[kutts]

I use a single phone and 3 sims. Would love to see a 3 sim phone

Primary is an e-sim from Airtel and that's what my personal and office colleagues have. Second is a Jio for data, better network coverage in rural areas and for shops, random people, marketing etc. The third is an Airtel from my office which I use when on international travel for calls and data. I swap the jio and the office sim as needed.

[adi.mariner]

Using 2 phones at the moment. It is very convenient in Anchorage areas to keep one phone in the cabin window with the Hotspot on for network coverage and use the WiFi feature on the other. With a single phone I would have to go out of my cabin and type this post

[Jeroen]

For the last two decades or so I have always had two mobile phones, with SIMs from two different operators. In my line of work, you just to be available 24/7 the whole year, wherever I travel.

I always used one phone as my main phone. The other one was the back up. In case of network problems, poor coverage etc. I had a monthly ritual where I would check the back up phone, make sure it was charged, software up to date, addresses book up to date etc.

It was a pain having to carry two phones always. In my line of work my company paid for it all, so no financial problems, just a hassle. But very necessary. Glad I am retired. One phone will do me fine these days!

Jeroen

[alamodein]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Need to study if I can do WhatsApp on two numbers.

If you are referring running two WhatsApp instances on a single phone than you can do on Andriod 12 or 13 phones. Certain apps support running 2 copies at same time, WhatsApp is one of them.
Feature was there on my previous phone.
In current OnePlus 9 Pro (Android 13) its referred as App Clone (See screenshots)
The second/clone instance of WhatsApp is completely separate from 1st Instance and I can use a different number in that.

[furyrider]

Thanks to WFH being the new norm, I was forced to switch to two phones. Well, a phone-and-a-half (is this even a thing?) may be?

I was using an iPhone XS (back to android now) when the lockdown started. Since I was working from home, my family wanted to visit our ancestral towns/relatives once the restrictions eased. Travelling to different places for a couple of weeks meant that I had to use mobile data judiciously. Well, the iPhone although a stand-by battery champ, did not really like being used as a hotspot. The phone heated like crazy, and the battery drained within a couple of hours. I wanted to get a dongle and went searching in the market. This is when I have noticed that WiFi dongles were being sold in the black market for almost double the price and all Airtel/Jio stores I visited did not have them in stock. I had no choice but to pick-up a beater Android phone. Just as I was about to order a Samsung M series phone, I stumbled across itel magic 4G. This is an old school keypad mobile with a twist. This thing costed me 2.5K, supports 2 4G sims and can act as a WiFi hotspot. Plonked in a Jio sim so that I could have Airtel/Jio covered. It can support upto 8 devices at a time, and connectivity is pretty stable too.

So, out of necessity, I now use a S22+/itel magic 4G.

[alamodein]

Originally Posted by furyrider

I stumbled across itel magic 4G. This is an old school keypad mobile with a twist. This thing costed me 2.5K, supports 2 4G sims and can act as a WiFi hotspot.

I too have iTel Magic 4g
Primarily, I carry only one phone Oneplus 9 pro with VI (office provided number) and Airtel. This is pretty much sufficent for me.

However when I travel I carry the Itel Magic 4g too (with Jio SIM), due to its dual Sim 4g and Wifi Hotspot Capabilities
I bought it as Renewed on Amazon for 1200 Rs. It was as good as new without a single scratch

For me it was cheaper than any other 4g Hotspot with Better Battery, Reliable connection and decent 4g speed
Not to forget the Bonuses above regular 4g hotspots: Can use for Calling, Basic Games, Wireless FM Radio and a torch

[KL54]

Recently upgraded to a Pixel 7. So my old (current?) OnePlus 5T has been put to use to watch follow along workout videos on my rowing machine. The Pixel 7 connects to my rowing machine computer to record my workouts.

[kozhissery]

I use 3 sims and 2 phones. 2 personal sims in one iPhone (1 for banking/sms etc and other for all personal use including WhatsApp) and one official Android phone.
Would have preferred just 1 device but have to always carry the official phone (all the contents are accessible by office personnel).

[osp]

Originally Posted by kutts

I use a single phone and 3 sims. Would love to see a 3 sim phone

Wasn’t there a 4-SIM phone available for some time before Jio came out with their “unlimited” plans?

I actually wanted such a phone, and for the longest time I used to carry two phones, two SIMs. Which changed to one phone, two SIMs. Now however, I find having two numbers are simply a pain. I still have two SIMs, but the second one is tucked away in an Airtel hotspot for those trips where the hotel/Airbnb doesn’t have a good-enough wifi connection.

The biggest pain carrying two phones (other than the hassle of deciding which number to call on, etc) is the ergonomic issue – one gets too used to the ergonomics of one device, and then suddenly switching to another device becomes a pain esp when you’re trying to type fast, resort to motor memory to carry out certain actions (eg swipe down from the correct point in the screen to have notifications open, etc etc).

