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Dual sim card

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Gala Placidia
La Dolcevita
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Dual sim card Empty Dual sim card

Post by La Dolcevita Fri May 24, 2013 7:46 am

Just got back from Italy and on easy Jet they had for sale a dual sim card case for iPhones. I've been really struggling with an ancient Nokia phone that I have for when I'm in italy - takes for ever to text and I was having to carry around 2 phones. Now I just put the sim from that phone into the case on the back of my iPhone and flick a switch so I can use the same phone for either Italy or England. So pay as you go in Italy on an italian card and my UK contract sim in the UK. Perfecto. Link below if you're interested - it's for the iPhone 4/4S http://www.thumbsupuk.com/Products/Dual_Sim_Case_for_iPhone_4

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Post by Gala Placidia Sun May 26, 2013 12:30 pm

Amazon sells dual sim card phones at very reasonable prices. I am getting one as soon as I go back to Spain. Then, I will have two phones in one...
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Post by chrisnotton Sun May 26, 2013 11:43 pm

If you do shop around look for a phone that has "live" dual SIM capability.
This means that both SIMs are active & will receive calls etc & you can choose which one to handle your calls & SMS's
Otherwise you have to laboriously turn on each SIM and wait for it to register etc. A real p.i.t.a!
HTC & Samsung do dual SIM versions of their smart phones. That way you can have the Internet on one SIM for your emails etc.
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Gala Placidia wrote:Amazon sells dual sim card phones at very reasonable prices. I am getting one as soon as I go back to Spain. Then, I will have two phones in one...
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Post by La Dolcevita Mon May 27, 2013 3:24 am

Ah..................maybe the one I've got isn't quite so good then as it looks like I'll need to keep switching my phone on and off to change between the sims - grrrrr - will see how I get on when I'm back in a few weeks

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Post by Gala Placidia Mon May 27, 2013 5:24 am

Thank you so much, Chris, for the practical info. I was looking at a Samsung Galaxy, which seems to have those capabilities. I was born at a time when cell phones did not exist confused
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Dual sim card Empty The bricks the bricks !

Post by Vicino Mon May 27, 2013 7:32 am

I remember our first car phone back in the eighties...... it was very large and it just made and took phone calls(!!!)............ if you were not too close to a building as the signal couldn't get past tall office blocks (in London).

The technology has indeed moved on a bit !

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Post by Gala Placidia Mon May 27, 2013 4:27 pm

The biggest problem is how to keep up with all those technological changes, remember all those weird names and try hard not to look like a dinosaur or a mummy farao
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Post by chrisnotton Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:43 am

Thought this might be of interest, a dual SIM adaptor;) : http://www.magic-sim.com/category/id/2/Dual_Sim_for_Smart_Phone.html
Gala Placidia wrote:Thank you so much, Chris, for the practical info. I was looking at a Samsung Galaxy, which seems to have those capabilities. I was born at a time when cell phones did not exist
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Post by Lisa C. Tue Jun 04, 2013 1:41 pm

chrisnotton wrote:Thought this might be of interest, a dual SIM adaptor;) : http://www.magic-sim.com/category/id/2/Dual_Sim_for_Smart_Phone.html
Gala Placidia wrote:Thank you so much, Chris, for the practical info. I was looking at a Samsung Galaxy, which seems to have those capabilities. I was born at a time when cell phones did not exist
Does anyone have an on-line, reputable source to purchase additional minutes for the Italian phone sim card? We currently have a phone with just an Italian sim. Our problem is that we don't use the phone in the year following each trip to Italy, so the phone number we have expires. We then need to go to the phone store in Italy to get a new card with new phone number and minutes. In the States, we only use a Trac Phone as we don't carry a cell unless my husband is on call (hate the pesky things) so a dual use phone wouldn't be of benefit to us. The Trac Phone is very inexpensive for us to use (about $10.00 per month) so we don't want to replace it.
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Post by Gala Placidia Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:09 pm

If it is a TIM sim card, go to www.Tim.it, then to SERVIZI and then RICARICA
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Post by Lisa C. Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:29 pm

Gala Placidia wrote:If it is a TIM sim card, go to www.Tim.it, then to SERVIZI and then RICARICA
Thanks so much for the link Gala. Am I able to do this from the States?
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Post by Gala Placidia Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:47 pm

I have not done it, but they have the online service... the only hiccup could be a foreign credit or debit card... You can also try telestial.com
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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:13 pm

I would guess if you have a problem with a none Italian credit card, you could look at the Poste (post office here in Italy) to see if their postpay card can be used... This is a simple PAYG card which seems easy to use and cheap....

