D.Telegraph reader query;
The use of hand-held phones is now quite rightly banned while driving in the UK. I've just taken delivery of a company Peugeot 407 SW, which has the facility for a SIM card to be inserted into the dash, enabling calls to be accepted and made without taking one's hands off the steering wheel. It's a great idea, except that O2 refuses to supply a duplicate SIM card. To use the system, I would either have to transfer the SIM card from my mobile to car every time I get in, or use a separate number for the car.
R.E., via email
Reply by Honest John
I have a Peugeot with the same system. Get another SIM card with a different number on a pay-as-you-go tariff and ask one of your provider's high-street stores to copy all your numbers from your existing SIM card to the new one. Then, whenever you are in the car, divert all calls from your mobile to the car phone.
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Reference above advice, made enquiries with my mobile phone company and told "you will be charged the segment of the call from your handset to the chosen destination."
So back-roomers is there any other way??
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I had exactly the same problem when I got my 407 Coup (also with O2). I still can't believe n this day and age that phone companies won't provide two sim cards. The only company that would, was Vodaphone (IIRC) but you lost out on text allowances etc.
I ended up doing exactly what it says above. As mentioned, you do pay for the incoming calls, but I've not found any other solution.
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1. >> I still can't believe in this day and age that phone companies won't provide twosim cards...
2. >> As mentioned you do pay forthe incoming calls...
Looks like a business plan to me.
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There are technical as well as security issues which makes providing a "duplicate" SIM card unfeasible for the networks. There is hardware and software available that would allow you to clone your own SIM card, but if you have 2 identical SIM's accessing the network at the same time it will kick both of them off and block them for security reasons.
Call divert is the only option really unless you want a separate number in the car, but it's still a faff having to remember to divert your phone when you get in the car - when I had a cradle system I'd often forget to the put the phone in it, and you have to pay for the diverted calls.
If you use your phone a lot in the car it's probably worth forgetting the SIM system and getting a Bluetooth kit installed. I've got a Nokia CK-7W which is pretty basic but does the job, Parrot do some more advanced kits with a display. The best bit is my phone can stay in my jacket or briefcase in the boot and as soon as I start the car it pairs up with car kit automatically, so you never forget to do it. The other advantage is if it doesn't find the phone to pair with inside 10 seconds, it beeps to let you know which has saved me from leaving my phone at home several times.
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Quinny may be right but 2nd SIM cards are nothing new - as indicated, Vodafone offers this service and so it should be possible for other providers to do the same. Call forwarding earns them more money of course.
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www.alternativenetworks.com/mobile/mobile_VASVoda....2 for the info on this
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But you still have to do things to nominate which phone will ring. So its not a plug sim into car and forget feature
The two simms is the only viable route for a private user. Its quite easy. You set your call divert options so it diverts to your car simm on no answer or turned off. So when you climb into your car you turn off your mobile and it diverts to your car, even if you forget to do that, just dont answer your mobile and it diverts to your car.
whats the problem?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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whats the problem?
You no longer have voicemail (but maybe that's a bonus to some).
There is always a trade-off with any dual sim setup between costs, need for manual intervention and loss of functionality. As I have posted before I also have that setup and do the manual divert as suggested by HJ, getting free diverts through my inclusive minutes but paying for outgoing calls at the PAYG rate. When I forget to manually divert, the phone can be ignored until I next stop.
IMO, the best all-round, with a good value one-off cost, no intervention (after initial install), single sim solution is the Bluetooth kit. It may seem a shame to ditch the built-in sim and/or steering wheel controls if fitted, especially if additional money was paid for it (around £600 on a new Porsche for example), but a £90 DIY-fitted Parrot kit does a far better job.
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Why can't the car manufacturers come up with a simple solution, perhaps a universal slot in the dash that takes any mobile phone not just the SIM?
Surely this would be the best all round solution!
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Why can't the car manufacturers come up with a simple solution perhaps a universal slot in the dash that takes any mobile phone not just the SIM?
BlueTooth more or less does this (without even needing the slot). It would cost pennies if fitted as standard when the car was built.
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I think quite a few cars have built-in Bluetooth as an option now. It's standard in the Prius T-Spirit specification, and works pretty flawlessly. Don't even have to think about it, which is good. Calls just go through the car's system whenever it's on. And it will transfer to and from the phone in mid-call as the car gets turned on and off.
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Orange used to have the everyphone feature which would divert a call for free to a landline or other orange phone. Sadly they got rid of it. That would be a reasonable solution as you'd set it to divert to the car when you got into the car and turn off the divert when you weren't in it.
teabelly
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That would be one solution.
But you would have to fiddle around and set up the divert everytime.
Also when making a call you are not using your regular SIM aand number
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I have two SIMs for one number. I lost a phone, which was then found and returned to me.
I can't see what is stopping someone from 'losing' ;o) their SIM, putting the replacement in a car setup and simply ensuring they turn their phone off when they are in the car.
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You don't 'lose' it. You simply tell your provider that your phone is reporting 'No SIM' with your SIM but works OK with your wife's.
Just make sure that you only ever have one active at any time.
Kevin...
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You don't 'lose' it. You simply tell your provider that your phone is reporting 'No SIM' with your SIM but works OK with your wife's. Just make sure that you only ever have one active at any time. Kevin...
This won't work becuase each SIM card has its own unique ID number, which is usually printed on the card itself and is what identifies each phone to the network. On the networks computer system your SIM card ID will be paired with your mobile number, so number 07123 456789 will be associated with SIM card number 12345678901234564 for example.
If you phone up and say you've lost your SIM card they'll send you another one but IME you have to ring them up when you receive it and tell them so they can change the SIM ID that your number is associated with. I now keep a spare unregistered SIM so if I lose my phone I can ring them up and ask them to switch my number to it without having to wait 2 days for the network to get a replacement to me.
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I have two SIMs for my phone and both of them worked at one time, I haven't checked recently though. The old one is about 7 or 8 years old. The new one is about 18months old.
O2 sent me the new "upgraded" SIM when I started having problems connecting to the network when the phone had been switched off. The instructions that came with the new one simply said insert the new SIM and it will automatically activate within 20 minutes - which it did after about 5 mins. I later used the old SIM in my wife's phone and it worked OK.
Kevin...
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Perhaps I am missing something, but it is a very convoluted way to get hands-free calls in the car.
Why not use a Jabra Bluetooth earpiece, set to 'automatic answer'.
Job done.
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"I can't see what is stopping someone from 'losing' ;o) their SIM"
But you report a SIM lost and it is cancelled....
Best option must be bluetooth or a hardwire car kit. I have the latter but if I go the Mondeo route tempted with the former if it works okay with my phone for accessing contacts etc. which are not on the SIM.
Downside of bluetooth is no phone charging which I rely on most of the time.
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>> I can't see what is stopping someone from 'losing' ;o) their SIM >>
But wouldn't that be a lie? Or doesn't that matter?
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But wouldn't that be a lie? Or doesn't that matter?
In this day and age it seems increasingly less so.
Having said that I bet any amount of money you have told untruths before and will continue to do so. I do - they are not really bad ones but then again where do you draw the line.
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Its a question that does not really need an answer. Few manufacturers fit sim cards in cars these days, and it will be fewer. Bluetooth is the answer, And more and more and cars will have it has standard or as an option.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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But wouldn't that be a lie? Or doesn't that matter?
Couldn't care less, seeing as I was charged for it.
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