual Sim capability.

 

There are a couple of different methods the phone manufacturers use to implement the feature.  I did some research when I wanted to use a US based sim for 2FA's from US banks.  I had to retire an older iPhone and buy a used iPhone XR so that the US sim would be active and useable anytime.

1 hour ago, Tom100 said:

Perfect answer. I wish I knew this before buying phone that cannot handle esims.

 

14 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

The feature is usually referred to as Dual Sim capability.

 

No it is not. Dual Sim capability and eSims are two different methods of achieving similar results.

 

Dual sim capable phones have two physical sim slots. E-sim capable handsets are capable of running with no physical sim card at all. Usually they support both a single physical sim and one or more esims, so once the phone is configured it works in the same way as a dual sim handset.

 

Some phones support both technologies; my current phone has dual sim slots and also supports multiple esims.

iPhone and newer model Samsung's are eSIM compliant.

 

I recently added a US Mintmobile eSIM to my new, dual-SIM, eSIM compliant Nokia which also has my regular UK EE SIM in a slot, so that's the two numbers it carries. With an eSIM enabled, the second SIM slot is unavailable.

 

My two Thai numbers are on the older Nokia phone that doesn't support eSIM.

9 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

The feature is usually referred to as Dual Sim capability.

Dual Sim capability means it has slots for two physical SIMS and has nothing to do with Virtual Sims;

!

 

Most Thai phones do not have eSim capability 

On 2/14/2024 at 6:44 AM, gamb00ler said:

1. Determine the model/version of your smartphone
2. Google search for model esim.
3. If you find that your smartphone is capable go visit your carrier's office
4. True converted my service from sim card to esim in a few minutes with no charge.
5. After conversion your sim slot will be empty and you can add a local sim easily.
6. After you add a foreign sim, you may need to configure your phone to make sure you use the correct number for future outbound calls.

Thank you for that reply. Very interesting subject as I travel a lot. In the past it had been a pain physically changing sim cards. 

So I go to D Tak and have my sim card replaced with an E-sim , when I go to the states in a couple of months do I need to buy a local sim card for the month that I will be there , and place it in the empty sim card slot, or can I get another esim? So can I have two e=sims on my phone?

And if so how does my phone know which esim to use, so that I don't  incur  roaming charges from my Thai provider.  Is there an area in my iPhone settings where I can specify which e-sim to use?

 

 

Tourist eSIM is available in Thailand and provided by 3 major networks in Thailand (AIS, DTAC and True Move). All these network operators are offering high-speed eSIM data services.

9 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

Most Thai phones do not have eSim capability 

 

Absolutely not true.

14 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

Most Thai phones do not have eSim capability 

Most phones sold in Thailand are not manufactured here!

My iPhone 15 is esim only. It takes up to 50 e-sims at a time. I have my original USA number e-sim and my Thai number e-sim. I bought the e-sim number for Thai through Dtac here. I can choose which number answers first for different usages; cell, roaming, long distance. It's simple to choose at the dialing stage when inputing the desired contact number.

Just now, Brn2Trvl said:

It takes up to 50 e-sims at a time.

I thought 5 was the max number of e-sims per phone!

38 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Thank you for that reply. Very interesting subject as I travel a lot. In the past it had been a pain physically changing sim cards. 

So I go to D Tak and have my sim card replaced with an E-sim , when I go to the states in a couple of months do I need to buy a local sim card for the month that I will be there , and place it in the empty sim card slot, or can I get another esim? So can I have two e=sims on my phone?

And if so how does my phone know which esim to use, so that I don't  incur  roaming charges from my Thai provider.  Is there an area in my iPhone settings where I can specify which e-sim to use?

 

 

Presuming your phone is esim capable, just leave your current physical Thai sim in place.  Purchase an esim and load it on your phone through settings (esim sellers provide instructions that are easy to follow). When I return to Thailand, I just go to settings, delete the esim, and switch the phone back to my physical Thai sim.  It's actually rather easy.

7 minutes ago, CMBob said:

Presuming your phone is esim capable, just leave your current physical Thai sim in place.  Purchase an esim and load it on your phone through settings (esim sellers provide instructions that are easy to follow). When I return to Thailand, I just go to settings, delete the esim, and switch the phone back to my physical Thai sim.  It's actually rather easy.

