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My wife and I are off to Singapore next week. Previously, as a Vodafone customer, I’d pay the £5-£6 a day and use my allowance while away.
However, I’m now an o2 customer, and it appears o2 have no arrangements in Singapore. 1GB of data is £65, and it’s £2 p/min to receive a call!!!
For work reasons I really need to receive calls to my o2 number. I will also need to stay in frequent contact with my technophobe mum (she’s really unwell at the moment).
So I plan to buy a local SIM for the 2-weeks we’re there to allow me to call and receive calls from my mum. Unfortunately I have a single SIM phone and still need access to my o2 number.
Can anyone think of a better way for me to organise this? Am I going to have to carry two phones for two weeks?
I’d normally suggest an esim if your phone supports it and Airalo but it’s showing Singapore out of stock. Three PAYG still includes Singapore and you can get a sim from Amazon. Would need two phones though but you can set the Three one up as a wireless hotspot. My gut feeling is that buying a sim on arrival would be cheaper.
Airalo support is utterpy useless, and the last few times I’ve used them I had issues with the esim refusing to connect randomly, for hours/days at a time.
I’ve sent nce switched to Nomad and it works perfectly. Also was just in Singapore a month ago and the Nomad esim worked perfectly.
Let me know if you want a referral code for a discount off your first sim order…
Can anyone think of a better way for me to organise this? Am I going to have to carry two phones for two weeks?
Check if your phone has eSIM support. If it does, local eSIM or Hong Kong (3) might be best.
Couple of options
1) get a “Skype in” or sipgate number and divert your o2 number to it . Ideally get an esim so you can use that for data / using the Skype app and still receive sms as usual on your main sim, otherwise just get a local tourist sim
2) Get a 3 sim and divert your o2 number to it. If you need to receive any o2 sms then either swap sims temporarily or carry an old / cheap phone
The issue I sometimes notice with Skype app is it can be quite slow to start ringing but otherwise that’s the route I have used before. I find the 3 sims are very slow when accessing the Internet. Set the diverts up before you leave and check they’re working !
You can buy an eSIM locally, if your phone supports it. I got mine from M1, who have outlets in Changi or shops all over the country.
https://www.m1.com.sg/mobile/prepaid-plans/tourist-sim
WiFi is plentiful in Singapore, but the country is so digitally-driven that I’d still recommend having data.
Actually, if you’re with your wife could you just have her with a local SIM/eSIM and she sets up a hotspot? Will you be apart that much?
Thank you for the suggestions. Unfortunately my phone doesn’t support eSIM.
@SamG – I was considering combining your Option 2 with buying a local SIM, however I am wondering whether I might end up being charged £3 p/min by o2 for the outbound call from my current o2 SIM to the new Three SIM (as the divert call will effectively be a ‘call abroad’… https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/calling-abroad-standard-rates). Is this something you have first hand experience of, and if so how were the calls charged?Definitely not charged at that rate, I had mine set up like that for years when I lived there. I’ve got a feeling the call doesn’t come out of your minutes but you pay a UK rate but can’t remember exactly (and I’m on Vodafone)
You could also give your mum the Skype in number and ask her to call that for those dates perhaps, depends how much you want to bother her
“There is no service charge for using Call Forwarding.
Whilst a divert is in place and you receive an incoming call, you’ll be charged for an outgoing call from your mobile to the diverted number once the call is connected (this will come out of the inclusive allowance if applicable). This will be charged at the standard rate depending on your tariff.”
Thank you for the suggestions. Unfortunately my phone doesn’t support eSIM.
@SamG – I was considering combining your Option 2 with buying a local SIM, however I am wondering whether I might end up being charged £3 p/min by o2 for the outbound call from my current o2 SIM to the new Three SIM (as the divert call will effectively be a ‘call abroad’… https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/calling-abroad-standard-rates). Is this something you have first hand experience of, and if so how were the calls charged?A call from a UK number to a UK number will be charged as such. It doesn’t matter where the UK number is located at the time of the call. It has to be this way, or people wouldn’t know how much a call costs before they make it. So the divert call won’t be a call abroad, but a UK call. This should come out of your allowance unless there is a special T&C about the cost of diverted calls.
Airalo support is utterpy useless, and the last few times I’ve used them I had issues with the esim refusing to connect randomly, for hours/days at a time.
I’ve sent nce switched to Nomad and it works perfectly. Also was just in Singapore a month ago and the Nomad esim worked perfectly.
Let me know if you want a referral code for a discount off your first sim order…
It’s very tricky to use I agree. Often providers change and you need to work out who took over the previous one. However, I found it useful and you collect cashback as well. I’ll give Nomad a try.
Thank you for the continued advice everyone.
The current plan is:
Player 1 buys a 10gb Three PAYG SIM (£9.20 from Amazon) and puts it in Phone 2. At LHR, I’ll remove my o2 SIM from Phone 1.
Player 1 and 2 will buy the Singtel $12 hi!Tourist SIM Card asap after arriving into SIN. (14 days, 100gb data, 500 mins local calls, and 30 mins IDD calls). Player 1 puts hi!Tourist SIM into Phone 1. Player 2 (who has dual SIM) will carry both her Three and hi!Tourist SIMs.
What I haven’t decided is whether I divert my o2 SIM to the new Three SIM, or just keep totally switched off and access VM remotely. My mother can call my wife in an emergency.
In total I suspect we’ll end up spending about £94 for mobile telephony over the two weeks. The new Three SIM could potentially be avoided but gives peace of mind.
When I went into the o2 shop today the sales gentleman was very surprised to learn that Singapore was no longer on their Roaming plans. He suspects that the contract between o2 and their local partner must’ve recently expired, and I’ve been unlucky with my timing. Might be true, might be a yarn.
Thank you all once again for your help.
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