Intro

Last we, we received our M1 5G SIM card. Last weekend, we went around parts of Singapore to test out the M1 5G Standalone coverage.

The tests were done at 5 different locations near the town area. There were at the grass patch right outside Newton MRT statoin, Bugis Junction near Macdonalds, outside Fu Lu Shou Complex, Opp Sim Lim Tower (at traffic junction) and outside Rochor MRT station exit A.

Speeds were quite promising on the 5G SA network ranging from 342 Mbps to 500 Mbps for download and 25.4 Mbps to 62 Mbps for upload.

During the test, the trickiest part is at Bugis Junction area. It seems that it has both 5G SA and 5G NSA covered. Thus the Samsung S21 Ultra 5G seems to be connecting to which ever that gives a better signal.

Sometimes we get connected to the 5G SA network but most of the time it was connected to the 5G NSA network. That is probably the reason why we see a lower download speeds but a higher upload speed.

To confirm that, we check the SIM Status of the phone and it is indicated as NR (NSA).

At Bugis Junction, we were connected to 5G NSA and SIM status shows the above mobile voice network is LTE and Mobile data network type is NR NSA.

As for the other locations, they are detected as NR SA. The voice network is Voice over NR (VoNR).

With VoNR, you can make crystal voice calls without dropping to LTE.

NR SA for mobile data and VoNR for voice network