In Singapore, the number of people who can use public data networks for free has grown a lot, and today 95% of the inhabitants can do so for free. In Singapore, the price of a mobile sim card and internet use has gone through the roof in the last few years. Because of this, a lot of people who visit Singapore use their phones while they are there.
If you are coming from a different country, There are a lot of things you should know before traveling to Singapore. However, it might be hard to choose the correct SIM card and cell plan.
Even though there are local mobile companies in Singapore, tourists often use prepaid SIM cards or international roaming plans. This article will save you time by giving you a full list of the best mobile networks and SIM cards that tourists in Singapore can use.
Can Tourists get SIM cards in Singapore?
Visitors and people in Singapore who are at least 15 or 16 years old can buy a SIM card from the nation’s mobile network providers as long as they follow the rules. In Singapore, you can buy a prepaid SIM card that works for up to 180 days or a tourist SIM card that works for one week.
Most of the time, these SIM cards only work for a certain amount of time and don’t come with a service agreement. So, they are better for tourists than for people who live there all the time.
Where can you buy a SIM Card in Singapore?
Tourist SIM cards from Singtel can usually be bought at the following places in Singapore:
- Singapore Changi Airport
- Travelex Foreign Currency Exchange
- Cheers store
- 7-Eleven store
- Authorized retailers at Harbourfront / Tanah Merah
- Other authorized retailers
The only places you can get the 5G S$30/S$50 Tourist SIM card are Travelex Foreign Currency Exchange, Changi Airport, Singtel Shops, and Singtel Exclusive Retailers.
You can pre-order a Singtel tourist SIM card through the following websites and apps and pick it up at Singapore Changi Airport or any Singtel Shop when you get there. To purchase a Singtel tourist SIM card, you should first place an order and expect to be paid for it. Then, you can pick it up at one of these places,
- Travelex at Singapore Changi Airport
- Changi Travel Services at Singapore Changi Airport
- Singtel Shops islandwide
Is it wise to buy SIM Cards at airports?
The best place to get a pre-paid sim card is at Singapore International Airport. There are three international arrivals terminals, but you can get a prepaid sim card for visitors no matter which one you use.
At Singapore’s Changi Airport, it’s easy to find one of the many stores that sell sim cards to travelers. You will see these shops as soon as you walk into the terminal. After getting your bag off the moving belt, you can leave through the glass sliding doors. To your left and right, you’ll see car rental agencies and people selling prepaid SIM cards.
Can you use your phone in Singapore?
The Global System for Mobiles (GSM) network makes mobile phone service possible in Singapore. CDMA phones will not work in Singapore. All 4 of Singapore’s major phone companies use the GSM network, so your unlocked phone should work with any of them.
Singaporeans use the more common European frequencies found in Africa, Asia (including the Middle East), Europe, and Oceania. North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean have frequencies which are different from those in Europe. If you bought your phone in Africa, Asia, Europe, or Oceania, you shouldn’t have any trouble using it in Singapore. If you buy a cheap or mid-range phone in the Americas that doesn’t support Tri-Band or Quad-Band, it might not work at all in Singapore or only work on slower networks (3G or 2G).
Mobile Operators, Networks & Frequencies in Singapore
In Singapore, a gigabyte of data costs about $0.61. This is much less than the average price of $1.47 across all of Asia. The average price around the world is 3.12 USD. Actually, Singapore is somewhere in the middle when it comes to the price of mobile data in Southeast Asian countries. In Singapore, you can get prepaid services from four different mobile network providers.
- Singtel
- StarHub
- M1 Singapore
- SIMBA (formerly TPG Mobile Singapore)
The following frequencies are used in Singapore:
- 2G: N/A–shut down on the 1st of April 2017
- 3G: 900 MHz & 2100 MHz
- 4G/LTE: 900 MHz (Band 8), 1800 MHz (Band 3), 2100 MHz (Band 1) & 2600 MHz (Band 7 & Band 38)
- 5G NR: 2100 MHz (n1) & 3500 MHz (n78)
Check again to make sure your phone is unlocked. Unless you change it, the only SIM card that will work is the one your home operator gives you.
