Singtel offering unlimited inflight data for S$5 per flight (including SIA)

If you’re a Singtel mobile subscriber, staying connected in the skies will get a whole lot cheaper from today.

That’s because the telco has cut the price of its Inflight Unlimited Data Plan from S$14.50 to just S$5. This provides all-you-can-eat data for one flight or a 24-hour period (whichever is shorter), on any airline offering the AeroMobile network.

Singtel offering S$5 unlimited inflight data plan

Singtel Data Roaming

Singtel postpaid customers can now purchase an Inflight Unlimited Data Plan for S$5, valid on any airline with the AeroMobile network (see below for the full list). For avoidance of doubt, this package is not available to customers of MVNOs that use Singtel’s network, e.g. GOMO.

To subscribe, subscribers must dial *100# after the flight reaches cruising altitude. They’ll receive a series of prompts to activate the service.

Once activated, the service is valid for the shorter of:

• A 24-hour period
• The duration of the flight (since there’s no single flight longer than 24 hours, this is effectively the limit)

If you’re taking a connecting flight, your plan will only be valid for the first leg of the journey. In other words, once the plane touches down, your session ends and you’ll need to buy a new plan for the second leg.

Singtel provides an important caveat: 

The speed of in-flight data connection supports messaging optimally. Your experience with photo sharing or web surfing on content and image intensive sites may not be optimal.

It’s unclear what “not optimal” means, and I don’t have any first-hand experience since I always default to Wi-Fi. From what I can gather, AeroMobile offers 3G speeds. I’d be curious to know how good/bad this is in practice from those of you who have tried!

Do note that a fair-use policy applies, so your connection may get throttled if you use it “excessively” (the threshold is not defined). 

Which airlines offer mobile connectivity?

AeroMobile service is currently offered by 19 different airlines, including Singapore Airlines:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Belgium
• Asiana
• Biman Bangladesh
• Cathay Pacific
• EgyptAir
• Emirates
• Etihad
• EVA Air
• ITA Airways
• Kuwait Airways
• Lufthansa
• Malaysia Airlines
• SAS
• Singapore Airlines
• SWISS
• TAP Air Portugal
• Turkish Airlines
• Uzbekistan Airways

Do keep in mind that AeroMobile connectivity may not be offered on every aircraft type within a given airline- on Singapore Airlines, for example, connectivity is provided by AeroMobile and OnAir. 

Here’s an illustration of how a Singtel Inflight Unlimited Data Plan could save money, compared to using the airline’s Wi-Fi service.

Singapore Airlines currently offers passengers the following Wi-Fi allowances:

If you’re an Economy Class passenger who has exhausted your 2-hour allowance, your paid options are: 

It would be much cheaper to pay S$5 for full flight data roaming, as opposed to the plans above. 

Of course, this assumes that the surfing experience on AeroMobile is equivalent to that of Wi-Fi. As mentioned earlier, Singtel cautions that the speeds for anything beyond messaging may be “not optimal” (though it’s hard to see how 4G can go wrong!), so this is something that’d be interesting to test in the field. 

Conclusion

Singtel customers can now subscribe to a S$5, all-you-can-eat data roaming plan valid on Singapore Airlines and other carriers with AeroMobile connectivity. This could potentially be a better deal than a Wi-Fi plan, assuming the data speeds are decent! 

For a detailed guide on staying connected while flying with Singapore Airlines, be sure to check out the post below. 

Singapore Airlines inflight connectivity & Wi-Fi guide

(HT: @ChongSJ)