Improve Your Life with a Dual SIM Phone

Posted On 30 September 2023

Last updated on April 4th, 2024

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This month I used both SIM slots in my phone, and it is a great experience! I took a trip to the United States where I got an American number for my phone. I had previously heard about dual SIM phones but had no personal experience with one. My wife had purchased an American SIM card when she ran out of roaming data on a trip to the US. That was just a one-time use, though.

For years my wife & I had a great Canada/US plan with Telus. It even included unlimited roaming! Ok, not really unlimited, our roaming was limited to our Canadian plan limit which applied while we were in the US as well as Canada. The problem was that we got to thinking we could lower our monthly phone bill.

After quite a bit of thought and debate, we decided to switch to Public Mobile (follow the link for a $10 credit) for $40 per month per line. Less than half the price we were paying Telus! We lost the US calling and roaming, but we don’t call the US very much.

One Phone, Two Numbers

Earlier this month, I took a trip to Colorado to visit family. Instead of getting a roaming package for my phone, I opted to get an American number. My wife was able to upgrade her plan to include calling US numbers from Canada for only $10 more per month.

I got an American e-SIM from Tello (follow the link for a $10 credit) for an American number on my phone. Public Mobile does not support WIFI calling, and currently no Canadian cell providers support WIFI calling from outside the country!!

When I got to the US I turned off my Canadian SIM and started using my American SIM. This enabled family in the US to call me, and I had plenty of data for the duration of my trip.

Now that I’m back in Canada, I am able to unlock the power of my dual SIM phone. WIFI calling can use the data from the other SIM card or a WIFI connection. Now, family in the US can call or text me on my American number and it works just fine up here!

Is a Dual SIM for you?

Should you use two SIMs in your phone? I don’t know. I went for years with only one number on my cell phone. It really depends on your situation and how you use your phone.

The two biggest reasons why a person has two numbers on their phone is for business separation and for travel or family in another country. Dual SIM phones have grown in popularity around the world, but not in North America.

Business & Privacy

It can be beneficial to have a separate business and personal phone numbers. For those who don’t want to have to carry two phones around, they can have both numbers on a dual SIM phone.

You can have a business number to give out to people, and a personal number that is only used with family and friends. This way you know if a call is business or personal.

For those who want to set (and keep) business hours, the business SIM can be turned off. That way the customers can leave a message and you can have a life outside work. The work number could even be forwarded to another number when you go on vacation.

Using a dual SIM phone can give you privacy while allowing you to set boundaries with others. This could be applied to a work phone number as well as a self-employed person.

Frequent Travellers / Family Out of Country

This is the reason I got a second number on my phone. I have family in the United States that do not have an international calling plan on their phones. We also travel to the US periodically.

Having an American cell number allows me to use get text messages from an American bank. I can also set up a Zelle account and send money in the US like we do with Interact e-Transfers here in Canada. With a dual SIM phone I can handle transactions from either country on the same phone.

When we take a trip to the US I can simply disable my Canadian SIM card at the border, add some data to my US plan, and then I can keep using my phone in the US. Since I am with Tello I can change my plan as often as I need to. When I am in Canada I can drop it down to $6 (US) per month! Even at this price I can still use the number for calls and texts.

WIFI Calling

WIFI calling is a great feature that allows us to use our phones in places with no cell service. The US cell providers that have WIFI calling allow the feature to be used globally – as long as the phone has an Internet connection. WIFI calling is what allows the dual SIM phone to work in the other country.

Canadian cell providers, on the other hand, only support WIFI calling in Canada! Why?!? The only thing I can think of is that they like selling roaming packages.

A way around this could be to use a VPN on your phone so you can have a Canadian IP address. This should fool the system into thinking you are in Canada. (I have not tried this – I’ll update when I do get to try it.)

Staying In Contact

Public Mobile currently does not offer WIFI calling. I hope they add this. In the meantime, I can simply change my voice mail greeting to let people know that I can be reached on my American number. Voice mail can still be checked from my other line.

To access voice mail from another phone number is easy. Call your number and during the greeting, press the # sign, then when prompted, enter your PIN. Then you can listen to your messages.

The trick is to make it as easy as possible for people to get a hold of you while keeping it simple for yourself. Using a dual SIM phone has given me more options and greater flexibility. It is easy to use, and it is quite affordable. I would recommend this to anyone who benefit from having two numbers on one phone.