I am not a promoter for Singtel, neither am I earning any commissions from Singtel by publishing this post. The only relationship I have with Singtel is that I am one of their users.
I use Singtel's ReadyRoam when travelling overseas and find the mobile data roaming service to be cheap and convenient to use. I believe it will be useful for travellers, especially Singtel users who are not aware of the ReadyRoam service.
When Travelling in Malaysia
Singtel's ReadyRoam used to provide 1GB of roaming data at S$5 when travelling in Malaysia but with 7-day validity period only. As such, I did not use the service for my weekend or day trips to Johor. But when travelling for 3 or more days, I will use it so I don't have to buy pre-paid cards, which can be more costly and need to keep swapping the SIM cards in the phone. The other advantage of ReadyRoam is that I can retain my mobile number when overseas.
Is 1GB of data a lot? Well, depends on usage. I had never exceeded the data limit since I used data roaming mainly to call Grab cars, look up travel information on the Internet, download maps and stay connected on WhatsApp. I will not stream videos, play games, browse social medias, etc, when on the go. To an extent, I find 1GB data to be too much for a day trip — or rather, 7 days is too short for me to consume the 1GB.
The good news is: In mid 2022, Singtel extended the validity period of their ReadyRoam service from 7 days to 30 days. With longer period to consume the 1GB data, I am more willing to use the ReadyRoam service for weekend trips to Malaysia — and go over the border more often within the 30 days period whenever I applied for the service.
If the "Neighbour Malaysia 1GB" plan at S$5 is not enough, get the "Asia 4GB" plan at current promotional price of S$15 (U.P. is S$18).
If the data limit is exceeded within the 30-day validity period, the selected data plan will be automatically added at the same price. In a way, this is good for managing data usage and pay only when more data is needed — but, up to 2 auto-additions, the 3rd time will result in higher cost than the 4GB plan.
Note that voice calls are charged separately.
Travelling Beyond Malaysia in Asia
The S$5 plan is applicable for Malaysia only. Beyond Malaysia, the minimum is the "Asia 4GB" plan. "Worldwide 6GB" is the next tier for those who wish to get more data at higher price.
I will be travelling to Taiwan for 14 days and intend to get the "Asia 4GB" plan. At S$15, it is much cheaper than getting a pre-paid card in Taiwan. After returning from Taiwan, I can continue to use roaming data in any Asian countries, especially Malaysia.
A search on the Internet found that Taiwan pre-paid cards cost around NT$800 (approx. S$35) for 7 days with unlimited data usage and voice calls — more suitable for heavy usage users. For low-usage users like me, it will be cheaper to use ReadyRoam. Another plus point is that I don't have to top up the card after 7 days regardless of usage.
How to apply for ReadyRoam service? You need to be a Singtel user.
For Singtel users, download the My Singtel mobile app from respective app stores and apply for "Roaming" under Add-ons. It takes just 2 minutes to complete an application. It's that easy!