5G vs 5G+

5G+ isn't a newer generation than 5G. The 5G vs 5G+ difference comes down to spectrum: on StarHub's network, 5G+ is 5G with extra low-band added, and what that mostly gets you is better coverage and faster speeds indoors and underground. You're still on the same generation, the same plan and the same SIM, just with more reach. For giga, it's giga speeds and greater roaming in one launch, with Asia Roam now reaching 24 countries on selected plans.

It needs explaining because the same badge means something else overseas. Search the term and most of what comes back is American, where 5G+ is a brand name for short-range, high-frequency spectrum, which is almost the opposite engineering trade. Go by that and you'll draw the wrong conclusion about what the badge on your phone is telling you in Singapore. Here's what Singapore telcos mean by 5G+, what changes on your phone and what doesn't, and whether any of it should affect the plan you're on.

What Is 5G?

5G is the fifth generation of mobile network, built for higher speed, lower latency, and far more devices per cell than 4G could manage. Singapore's main 5G networks were built as standalone 5G, meaning a new network core instead of 5G radios attached to a 4G one, so a request never has to travel through 4G machinery before the network answers it. That is what keeps response times here low.

In Singapore, most 5G phones connect on mid-band spectrum, which gives up some of the speed of the highest frequencies in return for far better range. Mid-band is why a Singapore 5G connection measures in the hundreds of megabits per second, but it's also why 5G has always weakened in basements, lift shafts and tunnels. Higher frequencies carry more data but travel less far.

What Is 5G+?

On StarHub's network, 5G+ is the same 5G network with 700MHz low-band spectrum added to it. Low-band travels further and passes through concrete, glass and earth far better than mid-band. Adding it gives 5G a way indoors, into the buildings and basements where the signal was strong outside but thin the moment you stepped in.

StarHub switched on 5G+ across its 5G mobile plans on 1 September 2026, and giga has now launched it across all its 5G plans. StarHub measured the result at up to four times faster indoors and underground, comparing those places with how they used to perform rather than with 5G out in the open. That's because a weak signal rarely cuts out completely, it crawls, so fixing the coverage is what makes those places faster.

Nothing about your plan changes when 5G+ arrives. There is no tier to move up to and no add-on to buy.

5G vs 5G+: Key Differences

The differences are in coverage and consistency.

What Stays the Same

• The standard: the same generation of mobile network, on the same standalone 5G core. 5G+ is an operator label, not a new release of the specification, so latency and the peak capability of the technology are unchanged.
• Your plan: no upgrade, no add-on, no premium tier. An eligible 5G plan already includes it.
• Your SIM: the same SIM or eSIM, as long as it supports standalone 5G, which SIMs issued for Singapore 5G plans do.
• Your phone number, bill and everything else: untouched.
• Outdoor speeds in a good spot: already fast on 5G, with mid-band still doing that work.

What 5G+ Improves

• Indoor coverage: the main event. Low-band reaches into lift lobbies, basement car parks, stairwells and the inner rooms of older buildings that mid-band struggles to serve.
• Underground coverage: MRT platforms, tunnels and basement levels, where signal previously dropped to 4G or to nothing.
• Crowded places: 5G+ adds network capacity and uses it to improve performance in busy places, so a cell serving a full stadium, a mall at the weekend or a packed train has more room to work with.
• Consistency at the edges: fewer dead patches, and faster speeds where the signal used to fade.

LTE is the technical name for 4G. If you want the like-for-like generational comparison instead, LTE vs 5G covers what changed between 4G and 5G, which is a far larger jump than this one.

What Telcos Mean When They Say 5G+

5G+ is a marketing name, not a technical specification, so each operator decides what it refers to.

Why 5G+ Means Something Different on Each Network

3GPP, which writes mobile standards, doesn't define 5G+. It defines 5G, and its current phase of development, 5G-Advanced, began with Release 18, covering energy efficiency, artificial intelligence inside the network, and immersive extended-reality communications.

That leaves the plus free to mean whatever a given network wants to highlight: extra spectrum on one, a priority lane through network slicing on another, a particular frequency range on a third. So two operators' 5G+ claims can't be compared directly, and a phone showing 5G+ in one country tells you something different from the same badge in another.

Which Singapore Telcos Use the 5G+ Name

StarHub and Singtel both market 5G+, and they mean related but distinct things by it.

