giga vs Singtel hi

Wondering whether it matters if a plan is billed monthly or every 30 days? It does, and mostly for what happens to the data you haven't used up.

On some plans your leftover data rolls over on its own. On others it only sticks around if you top up before the cycle closes. Miss that window and months of banked data can go at once.

giga bills monthly and rolls your unused data over automatically, so there's nothing for you to remember, and every plan comes with monthly roaming across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India and South Korea. Singtel hi runs on 30-day cycles, and whatever you've banked holds only if you top up before each cycle ends. Which of those suits you comes down to how much admin you want in your life.

giga vs Singtel hi: A Quick Overview

Data rollover: giga carries unused data forward automatically for two more renewal cycles, on every plan it sells. Singtel hi stacks it for up to six months, provided you top up before each 30-day cycle expires.
Billing type: giga is postpaid and Singtel hi is prepaid. A giga line bills you monthly and renews on its own. A Singtel hi line is paid for upfront in 30-day blocks, and it stops when a block runs out unless you top up.
Roaming: giga includes an allowance on every plan, both 4G plans included, and it refills every month for as long as you hold the plan. Singtel hi's are larger and reach more destinations, which matters if you travel well beyond Asia.
Network: giga runs on the StarHub network and Singtel hi runs on the Singtel network. This is the one difference you cannot undo later by changing plan.
Talk time and SMS: giga meters both, from 300 minutes and 300 SMS on the entry plans up to 1,500 of each, and does not bundle IDD. Singtel hi includes unlimited local talk time and SMS on every plan plus 600 to 1,200 IDD minutes, which counts if you call overseas often.
Network generation: giga sells both 4G and 5G, with 5G from the 300GB plan up, so you can pay less for 4G if you do not need 5G. Every Singtel hi plan is 5G+, with no 4G option.

What Is giga?

giga is StarHub's digital mobile brand, and it runs the whole thing from an app. There are no stores and no service counters. You sign up in the giga app or on the giga website, your line activates in a few taps, and everything after that happens on your phone.

Because giga is a StarHub brand, your traffic runs over StarHub's 4G and 5G network. giga's mobile plans are SIM-only, split between 4G and 5G. Most are billed monthly, and three are billed every six months. None of them locks you into a contract, and none carries an early termination fee.

What Does giga Offer?

Every giga plan includes free data rollover, a monthly Asia roaming allowance, free caller ID and eSIM. Local minutes and SMS scale with the plan, from 300 of each on the entry plans to 1,500 on the 1TB plan. IDD is not bundled.

giga's flagship is gigaFLEX+, and it is open to everyone: no age restriction, no eligibility test. It runs at $19.90 a month, currently $13.90 for the first 12 months. Free gigaAI comes with it, giving you unlimited tokens and web searches each month, up to 300 images and 10 deep research runs. So does a free PlayMade bubble tea every month.

Two products sit around the plans. gigaRoam tops up your roaming beyond the included allowance. The gigaBuddy data-only plan adds 10GB on a tablet or portable router for $3.97 a month, for existing customers.

What Is Singtel hi?

Singtel hi is Singtel's prepaid, no-contract, app-managed mobile brand, sold on 30-day cycles instead of monthly billing, and it runs on Singtel's 5G+ network. Customers previously on Singtel's heya brand are directed to hi! plans, and Singtel publishes a migration guide for them.

Plans auto-renew every 30 days and are managed in the hi! app, which also handles your top-ups, eSIM replacement and the hi!Rewards credit scheme. hi! plans are prepaid, so you pay for a 30-day block upfront and top up to keep the line running, where a giga plan is postpaid and bills you monthly. The hi! plans compared here come as either an eSIM or a physical SIM, and they are not Singtel's Tourist SIM.

What Does Singtel hi Offer?

Singtel hi's plans are built around three things. You get large local data allowances that also work in nearby markets, roaming and IDD minutes included in the price, and unlimited local calls and SMS on every plan.

On the plans from $20 up, the local allowance also covers ASEAN and Hong Kong. Unused data, roaming, calls and SMS stack for up to six months if you top up before expiry.

giga vs Singtel hi: Network Coverage & Performance

giga runs on StarHub and Singtel hi runs on Singtel, so the signal you get depends on which of those two networks you are on.

