Singapore Expats

Hi,

I am moving to Singapore for 6 months next week and have an iPhone 4G.

I have two questions:

a) What carrier in Singapore offers the value on prepaid if the majority of activity is data and text?
b) Do any of the carriers stock microSIMs yet? This isn't such of a big deal as I can always take scissors to the SIM card!

Thanks in advance.

Jon.

Definitely NOT singtel. Singtel won't let 3g use for data on prepaid. Starhub will. Not sure about m1 prepaid.

OK thanks.

I'll check out M1 and Starhub.

I heard somewhere that M1 has bad coverage, is this true?

M1 does have few connectivity issues, Starhub is a bit better in these regards the connections is much better.

Pre-paid data is excessively expensive in Singapore, is it at all possible to get a SIM-only deal with no handset for 6mths?

aster wrote:Pre-paid data is excessively expensive in Singapore, is it at all possible to get a SIM-only deal with no handset for 6mths?

probably not. agree on expensive prepaid data, though. but even if you could use a two-year plan, they'll nickel and dime you, charging for caller id, the sim card, roaming and all other silly things.

and fyi, wireless@sg is unreliable most of the time.

Well, the OP could go for one of these SIM-only postpaid plans where the minimum length of use is 1 month. So technically he can get this for 6 months and then have his services canceled after that time:

http://info.singtel.com/personal/commun ... rsim-plans

I would also check M1 and Starhub for similar types of SIM-only plans.

Actually Starhub has a new microSIM prepaid offer:

http://www.starhub.com/broadband/onthem ... epaid.html

$32 to have the SIM issued, and then a $32 reload gives you 60 days' access including 2.5GB transfer.

jw79 wrote:OK thanks.

I'll check out M1 and Starhub.

I heard somewhere that M1 has bad coverage, is this true?

my experience is some places like jurong not very good.

… but the OP sounded like he wanted to be able to use some voice as well. M1's iPad plans have no contract and will support voice calls at pay-as-you-go rates.

http://m1.com.sg/iPad/plans.html

Hope this info is useful, if not to OP, then to someone else.

You could just get a regular old mini-SIM from the likes of SingTel or StarHub, then buy a cutter, or just use a pair of scissors. I know Deal Extreme makes a cutter, and I also saw one for sale at Sim Lim Square last week.

Sean C wrote:You could just get a regular old mini-SIM from the likes of SingTel or StarHub, then buy a cutter, or just use a pair of scissors. I know Deal Extreme makes a cutter, and I also saw one for sale at Sim Lim Square last week.

I know someone who just used a sharp cutter to make the normal-sized SIM into a micro-SIM for his iPad.

I'm on StarHub prepaid and i'm pretty happy with Happy128. I'm now tempted to get the iPhone 4 but still unsure whether to remain as a prepaid user or sign a plan with the telco.

1. I make a lot of IDD calls but not much of local calls.
2. Data-wise, my usage are more on Facebook, IM, bus arrival info, newsreading. I don't stream nor open any video files. 50MB/mth data from $17 Happy Stars enough to cater for these? If i understand it correctly, the MaxMobile Prepaid is a SIM card (means you don't get to keep your current number) and you are not allowed to topup Happy128 on it. The 12GB that comes with every telco plan is too much for me.
3. Corporate iPhone 15% discount is only for M1 which comes to around $68/mth with caller ID, roaming and IDD subscription fees. And $210 for the phone.

I think i have decided to pay $888 for the phone and remain as a prepaid (Happy128 + Happy Stars) user. I guess i just need acknowledgment that this is a correct decision? Comments?

Well, the funny thing is that you can get free IDD calls to like 18 destinations (well not free, but at local call rates) when using any prepaid card... but you usually need to fork out an extra $5 for this feature when on a contract. Illogical, I know... Same thing applies to caller ID (or at least it used to).

50 MB/mth from Happy Stars is really not a lot, especially if you'll be using data on your phone (keep in mind that you can also use Wireless&SG which does not count as cellular data) on an everyday basis.

Having said that this is exactly what I use (SH prepaid with Happy Stars), with the vast majority of internet access being via wifi.

Now if you were to purchase your iPhone outright and wanted to get a contract then I'd go with a different network, M1, as they give generous tariff rebates for those who already own an iPhone.

SingTel has launched 3G on its prepaid (get the hi card $15) and biggest value on the super data plan ($7 for 1GB). They also give 7 days to use up the value (SH only gives 1 day for all their plans)

http://info.singtel.com/personal/commun ... aiddatavas