Of course, the biggest advantage to having two SIMs, is that the phone number used for banking don’t need to be shared with others (again, when you’re trying to send or receive money on UPI and your phone number is more convenient to remember than the UPI ID).

Mad world, much?

[vjbox]

In the gaming business. This means I am testing our games on multiple devices and I end up having atleast 4 devices with me most of the time. I carry 1 android and 1 ios device at any time and keep switching between models. And honestly not into fancy/latest phones if not for the business.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Hi, I have been thinking about keeping more than one phone for myself and was trying to see information and views/experiences of the community. Do you guys keep multiple phones with you? What is the use case ? My objective was to separate work devices from personal but somehow have stuck to keeping one phone with dual sim to get signal flexibility. But on the flip side is the risk of device loss. Not sure of the convenience of carrying two phones everyday. But would like to hear various experiences.

When you get to late middle age you cannot help but dole out free advice to all and sundry even when not sought. And here you are asking for it! So here is my unvarnished advice, free of course.

Progress in life often if not always means simplicity. Those who know less will explain the same point in 20 pages, those who know a lot will condense it to E=mc2. In a life span of 80 years all of us from prime minister to pauper get 29200 days or to put it in a form we understand better, 4160 Sundays - that's it. To put it more starkly someone like me has 884 Sundays left. Then the value of time gets better appreciated.

Life is too precious to waste finding seven ways of having others intrude into your time with phone calls, text messages or worse memes, jokes & fake news at a moment of their choosing. For those who were adults in India before 1996 would recall that the world, our careers and our family lives ran perfectly well before cell phones, emails and text messages just that we had to be slightly better organized as communication, slip-ups and forgetfulness was not possible to sort out instantaneously.

So move to reduce your dependence on the phone and its contents and not the other way around. My formula - less WA groups, other than work related ones; no belonging to relative groups; if you don't send others entertainment WA messages very soon they stop sending you too. What I, like many others, have done is to designate several WA groups and numbers to the 'Archived' box and then check it once a day at night. No beeps, or brrrrrr sounds - phone is always on silent. When I'm free I call back - works for me as I don't have a boss or command chain north of myself and neither Modi or Deepika Padukone are likely to call!

All the best with simplifying your life.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

So move to reduce your dependence on the phone and its contents and not the other way around. My formula - less WA groups, other than work related ones; no belonging to relative groups; if you don't send others entertainment WA messages very soon they stop sending you too. What I, like many others, have done is to designate several WA groups and numbers to the 'Archived' box and then check it once a day at night. No beeps, or brrrrrr sounds - phone is always on silent. When I'm free I call back - works for me as I don't have a boss or command chain north of myself and neither Modi or Deepika Padukone are likely to call!

All the best with simplifying your life.

I totally agree with the thought. So let me also share that I have about 3-4 Whatsapp groups in which I contribute may be once a week. I havent touched my FB in probably a year or so. I dont even know how Instagram looks. And used Twitter very occasionally to raise public concerns ( may be once in about 4-5 months). But I do watch youtube only because I dont have regular TV channels. The most active social media group for me is incidentally team bhp.
So the query for the second phone is not so much about using multiple devices all the time, but more about security/backup simply because we virtually have no choice but to use digital services these days. In fact, I would rather use the more creative aspects of a second phone like a camera.

[Gansan]

I used to have two. Still do, but a single phone with two sims one each from Airtel and Vodafone. Always used one for work and the second sim for all personal contacts, so that I can switch off one if necessary. Even after retiring four years ago, I am continuing it out of habit, though there are no work calls now. Recently I gave my Galaxy M30s to my wife and bought Galaxy A33 5g, but it has only one dedicated sim slot, the other is a combined slot for sim/memory card. To my surprise I found most of the new 5g phones are similar, they even come without a wire headphone socket!

I always buy annual packs for my sims. So as soon as the pack of the second sim expires I plan to get rid of it and install the memory card. I have realized I don't actually require two connections now.

[trippytragopan]

Originally Posted by KL54

Recently upgraded to a Pixel 7.

How is the Pixel experience (specifically the camera picture quality)? I'm planning to buy 6a.

[itsaj]

I am a kind of minimalist and want as less to carry as possible. For recent one year, I had to carry and Android phone for project need along with my iPhone. Its literally a painful experience. In addition to that, I had to take over 'her highness' (aka. wife) phone at times when outside and had to struggle to accommodate three phones. Once that project is over, I stopped carrying Android device but used that number as second esim iphone. So, there's just one phone with two SIMs and I am free again.

For contingency, I have a powerbank and charger in backpack, since I've got two sims, one Airtel and other Jio, there is no issue of network connectivity as well. The second number is just for close family and internet connectivity and almost never use it for calling.