Help! Going London how to avoid bill shock?

[lkjh00]

My 19 year old daughter going UK summer school for 30 days in July.

How to avoid bill shock?
Currently she’s on M1 Maxx plan only 7 GB for international roaming!
Also M1 Maxx doesn’t offer UK local direct calling in case London university needs to call her., same goes to Singapore Embassy in London in case of emergency!

Any MNVO to recommend? Thanks

 

[firesong]

My 19 year old daughter going UK summer school for 30 days in July.

How to avoid bill shock?
Currently she’s on M1 Maxx plan only 7 GB for international roaming!
Also M1 Maxx doesn’t offer UK local direct calling in case London university needs to call her., same goes to Singapore Embassy in London in case of emergency!

Any MNVO to recommend? Thanks

A lot of this depends on her discipline and whether she has access to Wifi networks.

For generous roaming allotment, I think for now it's the $15 plan under ZYM/Vivifi/Zero1.

I'm on Vivifi. Was in Australia late-May, early-June. The 30GB was generous enough, and because I was there across 2 months, I effectively had 60GB to use in my 16 days there. But caveat, Australia is considered under Asia bundle.

For UK, there is also the additional port in bonus of 60GB/y so I expect her to be well-covered.

As for outgoing calls, all calls will be roaming calls because they originate from outside Singapore. For incoming calls, they will likely be roaming calls to as they are delivered to an overseas recipient. I suspect SIMBA may be the workaround for this since received calls while roaming are "local" calls, but SIMBA may not have enough roaming data for her. As July is just next month, even with SIMBA's rollover promotion she'll only accumulate +1 mo of data, which may not be sufficient for her use.

One possibility is to get a local e-SIM there and just stack the two.

 

[Tedicious]

Buy local SIM card

 

[gapboy]

My 19 year old daughter going UK summer school for 30 days in July.

How to avoid bill shock?
Currently she’s on M1 Maxx plan only 7 GB for international roaming!
Also M1 Maxx doesn’t offer UK local direct calling in case London university needs to call her., same goes to Singapore Embassy in London in case of emergency!

Any MNVO to recommend? Thanks

Depending on how long she stays, she should get a tourist SIM or a local UK plan.

 

[Sauron]

Get prepaid card there?

 

[lkjh00]

Have check Vivifi roaming call; UK to UK local phone call $4.1/min., UK to SG $6.3/min

 

[BBCWatcher]

My 19 year old daughter going UK summer school for 30 days in July.
How to avoid bill shock?
Currently she’s on M1 Maxx plan only 7 GB for international roaming!

There’s no “bill shock” with M1 Maxx. If she uses all of her allotted data, it just stops for the rest of the billing cycle. 7GB may be enough. She could conserve data by turning off video, automatic image downloads, app store downloads, and other data “hogs” over cellular networks. She can also pre-download offline maps for the U.K. over Wi-Fi. Also, she probably actually has 14GB because it’s likely her 30 day visit will span 2 Maxx billing cycles. For example, she might have 7GB for the first 10 days then another 7GB for the final 20 days.

Also M1 Maxx doesn’t offer UK local direct calling in case London university needs to call her., same goes to Singapore Embassy in London in case of emergency!

M1 Maxx $10 and $12 plans now include +65 incoming and outgoing voice calling in the United Kingdom and in several other countries. If she’s on one of those plans and has renewed since June 16 she should be reachable on her +65 mobile number. And she should be able to call +65 numbers. Data-based communication services such as WhatsApp should also work as long as she hasn’t exhausted her roaming data (and when she’s Wi-Fi connected).

If she truly needs a U.K. mobile number then she’ll need to get a local U.K. SIM or eSIM. If she has a “dual SIM” phone then this can be a second SIM or eSIM.

But, with due respect, relax. Singapore’s embassy surely knows how to dial +65 numbers if there’s an emergency. Which there won’t be. If she runs out of data (because she wasn’t careful enough to conserve data), she can buy a cheap local SIM/eSIM at that time. The U.K. has lots of Wi-Fi, and her voice calls should still work (if she’s on a $10 or $12 M1 Maxx plan). It’s a civilized, developed country that has welcomed millions of students before mobile phones even existed.

 

[keenklee]

IMHO.
Get those 30-days plan, if finished using just buy another 30-day. Simba a likely choice but do test with their helpdesk.

 

[trento]

Cannot call using Whatsapp?

 

[keenklee]

Have check Vivifi roaming call; UK to UK local phone call $4.1/min., UK to SG $6.3/min

IMHO.
If emergency.....

 

[lkjh00]

Problem is she only 19 yrs old girl, TikTok Instagram daily must have!

She going 8 July to 6 july and monthly renewal is on 6th and she can’t has double months data 7+7!

Oh for roaming phone calling is only for emergency worry for university call, embassy call, police call like these

 

[BBCWatcher]

Problem is she only 19 yrs old girl, TikTok Instagram daily must have!

Maybe that's her first university problem (or "problem") to solve? I hate to break the news, but a 19 year old university student isn't a "girl" any more. Isn't it time for her to figure out "adulting stuff" already?

She'll be in the United Kingdom on a 30 day once-in-a-lifetime adventure, or nearly that. Yes, I suppose she could continue feeding her TikTok and Instagram addictions amidst the wonders of the real world around her. However, she might be better off (mostly) disconnecting and actually experiencing some of that real world, in this case in the United Kingdom. They do have many fascinating sights, sounds, experiences, and people over there. The natives generally speak a tolerable form of English and are fairly friendly, too.

