- Types of roaming
- Mobile providers that provide roaming calls and SMS
- Best mobile plans for Indonesia roaming overall
- Best cheap mobile plans for data roaming in Indonesia
- Best cheap mobile plans for SMS and voice roaming in Indonesia
- Best mobile plans for data roaming in Indonesia
- Best mobile plans for SMS roaming in Indonesia
- Best mobile plans for voice roaming in Indonesia
Roaming is a great way to stay connected and use your mobile plan overseas. Before you roam, you’ll need either a mobile plan that supports roaming or an international roaming plan add-on.
Before we look at roaming plans offered by popular mobile providers in Singapore, here are some popular mobile plans that include data roaming, voice and SMS roaming, or offer it via separate add-ons.
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#1
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StarHub
Data Only Core
$5
Min. cost $5
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#2
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ZYM Mobile
Flexi Duo Data Only
$7
+ $3 Upfront
Min. cost $10
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#3
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Zero1
Starter Prime 4G
$7.06
Min. cost $7.06
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#4
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CMLink
200GB 4G SIM Only
$7.70
Min. cost $7.70
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#5
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VIVIFI
Roam Value 4G
$7.70
Min. cost $7.70
Link not supplied
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#6
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MyRepublic
4G Vibe
$7.90/mth
Min. cost $7.90
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Types of roaming
There are three types of global roaming: data, SMS, and call roaming.
You'll typically find some allowance of data roaming in Singapore mobile plans, particularly to neighbouring countries like Malaysia. It's a great option if you regularly cross the border and need a roaming data allowance each month.
In most cases, you may have to pay extra to make or receive calls or to send SMSes, if your provider even supports it. If you’re after SMS and call roaming, your best bet is to consider add-on packs or pay-as-you-go pricing. Some plans do allow for calls from international destinations, simply deducting your usage from your plan's IDD (International Direct Dial) allowance, while others (like premium-priced StarHub plans) include unlimited voice roaming.
Mobile providers that provide roaming calls and SMS
We track 17 mobile providers in our comparison engine. Most mobile providers in Singapore offer pay-as-you-go roaming rates for incoming and outgoing SMS and calls. These rates change based on the mobile provider (like StarHub, Circles.Life and M1) and selected countries.
Unfortunately, not every provider offers both call and SMS roaming, especially as part of mobile plans. GOMO, for example, does not support calls while roaming. Many telcos offer a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system, while others offer add-on roaming packs. You’ll also find some providers, like SIMBA, that bundle IDD and roaming VoLTE minutes, and some, like StarHub, that offer unlimited voice roaming on plans $38 and above. The only telcos we found that didn’t offer any voice or SMS roaming were GOMO, giga, Maxx, and Changi Mobile.
Best mobile plans for Indonesia roaming overall
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SIMBA
Editor's Pick
SuperRoam 12 SIM Only
$12
Min. cost $12
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For the best Indonesia roaming mobile plan, we recommend the SIMBA SuperRoam 12 SIM Only plan. For $12 per month, you’ll get unlimited local outgoing calls, as well as 600 international direct dial (IDD) minutes, which can be used to make calls while overseas.
This SIMBA mobile plan includes 500GB of data, bundled for use in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Thailand. You’ll also get 18GB of roaming data to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and South Korea, as well as 8GB of data available for use in over 60 countries.
Even though incoming SMSes while roaming are free, SIMBA doesn't support SMS roaming for outbound messages. Outside of the plan inclusions, SIMBA offers free calls over VoLTE—the only catch is that the minutes you use come out of your monthly IDD allowance. If you need more IDD minutes, expect to pay $5 for a Super IDD top-up pack. For more data, you're looking at a per-GB charge of $4.