• StarHub: 5G+ refers to 700MHz low-band spectrum added to its 5G network, switched on across its 5G mobile plans on 1 September 2026, with the benefit described as better and faster coverage indoors and underground. giga runs on StarHub's network, which is what sits behind Wide Coverage and Network with giga.
• Singtel: uses 5G+ for an upgraded 5G experience that it describes in terms of network slicing, where a defined portion of network capacity is reserved for particular traffic, alongside low-band spectrum.

Both require a 5G plan, plus a handset and SIM that support standalone 5G. On StarHub, 5G+ is included in eligible 5G plans at no additional cost, which is what giga customers get. The 700MHz spectrum behind it was assigned by IMDA. StarHub's rights run from 1 July 2025 until 2040. The licence conditions require coverage of the whole island, including MRT underground stations and lines and road tunnels, plus the offshore islands and territorial waters out to 15km from the coast.

What "5G+" Means Outside Singapore

Overseas, the same badge usually points at the opposite end of the spectrum. In the United States, AT&T uses 5G+ for its mmWave and mid-band network, and Verizon markets a comparable service as 5G Ultra Wideband. Those are high-frequency, high-capacity layers. They deliver very fast speeds over short distances and struggle to get through a wall, which is why American coverage of 5G+ talks about stadiums and city blocks.

So the badge can mean added low-band for reach, as it does here, or added high-band for speed, as it does there. 5G-Advanced is a stage of the standard while 5G UC and 5G UW are other carriers' brand names, so none of these labels mean the same thing, however often they get muddled together.

Is 5G+ Faster Than 5G?

Yes, in the places where 5G used to struggle. StarHub measured 5G+ at up to four times faster indoors and underground, because a connection that used to crawl in a basement or on a deep platform now holds properly.

Out in the open on a strong signal, 5G was already fast and mid-band still carries that traffic, so that's where you'll notice the least change.

Do You Need 5G+ or Is 5G Enough?

5G+ comes with an eligible 5G plan, so there is nothing to decide and nothing extra to pay. Whether you notice it depends on where you spend your time.

You will feel the difference if you spend time in basement car parks, older malls, lift lobbies, long MRT tunnel stretches or crowded venues. If you are mostly outdoors, at home on Wi-Fi, or already in a newer building with good indoor coverage, you probably will not notice much.

5G+ needs support for standalone 5G and for the 700MHz band, and device support is still widening. StarHub publishes the list of handsets cleared for it and expects more manufacturers to join. So an older, imported or unlisted phone may not use it yet, even while it shows 5G. The plan also varies by telco. Some sell tiered or timed speed boosts on top of a 5G plan. Where every eligible 5G plan gets the same 5G+ access, what differs between plans is the allowance, where the data can be used, and what is bundled. You can see how giga's 5G plans are shaped against it.

Why Choose giga?

You should not have to choose between the two, and on our plans you never do.

Free Rollover Data on Every Plan

Every giga plan rolls unused data forward. Your unused data waits for you, capped at the size of your own plan. Monthly plans carry data across two renewal cycles. The 6-month plans release the whole pool at the start and roll it for one.

Rollover keeps the same destination coverage as your base data: Singapore and Malaysia on the 300GB and 400GB plans, and Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand on gigaFLEX+ and the 1.4TB and 2TB plans.

5G+ on Every giga 5G Plan

We've launched 5G+, and it's included on every giga 5G plan at no extra cost. No premium tier gates the 700MHz layer, there is no separate SIM, and there is nothing to enable. You get whichever of the two your phone and your location can reach at that moment.

Nationwide 5G Standalone Coverage

Both 5G and 5G+ sit on top of a standalone 5G core here. giga runs on StarHub's standalone network, not 5G radios wired into a 4G core.

The evidence comes from Opensignal. In its July 2026 Singapore report, StarHub won both overall speed awards outright, download and upload. Outdoor standalone coverage crossed 95% nationwide in 2022.

Free Roaming Data on Every Plan

Free roaming data comes with the plan every month, indefinitely. Asia roaming expands from five countries to 24 countries on eligible plans, from gigaFLEX+ upwards, and there's nothing to activate. Every 5G plan from 400GB upwards adds 48 international destinations, and that allowance refreshes every month.

