Dual SIM phone + Broadband only SIM+ Prepaid SIM = Epic Win?

[Wd40]

Hello guys,

I hate to get a post paid mobile connection. The cost $40+ per month is not worth it IMO. But then I need internet on the go, which I have living without until now.

So heres the plan:

1) Get a broadband only SIM that telcos provide mainly for tablets. The monthly cost is pretty cheap $10 for 1GB data, which I think is good enough for me.

2) Retain my current prepaid SIM card and then buy a dual SIM phone, without contract export set. I think I can get a decent phone with 1GB RAM for less than $200.

3)Use the broadband only SIM for data and the prepaid SIM for calls/sms

Will this work?

[Tanuki]

Hello guys,

I hate to get a post paid mobile connection. The cost $40+ per month is not worth it IMO. But then I need internet on the go, which I have living without until now.

So heres the plan:

1) Get a broadband only SIM that telcos provide mainly for tablets. The monthly cost is pretty cheap $10 for 1GB data, which I think is good enough for me.

2) Retain my current prepaid SIM card and then buy a dual SIM phone, without contract export set. I think I can get a decent phone with 1GB RAM for less than $200.

3)Use the broadband only SIM for data and the prepaid SIM for calls/sms

Will this work?

I was looking at some low end Galaxy Lite phones recently, and you can get a dual sim model for around SGD 170, maybe less near Mustafa. These are 3G only, though. Getting into a phone with LTE will be a fair chunk more cash. No reason why your plan would not work out just fine. Also you can use the data sim for SMS with a number of apps. The only caveat with the whole notion is that you'd miss phone calls while on the data card, since only one sim is used at a time.

[Wd40]

The only caveat with the whole notion is that you'd miss phone calls while on the data card, since only one sim is used at a time.

Seriously? Damn! I didnt know this. I thought both SIMs are active at all times. Dual SIM phones are not that usefull then in my opinion

[zzm9980]

The only caveat with the whole notion is that you'd miss phone calls while on the data card, since only one sim is used at a time.

Nope, depends on the phone. I used to use this setup extensively while traveling. I had a Singapore SIM in to receive phone calls, and an international roaming SIM for data. Also used the phone in hot-spot mode.

The Sony dual SIM models let you receive calls and SMSs on both sims at the same time. You can then assign a specific SIM for outgoing calls, outgoing SMS, and data. Mix and match as you choose. It even came with a scheduling app, and a hard button on the side dedicated to swapping the 'active outgoing calls' to the other SIM.

This was a Sony Xperia Tipo dual I bought about 2.5 years ago, but I suspect any Sony dualsim will have all of the same features. I specifically bought that model because it was the cheapest dual-sim phone I could find in the country running Android ICS (newest at the time). It was only 3G, but back then LTE wasn't very pervasive.

Also, I think only M1 offers pre-paid LTE. Just a heads up. Also when I went to their shop, the person I asked didn't understand what I meant by a pre-paid LTE data only card. I finally made them realize by saying it was "pre-paid iPad nano SIM one", and then used a SIM adapter to up-size it back to the size I needed.

[nakatago]

Hello guys,

I hate to get a post paid mobile connection. The cost $40+ per month is not worth it IMO. But then I need internet on the go, which I have living without until now.

So heres the plan:

1) Get a broadband only SIM that telcos provide mainly for tablets. The monthly cost is pretty cheap $10 for 1GB data, which I think is good enough for me.

2) Retain my current prepaid SIM card and then buy a dual SIM phone, without contract export set. I think I can get a decent phone with 1GB RAM for less than $200.

3)Use the broadband only SIM for data and the prepaid SIM for calls/sms

Will this work?

I was looking at some low end Galaxy Lite phones recently, and you can get a dual sim model for around SGD 170, maybe less near Mustafa. These are 3G only, though. Getting into a phone with LTE will be a fair chunk more cash. No reason why your plan would not work out just fine. Also you can use the data sim for SMS with a number of apps. The only caveat with the whole notion is that you'd miss phone calls while on the data card, since only one sim is used at a time.

Moto G LTE; not sure if the dual sim version is available in Singers though

[Tanuki]

The only caveat with the whole notion is that you'd miss phone calls while on the data card, since only one sim is used at a time.

Nope, depends on the phone. I used to use this setup extensively while traveling. I had a Singapore SIM in to receive phone calls, and an international roaming SIM for data. Also used the phone in hot-spot mode.

/quote]
OK, good to know that. The Galaxy Lite types weren't quite so good then. Worth looking around a little more in the future, but I didn't need that function at the time. Thanks!

[zzm9980]

The only caveat with the whole notion is that you'd miss phone calls while on the data card, since only one sim is used at a time.

