Two phones, one number

chrisw

Reading another thread got me thinking.

is there a way to have a single phone number on 2 phones at the same time so I could for example, leave one phone at home and take an old phone to the beach.

I could keep swapping the SIM card between the two phones but that would be a pain.

la531983

You could divert one phone to the other, of course, if its just phone calls you want to pick up.

Neil_Jones

chrisw said:

Reading another thread got me thinking.

is there a way to have a single phone number on 2 phones at the same time so I could for example, leave one phone at home and take an old phone to the beach.

I could keep swapping the SIM card between the two phones but that would be a pain.

Well as a SIM can only be active in one phone at a time and a number can only be allocated to one SIM at a time, I think the answer is relatively obvious.

It may be something you can do with a VOIP set up, but traditional mobile phones probably not.

Brie

I'd go with call forwarding as an easier option.

flaneurs_lobster

It's kinda possible, at least using the Vodafone One Number service. I can use my 4G smartwatch as a phone (voice, SMS in and out) while my phone is switched on or off. Billing shows usage separately against the watch sim but charges come from the phone SIM plan. The watch "phone number" is never seen externally.

Doshwaster

Another option is to have a Skype number which will ring on which ever device you are logged in as.

Forwarding will be easier though

facade

A plot point in many TV series is cloning the sim, so that messages, email etc go to the naughty person's 'phone as well.

You'd think that the Mega-computer that runs the network would spot that the same phone was logged into 2 towers at once though, but apparently it doesn't.

There is a secret key inside the sim that has to be extracted by repeated access. It takes hours and the newer sims burn out before the extraction finishes though.

In The Olden Days operators- I think Vodaphone was one, offered milti-sim deals where two or more sims shared the same number, but nowadays multi-sim seems to refer to a sim that you break bits off to make it fit any size holder.

SiliconChip

chrisw said:

I could keep swapping the SIM card between the two phones but that would be a pain.

Would it? As long as both phones use the same size SIM it's surely a matter of seconds to take it out of one phone and put it into the other, and realistically how often would you need to do it? Just make sure you keep the SIM tray extraction tool somewhere handy! 

Call forwarding makes sense if it's only incoming calls and texts that you're concerned about, but if you want your outgoing calls and texts to be coming from the usual number than swap seems by far the simplest solution.

Newcad

The smartwatch thing (EE do a similar one) only works with iPhones and a few 'Pixel' Androids, as yet anyway.
That's because the phone needs to be eSIM capable. (eSIM is a virtual SIM without a physical SIM card).
It also needs a wifi connection to work, so wouldn't be particularly good on most beaches.

Cloning a SIM card is illegal in the UK, and as said only works with very old SIMs anyway. (or in films for the plot).

Call forwarding is by far the easiest option here.

PHK

This used to exist in the UK eg Orange (and still does in some countries) but doesn't work very well

Each SIM actually had a separate number but the network.software routed the calls and texts coming in , to the phone that was active. Outgoing calls and texts simply appeared to be from the correct number.

However, you couldn't have both active at the same time or the network would get confused. So to swap phones you needed to turn off the one you were leaving behind and turn on the one you were taking with you. If you forgot to turn off the phone you left behind then it caused problems.

Appointed out earlier, this now works with watches and phones. So it might be possible to do it with two phones.

I understand this builds on the facility offered by Apple, Samsung and Google where devices such as tablets/macs logged into the same account  can send/receive calls and texts as if they were the phone. 

For example, when someone calls my iPhone, my iPad also rings if it is near me even though it is wifi only.

flaneurs_lobster

SiliconChip said:

chrisw said:

I could keep swapping the SIM card between the two phones but that would be a pain.

Would it? As long as both phones use the same size SIM it's surely a matter of seconds to take it out of one phone and put it into the other, and realistically how often would you need to do it? Just make sure you keep the SIM tray extraction tool somewhere handy! 

The SIM tray is the most vulnerable and delicate part of a phone (that you can get to without dismantling it) and its frequent ejection/insertion is not something to be encouraged.