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Rant - twin sim - please, please, please get your butts in gear on this one

Started by Ewan · 11 months ago

Having just taken on a new role I’m having to get another mobile phone and mobile number.

It’s not such a big problem and, because I’m on Orange, I’ll just grab a BlackBerry for work but it has left me frustrated at Samsung and all of the mobile operators I’ve called this morning. The Samsung D880 [...] ... Continue reading »

11 comments

  • Ewan

    11 months ago

    HERE HERE!

    It MUST be the operators refusing to stock dual sim handsets. That must be the reason.
    reply
  • MarkW

    11 months ago

    +1 - this would be SOOOOOO useful!
    reply
  • Ben Smith

    11 months ago

    Roll on a solution that separates numbers from SIM cards and allows me to 'log on' any number on any handset on any network. Truphone is getting there with a VoIP solution, but I want it to handle SMS too and be native to the device...
    reply
  • nacho

    11 months ago

    As in: two phone lines/numbers in the same SIM card? Wouldn't that be better? I remember some handsets have something like line one/line two and the possibility of switching between them. An old Nokia had that and when I contacted them asking, Nokia replied that it was operator-dependant but technically the phone could operate two numbers. Is it true? Wouldn't be ideal to have two numbers in the same phone?
    reply
  • Ben Smith

    11 months ago

    No - as you said that was an option via Orange some time ago.

    I want one or more numbers which can be directed to any of my phones at any time (or do more clever things like ring several) and for outgoing calls / SMS to present that number. I want the handsets to be on any network I like, for which I'd pay a connection subscription, but for calling from any handset to be billed from a single provider that covers the lot and to whom I either pay according to a tariff or buy a bundle. I want to break the one number / one handset model and do it in a more elegant way than the current solutions which get close-ish.
    reply
  • Mike42

    11 months ago

    Hmmm...it's not as simple as 2 slots - if you simply want to save the hassle of swapping, yes. If you want both SIM's active at once, then you'd need 2 complete sets of radios AND antennas in the handset. Plus your battery would go down twice as fast. Samsung appear to have kind of cracked the 2-radios-at-once issue, but the battery lifefrom 1200mAh? No mention I could find there. Also the 2nd SIM is limited in its ability, and, er, it's not 3G. Repeat, NOT 3G.


    I reckon to do 3G and achieve the level of isolation required should you end up using adjacent RF channels, you'd need some rather more serious filters / higher-spec (read: tighter) amplifiers in the RF path as well. Pricey.

    Sure, you could do this. But to have 3G standby for 2 bands at once the end product would be a LOT bigger than current devices.

    Jump in here Dean on the subject of divergent devices, but I'm pretty sure the user case here is pretty niche. By the look of it, Normobs/business Normobs (Bormobs?) are actually happy with separate devices, thanks very much.

    /m
    reply
  • rob

    11 months ago

    The battery cannot be any weaker than my Nokia 6500.
    reply
  • Tim

    11 months ago

    The old Benefon Twin was the first (or one of them) with a proper dual SIM slot (though not two GSM receivers) . Horrible phone though, the battery barely lasted a few hours and was prone to static if you had long hair (in my pony tail days).

    WND Telecom manufacture some fancy dual SIM handsets, but the best by looks must be the Atom (http://www.wndtelecom.com/en/mobile/Atom-Duo/) which has two touch screens of equal size on the front. To select a SIM just rotate the handset so that what was the screen becomes the keyboard and keyboard becomes the screen.

    Not a smartphone, so not one for me.
    reply
  • Ricky Chotai

    11 months ago

    no uk operator will stock and support multi sim as they are worried it will be used on two different networks, however apprantly the networks in Russia (Beeline springs to mind) actually stock this very handset!
    reply
  • jimwild

    11 months ago

    Agreed, I can remember having a dual sim battery for my Nokia 5110 back in about 1999 and it was the business. Can't believe its taken this long and manufacturer uptake is so minimal.
    reply
  • tim

    11 months ago

    The Benefon Twin was one of the first handsets with built in dual SIM holders, but has terrible battery life and is very prone to static, especially as I had long hair when I had the prototype.
    WND Telecom's Atom handset seems to be a stylish and rare alternative to the usual suspects. It uses two identical touch sensitive screens and a gravity sensor to determine which way up the handset is being held to switch between SIM's. Shame it's not a smart phone.
    http://www.wndtelecom.com/en/mobile/Atom-Duo
    reply

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