[General Questions and Answers] eric.clay42:
I just moved overseas from the US and I'm currently carrying two phones around all the time so I can continue to use my US number through T-Mobile with their free wifi calling and texting (and have a working phone when I travel back and forth from the states) and also have a local phone in Australia/New Zealand. I've decided that I really just need to get a dual-sim device. From looking around I haven't seen any that quite fit my needs, so I figured I would ask to see if anyone has any suggestions for phones I've missed.

While in Australia/NZ, I'll be using the Spark SIM as the primary with voice, text, and 4G data. The T-Mobile SIM will be used for wifi calling (if supported, otherwise I'll use another VoIP service), texting and 2G data (since the T-Mobile 2G data is unlimited, but the Spark data is not). I've heard a lot of these dual sim phones have weird issues and restrictions with only the first SIM slot supporting 4G/LTE and the other limited to 2G and having to manually move SIMs around, so I would like to know of any weirdness to expect with this.

Whichever phone I get I'll likely purchase on Amazon in the US (or another US based site) and have some friends bring it over for me when they come to visit in a few weeks so take that into consideration as well for recommendations.

Based on my phone experience so far, here's specifically what I'm looking for:

Must have:

Dual SIM

Fully carrier unlocked

Fully supports Spark and Vodaphone networks in Australia/New Zealand (Spark has the best plans and coverage for my oveseas number, T-Mobile uses Vodaphone as their roaming partner in these regions),

Fully supports T-Mobile (doesn't necessarily have to support all their new bands, just have equivalent service to a budget T-Mobile phone when I'm in the states)

Unlockable bootloader and easy root

Minimum 32GB internal storage

Would like to have:

T-Mobile compatible wifi calling and VoLTE

Removable battery

Water resistance (it rains a LOT in NZ)

Reasonable price

Good quality camera

Good battery life

Able to use a microSD card alongside both SIMs or a large amount of internal storage (128GB+)

Of the dual sim phones I've found so far, the only two I've seriously considered are the Moto G5 Plus XT1681 and the LG V20 H990DS. Both phones don't quite meet what I'm looking for:

Moto G5 Plus XT1681

+Very good phone for the money

+Water resistant

+Supports dual sim and microsd

+Good battery life

+Very easy bootloader unlock and root

-Only supports 3 out of the 5 T-Mobile LTE bands according to FrequencyCheck. Does anyone in the states have this phone on T-Mobile and could comment on the coverage?

-Doesn't appear to support T-Mobile wifi calling (correct me if I'm wrong)

LG V20 H990DS

+Flagship specs for a reasonable price (on Amazon anyways)

+Removable battery

+Very good camera

+Fully supports all Spark and T-Mobile bands (including the new ones)

+Supports dual sim and microsd

-Not water resistant and no good water resistant cases available

-Poor battery life (at least the battery is easily replaceable and if necessary I can get one of the giant zerolemon ones)

-Doesn't appear to support T-Mobile wifi calling (correct if I'm wrong)

-While rooting is possible, it is not at all an easy process and LG is becoming more and more anti-consumer and may lock it down at any time with an update (like they did with the T-Mobile variant)

Does anyone have experience with using these phones overseas in a similar situation to mine or have any other phones to recommend? Thanks in advance for any help with this.

---------- Post added at 11:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 PM ----------

While it's not refurbished, the Moto G5 Plus might meet your needs perfectly (plus you get a warranty, at least if you can convince the warranty person that whatever you did was completely unrelated to unlocking the bootloader). The carrier unlocked variant is $270 right now on Amazon with 64GB of storage (DO NOT get the Amazon prime version with ads, it doesn't have an unlockable bootloader). It fully supports all US carriers (including Verizon) and even does wifi calling on T-Mobile. Motorola has an official bootloader unlock page, and once that's unlocked you have very easy root. It also has a SD card slot, and a snapdragon 625 combined with a 3000mAh battery and 1080p screen for very good battery life and good all-around performance. The only thing it doesn't have is a removable battery unfortunately, but otherwise it's a great phone.