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Forced to use two mobile devices -one personal, one professional- three years ago I did a little market research on the options I had for a twin SIM telephone. Carrying two devices at the same time is incredibly annoying. Another thing that is also infuriating is the situations when I was speaking on one device while the other was ringing, becoming even worse at the office where the landline did me no favours…

The fact that I still use two cellphones is evidence that the solutions and answers I got were not so satisfactory. The Vodafone people steered me away from the twin SIM solution -the official explanation was low reliability- while TIM -now called Wind- offered a two-in-one SIM solution that had quite a few limitations.

Hearing about the new DuoSim 228 Mobile Phone my interest was renewed. For this reason, and bearing in mind that the manner of using two numbers with one mobile device also depends heavily on operator service, I decided to list a combination of expectations for a convincing twin SIM device and service:

1. The mobile device must definitely have two SIM slots. Changing something in one of the two accounts allows for quick changes. Some operators have special single SIM cards that integrate two numbers that have some of the problems discussed in the following numbers.
2. Both numbers must be fully active at all times. When I enquired about this, it was possible to receive calls at both numbers, but for outgoing calls only one number remained active. Obviously this means trouble, as I do not want to call clients with my personal number, or family and friends with my business number.
3. Evidently, having two conversations at the same is out of the question. We are talking about communication here, not going nuts…
4. The device’s contact list must distinguish personal and business contacts in a simple manner. Judging by the mass of names accumulating with time, this would ease contact finding.
5. It should be possible to deactivate any one or both SIM cards at any time. Some times business is business, or the other way round.

Some of the the above already exist, it is however the combination that would make me happy. The use of twin SIM devices and services never took off -at least in Greece or Europe. Nevertheless, the number of users with more than one number increases continuously, with the number of subscriptions already dwarfing the population of most EU countries.

There is also those that simply want the cheapest possible mobile calls in every country. Clearly there is a potentially lucrative market and nice service that could be provided there for many customers…

Link: Red Ferret