Dual Active VS Dual Standby, What Should You Know?

By Carrie Tsai,  Last Updated: March 13, 2020

Dual standby is not a new concept regarding the field of information technology. You can find most Android smartphones support dual standby and even iPhone with the IOS system has launched several models that allow dual standby mode.

There is no questioning that dual standby is with great convenience for some people who needs two SIM cards to separate himself/herself from work and life, as dual standby provides two sim card having signal at the same time. Or for travelers who might also want to take advantage of a local SIM card together with a home SIM card.

If you are still unfamiliar with the concept of dual standby, you might be curious about the difference between the usage of the single sim card and two sim cards at the same time. Maybe we can start from this simple one: what is dual standby?

Know More about Dual Standby

1. Dual SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) and Dual Standby

Dual SIM - one cell phone with two SIM card slots. Any mobile phone or smartphone requires a SIM card to connect to the mobile network. Dual SIM means containing and employing two SIM cards in a single GSM supported cellular phone, allowing the phone to initiate or to receive phone calls from either of the two SIM cards. Like many Android phones and iPhone support.

However, even if a cell phone supports dual SIM setting, it doesn’t mean that SIM1 and SIM2 will be active at the same time. You would need a dual standby function in order to make this possible.

Dual Standby - monitors both networks at the same time. Dual standby means both SIM cards can connect to their own mobile networks. These two SIM cards in the same phone can even be from one carrier. In this case, both are connected to the same mobile network independently, just like from two different phones.

It is known that dual standby provided by Android phones has only one set of hardware (mainly receiver) to serve two SIM cards. In other words, two SIM cards share one set of hardware through time-sharing algorithms implemented in the software level.

2. What Should Be Noticed When Using Dual SIM Dual Standby

Speaking of the benefits of dual SIM and dual standby phones, convenience would receive the first spotlight. Image how clumsy you would be if you need to pick up your phone number 1 to answer phone calls from your boss and text back to your friends on another phone, let along with the inconvenience of carrying more than one phone wherever you go. Convenient as it is, dual standby still has its limitations.

The fact is that dual SIM dual Standby usually uses the MicroSD slot for the second SIM. In this way, in most cases, you cannot use a microSD card to extend your storage space. Therefore, you might need to spend extra for more built-in storage space.

What’s more, in most cases, smartphone manufacturers use a 4G + 2G Dual SIM Dual Standby implementation, meaning that one SIM’s network might be limited for calls and text messages. More importantly, the usage of dual sim dual standby in one phone is power-consuming. Dual standby setting has concentrated the usage of two phone numbers into one cell phone, which means power consumption is doubled while monitoring two sim cards at the same phone.

Well, what should we do with it then? No worries. We have found a powerful smartphone - 5510T to help you solve the problem.

5510T - Quadra SIM cards Supported + Power Bank Function

Nevertheless, there are also some users need more than one number, like a business one and a personal one. For these users, they might need to use two or more SIM cards in one phone. What’s more, not just dual SIM phones, triple or even quad SIM phones would be of great use. It is evident that 5510T has been prepared well to support and satisfy your needs. Keep looking to find out why.

5510T is not just a normal cell phone for phone calls. It is a kind of smartphone that not only supports quadra SIM cards and it also can be used as a power bank while another phone is in undercharged condition. I believe with 5510T can not only save the action to pay extra for a quad SIM phone but also eliminate the annoyance caused by the power-consuming issue.

Besides, 5510T supports 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. No worries about its performance under different network environments.

If you are looking for a cell phone which provides support for a multi-SIM card or can also play the role of a power replenishment device, 5510T would be your best choice.

Dual SIM Dual Active vs Dual SIM Dual Standby

Like we mentioned above, dual SIM card supported doesn’t mean that SIM1 and SIM2 will be active at the same time. There is a difference between dual SIM dual active and dual SIM dual standby.

Dual SIM dual active smartphones allow receiving calls on either of the two SIM cards, at the same time. For example, if you have a call on the first SIM and you are getting another call on the second SIM, you are notified about it. However, under the usage of dual SIM dual standby smartphones, once you take a call on one SIM card, the other becomes inactive until the first card is no longer actively used.

Attention must be paid when choosing the smartphone you want, as the price is different and, most importantly, you should make it clear whether it is Dual SIM dual active or dual SIM dual standby that you wanted.