Best Mobile Roaming Options for Singapore Travellers
There are three ways to get data abroad: a telco roaming pass, roaming already bundled in your plan, or a separate travel eSIM. Passes and bundles keep your Singapore number; a travel eSIM is usually data-only but often cheaper for data-heavy trips.
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Getting mobile data overseas from Singapore comes down to three options: buy a roaming pass from your telco, use roaming data already bundled in your plan, or install a separate travel eSIM. The right one depends on where you go, how long for, how much data you need, and whether you need your Singapore number to stay reachable. The prices below are approximate, as of October 2026, and rate cards change, so confirm the current rate in your telco’s app or the provider’s page before you travel.
The single rule that saves the most money: decide and set it up before you fly. Landing without a plan can dump you onto standard pay-per-use roaming, which is priced per megabyte and can run into hundreds of dollars for ordinary use.
The three ways to get data abroad
| Option | Keeps your SG number? | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Telco roaming pass | Yes | Short trips, light-to-moderate data, staying reachable on calls/SMS |
| Roaming bundled in your plan | Yes | Regular travel to countries your plan already covers |
| Travel eSIM (third party) | No (data-only) | Data-heavy trips where you don’t need your SG number on that line |
Telco roaming passes
Each Singapore telco sells prepaid roaming passes you activate in its app. As of October 2026 and approximate:
How Singapore telcos price roaming data.
- M1 offers a Worldwide Daily Passport at about S$0.99 a day for 3GB across a wide list of destinations, charged only on days you use data, with the 24-hour window starting when data is first used — making it one of the cheapest per-day options for light-to-moderate use. Older plans fall back to a standard Daily Passport priced by region (roughly a few dollars a day).
- Singtel ReadyRoam is sold by region: around S$5 for 1GB to a neighbouring country, about S$12–S$18 for 6GB regional bundles valid 30 days, and roughly S$40 for a 6GB worldwide bundle; there are also short unlimited-style daily and 14-day options.
- StarHub DataTravel bundles data over 30 days — roughly S$16–S$20 for Asia-Pacific bundles and about S$40–S$50 for global bundles — plus an unlimited daily pass at around S$40 a day for non-Star-Plan lines.
Roaming already in your plan
Some plans include a chunk of roaming data at no extra cost. Simba, for example, bundles regional (APAC) and global data buckets into its monthly plans — so a subscriber travelling to a covered country may pay nothing extra until that bundle runs out, after which excess is charged per GB (Simba quotes from about S$4/GB in its nearest zone, approximate as of October 2026). Higher Singtel and StarHub tiers also fold in some roaming data. Always check what your plan already covers before buying a separate pass — you may not need one.
Travel eSIMs
Third-party travel eSIMs (such as Airalo, Nomad and Holafly) sell data by destination or region, installed via a QR code before you leave. They are often the cheapest per gigabyte for data-heavy trips, and regional plans cover multiple countries on one eSIM. The trade-offs: most are data-only (no Singapore number, usually no calls or SMS), you manage a second line on your phone, and “unlimited” eSIM plans carry their own fair-use speed limits. These are third-party prices, approximate as of October 2026 — confirm current rates and coverage on the provider’s page.
How to choose
- Check what roaming your current plan already includes for your destination.
- Estimate your data need and trip length, then work out cost per day for each option.
- Decide whether you must keep your Singapore number reachable (favours a pass or bundle) or can go data-only (favours a travel eSIM).
- For dual-SIM phones, consider keeping your SG line on for calls and a travel eSIM for data.
- Set it up before departure and enable any roaming cap.
For how roaming interacts with switching provider and keeping your number, see how to compare SIM-only plans; if you use a lot of data at home too, our guide to plans for heavy data users covers the local side. Rates and coverage change constantly — confirm the current figures in your telco’s app before you travel, and see how we track plan prices for where our numbers come from.
Sources
- Singtel — ReadyRoam data roaming — Singtel (as of October 2026)
- StarHub — DataTravel roaming data plans — StarHub (as of October 2026)
- M1 — $0.99 Worldwide Daily Passport — M1 (as of October 2026)
- Simba — roaming — Simba (TPG Telecom) (as of October 2026)
- IMDA — telecommunication services and consumer information — Infocomm Media Development Authority (as of October 2026)