Singtel Bridge DataRoam 5 Days Plan for France (Paris)

SingTel has 2 plans for its Bridge DataRoam Unlimited: the monthly fees and the one that you need to activate for the amount of days or hours that you need it for, from 0000 to 2359 of the end date regardless of what time it is activated. But it seems that the rates have gone up, if you compare it with last year.
Singtel Bridge DataRoam
 Singtel Bridge DataRoam Plans as at 2012
Not wanting to incur an exorbitant handphone bill when I went to Paris late last month, I applied for Singtel’s Bridge DataRoam plan for France. It was S$100 for unlimited 3G access for 5 days on my android phone. Well, it is S$100, as long as you are connected to the preferred network, Orange. If you happen to accidentally connect to another network, the normal rates apply and that can be really expensive. It happened to me for a split second and cost me an extra S$2.15. Good thing I noticed that the networked was switched and rectified the issue (permanently) to prevent incurring extra charges. 
 
One way to prevent the network from automatically switching is to set to manually select to the Orange network, that way whenever Orange cannot be found you will only get a "no signal" error, instead of any ‘surprises’ in your bill when your phone tries to find another available network (when set to automatically detect network). 

The billing was accurate; they charge you as stated, but it never hurts to double check. Being a non-bridge alliance network, the Bridge DataRoam with Orange is more expensive (by S$20) than a bridge alliance network. So was the S$100 worth it for unlimted access for the 5 days I was in Paris?
Sure, at least the idea of conveniently being able to stay connected (e.g. whatsapp, post to facebook, surf the net or use Google maps), and most importantly not being presented with a ‘shock’ bill. But in reality, I found it to be too expensive for a service that almost failed to deliver: when we landed in the Charles de Gaulle airport the connection was good, but as we moved into the city center the signal only got weaker and intermittent. In fact, throughout the duration of 5 days, the 3G connection in Paris was intermittent and usually poor, with most occasions prompting a “network not available” error.

 
When the plan ended on the fifth day, I wanted to try to see if I could apply for the Bridge DataRoam Unlimited (4 hours) service, which is applicable for customers roaming in one destination on preferred network for a block of 4-hours, via SMS. But I had an error SMS instead.


The only other advantage I can think of is that activating such a plan does save you the hassle of getting a local pre-paid SIM card and/or using another phone. Imagine, if you were to go to various countries and you get a local pre-paid SIM for each of those countries, the effort to keep track of them and having to take replace the SIM card on your phone or constantly applying for a new one seems tedious.

Overall, it was a disappointing service and not recommended unless you really want or need to have 3G access, or fear not being connected when you are in Paris. Perhaps connection is better in other parts of France or perhaps it was specific to my android phone or during my period of travel. However, if you are interested in activating this service for your travels/holidays in France, it might be best to apply for it a few days in advance, just in case SMS or the app does not work when you are overseas.

Activation
Dial *7626 (*ROAM) from Singapore
OR
Type *7626 via sms and send to 3333 from overseas



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When travel collides with a byte, a unit of information made up of bits, TravelBytez is formed: snippets of ramblings on travel, food, shopping, living and anything else that comes to mind.

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