Seeking dual SIM phone for use in North America

[puuchaibaa]

Looking to buy a dual SIM, mid spec (well under 10k), Android (NOT apple) LTE phone that will work well on the following North American bands:

GSM 1700, 1900, 2100, 2600 and AWS 1700/2100 (this last one being most important).

I want to buy the phone in Thailand because they come unlocked, are reasonably priced and also I will use the phone occasionally here. Hopefully some of you here have already done homework on this since getting the right bands is a challenge.

I have an official Thai LG G4 that I tried using over there. It actually worked but I got a poor signal nearly everywhere in the city. I presume the problem is with the antennae in the Thai G4 which are unlikely to be tuned to N American bands. This is understandable given the limited space to fit multiple antennae.

[gandalf12]

Part of the problem is going to be getting the USA bands as you use slightly different frequencies to most other countries. You could try Motorola, Their phones may fit the bill wit them being an American company.

[mtls2005]

GSM 1700, 1900, 2100, 2600 and AWS 1700/2100 (this last one being most important).

2G, 3G or 4G?

Which version of the G4 do you have? H815? (that appears to support 4G/LTE AWS)

Why do you need dual SIM?

Budget?

Which carrier(s) do you wish to use in the U.S.? T-Mo?

Where will you be in the U.S.?

Your G4 should work OK, assuming the 815.

I think you'd be much better off buying a U.S. variant, in the U.S..

Edited July 19, 2016 by mtls2005

[puuchaibaa]

My G4 is the H818P model sold in Thailand, hence the reason why it doesn't work properly with many carriers over in Canada. I'm looking for broad N American coverage because I will be roaming in the U.S. The AWS band(s) I want is for the Wind Mobile network in Canada.

Dual SIM is useful for me to utilize two different carriers, one with good coverage including in rural areas but expensive data, the other the exact opposite. With the oligopoly ripoff we have in Canada, I find it necessary to juggle carriers like this. Dual SIM (especially unlocked) phones in Canada are extremely rare thanks to our oligopoly. I should start a phone import business haha.

[mtls2005]

Which providers, other than WIND, do you plan on using? (T-Mobile, in the U.S., uses the same bands, so it might be easy? T-Mobile also has some cost-effective roaming packages.)

Unfortunately your version of the G4 is quite limited and unique (South Africa, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand), so not surprised it didn't work for you.

I'd probably stick to a single SIM - and just swap out the SIMS as necessary - phone which supports GSM/2G/1900, 3G/AWS, 4G/AWS at a minimum. I'd buy the phone in the U.S. where it will be both unlocked and inexpensive. A Moto G (3rd Gen) XT1540, for $150 - $175 might suffice, but then there are probably a couple dozen models which would work. A Nexus 5X, with Project Fi, might also be a seamless option?

Edited July 22, 2016 by mtls2005