She going 8 July to 6 july and monthly renewal is on 6th and she can’t has double months data 7+7!

I think you meant she'll be there until August 6. If so, OK, with her existing SIM/eSIM she'll have 7GB for her first 28 days then another 7GB for the last couple days. If that's not enough she can buy a local pay as you go (PAYG) SIM/eSIM for +/- £10 if she shops around even a little bit. Which she'll have plenty of time to do with 7GB on arrival. For now, she has nothing to do except focus on literally anything else since this is a non-issue.

Oh for roaming phone calling is only for emergency worry for university call, embassy call, police call like these

I get the sense you're coping with anxiety.

999 should work in the U.K. even if she's flat out of data. I'm highly confident Singapore's embassy knows how to call +65 numbers, too — which will work just fine if she's on an M1 Maxx S$10 or S$12 plan. I'm also highly confident universities know how to send e-mails to students. Some of them even know how to send WhatsApp messages, how to call +65 numbers, and how to send SMS text messages to +65 numbers. (British universities especially are quite familiar with international students.) If the university feels they need more, they'll ask for it. (They'll suggest getting a local SIM/eSIM after arrival, for example.)

 

[xiaofan]

可怜天下父母心.
The profound devotion of parents.

1) Keep M1 Maxx, no bill shock, free incoming and outgoing roaming call to +65 number

2) get another line for roaming data like Zym. Expensive for roaming voice call though except 10 minutes free incoming.
https://zym.sg/

3) Kiasu a bit then get eight or SIMBA for free roaming voice calls.

4) get local SIM when needed.

These are all small money compare to the trip.

 

[gapboy]

Problem is she only 19 yrs old girl, TikTok Instagram daily must have!

She going 8 July to 6 july and monthly renewal is on 6th and she can’t has double months data 7+7!

Oh for roaming phone calling is only for emergency worry for university call, embassy call, police call like these

Depending on how long she stays, she should get a tourist SIM or a local UK plan.

still think better off she getting a local sim card there easy to get one as a student

 

[A7997A]

Simba $12 plan will provide 8GB international that covers UK, as well as voice roaming & wifi calling. It also has rollover data, but the trip is too close for that to come in handy.

Maxx $12 plan has 7GB, covers UK on vodafone & voice roaming for renewal after June 16. No wifi calling when overseas.

Eight $10.80/$18 plan has 10GB/18GB, covers UK on Vodafone & Hutchison, free voice roaming. No wifi calling when overseas.

These plans allow calls to SG number when overseas for no additional charge, as well as receiving calls for free.
If data is insufficient, upgrading plan doesn't work very well as the additional data provided is not much higher.
(An option is to get a $15 plan from Zym/Zero/Vivifi which has 60GB yearly data.)

Unfortunately, none of these allows call to UK local number. It might make sense to get a local sim card for that purpose, as well as for registering certain services that insist on local numbers.

I would expect a 19 year old to be able to navigate this excursion without much issue, no need to worry so much.

 

[firesong]

These plans will allow calls to SG number when overseas for no additional charge, as well as free call back to SG.

Just thought to clarify if this is the case. I know this is for SIMBA and StarHub, but I'm not so sure about Singtel-based networks.

Vivifi's site states it's $6.30/min for calls to SG while roaming.
https://www.vivifi.me/roaming-talktime-sms/

 

[A7997A]

Just thought to clarify if this is the case. I know this is for SIMBA and StarHub, but I'm not so sure about Singtel-based networks.

Vivifi's site states it's $6.30/min for calls to SG while roaming.
https://www.vivifi.me/roaming-talktime-sms/

These refers to Simba/eight & Maxx (after Jun 16). Some starhub plans also qualify, but the price point is different. To date no Singtel based MVNO offers free voice roaming AFAIK.

Edited my original post for clarity.

 

[firesong]

These refers to Simba/eight & Maxx (after Jun 16). Some starhub plans also qualify, but the price point is different.

Edited my original post for clarity.

Yep, thought so.

Yeah, I should have also specified all current (new) StarHub plans, and not grandfathered ones. The current plans have unlimited roaming and IDD, making them quite good value for folks who need to call overseas often.

 

[BBCWatcher]

This is literally the last thing to worry about. It’s even less important than the color of her suitcase, and that’s not important either. M1 Maxx is perfectly fine when landing in the U.K. Data works, voice calling works (on S$10 and S$12 plans). If she needs anything else/more, she’ll simply get a local SIM or eSIM after she arrives in the U.K. It’ll be £10, give or take. (Ask local students on tight budgets for advice, and shop around. The university’s international student office might also have a suggestion.) And there’s absolutely no rush. As long as her phone can handle a second SIM or eSIM, she’ll be ready if she ever wants a local one.

I expect she’ll thoroughly enjoy her trip. Including relief from completely unnecessary parental stress and anxiety.🫤

 

[uncle_josh]

My 19 year old daughter going UK summer school for 30 days in July.

How to avoid bill shock?
Currently she’s on M1 Maxx plan only 7 GB for international roaming!
Also M1 Maxx doesn’t offer UK local direct calling in case London university needs to call her., same goes to Singapore Embassy in London in case of emergency!

Any MNVO to recommend? Thanks

CMLINK 50GB international roaming 198 countries.

https://www.cmlink.com/sg/en/get-sim/?productId=FdBJS9qXh3wLHGRK56th/w==&type=1