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Post by Lisa C. Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:48 pm

Thanks for the suggestions Gala and Steve. Once I top off the card I will let you know how I make out.
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Post by Lisa C. Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:31 pm

Lisa C. wrote:Thanks for the suggestions Gala and Steve. Once I top off the card I will let you know how I make out.
I have another technology question I hope you can help with. We have an ipad that we only use on a wireless system. We don't pay for any sort of plan. It has the capability of accepting a sim card so we could get internet access if we want it. I am thinking that this might be handy for our upcoming trip in late summer as there is often no wireless capability. How would I go about doing this?
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Post by Gala Placidia Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:49 pm

We use a Huawei MIFI that we purchased from TIM together with the SIM card. We can use my tablet, a net book... up to 5 devices at the same time. The MIFI costed us less than 100€ Last year. It would be available from any TIM dealer in Italy. For us, it is the best solution. And you can use it wherever you go in Italy...
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Post by Gala Placidia Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:50 pm

We use a Huawei MIFI that we purchased from TIM together with the SIM card. We can use my tablet, a net book... up to 5 devices at the same time. The MIFI costed us less than 100€ Last year. It would be available from any TIM dealer in Italy. For us, it is the best solution. And you can use it wherever you go in Italy...

Sorry.... posted it twice by mistake... Embarassed
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Post by Lisa C. Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:35 pm

Gala Placidia wrote:We use a Huawei MIFI that we purchased from TIM together with the SIM card. We can use my tablet, a net book... up to 5 devices at the same time. The MIFI costed us less than 100€ Last year. It would be available from any TIM dealer in Italy. For us, it is the best solution. And you can use it wherever you go in Italy...

Sorry.... posted it twice by mistake... Embarassed
Will have a look at the Huawei MIFI. All this tech stuff has my head spinning!
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Post by chrisnotton Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:22 pm

Here is what I do:
My smartphone has a "wireless hot-spot" facility; most do. Or you can downlaod an app. for it.
I buy a pay-as-you-go SIM from tre.it with a small (1Gb) data allownce on it. I can then use my local number for making & receiving calls etc. use my data allowance for checking my emails. I can also turn-on my "wireless hot-spot" facility & position the phone where it gets the best signal & log into the wireless hot-spot with my laptop, Kindle etc. for Skypeing, listening to Radio 4 & general internetting.
I chose tre.it because it has good reception where I am & fast(ish) 3G data, but I guess the others will have similar packages. I also have a plug-in dongle for my laptop which will take a SIM card but that means I have to sit at the top of the stairs to get a good signal, it is much easier to put the phone there & sit somewhere else! Idea
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Lisa C. wrote:
Lisa C. wrote:Thanks for the suggestions Gala and Steve. Once I top off the card I will let you know how I make out.

I have another technology question I hope you can help with. We have an ipad that we only use on a wireless system. We don't pay for any sort of plan. It has the capability of accepting a sim card so we could get internet access if we want it. I am thinking that this might be handy for our upcoming trip in late summer as there is often no wireless capability. How would I go about doing this?
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Post by Gala Placidia Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:15 am

As Chris says, getting a good signal is vital. You need to check on that. In the past, I used a dongle, but ever since my daughter gave me a tablet, it is not an option. The TIM dealer recommended the MIFI and we are happy with it. And no problems with TIM in our area. I checked with the neighbours first.
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Post by Lisa C. Sat Jun 08, 2013 12:48 am

Thanks Chris and Gala,
Chris, I don't think the phone option would work for me as I don't have a smart phone. It's a very cheap, basic one we bought in Italy just so we could make calls when we needed to while in Italy.
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