The fairest read comes from Opensignal, which measures what users actually experience instead of quoting the telcos' own claims. Its July 2026 Singapore report covers the 90 days from 1 April to 29 June 2026 across the four nationwide operators.

Download speed: StarHub wins outright on 172.7Mbps, ahead of Singtel on 164.4Mbps.
Upload speed: StarHub wins outright on 25.3Mbps, ahead of Singtel on 24.2Mbps.
Video experience: StarHub wins outright on 74.3 points, ahead of Singtel on 73.2 points.
5G download speed: StarHub shares the award on 302.4Mbps, ahead of Singtel on 294.8Mbps.
Reliability and consistent quality: Singtel leads, on 927 points against StarHub's 826, and on 84.7 per cent of tests against 78 per cent.
5G reach: Singtel leads on coverage, 9.5 out of 10 against 9.0, and on how often you are connected to 5G, 79.9 per cent against 70 per cent.
Awards overall: StarHub takes every speed and video award outright. Singtel takes Best Network, on the strength of reliability and 5G reach.

TLDR: StarHub takes download speed, upload speed and video experience outright, so a giga line moves your data faster. Singtel leads on reliability and 5G reach, which counts if you are regularly somewhere with thin coverage. On the networks both brands already cover well, speed is the difference you actually feel.

giga vs Singtel hi: Plans, Pricing and Billing Flexibility

All prices below are correct at the time of writing.

giga

Monthly plans

100GB, 4G, $10.90: 300 minutes and 300 SMS, 2GB Asia roaming, free rollover.
200GB, 4G, $12.90: 300 minutes and 300 SMS, 4GB Asia roaming, free rollover.
gigaFLEX+, 800GB, 5G, $19.90, currently $13.90 for the first 12 months: 1,000 minutes and 1,000 SMS, 12GB Asia roaming, 10GB international roaming, free gigaAI, free bubble tea monthly, free rollover
300GB, 5G, $15.90: 300 minutes and 300 SMS, 8GB Asia roaming, free rollover.
400GB, 5G, $18.90: 800 minutes and 800 SMS, 10GB Asia roaming, 6GB international roaming, free rollover.
500GB, 5G, $20.90: 1,000 minutes and 1,000 SMS, 12GB Asia roaming, 10GB international roaming, free rollover.
1TB, 5G, $28.90: 1,500 minutes and 1,500 SMS, 16GB Asia roaming, 12GB international roaming, free rollover.
400GB, 5G, $11.90, for ages 15 to 29: 800 minutes and 800 SMS, 12GB Asia roaming, 4GB international roaming, free rollover.

6-month plans

600GB, 4G, $59.90 for six months, about $10.00 a month: 1,800 minutes and 1,800 SMS, 12GB Asia roaming, free rollover.
3TB, 5G, $109.90 for six months, about $18.32 a month: 6,000 minutes and 6,000 SMS, 66GB Asia roaming, 48GB international roaming, free rollover. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia data.
6TB, 5G, $139.90 for six months, about $23.30 a month: 9,000 minutes and 9,000 SMS, 96GB Asia roaming, 72GB international roaming, free rollover. Singapore and Malaysia data.

Singtel hi

Monthly plans

500GB 5G+, $7, seniors aged 60 and above: 6GB APAC roaming, 6GB worldwide, 100 IDD minutes.
500GB 5G+, $15: 18GB APAC roaming, 8GB worldwide, 600 IDD minutes. Data also usable in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
700GB 5G+, $20: 36GB APAC roaming, 10GB worldwide, 1,000 IDD minutes. Data also usable across ASEAN and Hong Kong.
850GB 5G+, $25: 60GB APAC roaming, 14GB worldwide, 1,000 IDD minutes. Data also usable across ASEAN and Hong Kong.
1,000GB 5G+, $30: 100GB Asia roaming, 18GB worldwide, 1,000 IDD minutes.
Unlimited 5G+, $35: capped at 1,200GB under a fair usage policy, 120GB Asia roaming, 22GB worldwide, 1,200 IDD minutes.