Thank you, 

I believe my phone is compatible, according to search I made on google ,but I will stop by D-Tak and confirm, 

I appreciate your reply

Just so I understand.  Are saying I can have a Thai number and have a USA number on my cell phone? So I would have to have a Thai carrier for my Thai number. Then I also would have to have a USA carrier for my USA number? 

I only use eSIMs (that's the correct name, not virtual SIM). You can have a large number of eSIMs in your phone, but at least with an iPhone only two can be turned on at any one time. They can be turned on or off under the systems > cellular settings on your phone. 

 

I currently have both a US and Thai eSIM installed, but when I travel I order an eSIM for that country from one of the many eSIM companies, install it (by scanning a QR code) before I go, and then connect to the network when I land and am still on the plane. I've used MobiMatter, Nomad and Airalo. They and similar companies all offer different country, regional and worldwide packages with different amounts of data and different validity periods. eSIMs are much easier to manage than hard SIMs.

34 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Thank you, 

I believe my phone is compatible, according to search I made on google ,but I will stop by D-Tak and confirm, 

I appreciate your reply

If by chance you have a Samsung phone, go to Settings, then hit SIM manager, and if you have a Add eSIM option, you're all set.  I would guess other phones have something similar.

2 hours ago, JayClay said:

Some phones support both technologies; my current phone has dual sim slots and also supports multiple esims.

 

This thread prompted me to move one of my sims to an eSim, in order to free up a slot for a third carrier and I need to make a correction.

 

Unfortunately I have now found out that my current phone does not support the two technologies, as slot 2 is disabled as soon as an eSim is added.

 

So I don't know if there actually are any phones that support the use of both dual sim and esim technology simultaneously.

15 minutes ago, CMBob said:

If by chance you have a Samsung phone, go to Settings, then hit SIM manager, and if you have a Add eSIM option, you're all set.  I would guess other phones have something similar.

Thanks again. 

I have an Iphone and checked in settings, Cellular, and Sim card, and indeed there is an option for e-sim and if you have more than one , you can chose which one you want your phone to use .

Brilliant!!

9 hours ago, sirineou said:

Thank you, 

I believe my phone is compatible, according to search I made on google ,but I will stop by D-Tak and confirm, 

I appreciate your reply

For iPhones, the XR was the first model to support esim.  So if you have an XR or newer you can use esim(s).

How To Activate eSim On Android! (2023)

After we have aleady installed new second Sim Card we go to : 

1.Settings

2.Connections

3.Sim Manager

Here there are option

a.We add the new Sim Card

b.Scan QR code Sim Card (from provider) with your phone camera instantly taking a shot and after : Ender activation code (from provider we  bought Sim Card).

One thing we should figure it out is that in Android devices on our left side of phone device with a small pin we push to take out the frame of the SimCard which has two slots to place a second Sim Card or to place a memory card.

Remember when you are going to instal Virtual Sim Card you should always denergized your old Sim Card on your phone devise

I never do it but I keep separate my Sim card from my Country althought there is an option afterwards to have two phone numbers with Virtual Sim Card and to select your profile to use it which card to use it.

My advice is to keep your old Sim Card in your phone device and go to buy in Thailand from providers Dtac etc a new Sim Card with QRcode and Activation code number from Dtac etc.

 

 

First, you need a phone capable of eSIM.

The beauty is you can purchase from anywhere in the world.

Slightly off-topic, as we know over 20 years the technology of phones has been nothing short of amazing.

 

But we still have to open SIM slot with a pin (if you have one handy) and mess around trying to get the SIM card the right way around, and fit into that fiddly little square and push it back in without it falling out

22 minutes ago, Seppius said:

Slightly off-topic, as we know over 20 years the technology of phones has been nothing short of amazing.

 

But we still have to open SIM slot with a pin (if you have one handy) and mess around trying to get the SIM card the right way around, and fit into that fiddly little square and push it back in without it falling out

 

We don't "still" have to open a SIM slot in that manner; this is a relatively new development and an intentional design decision by manufacturers.

 

In the not so recent past, SIMs were far more easily accessible in phones.