Dual Sim Card Phones

[TheAceFace]

Hi Guys

Can you help please?

With working away alot, international roaming is way expensive.

If I purchase a phone with dual sim capacity am I right in the following scenario:

If am based anywhere outside of Thailand and purchase a local sim. When I am in country will incoming / outgoing calls go through the local sim or will it be placed on my Thai sim?

Is it possible to easy access each sim to determine which I call and receive from?

Please help.........huge phone bills are killing me ....should have done this ages ago.

What is a good dual phone to buy?........

[RakJungTorlae]

http://www.siamphone.com/catalog/gnet/g5.htm

[TheAceFace]

http://www.siamphone.com/catalog/gnet/g5.htm

Thanks RJT

I cannot read Thai and does it do what I need?

[lung]

hello

they have phones with 2 sim (1 standby)

and 2 sim (2 active) u need the last one.

then u will have 2 seperate lines for in & out call.

or 2 numbers same phone. very useful.

got it ??

[TheAceFace]

hello

they have phones with 2 sim (1 standby)

and 2 sim (2 active) u need the last one.

then u will have 2 seperate lines for in & out call.

or 2 numbers same phone. very useful.

got it ??

Cheers Lung

The 2 active I would need then, and just flick between the two depending where I am.

Do you know if HTC has any of these....or any other decent makes?

[lesdunbar]

Hi,

I purchased one of these on ebay for about A$68-00.

Has dual sim card slots. There is one on auction now 320501737297 Unlocked I68+ Touch Screen MP3 Cell Phone I9 Dual SIM It has a buy it now price of A$62.99 includes free postage from Hong Kong. It looks like an iphone but not have all the applications of one. I use my phone everyday its great for the price.

You will need to purchase a sd micro card Up to about 8gig.

Hope this helps,

cheers,

lesdunbar

[Boksida]

I have the same need for a dual sim phone. I have had a G-net which was bulky and not so good on internet connections, a few of the Chinese mini Iphone lookalikes and an Acer DX-900. The Chinese phones all failed for different reasons so I bought the expensive Acer. On paper this does everything you would need, has two sim cards and uses the Windows Mobile OS. In reality, battery life is terrible and the manufacturer's ROM does not work but alternatives are available on the net. It requires an incredible amount of geekiness to keep it running and I would not recommend it.

I'm still looking too.

[rogerdee123]

There used to be a very cheap (a few hundred baht) flimsy gadget available in the phone hacking shops here that was like a "Y" type dual sim card device. You put the device in your sim card slot and then two phone sims fit into the upper part of the "Y" connector. The wiring between the the connector and the two sims was more like tape than wire and it could be bent a bit to fit inside your phone casing. The user used a keypad combination to toggle between the two sims. I used one of these in my Nokia for a short while until I decided that I only needed one number

[TheAceFace]

Thanks for the info.

Does the I-phone have dual option or the blackberrys?

[Boksida]

There is another one here.

I have no personal experience with them but saw them mentioned on a forum for dissatisfied ACER users. I believe the drawback is that they are not 3G capable.

[dddave]

J-MART phone shops all over the city including many BTS stations sell a line of dual-SIM phones called J-FONE. They seem to be relatively inexpensive but I have no idea as to quality or country of manufacture.

I've bought phones from J-Mart in the past but never had to return any so I don't know about their return policy's; probably typically Thai: repair only.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

@OP

Such a phone would not help you unless you activate "conditional call divert", i.e. calls are automatically diverted to the other number in case your phone (the respective SIM) is roaming.

If you put a local and an overseas SIM into the phone and keep both active (dual standby) then calls to your Thai number will still come to your Thai number (obviously) even when it is roaming, also calls to your overseas number will still go to the overseas SIM when it is in Thailand. So you would gain nothing without the conditional divert.

As to the phones, plenty of them available - mostly cheap Chinese ones with rather questionable quality (which includes those offered by J-Mart and G-Net - same phones, literally, are available for even less money in MBK with "brand" names like "Phantasy" or "Superstar" or some such).

