SIMBA Telecom discussion thread

[Jurong640]

Thanks, this is super helpful!

from what you posted, it seems I can make outgoing and receive incoming calls while overseas and it’s free, not charged roaming fees, if the calls are over VoLTE? Is that accurate or only applies to receiving incoming calls while overseas that is free?

if don’t have VoLTE, would VoWiFi be viable as well? Not sure if they support WiFi calling now.

For Simba, when you are overseas, incoming calls free, outgoing call to Singapore is free. If you are calling other countries while roaming, it will be deducted from your IDD minutes, and if you run out of minutes, it will be deducted from your wallet balance.

If wallet balance is zero, you will not be able to make a phone call to the country you are roaming in or to other countries. Remember only calls back to Singapore is free.

On the technical part, it's volte. If you are able to call normally in the country you are roaming in using your phone dialer, means the network supports Volte. If you can't call out (even to Singapore), it means the network does not support volte.

Not necessary if you have volte means will have vowifi. Simba supports both. Singtel mvno supports volte but not vowifi.

 

[Jurong640]

@teoma My use case below:


2 years ago i went Holland Belgium for solo travels. Plane transited at Finland, one of the telco i connected to got volte. When i reach Holland, there was volte. But when i go over to Belgium, the telco does not support volte.

Hence, I have to download simba voice app to call while in Belgium, and don't need for finland and Holland.

---
Looking at simba website, you see, only Elisa supports 5G and Volte

Group A

Finland

$4/GB

DNA Finland / Fl 12 / FINNET Elisa Finland / Fl elisa / RL / Radiolinja / RL 5G VoLTE Telia Finland

Group A

Netherlands

$4/GB

KPN / PTT / PTT Telecom 5G VoLTE

Group A

Belgium

$4/GB

Belgacom / B PROXIMUS / BEL PROXIMUS 5G Orange / Orange B / Mobistar / M* / B Mobi / Belmo / Bel10 5G BASE / BEL 20 / 206-20

 

[teoma]

For Simba, when you are overseas, incoming calls free, outgoing call to Singapore is free. If you are calling other countries while roaming, it will be deducted from your IDD minutes, and if you run out of minutes, it will be deducted from your wallet balance.

If wallet balance is zero, you will not be able to make a phone call to the country you are roaming in or to other countries. Remember only calls back to Singapore is free.

On the technical part, it's volte. If you are able to call normally in the country you are roaming in using your phone dialer, means the network supports Volte. If you can't call out (even to Singapore), it means the network does not support volte.

Not necessary if you have volte means will have vowifi. Simba supports both. Singtel mvno supports volte but not vowifi.

On the last sentence, does that mean if I’m in a country that does not have VoLTE, but I’m at my hotel, I could still make calls via VoWiFi and it would work flawlessly?

 

[teoma]

@teoma My use case below:


2 years ago i went Holland Belgium for solo travels. Plane transited at Finland, one of the telco i connected to got volte. When i reach Holland, there was volte. But when i go over to Belgium, the telco does not support volte.

Hence, I have to download simba voice app to call while in Belgium, and don't need for finland and Holland.

---
Looking at simba website, you see, only Elisa supports 5G and Volte

Group A

Finland

$4/GB

DNA Finland / Fl 12 / FINNET Elisa Finland / Fl elisa / RL / Radiolinja / RL 5G VoLTE Telia Finland

Group A

Netherlands

$4/GB

KPN / PTT / PTT Telecom 5G VoLTE

Group A

Belgium

$4/GB

Belgacom / B PROXIMUS / BEL PROXIMUS 5G Orange / Orange B / Mobistar / M* / B Mobi / Belmo / Bel10 5G BASE / BEL 20 / 206-20

That makes sense, thanks for walking me through your use case.

Does 5G mean it will support VoLTE as well? For example, if I were to go to Canada where it only shows 5G, would that mean I could use VoLTE?