Nope, depends on the phone. I used to use this setup extensively while traveling. I had a Singapore SIM in to receive phone calls, and an international roaming SIM for data. Also used the phone in hot-spot mode.

OK, good to know that. The Galaxy Lite types weren't quite so good then. Worth looking around a little more in the future, but I didn't need that function at the time. Thanks!

Yes, Samsungs are generally crap. (And I'm honestly not just saying that because of my employer ) Sony, HTC, and other Android vendors tend to put a lot more effort into their phones.

[Wd40]

Thanks Tanuki & ZZM, yes I did some research and it appears there are 2 types. Dual SIM active and Dual SIM stand By. Even in case of dual SIM stand by, both SIMs are available, its only when you are call on one SIM the other one goes off n/w. But in case of data usage on one SIM I am not sure, whether the other SIM goes off n/w. In any case, I will look for dual sim active phones.

[Wd40]

http://allaboutmotog.com/moto-g-how-to- ... on-moto-g/


This is a dual sim standby phone and it says:

when you are actively using mobile data in SIM card 1, if there is an incoming call for SIM card 2, you will have 2 options:
1.Stop data transfer in SIM card 1, and pick up the incoming call in SIM card 2 (this is the default setting), or
2.Divert the incoming call to voicemail, and continue the mobile data transfer.

Moto G allows to choose one of the behavior. The default is the first one. If you want, you can change this so that the incoming calls for non-data enabled SIM card are diverted to voicemail if the data enabled SIM card is actively transmitting data.

This should be fine for me.

[nakatago]

http://allaboutmotog.com/moto-g-how-to- ... on-moto-g/


This is a dual sim standby phone and it says:

when you are actively using mobile data in SIM card 1, if there is an incoming call for SIM card 2, you will have 2 options:
1.Stop data transfer in SIM card 1, and pick up the incoming call in SIM card 2 (this is the default setting), or
2.Divert the incoming call to voicemail, and continue the mobile data transfer.

Moto G allows to choose one of the behavior. The default is the first one. If you want, you can change this so that the incoming calls for non-data enabled SIM card are diverted to voicemail if the data enabled SIM card is actively transmitting data.

This should be fine for me.

Not to mention Motorola designed the phone NOT to be crap. It's not a flagship phone but it'll be best smartphone in its class.

[zzm9980]

WD40's post about Singtel prepaid being the cheapest just vanished. But I wanted to chime in and say that as of 6 months ago, only M1 had pre-paid LTE. I forgot the cost, but it was comparable to Singtel's prepaid 3G.

[Brah]

Heard of this brand? Saw one in the wild, seemed pretty good:
http://www.mi.com/sg/redmi1s/

[zzm9980]

Heard of this brand? Saw one in the wild, seemed pretty good:
http://www.mi.com/sg/redmi1s/

Yes, that's the Singapore version of Xiaomi. It's huge in China, they routinely sell out their new models in minutes and then get re-sold for double. Lots of people call them the "Apple" of China. I wasn't aware they had a Singaporean version yet. Good to know, since the Chinese version is difficult to use (to say the least) if you can't read Chinese

See that part on their page "5,000 sets. 8 July 12pm" ? That's why they sell out so fast and get marked up. They sell small batches and people always queue for it. They've got a really effective hype machine ala Apple.

tl;dr
It's probably a good phone if you can find one without a huge markup and in English.

[zzm9980]

On further inspection, it looks like those Mi's aren't LTE... Quite a let down if your intention is to use it for mobile tethering as your only Internet.

[nakatago]

Heard of this brand? Saw one in the wild, seemed pretty good:
http://www.mi.com/sg/redmi1s/

Yes, that's the Singapore version of Xiaomi. It's huge in China, they routinely sell out their new models in minutes and then get re-sold for double. Lots of people call them the "Apple" of China. I wasn't aware they had a Singaporean version yet. Good to know, since the Chinese version is difficult to use (to say the least) if you can't read Chinese

See that part on their page "5,000 sets. 8 July 12pm" ? That's why they sell out so fast and get marked up. They sell small batches and people always queue for it. They've got a really effective hype machine ala Apple.

tl;dr
It's probably a good phone if you can find one without a huge markup and in English.

It's how these small, Chinese startups (Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus) can compete in a crowded market. Create an artificial barrier to entry which builds hype. Of course, I believe their confidence in their product so their phones are probably ok. From what I've heard, their build quality at least is at par with the big players.

The only problem is, apart from limited availability is they also tend to be China-focused so they turn off non-Chinese enthusiasts who aren't willing to flash custom ROMs on the phones.

And for what it's worth, I get better vibes from OnePlus and Oppo vs Huawei.