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November 10, 2008

Mobile 3G in Singapore

Since I arrived here yesterday, I’ve been using my iPhone on roaming with Singtel 3G to get online to check emails and Tweet. I’m just hoping I wouldn’t end up with a huge bill when I get home.

So I checked around for some 3G rates on Singtel and found out it’s not that cheap as I would have expected for a well-connected Singapore.

On Singtel’s FAQ page:

How would my usage charge be calculated if I access data on a Pay-Per-Use basis?

Each data session is charged at $0.0054/KB in 2KB blocks. If you have 3 sessions of 103KB, you will be charged $0.0054 x 104KB x 3.

Is there a minimum data charge on Pay-Per-Use basis?

There is a minimum charge of $0.01. For example, if you only utilize 2KB in one session, you will be charged $0.01.

$0.0054 Singaporean dollars is about Php0.16 so that’s Php0.08/KB. That’s about half of what Globe charges on the per KB rates — Php0.15/KB. And as for the speed…

singtel

When tethered to my laptop, I just pop out the Globe SIM and place it on my SE Xperia. What’s really nice is that since I’m on postpaid, I didn’t have to configure anything to be able to do data roaming. It just simply works.


Written by yuga

Abe is the founder and publisher of YugaTech. You Can follow him on Twitter @abeolandres.

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19 Responses to “Mobile 3G in Singapore”

  1. frozenpyro says:

    I thought Singapore has free wifi all over the place??

  2. Men says:

    wew, yuga can afford to pay the bills.
    anyways i also thought singapore offers free wifi access

  3. Andre Marcelo-Tanner
    Twitter:
    says:

    prepare for large bills in a few days.

  4. crestfallen says:

    yes, singapore has free wifi all the city…

  5. Jan Alvin says:

    Even Singapore has all the amenities needed by a blogger. The cost of using it is high. Don’t you think??

  6. Adrian says:

    Abe in Singapore you could use Wireless@SG for internet instead of 3G. The good thing in Wireless@SG is free.

  7. BigBird says:

    Thats why there’s WIFI!

  8. yuga says:

    Yup, there’s Wireless@SG and I have tried it. However, the hotel floor I am in doesn’t have one.

  9. BrianB says:

    How can a guy earning as much as you, without a wife and kids, worry about penny and dimes?

  10. Reggie says:

    there are some places though that have slow download speeds with Wireless@SG

  11. BigBird says:

    Poor you! When you travel, you must have a WIFI/SIP phone to avoid sky rocketing roaming charges! Free calls free messaging(IM/SMS) Oh and also an extra battery!

  12. Adrian says:

    Reggie you are right, there are only some places for Wireless@SG.

    Airport, Mcdonalds, Starbucks, Malls or Hub, Schools.

  13. BrianB was right, having a wife and kids (plus the wife’s kamag-anaks) will make me worry with penny and dimes.

  14. Paul says:

    Using data services while roaming?

    Be prepared for a big bill when you get home!

    Buy a local SIM card instead… oh wait, your phones are SIM-locked (at least your iPhone is).

  15. yuga says:

    Don’t worry guys, just used it so I can do the speedtest and blog about it. All the rest of my online stuff was done using the free wifi and my prepaid card.

  16. scrufus says:

    The pay per use plans are not so cheap but the monthly plans are relatively cheaper I think. Mine’s around PHP 500 a month for 50GB of data.

  17. [...] I went to an overnight trip to Singapore, I used my XPeria X1 tethered to my MSI Wind to go online. SingTel 3G charging was on per KB so I was careful not to visit heavy sites or download anything. Had they [...]

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