There are a lot of threads about SIM cards and mongering phones, but most of them are questions from bros abroad who are in town for a few days or weeks and need help.  Wanted to have a separate discussion about what bros living in HK do.

I currently have an iphone 5s and have never made an outbound call on it for fear of leaving a trail and having random calls and texts come in that are difficult to explain.  However, I'm now considering getting a mongering phone as I want to explore the hotel girl thing as I'm kind of bored with the walkup/sauna thing now.  I do need to do this as safely as possible, so I'm looking for feedback on the best approach and then will assess if I can handle the risk.

So... for those of us who live in HK or stay for long durations, what is the preferred method?  Having a separate phone or switching out SIMs?

To me, on face value, it seems a LOT safer to do the switching out SIM cards thing and only own one phone, as I think trying to explain a SIM card is easier than explaining a separate phone.  If the SIM card ever got found, I would just say the SIM card is to make long distance calls.  Think that would work as SO is pretty clueless about technology.  Also, I am not in need of having a phone on all the time like some of the single bros on this forum probably do.  I need the phone only to make appointments and perhaps text outbound, but never to actually receive a call or text unless I'm trying to get access to a hotel girl.  I won't be attempting to become a regular of a wanchai girl or anything like that.

Some questions -

- What happens if someone tries to call me when my real phone SIM is switched out?  If it just goes to voicemail, I'm good.  However, if the person receives some screwed up message saying the number is disconnected or something like that, that would be bad as it would lead to questions.
- I've seen the other threads about saving stuff to your SIM as opposed to your phone, but are there other precautions I need to take?
- Is it really that much of a pain to keep switching them out, assuming at most you use it 1-2 times a week?  I've never switched out a SIM before but I see people complaining about it on the forum.
- Anything else to consider?

As always, any feedback would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

If SIM is switched out, it should just go to voicemail providing you have voice mail service. It's the same as having your phone turned off, or out of juice.

You can save numbers to your SIM card, it means that if you switch phones, the number will  go with the SIM and not be on your old phone. The thing to be careful of is syncing. If you sync the numbers from your SIM onto the phone, it will be on the phone.

You have iphone 5s, so it's more of a pain because you need a paper clip, or a piece of metal to remove the SIM tray. You can get a SIM opener keyring to make it easier. Alternatively, get a phone where you can switch it out by removing the battery at the back, or one where it's a pressable dock (e.g. Galaxy Note 10.1)

Other than that, not much else to consider. The alternative is to get a second phone and keep it on offline or flight mode when you don;t want to use it for texting or calls. e.g. I have 3 devices on me most of the time, 1 phone for the super camera, 1 phone for apps, and a tablet.

Thanks for the reply.

One follow up questions -

What happens with texts when your SIM card gets swapped out and is no longer active?  Do you get them all in a big flood once you swap back or are they gone forever?  Same question about WhatsApp and other free chat apps.  Thanks.

Not that I pretend to know the answers to your questions, but here is my setup:
- use separate SIM
- nothing saved on alternate SIM
- use web2SMS under alternate SIM to send texts
- use alternate SIM only to receive texts
- new gmail account created through private mode on Google Chrome on iPhone 5
- relevant numbers and other info saved in draft emails to self (not sent) in said gmail account
- texts appear when I swap SIM cards but never save anything - delete all
- WhatsApp Wechat etc independent of SIM -> never use for WG purposes

I'd be interested to know the setup used by other resident bros

very simple

i have a punting phone
first and foremost, this phone is considered as disposable - a write-off if you will (use a cheap phone if you must)
secondly, this is setup on another private gmail account and not where does it lead to my personal phone or anyone i know... use false alias
in any case, this phone is switched off at all times until i require it to be on - this is for my convenience not anyone else's
and finally, this is kept at work with lock - NEVER taken home... E-V-E-R!

if it goes walkies, DENY, DENY DENY... at all cost

cookiemonsta's method is pretty good.

Let's think about things...

