Singapore's mobile phone service market is fairly competitive and consists of 3 major carriers (Singtel, StarHub, and M1) plus a couple niche carriers such as Grid Communications. Prepaid mobile service is particularly competitive, and that's something to keep in mind if you want to get service here. Unless you're an extremely heavy user, and maybe not even then, postpaid (contract) mobile phone service is unlikely to ever make financial sense.
Among the prepaid services there have been some recent changes: one for the better, and one not. Let's start with the bad news. If you are a light mobile phone user then prepaid service seems to be getting a bit more expensive. That's because the carriers are finding ways to make it slightly harder to keep your balance active for the traditional 180 day maximum. StarHub, for example, appears to have increased the minimum top up amount to S$18 if you want that top up value to be valid for 180 days, and then only if you buy a physical top up card. If you go online to top up your account then you have to pay S$20 (which adds S$23 in value) to extend the validity of your balance another 180 days.
That's the bad news. The good news is that you can pay as little as S$23 for 50 days (or maybe 49 days due to recharge rounding effects) of basic service. That basic service includes free incoming calls and text messages, 120 minutes of outgoing local calls, 500 outgoing local text messages, and S$12 added to your credit balance for that same period to spend on other services (such as international SMSes). And that's exactly what I do. That comes out to about 47 Singaporean cents per day for reasonable mobile phone service. StarHub offers substantially the same deal for S$2 more.
M1 sells SIM cards for S$5 if you shop around. (They also sell them for S$15. For purposes of the 50 day plan, just buy the S$5 card.) Mini- (standard) and Micro-SIM sizes are readily available, though at this writing the Nano-SIM size is hard to find in a prepaid SIM. That's OK, though, because you can find shops that'll cut the SIM down to proper size for you.
Another tip: if you go with StarHub, and especially if you live in Singapore, do not buy the "Tourist Prepaid" SIM card. That card is a decent offer if you're only going to stay in Singapore less than 90 days. However, the problem is that you can never extend the credit balance on that SIM more than 90 days, unlike StarHub's normal prepaid SIM cards which allow 180 day credit balances. Yes, Singapore's mobile carriers are "clever." Too clever.
In my view Singapore's IDA, the regulatory agency that's supposed to keep an eye on the mobile carriers, is much too passive. Carriers need to be much clearer and simpler in their communications with consumers, and they must provide accurate (and easily understandable) disclosures. They're not doing that, and that's causing consumer confusion. IDA ought to do a better job. While they're at it, IDA should insist on number portability across postpaid and prepaid services, in both directions. IDA's job is not to protect carriers. It's to ensure a well functioning mobile service market that serves consumers' best interests. In these two areas, disclosures and number portability, IDA is not fulfilling its responsibilities in my view.
Among the prepaid services there have been some recent changes: one for the better, and one not. Let's start with the bad news. If you are a light mobile phone user then prepaid service seems to be getting a bit more expensive. That's because the carriers are finding ways to make it slightly harder to keep your balance active for the traditional 180 day maximum. StarHub, for example, appears to have increased the minimum top up amount to S$18 if you want that top up value to be valid for 180 days, and then only if you buy a physical top up card. If you go online to top up your account then you have to pay S$20 (which adds S$23 in value) to extend the validity of your balance another 180 days.
That's the bad news. The good news is that you can pay as little as S$23 for 50 days (or maybe 49 days due to recharge rounding effects) of basic service. That basic service includes free incoming calls and text messages, 120 minutes of outgoing local calls, 500 outgoing local text messages, and S$12 added to your credit balance for that same period to spend on other services (such as international SMSes). And that's exactly what I do. That comes out to about 47 Singaporean cents per day for reasonable mobile phone service. StarHub offers substantially the same deal for S$2 more.
M1 sells SIM cards for S$5 if you shop around. (They also sell them for S$15. For purposes of the 50 day plan, just buy the S$5 card.) Mini- (standard) and Micro-SIM sizes are readily available, though at this writing the Nano-SIM size is hard to find in a prepaid SIM. That's OK, though, because you can find shops that'll cut the SIM down to proper size for you.
Another tip: if you go with StarHub, and especially if you live in Singapore, do not buy the "Tourist Prepaid" SIM card. That card is a decent offer if you're only going to stay in Singapore less than 90 days. However, the problem is that you can never extend the credit balance on that SIM more than 90 days, unlike StarHub's normal prepaid SIM cards which allow 180 day credit balances. Yes, Singapore's mobile carriers are "clever." Too clever.
In my view Singapore's IDA, the regulatory agency that's supposed to keep an eye on the mobile carriers, is much too passive. Carriers need to be much clearer and simpler in their communications with consumers, and they must provide accurate (and easily understandable) disclosures. They're not doing that, and that's causing consumer confusion. IDA ought to do a better job. While they're at it, IDA should insist on number portability across postpaid and prepaid services, in both directions. IDA's job is not to protect carriers. It's to ensure a well functioning mobile service market that serves consumers' best interests. In these two areas, disclosures and number portability, IDA is not fulfilling its responsibilities in my view.
