Which dual sim handset to buy?

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LazyDr

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#193400 9-Mar-2016 17:21

Long story short, i'm on a contract with Vodafone, and the reception at work used to be great. It no longer is any good, to the point where i'm uncontactable in some areas, and will not be fixed in the near future. Rather than pay termination fees to get out of my contract, I was thinking of buying a new dual sim handset and putting a Spark prepay sim in the other slot (Spark coverage is good).

I've always tended to go for (close enough to) flagship devices, the last three being HTC M7, M8 and currently a Samsung Note 4. The Note 4 was a prize, and to be honest, I normally wouldn't have wanted something so unwieldy, and am not a big fan of TW, but as always, have essentially gotten used to it.

Options I seem to be able to find that would suit my tastes, are

1. Galaxy Note 5 Dual sim model (parallel imported) - roughly $1000

2. Huawei Mate 8 (Huawei have suggested that this would be available in NZ from April) - ?$1100-1200

3. Galaxy S7 dual sim model (currently the only way I can see to get this would be ebay, roughly $1100NZD + gst I assume)

I have considered also a Z5 or Z5 compact, but not completely sold on the Sony devices yet. I'm open to any suggestions. If I could just go out and buy any device and not have to worry about it having dual sim, i'd rather a Nexus 6P or maybe the standard S7 (as reference for the kind of phones I like). And of course, paying less than $1000 would be preferable, but i'd find it hard to "downgrade"

Edit: grammar/spelling

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Biddle Corp

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#1510041 9-Mar-2016 18:02

What is Vodafone GSM coverage like? Because no matter what phone you buy you're only going to be able to use Spark on the primary SIM (which will be 3G or 4G depending on the handset) but the 2nd network on all of these phones is only GSM.

LazyDr

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#1510046 9-Mar-2016 18:14

Really? Bugger, that'd put a large spanner in the works. Vodafone coverage is zero, including gsm. I obviously hadn't realised the Vodafone sim couldn't go in the primary slot, as that was my plan. Why is that?

Not sure what I'd do if that's the case, I suppose breaking the contract is my only option. You may have just saved me $1000

Stu

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#1510066 9-Mar-2016 18:27

What sbiddle is saying is that Spark don't have a GSM network, so the Spark SIM can only go in the primary slot as the secondary SIM slot is GSM only. The primary SIM slot usually supports 3G/4G/GSM, secondary is GSM only.

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LazyDr

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#1510068 9-Mar-2016 18:30

Oh I see. Appreciate the info, looks like my plans have been scuppered before even getting underway. A shame I didn't realise this before spending a few hours researching handsets!

PoHq

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#1510077 9-Mar-2016 18:39

Why not just use a spark SIM in a normal single SIM phone and forward all your Vodafone calls to the Spark prepay number. Or forward your calls from Vodafone to your work landline.

I'd steer clear of dual SIM if it were me. I'm sure there are many people using dual SIM without issue but I've only ever heard of the poor performance in real world issues.

richms

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#1510083 9-Mar-2016 18:50

Dual sim works great for me with a vodafone and 2degrees sim in the handset. Get calls on both no worries, and quick menu selection to change the 3/4g over to 2 degrees when I find I am low on data on vodafone or in the rare spot where they have nothing useful but 2degrees have signal.

The sim that I am not using for data sits on a 2g network, but that largly seems fine for the odd phonecall or SMS that comes in.

Richard rich.ms

LazyDr

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#1510105 9-Mar-2016 19:28

PoHq: Why not just use a spark SIM in a normal single SIM phone and forward all your Vodafone calls to the Spark prepay number. Or forward your calls from Vodafone to your work landline.

I'd steer clear of dual SIM if it were me. I'm sure there are many people using dual SIM without issue but I've only ever heard of the poor performance in real world issues.

In terms of landline, I'm not in a fixed location, it changes daily, so no landline to forward to.

I may misunderstand your suggestion, but assume I'd still be paying for data/minutes/texts on the Vodafone number that I can no longer use.. unless I swap sims when at work/home, then back to the issue of the calls being forwarded still despite the original sim being back in use. Doesn't sound like a feasible option to me

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LazyDr

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#1510106 9-Mar-2016 19:30

richms:
Dual sim works great for me with a vodafone and 2degrees sim in the handset. Get calls on both no worries, and quick menu selection to change the 3/4g over to 2 degrees when I find I am low on data on vodafone or in the rare spot where they have nothing useful but 2degrees have signal.

The sim that I am not using for data sits on a 2g network, but that largly seems fine for the odd phonecall or SMS that comes in.

You're suggesting there is a phone that can manage 3/4G on both sims? (Although not at the same time obviously)

Stu

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#1510110 9-Mar-2016 19:48

Surely it would be more cost effective to pay the early termination fee, port to Spark and keep using your existing phone?

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LazyDr

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#1510111 9-Mar-2016 19:51

You're probably right.. my ulterior motive is that I was hoping to pass this by the better half as a reason to buy a new phone

Stu

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#1510113 9-Mar-2016 19:58

Then as above, but get the phone you want as well because um.... The old phone err won't work on the Spark network? (Yeah we know it will, but we won't tell your better half!)

Or buy the better half a new phone as well. My wife wants an S7 Edge, so I'm up for two of them!

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richms

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#1510146 9-Mar-2016 21:05

LazyDr:

You're suggesting there is a phone that can manage 3/4G on both sims? (Although not at the same time obviously)

Prettymuch all I have tried will change which sim is 3/4g when you choose which one is used for data. Only a really old one I tried forced the 3g sim to be in a certain slot.

Richard rich.ms

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#1510192 9-Mar-2016 22:16

LazyDr: Oh I see. Appreciate the info, looks like my plans have been scuppered before even getting underway. A shame I didn't realise this before spending a few hours researching handsets!

So if you put the Spark SIM in the primary slot and the VF sim in the secondary slot....that should be OK. Your phone will ring on whatever number is called if you have reception. You can configure what the default behaviours are.

I have a dual-SIM "One Plus Two" phone. I keep a VF SIM in it and 2Degrees SIM in it.

I'll have to have a closer look at my phone as the 2Degrees SIM is in the secondary slot, but it seems to happily do LTE / 4G there. Maybe primary and secondary are configurable in software. This may be how we determine which SIM is the default for mobile data.

IN any case, it sounds like it would work for you.

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LazyDr

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#1510231 10-Mar-2016 00:12

I'd forgotten about the One Plus Two, it has a couple of areas they've seemingly skimped on to keep the price down, but does seem like a good option. Since owning the Note 4, and having such a great camera, i'm now finding it difficult to consider anything that doesn't stack up quite so well in that department, and that seems to be one thing the OP2 lags behind on slightly?

It seems you and richms both own phones that can utilise 3/4G in the secondary sim slot, but Stu and sbiddle thought that wasn't possible. Hmm

Stu: Then as above, but get the phone you want as well because um.... The old phone err won't work on the Spark network? (Yeah we know it will, but we won't tell your better half!)

Or buy the better half a new phone as well. My wife wants an S7 Edge, so I'm up for two of them!

Unfortunately, she may not be very technically literate, but I don't think I could convince my current phone won't run on Spark.. was a good idea though ;)

michaelmurfy

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#1510232 10-Mar-2016 00:39

My Oneplus 2 can do LTE on both slots. For a while had a Skinny and a Spark sim in mine and it worked fine.

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