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 $0.0054PHP 0.32INR 0.46EUR 0.01CNY 0.04/KB in 2KB blocks. If you have 3 sessions of 103KB, you will be charged $0.0054PHP 0.32INR 0.46EUR 0.01CNY 0.04 x 104KB x 3.

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

There is a minimum charge of $0.01PHP 0.59INR 0.85EUR 0.01CNY 0.07. For example, if you only utilize 2KB in one session, you will be charged $0.01PHP 0.59INR 0.85EUR 0.01CNY 0.07.

$0.0054PHP 0.32INR 0.46EUR 0.01CNY 0.04 Singaporean dollars is about Php0.16USD 0.00INR 0.23EUR 0.00CNY 0.02 so that’s Php0.08USD 0.00INR 0.12EUR 0.00CNY 0.01/KB. That’s about half of what Globe charges on the per KB rates — Php0.15USD 0.00INR 0.22EUR 0.00CNY 0.02/KB. And as for the speed…

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.