[wasim sallam]

is there any differences between dual and single sim of 950XL?
I mean like performance and of course mobile data connection or call quality?

[loukkis]

This.
Lumia 950 XL Dual sim:
LTE max data speed DL: 150 Mbps (Cat 4)
Lumia 950 XL:
LTE max data speed DL: 300 Mbps (Cat 6)

[SinistraShine]

As they are different builds there probably is some but I've used both and have to say there is no noticeable difference..

[Harrie-S]

A difference is the max download speed on LTE but because nearly no provider has CAT 6 "towers" you will not notice this difference.

950 XL
LTE max. data speed DL: 300 Mbps (Cat 6)
LTE max. data speed UL: 50 Mbps (Cat 6)

950 XL dual
LTE max data speed DL: 150 Mbps (Cat 4)
LTE max data speed UL: 50 Mbps (Cat 4)

[wasim sallam]

thanks for clarification.
I think 150 Mbps us enough for me and I really need a dual sim phone.

[Unauthorized]

Furthermore I read that Visual Voicemail is currently not support on Dual SIM phones.

[bilemke]

Furthermore I read that Visual Voicemail is currently not support on Dual SIM phones.

Was just about to add this.. Dual SIM phones with Windows do not support visual voice mail as of yet.

[Martin Zone]

Just want to add that Cat4 phones (dualsim) can't utilize 4G LTE-A network which offers up to 300 Mbps theoretical speed (real world speeds upto 100 Mbps with Cat6 antennas), so they would work like normal single 4G LTE (150 Mbps with real world speeds upto 30Mbps).
So if speed matters, go for the single sim with Cat6 radio.

[nomadph]

You will get better battery life in cities with good cell reception versus cities with poor cell reception.

[PepperdotNet]

You will get better battery life in cities with good cell reception versus cities with poor cell reception.

I think this is a given for pretty much any cell phone.

[coolbreeze78]

Visual Voicemail on the single-SIM works perfectly on AT&T! I just got the PIN prompt and voila, it works great. LTE too. Everything is perfect. So glad I returned the $700 hacky dual-sim one and got a sub $600 gently used one on Swappa!

http://i.imgur.com/uf80HKF.png

What a pleasant surprise. I see no reason for anyone to buy the dual-sim...Microsoft should have launched the single SIM in the states. Oh well.

[nomadph]

I think this is a given for pretty much any cell phone.

Except ppl complain why they only get half a days charge and wonder why and blame the phone

[manicottiK]

I see no reason for anyone to buy the dual-sim.

Well then, it's good that Microsoft didn't ask just one person what to do.

I need two phone numbers and I don't want to carry two phones all of the time. I seldom get voicemail because my phones are with my pretty much always. So, in weighing the convenience of carrying only one phone against the inconvenience of not having visual voicemail, I choose carrying one phone. And I hope that Microsoft is able to do a software update to add VVM to dual-SIM devices. I also know that they can't do a software update to add a second SIM slot to the single-SIM devices.

They make both devices because different users have different needs.

[mjrtoo]

...

[Penecho]

I think the difference between cat6 and cat4 is not noticeable in your "usual daily use" except if you watch 4k Netflix on your mobile device and using your data and not wifi^^

Here in Europe Dual SIM is the best thing that could have happened. There are alot of offers here (similar to slickdeals) where you can get a data only SIM for free/very little money (I'm talking about under 5 bucks). So for us/me it is very conveniant to have one contract with just a flatrate/unlimited calling and no data and then have another contract with free/cheap data. So for around 10/15 USD you can have everything with 2 SIM's :)

[coolbreeze78]

Well then, it's good that Microsoft didn't ask just one person what to do.

They make both devices because different users have different needs.

That's great! Dual-SIM fits your needs perfectly. My point is you are an edge case, at least in the US...99.9% of Americans have one single phone line and one single need for a SIM. But Microsoft decided to offer the dual-SIM model only in the US, which has serious tradeoffs with US carriers. That frustrates and confuses their target market. They are offering only a dual-SIM to the masses who just want their $700 device to work with their carrier (yes, VVM is a big deal to most). Makes little sense to me personally. Instead, you have to find an international model originally produced for China and import it if you want it to fully work with a US carrier. What?

My point is, for the vast majority of people in the US, the single SIM model will be better. I read somewhere that AT&T will not support VVM on a dual-SIM phone period, so a software update may not be able to fix things.

I stand by my point. Single SIM is the way to go in the US unless you have a very specific need for two lines on one device. I do not. YMMV. Microsoft either needs to offer the single-SIM variant in the US or pressure AT&T to fix VVM incompatibility.

[jdballard]

I see no reason for anyone to buy the dual-sim

I personally don't need a dual sim phone but I can think of reasons people would want one. For example: avoiding having to carry two phones - one for personal use and one for work. Pop in a second SIM and you're done. Quite a blanket statement you made.

Microsoft should have launched the single SIM in the states. Oh well.

That, I agree with.

[coolbreeze78]

I personally don't need a dual sim phone but I can think of reasons people would want one. For example: avoiding having to carry two phones - one for personal use and one for work. Pop in a second SIM and you're done. Quite a blanket statement you made.



That, I agree with.

Yeah, I love the concept of consolidating my work and personal line on the weekends, but alas my work device is Verizon. It'll be a huge benefit to some, but confusing to everyone else IMO. Sorry for the sweeping blanket statements, but I think most average consumers will avoid the dual-SIM phone in the US because they just don't need it. IMO as every internet post is.