 

[Jurong640]

On the last sentence, does that mean if I’m in a country that does not have VoLTE, but I’m at my hotel, I could still make calls via VoWiFi and it would work flawlessly?

I think it doesn't work this way. If the telco does not support volte, high likely vowifi would not work. Vowifi is something the telco needs to push out

 

[Jurong640]

That makes sense, thanks for walking me through your use case.

Does 5G mean it will support VoLTE as well? For example, if I were to go to Canada where it only shows 5G, would that mean I could use VoLTE?

Nope.

Belgium, supports 5G, but no volte - need simba call app

Group A

Belgium

$4/GB

Belgacom / B PROXIMUS / BEL PROXIMUS 5G Orange / Orange B / Mobistar / M* / B Mobi / Belmo / Bel10 5G BASE / BEL 20 / 206-20

Finland, Elisa supports 5G & Volte - no need simba call app

Group A

Finland

$4/GB

DNA Finland / Fl 12 / FINNET Elisa Finland / Fl elisa / RL / Radiolinja / RL 5G VoLTE Telia Finland

 

[A7997A]

no la. the phone app is used for those phones that does not support volte.

Another point that i just recalled, now that you mentioned it about using the app to receive calls overseas.

Even if your phone supports volte in Singapore, it might not work overseas. This is because, their roaming partner in the country might not support volte. For those countries roaming partner that does not have volte, everyone must download the volte app. I previously used it few years ago used it while roaming in Belgium, operator does not support volte (Using Galaxy S22 Ultra).

The app is used not only for incoming calls, but also outgoing calls for countries that do not support volte. Or if your phone does not support volte in Singapore. Most new phones in Singapore already support volte, so no need for the app in Singapore. But one might need it overseas.

Best to check simba website for it's roaming partner if it supports volte. Hope it helps

So there is no option for 3G fallback when roaming right ?

Not necessary if you have volte means will have vowifi. Simba supports both. Singtel mvno supports volte but not vowifi.

I heard that traffic light telcos support wifi calling only within SG. Is it the same for MVNOs ? Is there such limitation for Simba ?
Also wifi calling on Simba is only supported on Android right ? No luck on iPhone yet ?

 

[A7997A]

I think it doesn't work this way. If the telco does not support volte, high likely vowifi would not work. Vowifi is something the telco needs to push out

In Wifi Calling the phone communicate directly with home telco (Simba in this case) so there is no dependency on the roaming telco. It does require the wifi network in use to support VPN.

 

[Jurong640]

So there is no option for 3G fallback when roaming right ?


I heard that traffic light telcos support wifi calling only within SG. Is it the same for MVNOs ? Is there such limitation for Simba ?
Also wifi calling on Simba is only supported on Android right ? No luck on iPhone yet ?

Not sure for iPhone vowifi on simba. i do get vowifi locally. I never notice if there is vowifi while overseas though. M1 mvno sub brand circles do have vowifi though

Not sure if simba roaming partner got 3G or not. Other countries also slowly phasing out 3G.

 

[teoma]

I think it doesn't work this way. If the telco does not support volte, high likely vowifi would not work. Vowifi is something the telco needs to push out

Nope.

Belgium, supports 5G, but no volte - need simba call app

Group A

Belgium

$4/GB

Belgacom / B PROXIMUS / BEL PROXIMUS 5G Orange / Orange B / Mobistar / M* / B Mobi / Belmo / Bel10 5G BASE / BEL 20 / 206-20

Finland, Elisa supports 5G & Volte - no need simba call app

Group A

Finland

$4/GB

DNA Finland / Fl 12 / FINNET Elisa Finland / Fl elisa / RL / Radiolinja / RL 5G VoLTE Telia Finland

Got it, thanks for sharing your insights and understanding!

 

[A7997A]

Does 5G mean it will support VoLTE as well? For example, if I were to go to Canada where it only shows 5G, would that mean I could use VoLTE?