A good quality one i am aware of (and available in Thailand, my boss got one) is the Samsung D880 Duos, a slider. It is of much better quality than any of the Chinese ones, however it shares one common issue: Battery life sucks.

This is quite natural - with both SIM's active you have literally two phones in one, living off the same one battery. Twice the amount of network searches etc (mobile phones "talk" to the network all the time even if you are not actually on the phone, and with two SIM's active it talks twice as much).

Anyone interested in the Samsung? Here someone sells one: http://www.bahtsold.com/detail.php?id=53765 Not related to me in any way, i'd buy it myself if i had leftover cash

Best regards.....

Thanh

[astral]

I had a Samsung SGH-D880, until it was stolen.

Dual SIM, both active for receiving, but one can be disabled if you want to.

The screen tells you which line the call is coming in on.

Only one active at a time for sending. Switching between sending SIMs requires a restart.

A very nice phone.

I am really pissed off that it was stolen...................

[TheAceFace]

Thanks for the update and advice guy's.

Probably the best bet is to buy a cheap phone and a local SIM card when out of Thailand.

[tomartoh]

Better the Samsung 880 than a cheap Chinese fake. had my Samsung 2 years now without any problems, first phone i can say that about. a solid and dependable phone. bit deep and heavy. true the battery life is not the best, but you can buy a spare battery.

[frenchfarangjomtien]

The only smartphone with large screen, Wifi, and 2 sim cards is the ACER DX900.

This phone is far to be perfect but is useful to test wifi connection when you travel and be able to use 2 sim cards at the same time.

You can buy it second hand cheap, less than 10000.

[pampal]

I-Mobile makes a large number of dual sim phones. They are sturdy and work well. I have an I-Mobile Tv 628 and have used it in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and the US. It's a dual sim- dual talk phone, and doesn't need a restart to activate or deactivate a sim card like the other phones. I-Mobile makes 3 or 4 models of dual sim smart phones with 3G, WiFi and large touch screens for around 6-7 thousand baht

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

I forgot to mention it - i have one phone named "G-Net" which is also a dual-SIM and dual-standby, i.e. both SIM cards are active at the same time and can receive calls, even simultaneously. Either SIM can be disabled from the menu, too, however it supports data connections (GPRS/EDGE) only from SIM 1.

It is one of few phones that has a built-in television receiver but NOT a touch screen and it is also not overly bulky. See the attached picture (my phones collection as of today), it is the 6th in the middle row. I am currently trying to find a new housing for it - but, and that is generally a downside of those cheap phones here, while they throw the phones after you it is next to impossible to get hold of spare parts. That phone cost new some 3,500 Baht and it's battery, even in dual-standby mode, lasts quite long. But then it is a huge battery

Best regards.....

Thanh

[pampal]

I-Mobile has shops at MBK, Fortune, Mall Bangkapi and other places and has a one day repair warranty.

[Boksida]

The only smartphone with large screen, Wifi, and 2 sim cards is the ACER DX900.

This phone is far to be perfect but is useful to test wifi connection when you travel and be able to use 2 sim cards at the same time.

You can buy it second hand cheap, less than 10000.

The touch screen failed on my DX900 this week so it has now won the triple crown - software, firmware and hardware do not work unless changed by the user.

[TheAceFace]

Thanks for the info guy's

Will be back soon so I will pop to Tukcom to see whats on offer. Done a google search here in India and got results for HTC dual phones, but most probably copies judging by the sites. I thought there would be more options available than what I have seen. Guess it comes down to insufficient battery time?

[Thanh-BKK]

You are in India????

Oooh India is the land of dreams for a phone guy..... hit the next Samsung store! In India Samsung has at least 8 different dual-SIM models available. Most new-tech phones come to India first these days..... Samsung has available there:

- Dual-SIM GSM-GSM

- Dual-Mode GSM-CDMA

- Dual-Sim Dual-Mode Dual-Standby GSM-CDMA

- OMH - CDMA (open market - works with OMH SIM cards for CDMA which automatically set data channels etc according to provider)

Here i sit, in Thailand, user of two CDMA and two GSM networks, DREAMING of one day going to India and getting me some of those phones which won't come to Thailand at all because here the CDMA guys prefer to sell locked sets. And Indians won't sell to overseas buyers on E-Bay, i have tried that already.

