Dual SIM phones are quite a nifty idea. For people with more than one SIM card.

Dual SIM phones are quite a nifty idea. For people with more than one SIM card, and therefore more than one phone, they enable you to ditch one of those phones and keep your pocket free for other things, lightening your load a little.

I’ve come up with eight reasons as to why Dual SIM is a great idea.

• Only carry one phone.This, for me, is the first obvious reason for having a Dual SIM phone. Carrying two phones – one for work and one for my personal use – around with me on a day-to-day basis is a bit of a chore and it takes up valuable space in my pocket. I’m sure you feel the same. One less thing to remember in the mornings before you leave the house could only be a good thing. Right?
• Full network coverage.There will be times when my phone doesn’t pick up any network coverage. Nada! I receive absolutely nothing on one network within my home, which is hugely annoying as I’m almost certainly going to want to be contacted or make contact with people from within my own domain. But on other networks I do. Being able to connect to different networks when in a black spot is a great reason to go Dual SIM, with less fuss.
• Make the most from different tariffs.While this isn’t necessarily a reason I’d opt for Dual SIM – I’ve spent money on a reasonably high all-inclusive plan – it is a viable one. If you don’t want to spend heaps of money on one big plan, or if money is tight, the only option might be to have the cheapest plan available. Most of the time this will mean you’ll be sacrificing some added perks, such as 1000 text messages, or free international calls. Sometimes it might be cheaper to opt for two tariffs with two separate SIM cards. If that is the case, then owning a Dual SIM phone means you can do everything you want, from one phone.
• Multi-ownership.Again, this isn’t relevant in my case as I’m surrounded by phones and have numerous spare phones lying about – it’s part of the job. In some countries, though, such as those in the emerging markets, buying a phone could cost an entire month’s wages. This means many people share mobile phones within their families and the mobile phone becomes the home phone. A Dual SIM phone, the Nokia 101, for example, has the ability to remember personal settings for up-to five different SIM cards. Hugely useful for some.
• Screening tool.This may sound strange, but there was a time that I used to own two personal phone numbers. One for my closest of friends – the inner circle – and another phone number for the new people – the outer circle – I would meet in my life. It’s difficult to tell somebody you barely know that you’d rather not give them your phone number. It’s a delicate situation to be in. Instead I used this second number as a filter, and when I felt the person was truly a friend, they would transition to my main number. As I said, strange, I know. But useful nonetheless.
• Traveling abroad.I probably travel abroad maybe a couple of times a year and if you’re likely to be traveling to foreign lands, maybe a Dual SIM phone would be handy to you. When overseas, pop in a local SIM card and pay the same rates as the local people and when you need to, you can use your main SIM card for those urgent calls back to the motherland.
• Additional features.More often than not, a Dual SIM phone comes with other features that aren’t readily available on smartphones. One such feature is a flashlight. In the middle of the night, when turning on the light is not an option as I’ll wake people up, stumbling around and feeling for the walls no longer needs to happen. Also, an integrated-internal radio antenna means listening to the radio is as easy as pressing play. No more plugged in headsets.
• Extended battery life.Not only does a Dual SIM phone offer you a way of using two SIM cards at once, the chances are that the phone will also have a huge battery life. Most Dual SIM phones are of lower spec and therefore the battery doesn’t need to power processors or huge screens, for example. Leaving you with hours and hours of juice to make those important phone calls.

So, why would you use a Dual SIM phone? Or wouldn’t you? Either way, let us know using in the comments below.

Image credit: kalleboo