What are the best SIM Cards and eSim in Singapore?
People are very different in how long they like to stay, how much data they use, and other such things. There are four Tourist SIM cards, and each one can be used in Singapore for up to seven days.
The best SIM card for a 7-day trip
To keep things simple, short-term travelers are vacationers who need a lot of data each day (1–3 GB) for things like online navigation, mobile research, and social networking.
| Particulars | Singtel $12 hi! Tourist Sim Card | Singtel Tourist hi! EZ-Link Sim Card | StarHub $12 Prepaid Sim | M1 $12 Prepaid Sim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $12 | $15 | $12 | $12 |
| Validity | 7 Days | 7 Days | 7 Days | 7 Days |
| Local data | 100GB | 100GB | 100GB | 100GB |
| Local calls | 500 mins | 500 mins | 500 mins | 500 mins |
| Local SMS | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Roaming data | 1 GB in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand | 1 GB in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand | 1 GB to Happy Roam destinations | No data |
| International Calls | 30 mins | 30 mins | 30 mins | 20 mins |
Singapore 10 or 12 day Tourist SIM Cards
| Particulars | Starhub Travel Prepaid SIM | Singtel hi! Tourist SIM Card | M1 Prepaid Tourist SIM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $32 | $30 | $30 |
| Validity | 12 Days | 12 Days | 12 Days |
| Local data | 100 GB (unlimited for messaging apps) | 100 GB (unlimited for messaging apps) | 100 GB |
| Roaming data | 3 GB | 3 GB | 3 GB |
| Local calls | 3000 mins | 3000 mins | 3000 mins |
| International calls | 90 mins | 90 mins | 50 mins |
| Local SMS | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 |
Singapore Prepaid SIM card for Budget Longterm Visitors
If you won’t need much data because your hotel or hostel has free WiFi, or if you’re on a tight budget and don’t see the point in paying $12 for data, take a look at this.
| Particulars | Singtel $8 hi! Prepaid SIM | StarHub $8 Prepaid SIM | M1 $8 Prepaid SIM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $15 | $15 | $14 |
| Credit | $15 | $15 | $14 |
| Validity | 120 Days | 180 Days | 180 Days |
| Local data | Free: ~3GB (120 days) *5GB (30 days) *100GB (28 days) « Bonus 2GB when you self- register in hilApp | Free: = 6GB (30 days) *2GB (1.2GB first month; 200MB/month for the next 5 months) * 120GB (28 days) | Free: 14GB (120days) +4GB (30days) |
| Data plans | 1-day: $7 (2GB), 3-day: $16 (6GB), 5-day: $2 (100MB), 7-day: $8 (1GB), $10 (10GB), 30-day: $10 (1GB), $20 (3GB), $25 (20GB), $30 (40GB), 4-week: $15 (5GB), $35 (100GB), $40 (150GB) | 1-day: $3 (1GB), 3-day: $5 (1G8), 7-day: $8 (1GB), 4-week: $10 (1GB+9GB), $25 (80GB anytime+ 40GB on Sunday) | 3-day: $2 (100MB), $5 (1GB), 7-day: $1(10M8), $7 (1GB), $10 (2GB), 30-day: $5 (300MB), $10 (1GB), $14 (4.5GB), $21 (15GB), $28 (60GB), $33 (100GB) |
| Local calls | 22¢/min | 22¢/min | 20¢ first min; subsequently 18¢/min |
| SMS | 5¢/local SMS; 15¢/overseas | 5¢/local SMS; 15¢/overseas | 5¢/local SMS; 15¢/overseas |
Best eSIM in Singapore
With the M1 platform, prepaid service providers can offer eSIMs to their customers. But only if you pay 12 SGD for a tourist SIM card (or eSIM, for that matter). Prepaid users can’t get an eSIM because there’s no way for them to get one (yet). With Asialink eSIM, you won’t have to buy a local SIM card or eSIM in each country you visit. This could save you a lot of money.
Best International/Travel SIM Card for Singapore
If you want the best international/travel SIM card for Singapore, I recommend getting one of SimCorner’s Singapore Travel SIM cards. You could use one of SimCorner’s Asia SIM cards in Singapore and more than 20 other countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, which are close by.
