Telco roaming discussion thread

WaterDrinker

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Noticed that there isn't a tread discussing roaming speeds of different telcos. Wonder what telco would be the best for smooth data usage. Post your roaming speedtests overseas.
 

xsoldix

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Noticed that there isn't a tread discussing roaming speeds of different telcos. Wonder what telco would be the best for smooth data usage. Post your roaming speedtests overseas.
No thread for this because roaming speed is not dependent on local telco. It is their partner telco that is providing the service at the destination.
Very hard to do a comparison bro.
 

froztheart

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Noticed that there isn't a tread discussing roaming speeds of different telcos. Wonder what telco would be the best for smooth data usage. Post your roaming speedtests overseas.
All on the SLA etc. that is between local MNOs/MVNOs and their corresponding counterparts. Not privy and tons of factors so roaming usage experience is a rather subjective topic.

If you are comparing deals across our MNOs & MVNOs then it makes better comparison as a thread.
 

xiaofan

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Noticed that there isn't a tread discussing roaming speeds of different telcos. Wonder what telco would be the best for smooth data usage. Post your roaming speedtests overseas.

Not so much data as it is location specific and roaming partner specific.

Which locations are your specificly interested?

I tend to think SpeedTest results may not be so important in this case, but rather user experiences sharing.
 
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xiaofan

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One example good info with some speedtest results.

Guangzhou, China
Zym, Maxx and SIMBA

These are the lines I brought with me for holiday while in Guangzhou

All roaming, while in the hotel
  • ZYM: average 165 mbps 5G
  • Maxx : average 294.03 mbps 5G ( was using the shared 600GB )
  • Simba: average 130 mbps 5G ( 16 dollar recharged package 500GB )
Streaming Youtube using data plan and not hotel wifi:
  • zym : smooth but no prolong using ( data plan not as much as both Maxx and Simba )
  • Maxx : smooth
  • Simba: smooth
None of them exceed 10GB data...

Some places loading the WeChat mini program website experience in restaurants
  • ZYM: smooth ( support China Mobile / Telecom / Unicom ) --- mostly connected China Mobile / Telecom during the trip
  • Maxx: smooth (support China Mobile / Telecom ) ---mostly connected China Mobile / Telecom during the trip
  • Simba: will struggle as it trying to get hold -- possible due to only one roaming partners China Telecom

Metro Experience: CNN news, surfing website, youtube, shopping taobao
  • ZYM: smooth
  • Maxx: smooth
  • Simba: quite stable, sometimes at different stops will slow

Some of my friends who are on Eight 5G+ Power Plan and Ultra Plan had some issues connecting when attempt to pay the toll passenger entry to take the underground metro train.
These are limited to places... they able to resolve after I provided hotspot for them to use SIMBA and it was very stable.

None of my data plan hits more than 5GB per day while visiting places
 

Groudon

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One important thing to note is that there are barely any 5G SA roaming available at the moment, even if you can get 5G SA on a local SIM in that location, many times for SG SIM it is only able to roam onto 4G/5G NSA networks and 5G NSA is getting quite limited, e.g. in China.
 

firesong

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To add, I think the SLAs matter also.

I was in JB, Malaysia in September, and in Adelaide/Melbourne, Australia earlier in May/June.

I have a SIMBA plan and had ported to Vivifi for roaming data. I left both on Auto-Roaming.

There were times when both lines connected to the same carrier. I did have moments when I tried switching carriers for fun, just to compare whether they were equal. I recognise this is not scientific - tested while stationery and waiting for food, and while moving from point to point, or even waiting on a tour bus for tourists who were delaying the bus while doing a Great Ocean Road tour.. However, I did observe that my data connected via Vivifi was generally faster/more reliable than on SIMBA.

In JB, the difference was less stark, likely because we were around the malls and not outdoors. I concluded that SIMBA was still useful - having data is still better than no-data. If I had a choice, I chose Vivifi nearly every time. And there were places in Australia when my iPhone displayed the Satellite-only Mode for both lines cos we were just too far out for any cellular connection.
 

froztheart

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To add, I think the SLAs matter also.

I was in JB, Malaysia in September, and in Adelaide/Melbourne, Australia earlier in May/June.

I have a SIMBA plan and had ported to Vivifi for roaming data. I left both on Auto-Roaming.

There were times when both lines connected to the same carrier. I did have moments when I tried switching carriers for fun, just to compare whether they were equal. I recognise this is not scientific - tested while stationery and waiting for food, and while moving from point to point, or even waiting on a tour bus for tourists who were delaying the bus while doing a Great Ocean Road tour.. However, I did observe that my data connected via Vivifi was generally faster/more reliable than on SIMBA.

In JB, the difference was less stark, likely because we were around the malls and not outdoors. I concluded that SIMBA was still useful - having data is still better than no-data. If I had a choice, I chose Vivifi nearly every time. And there were places in Australia when my iPhone displayed the Satellite-only Mode for both lines cos we were just too far out for any cellular connection.
Yes, I strongly believe primarily SLA definitely matter since it defines the bandwidth provided for the amount paid. Then the other factors like user's device. location, time etc. come into play.

Vivifi being on ST highly likely have "better' SLA compared to SIMBA thus the differing experience and yes, having data is any time better than not having data in this day and age.
 
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