Asia Roam covers these 24 destinations:

• Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Brunei
• East Asia: China, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan
• South Asia: India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
• Oceania: Australia and New Zealand
• Further afield: Canada, Qatar, Israel, Turkey and Russia

giga roaming is data only, since we do not sell roaming call or SMS packs on the plan. Incoming SMS is free in more than 230 destinations, far wider than the 48 we roam in, which covers most one-time passcodes. Outside the included destinations, gigaRoam packs switch on by themselves when you arrive: 1GB for $5 across 14 APAC countries, or 1GB for $15 across 48 destinations.

The giga App, gigaSurprises and Monthly Giveaways

Three steps to sign up, one tap to activate, and a 24/7 chat when you need a person. You never have to leave the house to join us.

It is also where the extras arrive. gigaSurprises are data top-ups we hand out without warning, including extra data on birthdays and on the odd random Monday. Monthly giveaways run on social as well. The referral programme pays $6 in gigaBucks against your next bill for every friend who joins, with no limit, and gives them $6 off their first month.

How to Switch to giga and Port Over Your Number

Bringing your number over is four steps. How to switch to giga: select Port-in Number at sign-up. Your SIM or eSIM arrives with a temporary number. The port-over runs on the next working day, and you activate in the giga app. IMDA recorded 60,800 subscribers switching network and keeping their number in December 2025.

The only real tip on how to port over to giga is to keep your old SIM in the phone until the number moves. After that the old line closes by itself, and because there is no contract here, nothing holds you if you change your mind later.

Free gigaAI and Bubble Tea on gigaFLEX+

If the 5G versus 5G+ question came from wanting the best of both, gigaFLEX+ is where they land together, carrying 800GB, base data that travels to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, 38GB of roaming data, and no restriction on who can buy it. gigaAI is included free, with unlimited monthly tokens and web searches, up to 300 images and 10 deep research runs. So is a bubble tea every month, which no other Singapore telco puts in a mobile plan. The gigaFLEX+ $0.90 offer also runs from 15 October to 9 November 2026. New customers who sign up during this period pay $0.90 for their first month.

FAQs

Does 5G+ cost more than 5G?

Not on StarHub's network, which giga runs on. There, 5G+ comes with eligible 5G plans at no extra charge.

Is 5G+ available on 4G plans?

5G+ is a 5G feature, so a 4G plan cannot reach it regardless of the handset. If you are on 4G and want it, the move is to a 5G plan, which will also need a SIM or eSIM that supports standalone 5G.

Will my 5G phone work with 5G+?

Only if the handset supports standalone 5G and 700MHz and is on StarHub's list of cleared handsets, which currently covers selected Samsung, Honor and Oppo models. Support is still widening, so check your model. Some models also need a software update before they will use it, so keep the firmware current. Imported and older second-hand handsets are the ones to check most carefully, since a set built for another market may cover a different set of bands entirely.

Does 5G+ use a different SIM?

The SIM does have to support standalone 5G, which is a different point from needing a new physical SIM. A SIM issued with a Singapore 5G plan supports it, while an older 4G SIM may not. Switching to an eSIM or a current SIM resolves that. All giga plans are eSIM-enabled, which makes that a same-day change.

Can I use 5G+ overseas?

Not as such, because 5G+ is the name your home network gives to its own upgrade. Abroad you connect to a roaming partner's network and get whatever it offers, whether that is 5G, 4G, or their own differently named version of the same idea. Whether you see 5G at all depends on the partner network and on whether your handset supports the bands used there. Every giga 5G plan from 400GB upwards includes free monthly roaming data across 48 destinations, and gigaRoam covers destinations outside that list.

Is 5G+ the same as 5G-Advanced?

5G-Advanced is a formal phase of the 5G standard, introduced by 3GPP in Release 18. 5G+ is an operator's marketing name for its own network upgrade.

Is 5G+ a step towards 6G?

Indirectly. Everything operators learn about running denser, more efficient networks feeds into what comes next, and 5G-Advanced is the formal bridge in that direction. 6G itself is still in research and standardisation, with no consumer deployment anywhere and no date you can plan around.

How do I know if I am connected to 5G+?

There may be no reliable way to tell from the screen. StarHub's own position is that the network indicator varies by device manufacturer and software version, so one handset shows 5G+ while another keeps showing 5G on exactly the same network. The practical test is to go somewhere the old signal used to give up, such as a basement car park or a deep MRT platform, and see whether the connection holds now.