Billing and Renewal

The two brands work differently here because giga is a postpaid line and Singtel hi is a prepaid one. A giga plan renews on its own each month and your unused data rolls forward without any action from you. giga does not use top-ups at all, so if you want more roaming than your plan includes, you add a gigaRoam pack and the line keeps running either way. A Singtel hi plan runs for 30 days and then expires. Topping up before that date is what renews the line and preserves everything you have banked. Miss it and the stacked data, roaming, calls and SMS go with it.

giga vs Singtel hi: Data Rollover and What Each Plan Includes

Rollover

Both brands carry unused data forward, on different terms. giga rolls it forward automatically for two more renewal cycles, capped at your plan's own allowance at any one time. A 300GB plan can hold up to 600GB, and the 1TB plan up to 2TB. It applies to every giga plan, including both 4G plans, and it needs nothing from you. Singtel hi stacks unused local data, roaming data, calls and SMS for up to six months, on the condition that you top up before the plan expires. Its $35 unlimited plan does not list rollover on the plan card.

TLDR: giga applies rollover to every plan it sells, with no top-up deadline attached to it. Singtel hi holds data longer, but only if you top up in time.

What Comes With Each Plan

Only on giga, gigaAI: free on gigaFLEX+, with unlimited tokens and web searches each month, up to 300 images and 10 deep research runs.
Only on giga, free bubble tea monthly: one PlayMade drink a month on gigaFLEX+, with gigaSurprise drops (free roaming data, free sms, free calltime, and monthly giveaways with the brands we work with) and birthday treats (free data, free sms, free calltime) in the app through the year.
Only on giga, gigaBuddy: a $3.97 10GB data-only plan for a second device, open to existing giga customers.
Only on Singtel hi, unlimited talk time and SMS: standard on every hi! plan, with 600 to 1,200 IDD minutes. giga meters both, from 300 minutes and 300 SMS up to 1,500 of each, and does not bundle IDD.
Only on Singtel hi, hi!Rewards: a spend-based credit scheme.
Different on each, getting help: giga runs on 24/7 chat, so nothing needs a store visit. hi! retailers can sign you up and handle eSIM problems in person.

giga vs Singtel hi: Roaming plans comparison

Both brands include roaming instead of selling it as an add-on. Both meter it per billing cycle, so your allowance comes back on renewal either way.

giga, Asia roaming: included on every plan, covering Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India and South Korea, from 2GB a month on the entry 4G plan up to 16GB on the 1TB plan.
giga, international roaming: on 5G plans from 400GB upward, across 48 destinations, from 6GB to 12GB a month.
giga, partner networks: named for every Asia destination, so you know what to select when you land. Maxis or U Mobile in Malaysia, Indosat or Telkomsel in Indonesia, True Move or DTAC in Thailand, SK Telecom or KT in South Korea, and Airtel, BSNL or Vodafone Idea in India.
giga, beyond the allowance: gigaRoam packs cover anything past what your plan includes.
Singtel hi, APAC roaming: 18GB across 20 destinations on the $15 plan, rising to 120GB of Asia roaming across 24 destinations on the top plans.
Singtel hi, worldwide roaming: 8GB across more than 60 destinations on the $15 plan, up to 22GB across more than 200 at the top.
Singtel hi, local allowance: ASEAN and Hong Kong sit inside the main data bucket on plans from $20 up, so regional travel runs down the main allowance before roaming starts.

The trade-off: giga's roaming is on every plan, both 4G plans included, refills every month for as long as you hold the plan, and is weighted to the five destinations Singaporeans travel to most. Singtel hi's allowances are larger and cover a wider list, which earns its keep if you travel well beyond the region.

What travellers may want to consider before choosing a roaming plan

OTPs and banking apps: bank and government OTPs still come by SMS to your Singapore number, so keeping the line live matters. Both brands keep your number and include incoming SMS, and with giga the roaming sits on the plan rather than a separate pass.
Hotspot and tethering: tethering draws from the same allowance, and a laptop empties it far faster than a phone. Size the allowance for the laptop, and top up mid-trip with a gigaRoam pack if you run out.
Multi-country trips: giga's Asia allowance is one pool across all five destinations. On Singtel hi, ASEAN and Hong Kong sit in the main data allowance from $20 up, with a separate APAC pool. Check every country on your itinerary, not just the first.
Inflight and cruise: neither brand covers it. Onboard networks run on satellite and are billed by the airline or cruise line.
eSIM before you fly: an eSIM activates over Wi-Fi, so there is no airport SIM counter. Every giga plan is eSIM-enabled, and hi! comes as either a physical SIM or an eSIM.