The SimCorner International Travel SIM card has 6 GB of data that lasts for 15 days and can be used in Singapore and more than 100 countries, including most of the Asian countries listed above as well as the Americas, Europe, and Oceania.
StarHub’s $12 Go Prepaid SIM is also a good investment if you plan to travel to any of 17 countries outside of Singapore: Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, or the United States. When it comes to calls to other countries, both the $12 StarHub Travel Prepaid SIM and the $12 hello! A tourist SIM card will give you 1GB of data roaming for free in Happy Roam countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.
How much does a SIM card cost in Singapore?
When you go to Singapore, you might save money if you buy a tourist SIM card instead of a local one.
SIM cards from Singtel cost between $8 and $38 (about $5.95 and $28.10), from $8 to $50 (about $37 USD) from StarHub, $10 (about $7.40 USD) from SIMBA (formerly TPG Mobile), and between $14 ($10.35 USD) and $27 ($20 USD) from M1. Tourist SIM cards with 100GB of space cost between $12 and $50 SGD. SIM cards can also be bought at Changi Airport in Singapore (SIN).
Singtel is the only company that sells 5G sim cards that are already paid for. Customers who pay as they go can now get 5G service from them. At Singapore Airport, a 5G sim card costs $70 SGD, but in the city, it only costs $30 SGD.
Since all mobile internet providers in Singapore offer a high-quality 4G network, we found that SIMBA is the best deal for tourists in 2023. You can get 30 days of service, 100 GB of data, and unlimited talk time for just $7 USD.
Singtel SIM Cards
- 120 GB, 15 days for SGD 50 ($35.03)
- 100 GB, 12 days for SGD 30 ($21.02)
M1 SIM Cards
- 150 GB, valid for 4 weeks for SGD 20 ($14.01)
- 56 GB, valid for 4 weeks for SGD 12 ($8.41)
- 168 GB, valid for 12 weeks for SGD 49 ($34.32)
Simba SIM Cards
- 100 GB, 30 days, SGD 10 ($7.01)
- 130 GB, 30 days, SGD 18 (12.61)
Can you buy a Singapore SIM card online?
If you pre-order a SIM card from a store like Amazon, it will be ready for you when you arrive. Various packages can be found on Amazon. You should check to see if the countries you want to visit are on the list, but there are many other options to think about.
Asian SIM cards that have already been paid for are another option. You can use this if you are from the US or Australia.
How to do SIM Card Registration in Singapore?
In Singapore, you need to use your passport information to sign up for a SIM card. This will happen when the real transaction is made.
Find out which countries require you to register your SIM card and what the rules are in those countries. I’ve written out the steps below so that any mobile service provider can use them.
- The first step is to get the app from the cell phone company.
- Next, give us the information that your ID card asks for. You need a valid ID, Work Permit, Employment Pass, or Passport from the government.
- The SIM card’s information must be typed in or scanned.
- Just use a scanner to take a picture of your ID and upload it. Only the front of a photo is needed for a passport, but both sides are needed for an NRIC, a work permit, or an employment pass.
- Finally, you have to use Facial Validation.
Is there free Wi-Fi in Singapore?
Most public and business places on the island have Wi-Fi connections. Here are the options we offer.
Wireless@SGx
Changi Airport
Thanks to #WiFi@Changi, the public and transit areas of Changi Airport have free Wi-Fi.
Shopping Malls, Restaurants and Cafes
Some restaurants, bars, and cafes in Singapore let their customers use Wi-Fi for free.
They often advertise WiFi to shoppers, but if you need it, you can always ask at the mall’s information desk.
Conclusion
You can actually buy local prepaid SIM cards, international SIM cards, mobile hotspots or pocket Wi-Fi. Each of these options has both good and bad things about it. If you buy a prepaid SIM card at Changi Airport, it will cost you more than if you buy the same card in the middle of Singapore. So, you shouldn’t buy a prepaid SIM card until you get to your final destination.
When you go to Singapore, it’s always better to have mobile data on hand. With the Best Mobile Sim Cards, visitors can get unlimited bandwidth on a super-fast 5G or 4G connection.