Best cheap data roaming in Indonesia
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Eight
Editor's Pick
Double Eight 4G SIM Only
$8
Min. cost $8
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If you’re after a cheap-as-chips data roaming option, start your comparisons with eight’s Double Eight SIM Only mobile plan. For $8 every 30 days, you’ll get 10GB of APAC data for use in Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, and Thailand and 388GB of Singapore and Malaysia data on the StarHub 4G network. You’ll also get an extra 2GB of international roaming for use in over 50 countries, as well as 288 IDD minutes so you can phone home over VoLTE while you’re in Indonesia.
Best cheap SMS and voice roaming in Indonesia
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MyRepublic
4G Max
$8.80/mth
Min. cost $8.80
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Although SIMBA is the best choice for cheap voice roaming, they don't allow outgoing roaming SMS. That's where MyRepublic comes in, as they consistently come out on top with the cheapest SMS and call roaming rates. Incoming and outgoing calls to Indonesia will set you back $0.12 per minute, for both IDD018 and IDD021 audio quality. For SMSes, you’re looking at $0.15 per SMS.
To keep things affordable, we’d recommend the MyRepublic 4G Max Plan. If you’re a new sign-up or port-in, you'll get an extra 88GB of local data for the next six months. You’ll pay $8.80 for the first six months, then $9.90 every month thereafter. This plan comes with a total of 388GB of full-speed local data (and unlimited speed-capped data afterwards), 200 minutes and 100 SMS. In terms of roaming data, you’ll get 15GB of Thailand roaming, 5GB of APAC roaming, and 100GB for use in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Best mobile plans for data roaming in Indonesia
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Eight
Fortune Eight 4G SIM Only
$11.80
Min. cost $11.80
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The Fortune Eight SIM Only plan is a great starting point for affordable data roaming in Thailand. For $11.80 every 30 days, you’ll get 488GB of APAC data bundled for Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, and Thailand.
You’ll also get an extra 26GB of APAC roaming. On top of that, you’ll get 8GB of international roaming for use in over 50 countries. Eight also offers add-on roaming packs. Depending on the country, you can snag 1GB for as low as $3.88
Additionally, you get 688 local minutes, 388 IDD minutes, 88 Myanmar minutes, and 128 local SMS.
Best mobile plans for SMS roaming in Thailand
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MyRepublic
4G Vibe
$7.90/mth
Min. cost $7.90
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When it comes to SMS roaming, MyRepublic's rates are among the lowest. For Zone 1 destinations (which includes APAC destinations like Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, and Thailand), you’ll pay $0.15 per SMS. For Zone 2 (which includes destinations like South Korea, China, France, Hawaii, and Italy), you’ll pay $0.65 per SMS, and $1.15 for Zone 3 (which includes destinations like Brazil, Fiji, and South Africa)
As with our previous cheap roaming pick, we recommend MyRepublic—this time, with the 4G Max Plan, which will get you 300GB of full-speed local data (and unlimited throttled data afterwards) for $7.90 a month, with a bonus 88GB local data for the first six months. For roaming data, you’ll get 100GB for use in Malaysia, 2GB for APAC destinations, and 10GB for use in Indonesia and Thailand. Additionally, you’ll get 150 local minutes and 50 SMS to use back home.
Best mobile plans for voice roaming in Indonesia
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SIMBA
Editor's Pick
SuperRoam 12 SIM Only
$12
Min. cost $12
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SIMBA is a great place to start if you’re after roaming calls. as all SIMBA plans include free voice roaming over VoLTE. So as long as the destination you’re travelling to supports the VoLTE communication standard, you won’t have to pay any additional fees. However, as mentioned, the minutes you use will be deducted from your monthly IDD allowance, but you can always purchase a top-up if you're after more. For $5, you’ll get 500 minutes across 21 destinations.
Again, we’d recommend the SIMBA SuperRoam 12 SIM Only plan. It costs $12 every 30 days and comes with 500GB of data, bundled for use in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Thailand. You’ll get 600 IDD minutes, 100 local SMSes, and unlimited calls to local mobiles. When it comes to data, you’ll get a sweet 18GB of roaming data for use in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and South Korea. You’ll also get a further 8GB of data to use over 60 destinations.
