Hi, I’m planning for my trip to Taiwan. I’ve learned that electronics in Taiwan typically cost more than in the US so I’m thinking about buying an unlocked phone in the US and join a local network when I arrive in Taiwan. What are the things I should know before I buy a phone? Is 5G support something I should get? Do carriers in Taiwan issue esims? Is it practical to use one phone for both my US number (on international roaming) and a local number, with one of them on an esim? Thanks for any info/pointers.
Are you moving here or just travelling here?
About 6+ months in Taiwan every year in the next few years.
What would you consider more important? Cell service in Taiwan or the US? Many phones between the Americas and Eurasia have different compatibilities.
Hmm. I think both are important 
in the sense that I’ll need both numbers to be working. If I can find one phone that works for both networks (physical SIM + eSIM) it’d probably be the best. If not, I’ll be using (and carrying with me) the local phone most of the time, while the roaming phone stays on stand-by at home to receive texts, occasional calls (mostly in the evening so I think it should be fine.)
Yeah, but that’s regularly not the case. Taiwan and the US use different frequencies and most phones have different versions depending on the region. US phones are often missing Band 28 which means you might find reduced service in Taiwan which uses Band 28.
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Dual SIM is the way to go. one eSIM one physical is okay too. You can switch which is primary depending on what country you are in. I’ve had mine setup that way for five years.
Be sure your US provider supports wifi calling. They don’t all have it.
I’ve had two different Samsung. S21 and S23. I’ve not had any trouble in either country.
Interesting. Is 5G necessary in Taiwan or 4G will be just fine?
Great suggestion. None of my current phones support dual sim or esim. I’ll need to look into which (affordable) brands and models support them. I suppose dual sim gives me more options with local providers.
Good to know. Are both S21 and S23 dual sim? I saw different answers online. Maybe some models are, some not? My US provider supports wifi calling. I’ve never needed to use it. Would make a lot of sense while roaming.
Nah, 4G more than enough. Although 5G in metro areas is decent (but no mmwave)
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I’m not sure about the s21 or s23, but I know the US version of the S20FE was only single SIM, while for most other countries it was dual SIM. Be careful about what version phone you get.
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Thanks. I’ve noticed it. Need to look specifically for the dual sim ones.
What phone / phone family do you currently use? I think any vaguely recent iphone and pixel support multiple sim (whether dual sim, sim + esim, or support multiple numbers on one esim) and more bands than you’re going to encounter between the US and Taiwan (including 28).
My phones are pretty outdated 
Pixel 3, and Moto Edge Plus 2022. Unwilling to shell out $500+ on a new phone (I’m cheap) I’ll probably look for an older model and/or maybe a slightly used one. I see some Samsung S20 FE on ebay that specifically say dual sim unlocked in the title for below $200. Maybe I’ll give them a try. I know they are a few generations old, but as long as they work in both countries…
If you’re trying to do things on the cheap, keep the pixel 3 (works fine in Taiwan) and port your US number to Google voice? Easy peasy, cheap as dirt, and super flexible as far as moving to different phones in the future.
Thanks. I didn’t know you could do that. Once the number is with Google Voice, the phone will be wifi only? How do you make or receive a call? Does the call get forwarded to another phone that’s on mobile network?
The way I do it is I use Google voice as my main number, but I still have cell service - I can make calls with the regular cell number, or with Google voice, either over cell data or wifi. You can forward to another number, but I haven’t in ages, now that data is almost ubiquitous. When I go to Taiwan, I pick up a sim for local calls and data, and continue to just use Google voice as my US number.
If I were you, I’d use something like visible ($25/month) while in the US for the 6 months you’re here, and not worry about keeping the same sim / number, as you’ll have GV as your main number. In Taiwan, service is so cheap it doesn’t matter if you keep a sim all year and don’t use it for 6 months. 
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Thank you. This is interesting and could be a solution for me if I don’t want to buy a new phone. Is my understanding below correct?
- Either with wifi, or as long as you have a second number with mobile data, you can make calls from and receive calls at the google voice number via the Google Voice app for free (other than the second number’s mobile data.)
- The second number can be a US number while in the US, or a Taiwan number while in Taiwan
- It looks like some mobile providers charge a $20 fee to port numbers to Google Voice: “Verizon, AT&T, and Google Fi are carriers that charge a $20 fee to port your mobile number to Google Voice.” Other companies won’t charge a fee?
- Later on you can port the number to one of the mobile providers from GV for free
Yep. You can also have the app on multiple phones (including iPhone), or use the web interface.
You need a US number to set up a new GV line now I believe, but once it’s set up, a number isn’t even needed.
No idea who currently charges what… I think I paid $30ish back in the day to port my cell number (att?) to GV.
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