Singtel down? What to do in an outage, after the S$1m fine

If Singtel is down, or StarHub, M1 or Simba, first check whether the fault is yours or the network's, then switch to Wi-Fi or a second line and check the telco's own website or social media pages for updates, as IMDA's guide to connectivity disruptions advises. On 20 October 2026 IMDA fined Singtel S$1 million for the mobile outages of 16, 18 and 19 March 2026, which hit about 720,000 subscribers. The penalty is not a payout to customers: what they received was a goodwill rebate of S$5 to S$10, which IMDA says Singtel extended on its own initiative.

Nothing in IMDA's release says a telco must compensate you, so the practical defence is preparation: a backup way to get online, a record of what you lost, and knowing which rules apply to your contract.

Is Singtel down, or is it just my phone?

IMDA's guide to what to do during a digital connectivity disruption, developed with MDDI, sets out three steps it calls Assess, Backup and Contact. Its checks for the first step, in order:

1. Try another app or website. If others work, the problem is probably that service, not your telco.
2. Try another device. If a laptop or a family member's phone gets online, the problem is probably your device.
3. Restart your phone, router or modem. If the connection still does not return, contact your provider.

Our addition, not IMDA's: ask someone nearby on the same telco whether their phone works, and note the time you lost service. If several people on one network lose data at once, it is most likely the network.

To check for an announced outage, IMDA suggests your provider's website or social media pages, reached over whatever connection still works. A household whose home broadband is unaffected may still be able to get online over Wi-Fi.

How to stay connected while the network is down

IMDA's Backup step gives consumers and home users three options:

• Mobile down, Wi-Fi up: turn on your phone's Wi-Fi and use the home fixed-line broadband.
• Broadband down, mobile up: use your phone's 4G or 5G data as a Wi-Fi hotspot for other devices.
• On the move and need a constant signal: IMDA suggests subscribing to an additional mobile service with another provider, for example on an eSIM, as a backup.

That third option is the one to weigh. A second line only helps if it runs on a different network from your main one, so ask any provider you consider which network it uses. Keep it cheap, ideally without a contract: our guide to comparing SIM-only plans shows how to total the real cost over the months you will keep it.

It suits people who cannot miss calls, such as a private-hire driver, a tutor taking bookings or a carer on call. For someone on home Wi-Fi most of the day, the broadband is already a backup.

An outage can also cut off more than data. Singtel's fixed voice disruption on 8 October 2024 affected about 500,000 residential and corporate users for more than four hours, and it also affected access to customer service lines for some government agencies, healthcare organisations, banks and companies, and to emergency call services, IMDA says. Keep your mobile and broadband providers' hotline numbers, as IMDA suggests, written down somewhere other than the phone, and make sure someone in the family has a line on a different network.

Do I get compensation when Singtel is down?

Not as of right, on the official evidence we found; we could not open any telco's own terms, so your contract is the place to check. IMDA's penalty is a sanction on the operator, and its 20 October release counts Singtel's rebates in the telco's favour, alongside its cooperation and its effort to restore service, when setting the amount. The 2020 cases read the same way: IMDA's penalties on StarHub and M1 for broadband outages noted each operator's compensation to affected subscribers when deciding what each should pay.

Put the two figures side by side: the rebates, about S$8 million, came to roughly eight times the S$1 million penalty. IMDA describes the rebates as proactive and does not say they were required.

What you can do after an outage:

• Check your bill or app for a rebate before asking for one; IMDA says the March rebates were proactively extended.
• Ask, politely and in writing, if you lost something specific, such as a missed paid booking, and keep the reply; nothing we found obliges the telco to pay.
• Know your contract rules. IMDA's limits on early termination charges still apply if an outage makes you want to leave; our guide to early termination charges shows how to work out the most you could pay.
• Compare service before you recontract. IMDA publishes each telco's complaint rate and how long its hotline takes to answer; see our guide to IMDA's telco complaint figures.

Beware messages offering an "outage refund" through a link; IMDA's site warns that government officials will never call you to transfer money or verify refunds.

A short outage log to keep on your phone

Fill this in as soon as you notice the outage, and finish it from another device if your phone is offline:

1. Date and the time service stopped, and the time it came back.
2. What failed: calls, SMS, mobile data, 4G or 5G only, or home broadband.
3. Where you were, and whether others on the same telco nearby were affected.
4. Screenshots of the telco's announcement and of any error messages.
5. What it cost you, with receipts: a missed paid appointment, a taxi you could not book, a top-up on a backup line.
6. Every contact with the telco: date, channel, reference number and what you were told.

If you ever take a dispute further, for example to a tribunal, this record is where to start; our guide to filing a small claim explains what else to keep.

What does the IMDA probe mean for Simba subscribers?

On 18 May 2026, IMDA said it had suspended its review of the proposed consolidation between M1 and Simba after learning that Simba could have been using radio frequency bands not assigned to it. That would breach the Telecommunications Act 1999 and Simba's licence conditions, IMDA said, adding that it would take enforcement action if the breach was established.

In a written parliamentary answer on 7 July 2026, MDDI said the investigation was ongoing and that IMDA would ensure Simba continues to meet its licence obligations and service level commitments to subscribers. We found no IMDA findings or decision on its website, including its press release sitemap, when we checked on 28 October 2026.

Nothing in IMDA's or MDDI's statements asks Simba customers to do anything. If you are weighing a switch, check whether your plan has a contract and compare plans on their total cost.

More guides on looking after the services and things you own are in the ownership topic.

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