Note that not just the roaming telco needs to have functional VoLTE, Simba's contract with them also needs to include VoLTE.

Eg. Bell in this list do have VoLTE, but apparently Simba is not able to use it.

 

[A7997A]

Not sure if simba roaming partner got 3G or not. Other countries also slowly phasing out 3G.

Thanks. My suspicion is that Simba plans is not able to use 3G on roaming partner network even if it is available.
Try to get a confirmation on this.

 

[Jurong640]

Note that not just the roaming telco needs to have functional VoLTE, Simba's contract with them also needs to include VoLTE.

Eg. Bell in this list do have VoLTE, but apparently Simba is not able to use it.

Yeah. That is why you see people complaint on simba Facebook. Some say china cannot roam, some say go Japan. Cannot connect at all.

I was reading an article few weeks back about UK shutting down 3G services and it's impact. Basically, 2G and 3G voice services are the same using traditional circuit switch.

4G and beyond is a different thing, and there is no standard for that. Hence, that is why you might have a 5G phone that support volte in Singapore and might not support overseas. Or some might have a 5G phone, don't even support volte in Singapore. So it's pretty confusing for general consumers.

Rule of thumb, just get phones from the top brands, buy locally, export sets might not even have volte. That's is why there is so many variation of complaints. Some can why some cannot.

 

[Jurong640]

Thanks. My suspicion is that Simba plans is not able to use 3G on roaming partner network even if it is available.
Try to get a confirmation on this.

Hard to get a confirmation if no one shares their experience after travelling there. Maybe even simba themselves also cannot guarantee. Even on their website say Japan got volte, still we got complaints cannot connect to network.

Unless you have to try out yourself. Go nearby country, try manually switch to 3G. But most of the time, you go overseas forget to try liao.

 

[gregory_choo]

Thanks. My suspicion is that Simba plans is not able to use 3G on roaming partner network even if it is available.
Try to get a confirmation on this.

last time, 3g in malaysia if 4g not available.

 

[gregory_choo]

Hard to get a confirmation if no one shares their experience after travelling there. Maybe even simba themselves also cannot guarantee. Even on their website say Japan got volte, still we got complaints cannot connect to network.

Unless you have to try out yourself. Go nearby country, try manually switch to 3G. But most of the time, you go overseas forget to try liao.

can always look for the volte icon when connected.

 

[A7997A]

last time, 3g in malaysia if 4g not available.

When on SImba SIM ?

 

[A7997A]

can always look for the volte icon when connected.

None of my phones shows VoLTE icon, even when they are using it.

 

[A7997A]

Yeah. That is why you see people complaint on simba Facebook. Some say china cannot roam, some say go Japan. Cannot connect at all.

I was reading an article few weeks back about UK shutting down 3G services and it's impact. Basically, 2G and 3G voice services are the same using traditional circuit switch.

4G and beyond is a different thing, and there is no standard for that. Hence, that is why you might have a 5G phone that support volte in Singapore and might not support overseas. Or some might have a 5G phone, don't even support volte in Singapore. So it's pretty confusing for general consumers.

Rule of thumb, just get phones from the top brands, buy locally, export sets might not even have volte. That's is why there is so many variation of complaints. Some can why some cannot.

For VoLTE there is a standard, the GSMA Open Market profile launched in 2016.
Not every telco & handset manufacturer follows it though, and that is one of the reason for the mess.

This is a profile developed for non telco handsets, and by using it you can ensure that most handset VoLTE will work correctly. This is also the reason why most telco only list phones from 2017 for VoLTE compatiblity, it is because they would have this profile included.

If a telco choose not to work with this profile, you can only use handset bought directly from them.
Like recently Australia Telstra made the news when it is discovered that handsets with GSMA Open Market profile does not work on Telstra's network, while it works on the other 2 telcos.

 

[Dahawk]

Guys im currently on simba esim on my phone. However, when i try to pair my galaxy watch it shows simba telco is not supported?