From 1 July 2023, Singapore Airlines offers complimentary unlimited Wi-Fi to passengers across all cabins, becoming the first carrier in Asia to do so.

The airline has certainly come a long way since its initial experiments with the technology, which started all the way back in 2001 with the cheesily-named CyberCabin. And despite a few missteps along the way — who can forget the US$1,500 bill a passenger incurred when trying to upload a PowerPoint file — those investments are finally bearing fruit. 

In this post, you’ll learn all you need to know about inflight connectivity and Wi-Fi on your upcoming Singapore Airlines flight. 

Which aircraft offer inflight Wi-Fi?

Inflight Connectivity

Singapore Airlines offers Wi-Fi across almost its entire fleet, with the exception of its seven B737-800 aircraft, leftovers from the SilkAir days. 

The seven B737-800s have the following registration numbers, so you can track where they’re flying:

• 9V-MGC
• 9V-MGD
• 9V-MGE
• 9V-MGK
• 9V-MGL
• 9V-MGM
• 9V-MGN

At the time of writing, these aircraft are plying short-haul routes to Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Phuket, where the loss of connectivity for 60-90 minutes hopefully won’t be that big a deal. 

Who enjoys free Wi-Fi?

Suites, First and Business Class passengers enjoy complimentary unlimited Wi-Fi, period. 

Premium Economy and Economy Class passengers enjoy complimentary unlimited Wi-Fi provided they add their PPS or KrisFlyer membership number to their itinerary either at the time of booking, during check-in, at the lounge or at the boarding gate. In other words, it needs to be reflected on your boarding pass.

If you forget to do this, it’s too late to do anything once onboard the aircraft!

It can be tempting to leave your frequent flyer number off a redemption ticket, since you won’t earn miles on that flight anyway, but if that redemption ticket is in Premium Economy or Economy Class, you’ll need it for your free Wi-Fi.

Another implication of this rule is that you won’t be able to credit your paid Premium Economy or Economy Class ticket to a different frequent flyer programme without forgoing your free Wi-Fi.

How much do paid Wi-Fi plans cost?

If you’re a Premium Economy/Economy Class passenger who does not attach a PPS/KrisFlyer membership number to their booking, you will need to buy a paid Wi-Fi plan. 

Thankfully, all these plans are now time-based; in the bad old days they were volume based, and you’d be paying US$1599 for 200MB which would disappear in the blink of an eye.

1-hour and 3-hour plans cannot be paused.

Can you share a Wi-Fi plan?

Complimentary Wi-Fi allowances are limited to one device at a time, and logging in on a new device will terminate a session on the previous device.

However, you can login on your phone and then activate the hotspot feature to share the connection with a laptop or second phone- I do this very often and it works well.

Data via cellular service

In addition to Wi-Fi, you can also get data connectivity through your cell phone. Singapore Airlines aircraft equipped with inflight connectivity systems also offer cell service provided through either OnAir or AeroMobile. 

Singtel, StarHub and M1 offer all-you-can-eat data plans with both providers:

• Singtel: S$5 (valid for 24 hours from activation) 
• Starhub/M1: S$25 per day (valid until midnight, Singapore time)

Unlike Wi-Fi plans, these will cover multiple flights within the subscription window (because the allowance is tied to your mobile number, as opposed to your flight). 

In order to use this service, you need to turn on the data roaming feature on your phone.

While few travellers will opt for data connectivity via mobile plans (speeds are much slower than Wi-Fi, plus you have to pay) mobile network service is important if you’re making transactions that require SMS OTPs. Fortunately, it’s free to receive SMS messages inflight. 

Where is coverage available?

For Wi-Fi systems powered by SITAOnAir, coverage is available around the world except for India. 

Panasonic systems enjoy global Wi-Fi coverage.

Do note that services will also be unavailable when the aircraft is flying over certain areas, like the polar regions. This affects the following flights:

What kind of speeds can you expect?

In a word: adequate.

I’ve been regularly testing the Wi-Fi speeds on my Singapore Airlines flights, and find that download speeds average out to ~5 Mbps for both the SITAOnAir and Panasonic systems. Upload speeds are usually much slower, at ~1-2 Mbps.

This is sufficient for sending emails, writing blog posts and communicating through WhatsApp and Telegram. It will not be sufficient for any sort of video streaming (not even YouTube in 240p), so download your entertainment before boarding the flight.

Do remember that the speed of your connection will depend on weather conditions and location. 

It remains to be seen how speeds will be affected now that free unlimited Wi-Fi is offered to all passengers, but we should be getting some data points in the weeks and months to come.

Conclusion

Singapore Airlines now offers free unlimited Wi-Fi to all its First, Suites and Business Class passengers, as well as Premium Economy and Economy Class passengers who attach a PPS/KrisFlyer membership number to their booking.

If you don’t wish to do so, for whatever reason (maybe you want to credit the flight to a different FFP, and your employer pays for Wi-Fi anyway), then paid plans are available starting from US$3.99 for 1 hour and maxing out at US$15.99 for the full flight.

The only aircraft that lack connectivity are the B737-800s, but these will disappear from the fleet in due course (and in any case, only ply ultra-short routes).