dual sim phones in US? alternatives?

[jcbrandon]

Anyone have any direct experience with dual sim phones in the US?

A bit of background:

I need to get a second mobile phone line but I don't want to carry two mobile phones. So I asked my local cell phone dealer for a phone that can support two lines. I might as well have asked him to cure world hunger. He could not imagine how that might be possible. His solution was to get a second phone and have its calls forwarded to my original phone.

That doesn't meet my needs. I want two phone numbers, with separate billing. I want to carry one phone and be able to make and receive calls on both numbers. When a call comes in, I want to know which number is ringing. I want to be able to seamlessly switch between phone numbers without needing to reboot the phone. If I'm on the phone and a call comes into the other number, I want it to go to voicemail, then let me know I got a message.

Two numbers. One device.

That means two sim cards.

So I've found that dual sim phones exist and are somewhat common in Asia. They are apparently available in the US, though not common.

Anyone have any experience using one?

As an alternative, I found SecondVoice, a service that delivers a second phone number using VOIP. Any experience with that? The user experience seems a little clunky.

 

[link30204]

It fails this criteria

"I want two phone numbers, with separate billing"


Does it use my cell phone minutes?

Yes. SecondVoice works in conjunction with your carrier's network. Just like any call to or from your cell phone, a SecondVoice call will use your plan's minutes just the same.




And out going calls would involve additional steps. seems awkward to me

Can I make calls with my SecondVoice?

Yes. Simply call your SecondVoice and choose option 2 from the main menu to make free calls to anyone in the U.S. and Canada (except Hawaii and Alaska). Your SecondVoice will show up as the Caller ID when you make calls through the system.

 

[Saratoga]

Sounds pretty complicated. As far as I am aware when you have one phone that has two sims in it either one is working or the other, not both together.

You might be able to get some asian import that could handle both together but the easiest and cheapest I know of is to have two handsets. I've done the same here in the UK for patchy phone coverage but haven't done for a long while.

One option I have come across is a foreign sim in your phone that allows you to roam across other networks. But that could get a tad expensive

Good Luck

 

[yubert]

Anyone have any direct experience with dual sim phones in the US?

A bit of background:

I need to get a second mobile phone line but I don't want to carry two mobile phones. So I asked my local cell phone dealer for a phone that can support two lines. I might as well have asked him to cure world hunger. He could not imagine how that might be possible. His solution was to get a second phone and have its calls forwarded to my original phone.

That doesn't meet my needs. I want two phone numbers, with separate billing. I want to carry one phone and be able to make and receive calls on both numbers. When a call comes in, I want to know which number is ringing. I want to be able to seamlessly switch between phone numbers without needing to reboot the phone. If I'm on the phone and a call comes into the other number, I want it to go to voicemail, then let me know I got a message.

Two numbers. One device.

That means two sim cards.

So I've found that dual sim phones exist and are somewhat common in Asia. They are apparently available in the US, though not common.

Anyone have any experience using one?

As an alternative, I found SecondVoice, a service that delivers a second phone number using VOIP. Any experience with that? The user experience seems a little clunky.

Yes, I have a dual-SIM iPhone4 clone phone. The phone has slots for 2 SIM cards and the software allows one to activate one SIM or the other SIM or both SIM cards at the same time.

With both SIM cards active, the phone will ring if a call comes in on either phone number. And to make a call, the phone app has two [call] buttons, one for each SIM card. See the attached photos...

As for SecondVoice, you can use GoogleVoice to get a 2nd phone number and have incoming calls transfered to your cell for free!! It's what I use and if I don't answer the call, GoogleVoice will transcribe the voice message to text and send it to my email.

 

[gary in ohio]

Have you considered a forwarding service? or maybe google voice to front end your second number?

 

[wig]

I have a android phone.and use google voice and it awesome.has lots of options.

 

[uli2000]

Google Voice is really the best (and cheapest) way to go. First of all, it's free! Second, if your calling plan has a free calling to certain numbers feature (Friends and Family, My Circle, A List, ect) designate you GV number as one of those numbers and incoming and outgoing calls are free! Plus, if you are running a smartphone (Android, Blackberry, hopefully soon iPhone), there are GV apps that will keep track of your incoming and outgoing calls and messages. Plus, you can have your number ring at several different phones (cell, home, office, ect) either all at once or in any order you want. I have a GV number for when I dont really want to give someone my real cell number. Plus, you can get a GV number in almost any area code. I see you live in NV (I'm in Ely myself) but do most of your buisness in CA/NY/wherever else? Get a number local to that area.

Only other option I am aware of it a dual sim phone, and the only ones Ive ever seen are cheap Chinese knock offs, and only one sim can be active at a time. Might as well switch sims back and forth if you can only have one line active.

 

[Viggen]

I just signed up for Google Voice and downloaded the app to my Curve. How exactly does it work? What is free and was isnt?

 

[billwilson]

My wife is asian
been there tons
Heaps of 2 sim card phones
only one works at a time as far as i know
will ck in a few days as i am flying over
best
bw

 

[billwilson]

dual sim card

i am in thailand now
just played with a blackberry clone
did NOT know it was a clone till someone told me

full functions
TWO sim card slots

both are active the same time

i tested it, calll one number and the readout shows
what line is being called

$75 usd

pm me if anyone wants one

will ck on the iphone clones too