[feereless]

i don't know of any carrier that can even hit 150mbps anyway... in the future with 5g? maybe

[BBJonbo]

In Canada my dual sim is awesome. Our carriers still charge very high roaming fees. I travel to the US a fair bit and always swap my sim out and use a US sim. Will be great keeping both installed and love the interface of switching and dealing with both sims. I wanted the dual sim and the MS on-line store in Canada only offers the single sim. Thankfully the website is wrong and they actually ship the dual sim. My carrier the largest in the country only provides visual voice mail to iPhones which sucks. So having the dual sim in Canada I don't lose that feature as it is not available.

[bilemke]

That's great! Dual-SIM fits your needs perfectly. My point is you are an edge case, at least in the US...99.9% of Americans have one single phone line and one single need for a SIM. But Microsoft decided to offer the dual-SIM model only in the US, which has serious tradeoffs with US carriers. That frustrates and confuses their target market. They are offering only a dual-SIM to the masses who just want their $700 device to work with their carrier (yes, VVM is a big deal to most). Makes little sense to me personally. Instead, you have to find an international model originally produced for China and import it if you want it to fully work with a US carrier. What?

My point is, for the vast majority of people in the US, the single SIM model will be better. I read somewhere that AT&T will not support VVM on a dual-SIM phone period, so a software update may not be able to fix things.

I stand by my point. Single SIM is the way to go in the US unless you have a very specific need for two lines on one device. I do not. YMMV. Microsoft either needs to offer the single-SIM variant in the US or pressure AT&T to fix VVM incompatibility.

1st, going to acknowledge how I am one considering returning my dual sim for a single sim..

But, agree with the guy about the dual sim.

On the single sim, this is app/OS issue. ATT will say they don't support dual sim now as they likely know it won't work (at least not with Win Phone that they are being asked about). That's cause MS even notes it won't work, regardless of carrier. If ATT or carrier releases specialized app, it could work fine. Or if MS adds support to deal with visual voice mail addressing two sims/lines/numbers. If you look at other devices/oses that support dual sim, they normally have greater flexibility in APN settings (we have MMS and, well.. hotspot I think.. yeah, think that is it). They really only added the ease of editing those couple APNs in Win 8 builds as far as I can remember. With that said, if we can specify APN settings (more of them, not just few we can see) for each SIM card and the app handling the visual phone mail checks were designed to handle checking two different sims with different apns for different numbers, not sure why this couldn't be an all app/os change/patch down the road.

Heck, a couple other OSes, I have seen simply disabling the secondary sim slot completely as an option. Which would put the phone back to being a "single sim" phone, in which case same app on a normally dual sim phone as the single sim phone should allow the app to pick up visual voice mail on the one enabled sim slot with the second disabled.

And others have said, for me, this is about my own line + one with employer/job. I can have one phone, vs one phone for me and one for work on me. Yeah, why not just one number right? Well, cost/privacy/etc.. for both myself and the employer.

[manicottiK]

I don't want this to turn into a fight, but I do want to push back a bit more on what we each wrote.

...in the US...99.9% of Americans have one single phone line and one single need for a SIM.

I think that the number of folks with multiple lines is far higher than that and that the idea of consolidating two lines in one device is something that the vast majority of people have never even considered to be possible. I'd argue that the percentage of people with two phone lines is closer to 3-5%, which is about 9-15M subscribers in the U.S. (To be fair, we're both guessing. ;)

Microsoft decided to offer the dual-SIM model only in the US, which has serious tradeoffs with US carriers.

My guess -- and that's all it is -- is that Microsoft is trying to stake out a place in the market where others haven't really gone: work/personal consolidation. Whether or not that tradeoff is "serious" for a given user is probably driven mostly by whether or not the user has one SIM or two. But I am totally sympathetic that single-SIM users who want a large screen are currently giving up a nice feature and getting nothing in return.

I read somewhere that AT&T will not support VVM on a dual-SIM phone...Microsoft either needs to offer the single-SIM variant in the US or pressure AT&T to fix VVM incompatibility.

While I do not know, I have a really strong belief that the issue is with the OS and not the network. The same dual-SIM/VVM limitation exists for other dual-SIM Windows phones.

In the end, the entire argument for offering the single-SIM XL is to offer the VVM feature. Suppose that Microsoft does offer it via a software update, would you still want MS to offer a single-SIM device, would you still be opposed to them selling only the dual-SIM model, and why?

[kristalsoldier]

Does a Dual SIM device suck more battery than a Single SIM device?

[enthuz]

If there was a way to use a Verizon sim in one slot and a T-Mobile sim in the other on the 950XL, then I would love to use it. However that scenario isn't going to work in my favor. I see were they are going with offering it though, but I expected it more with the Surface phone. Maybe this was their "testing the market" move.

[coolbreeze78]

manicottiK - good points, I don't disagree. Hell if Verizon worked on the XL, I'd have rather had the dual-SIM. Given that it does not and I have AT&T for my personal line, the single SIM XL really works best for my needs, and I suspect I'm not alone. Being able to consolidate my work line and personal line on the weekends or on vacation would be nice, but it's not critical. I just slide my work Verizon iPhone in my bag and go about my business.

Microsoft should just offer both models in the US. Have and need only one carrier? Single SIM. Want to consolidate? Here's a dual-SIM.

Seems simple, but I guess they are trying to blaze a path for widespread American adoption of dual-SIM phones, since they are very rare here (very common in other parts of the world). I guess it seems like a risky gamble given the touch and go nature of the platform thus far. We shall see how it pans out I guess.