If you really are based in India, please do me a favour and send me a PM. Shortly after Songhkran i will want to buy at least two phones from India and i will ask you to send them to me (obviously after i send you the money). I hope you have PayPal? Or a Thai bank account.

Best regards....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

Hello again.

Also, if you can get hold of old/used/new/free CDMA SIM cards in India (Tata, Reliance, Virgin, Connect) i would be more than happy if you could get some for me.... one of each provider. They don't have to be activated, i need them to test unlocked CDMA phones with R-UIM capability (as i take to unlocking Samsung CDMA sets myself).

Kind regards.....

Thanh

[pampal]

If you want a dual sim GSM-CDMA phone in Thailand, try the I-Mobile TV 638. My GF has one, and uses Hutch and True at the same time. Works well.

You are in India????

Oooh India is the land of dreams for a phone guy..... hit the next Samsung store! In India Samsung has at least 8 different dual-SIM models available. Most new-tech phones come to India first these days..... Samsung has available there:

- Dual-SIM GSM-GSM

- Dual-Mode GSM-CDMA

- Dual-Sim Dual-Mode Dual-Standby GSM-CDMA

- OMH - CDMA (open market - works with OMH SIM cards for CDMA which automatically set data channels etc according to provider)

Here i sit, in Thailand, user of two CDMA and two GSM networks, DREAMING of one day going to India and getting me some of those phones which won't come to Thailand at all because here the CDMA guys prefer to sell locked sets. And Indians won't sell to overseas buyers on E-Bay, i have tried that already.

If you really are based in India, please do me a favour and send me a PM. Shortly after Songhkran i will want to buy at least two phones from India and i will ask you to send them to me (obviously after i send you the money). I hope you have PayPal? Or a Thai bank account.

Best regards....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

I don't like i-Mobile to be honest - bad experience. Break rather easy, impossible to get spares if the phone is a year old. Yeah they have "repair in 24 hours" but if the phone is a year or older all they have is "sorry, no have".

That, and then all the dual-mode phones so far available here (i-Mobile and some Chinese ones) never support data connections on CDMA, only on GSM/EDGE. Which makes them useless for me - CDMA is my main network (Hutch and CAT), GSM is merely a backup.

I want Samsung

Kind regards....

Thanh

[pampal]

My experience with I-Mobile differs from yours. I have an older I-Mobile(315) bought 3 years ago that still works well. I don't know about the spare parts issue, since my I-Mobile phones have never had a problem.

Good Luck with Samsung, they make some great phones.

Reason for Edit: Typo

Edited April 2, 2010 by pampal

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

I did not want to bash i-Mobile phones, some may be really good phones - my experience is limited to two of them. First one bought in Bangkok in 2008, given to my boyfriend's nephew in Chiang Mai for birthday. Christmas 2009 one of the keys simply fell off so while i was there i went looking for a spare keypad - no chance. Not only no after-market but also i-Mobile service could not help - "phone too old, part no longer available". That was after making two phone calls to head office in Bangkok to see if the part can be ordered from there.

I then sold that phone and bought him another brand-new i-Mobile right there, a slightly advanced model with a better camera. That was Christmas 2009. Today my boyfriend told me that that phone, not even a full four months old, no longer charges - charger is ok, phone is not. And i-Mobile refuses to repair it under warranty, stating "it has been dropped". While that may be true (the boy is 12 years old) i have seen many phones that had been dropped or outright smashed against the wall (upset girlfriends do such things) and while usually the display needs replacing they normally still charge.

Now the boy will get a Samsung L700 - while that model sucks on 3G it is still a very sturdy phone (stainless steel body!) with great features for the price , i have one and can only recommend it. Except for 3G

Best regards.....

Thanh

[TheAceFace]

Hi All

After some searching I have found via ebay Blackberry / HTC and LG dual phones, I am thinking of buying this one New LG KS660 (search on google). The price I can get is cheaper than Tukcom (if they even have them).

I am just waiting on a full spec from the supplier.

Will keep updating here on the performance once I get it.

Ace