Singtel network in India?

[zzm9980]

I had the strangest thing happen to me today:



Yes, I'm in India, and it thinks I'm on Singtel. No, I did not just arrive and turn my phone on. In fact, it's been back and forth between this 'Singtel' and Aircell all day. Quite odd. It's only happening down here at TRV. I didn't see it in Hyderabad or Bangalore.

Is Singtel building out a network here? Or is this some strange bug with my phone/SIM?

[Darthcoder]

I get Singtel Roaming in Hyderabad. I believe they have a tie-up with Airtel in the South/Hyderabad region. Interesting to see that you had Aircel on it in Trivandrum. I thought Airtel and Singtel were partners throughout India

[sundaymorningstaple]

Can telecom waves travel much the same as old Radio AM waves could do? I remember back in the 60's & 70's we could get WLS in Chicago all over the US at night as it would bounce of the upper atmosphere thereby enabling it to travel further than it could in a straight line.

[nakatago]

Probably just Aircell reminding roamers they're on Singtel in Singapore. I think my phone was said just "Starhub" in D.C. at one point.

[zzm9980]

Can telecom waves travel much the same as old Radio AM waves could do? I remember back in the 60's & 70's we could get WLS in Chicago all over the US at night as it would bounce of the upper atmosphere thereby enabling it to travel further than it could in a straight line.

No, that's a property of the wavelength used by AM radio. Modern digital cellular is at the (Relatively) other end of the RF spectrum.

[zzm9980]

I get Singtel Roaming in Hyderabad. I believe they have a tie-up with Airtel in the South/Hyderabad region. Interesting to see that you had Aircel on it in Trivandrum. I thought Airtel and Singtel were partners throughout India

I didn't see this at all in Hyderabad though. I still have a few more places to visit, I'll monitor and see what happens.

[Mi Amigo]

Can telecom waves travel much the same as old Radio AM waves could do? I remember back in the 60's & 70's we could get WLS in Chicago all over the US at night as it would bounce of the upper atmosphere thereby enabling it to travel further than it could in a straight line.

SMS, better get a tin foil hat, just to be on the safe side

[Darthcoder]

On a different note. Zzm did you have Biryani in Hyderabad? We pride ourselves on having the best Biryani in the world .

[zzm9980]

On a different note. Zzm did you have Biryani in Hyderabad? We pride ourselves on having the best Biryani in the world .

No, except TRV, I've only had time to shuttle between hotels and incompetent vendors

[andrealeong4]

Ur on roaming, id advise you to change sim immediately otherwise they might charge u a big amount unnecessarily.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Ur on roaming, id advise you to change sim immediately otherwise they might charge u a big amount unnecessarily.

You mean like that poor dude who got whacked for 350K for a two week trip to Taiwan!

[zzm9980]

Ur on roaming, id advise you to change sim immediately otherwise they might charge u a big amount unnecessarily.

I know I was roaming, that was intentional.

Anyway, the mystery was solved, I forgot to update it. As explained to me: Simplifying things, Various cell networks have network IDs. The SIM card maps names to network ids in some cases, and for whatever reason my SIM mapped this network to Singtel. Either Singtel freak up, or the carrier in India freak up and was using the wrong ID. Both are equally likely imo.

[rajagainstthemachine]

Pro tip1: singtel owns a percentage stake in Airtel

Pro tip2: sometimes on roaming the home network name doesn't go away.
I've seen the M1 network while I was in the USA, doesn't quite mean a gsm tower from singapore fell off and floated near USA did it?

[zzm9980]

Pro tip1: singtel owns a percentage stake in Airtel

Pro tip2: sometimes on roaming the home network name doesn't go away.
I've seen the M1 network while I was in the USA, doesn't quite mean a gsm tower from singapore fell off and floated near USA did it?

Pro Tip 1: I was aware
Pro Tip 2: Due to knowledge of Pro Tip 1, I thought maybe they were changing their branding? I never thought it was actually the same Singtel Network all the way in India... They can't even cover Marine Parade well enough to keep me from roaming to Telkomsel half the time

[rajagainstthemachine]

Pro tip1: singtel owns a percentage stake in Airtel

Pro tip2: sometimes on roaming the home network name doesn't go away.
I've seen the M1 network while I was in the USA, doesn't quite mean a gsm tower from singapore fell off and floated near USA did it?

Pro Tip 1: I was aware
Pro Tip 2: Due to knowledge of Pro Tip 1, I thought maybe they were changing their branding? I never thought it was actually the same Singtel Network all the way in India... They can't even cover Marine Parade well enough to keep me from roaming to Telkomsel half the time

alrite fair enuff.. seems legit.