Two sim cards (one phone):
- Hassle of swapping sim cards
- Sim cards can be easily lost
- The bookmarks, contacts, texts/SMS' and call history from your "extracurricular" sim would be on your iPhone

Two phones (each with its own sim card):
- Added costs of buying a second phone and having a second phone plan
- May need to explain why you have two phones

I would personally go with having two phones. Funny enough, several people I know actually do have two active phones. One is their main phone with LTE and the other is on one of those cheap unlimited data plans and they watch streaming TV and movies on that phone. I currently use my iPhone -- and it's the only phone I have with me in Hong Kong -- as my punting phone and it's actually a hassle because when I search for something or type in a URL in Safari it sometimes picks up a Sex141 site I have bookmarked or is in my history, I have to constantly delete my SMS and WhatsApp messages to/from WGs and I have to upload any photos I have of girls to another site and then delete them off my phone so that the SO doesn't find them.

The following is from post #5 in the Bar Guide section sticky thread at the top...

LINK HERE


The beauty of this is the Pre Paid number survives indefinitely providing you top it up at least once every 6 months. There are many ways to buy a pre paid SIM card and I'm sure if you shop around you'll find the best deal. The reason I chose a card from 7/11 is simply because I can top it up at short notice ANYTIME because 7/11s are everywhere in HK and there is NOTHING suspicious about going into a 7/11.

The reason for having a second phone is because it's a cheap one and can be left in the bottom of my filing cabinet at work or whatever until I need it... Bros who travel to China from time to time can just explain it as their China phone for business. I explain it as my travel phone... no big deal.

When I say "with reasonable "local" use will last at least 2 - 3 days" that refers to the fact I am using it to make calls home etc while in HK for extended periods so if you just used it to SMS WGs it would last much longer.

[ Last edited by  TonyToro at 8-9-2013 09:14 ]

I have a cheap throw-away phone that I use for all my punting and I NEVER use my regular phon around a P4P girl and also never use my P4P phone around my family.  When I am in the US my punting phone stays locked in my locked suitcase.  IMHO, there is no need to risk any other method IF you are married and plan/hope to remain so.  ;)

Other alternatives is to have a dual SIM phone, that will save

Important to note that the text message store is usually on the phone, so even if you remove the SIM, the messages will still be saved on the phone.

In terms of whatsapp, the same as texts, its associated with your phone and the messages will be stored on your phone. Swapping a SIM in and out want delete the messages.

Another alternative is Divide, and app for android that lets you split your phone into 2, one for personal another for 'work' which is password protected.  But your best bet for safety is to do what cookiemonsta does and have a separate disposable device which is only switched on when needed.

Use a separate phone and prepaid sim.

Use a secure messaging app like TextSecure.

Don't download any other apps on it, nor should you put any personal information on the phone.

If found, deny it's yours.  Even the messages will be encrypted and cannot be opened on your phone.

Whatever you do, never be tempted to use it for some other call/msg when your primary phone is dead.  Just one message/call and you compromise your security.

I don't have this but it looks like a great idea. http://www.lgcldesigns.com/
Get a prepaid sim with this case and swap as needed. If asked, it's a long distance sim. The one2free power prepaid sim, you will need to cut to fit an iphone, has awesome rates for international dialing. It's like .30hkd per min to many major countries.  You can also get data for an hour at $7hkd if you don't want to switch back and search the db. Also delete everything like messages and logs. Nothing needs to be saved.

As far as contacts I don't think they are a big deal as it could be anyone. If you have too many females then start saving male names.  Also in wechat/what'sapp make sure you add all your male friends and don't have only females.

Not sure what hk has in terms of discrete mongering options,  but in North America,  there are tons of Android and IPhone apps that gives you a free second number that runs in 3g/4flg/lte/wifi.  You can disconnect it at anytime simply by logging out.  This is how we do it in North America. I'm sure something similar is available in HK?

How about signing up for a voip service in hk and connecting it through sip applications?