Why choose giga?

Free gigaAI in the plan. No other Singapore telco bundles an AI assistant with a mobile line. gigaFLEX+ includes unlimited tokens and unlimited web searches each month, up to 300 images and 10 deep research runs, with no separate subscription to pay for.
Fastest network. StarHub, giga's host network, took Opensignal's Download Speed award outright in its July 2026 Singapore report on 172.7Mbps, ahead of Singtel on 164.4Mbps, and it took the Upload Speed and Video Experience awards outright too.
Rollover on every plan, with nothing to remember. giga puts free rollover on every plan it sells, from the $10.90 4G plan to the $28.90 1TB plan. There is no claim to make, no toggle to find and no expiry date to beat, and your unused data simply moves to next month.
Switching over is quick. Choose Port-in Number when you sign up, keep your number, and the port is processed the next working day. You can sign up now and port in later if you are still serving out a plan elsewhere, and every giga plan is eSIM-enabled so the line activates over Wi-Fi with no store visit.
Free bubble tea every month, and more besides. gigaFLEX+ comes with one PlayMade drink a month for as long as you hold the plan. gigaSurprise drops, birthday treats and monthly giveaways on giga's social channels run through the year on top of that, and none of it shows on a price list.
gigaFLEX+ is open to everyone. No age bracket, no eligibility test, no student verification. Take it and you get the gigaAI allowance and a PlayMade drink every month, whoever you are.
Roaming that comes back every month. You are not buying it per trip, and you are not rationing one allowance across a whole year. Land, pick the partner network giga names for that country, and your data is already there.
Everything in one app. Sign up, activate, check your live data and rollover balance, buy add-ons and change plan, all in the same place. If you need support, giga's chat is open 24/7, and you will not need to visit a store at any point.
No contracts, and nothing you have to remember to pay. Neither brand ties you to a contract. The difference is what happens if you do nothing: a giga plan renews by itself each month, while a Singtel hi plan expires after 30 days unless you top up. There is no lock-in, no early termination fee, no activation fee, and caller ID costs nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Is giga better than Singtel hi?

giga keeps your unused data without asking anything of you. Rollover applies to every plan it sells and happens on its own, with no top-up deadline to beat, and StarHub took download speed, upload speed and video experience outright in Opensignal's July 2026 report. gigaFLEX+ also carries gigaAI and a monthly PlayMade bubble tea, which no other Singapore telco puts in a mobile plan. Singtel hi is the better fit if you make a lot of IDD calls, travel well beyond Asia, or want the longer six-month rollover window and do not mind topping up before each 30-day cycle to keep it.

Which has better 5G, giga or Singtel hi?

They lead on different things. On 5G download speed, StarHub shares the award with M1 on 302.4Mbps in Opensignal's July 2026 report, ahead of Singtel on 294.8Mbps. Singtel leads on 5G coverage with 9.5 out of 10 against StarHub on 9.0, and on how often you are connected to 5G at all. So Singtel hi puts you on 5G in more places, and giga moves your data faster once you are on it.

Can I keep my number if I switch between giga vs Singtel hi?

Yes, in both directions. With giga you select Port-in Number during sign-up and receive a SIM with a temporary number, and the port is processed the next working day. For Singtel hi, your line must be an active postpaid line registered to you with no outstanding payments. The port-out request needs to go in at least seven days before your next billing cycle.

How do I switch to giga?

Sign up in the giga app or on the giga website and select Port-in Number, which is how you port over to giga while keeping your existing number. You will get a SIM with a temporary number, or you can activate an eSIM over Wi-Fi without waiting for anything to arrive. The port is processed on the next working day. If you are still serving out a plan elsewhere, you can sign up now and port in later. There is no activation fee and no early termination fee to leave giga afterwards.