Singapore VPS Review: China-Optimized Network with 1Gbps Bandwidth at €36/Year

Looking for a Singapore VPS with decent connectivity to mainland China? Let me walk you through what ISIF offers and whether it's worth your money.

ISIF is a provider run by Chinese operators, established in 2022. They've built their own control panel and operate their own ASN (Autonomous System Number). Their service covers Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore, with both international and China-optimized routes. Payment options include PayPal, Alipay, and cryptocurrency.

What Makes This Singapore VPS Stand Out

The highlight here is the network routing. For connections back to China, you're getting:

• China Telecom: Routes through CU4837

• China Unicom: Also uses the 4837 backbone

• China Mobile: Goes through CMI (China Mobile International)

This three-network optimization means you won't be stuck with terrible speeds regardless of which ISP your users are on. The backbone infrastructure matters more than most people realize—poor routing can turn a powerful server into a laggy mess.

If you're running services that need reliable connections to mainland China, having optimized routes like these can make the difference between a smooth user experience and constant complaints. For apps, APIs, or websites targeting Chinese audiences, 👉 explore cloud solutions with optimized Asia-Pacific connectivity to ensure your traffic flows smoothly across borders.

Server Specs and Pricing

Here's what the entry-level plan looks like:

China-Optimized SG-1 Plan:

• 1 vCPU (AMD EPYC 7B13)

• 768 MB RAM

• 20 GB SSD storage

• 1 TB monthly traffic (1Gbps port, bidirectional counting)

• 1 IPv4 address

• €36/year or €4.2/month

The pricing is aggressive, especially for an annual commitment. At roughly €3 per month when paid yearly, this undercuts many providers offering similar specs without the China-optimized routing.

Real-World Performance Numbers

I ran the usual battery of tests to see how this VPS actually performs beyond the marketing promises.

Disk I/O Performance

The storage speed averaged 480.3 MB/s across three test runs (475, 452, and 514 MB/s). That's solid for the price point—not enterprise NVMe territory, but more than adequate for typical web applications and databases.

Network Speed Tests

Mainland China connections:

• Hangzhou China Mobile: 839.43 Mbps download (upload failed during test)

• Beijing China Unicom: 881.20 Mbps download, 2.70 Mbps upload (upload throttling noted)

• Suzhou China Telecom: 1008.33 Mbps download, 754.94 Mbps upload

• Hangzhou China Telecom: 1013.37 Mbps download, 727.14 Mbps upload

The Telecom routes performed exceptionally well, hitting the full gigabit capability. The Unicom upload bottleneck is worth noting—if you're pushing large amounts of data from the VPS to Beijing Unicom users, expect limitations.

International connections:

• Hong Kong: 1007.33 Mbps down, 991.24 Mbps up (32.15ms latency)

• Taiwan: 984.53 Mbps down, 896.72 Mbps up (53.80ms latency)

• Los Angeles: 963.19 Mbps down, 496.09 Mbps up (184.81ms latency)

• London: 994.60 Mbps down, 521.46 Mbps up (157.92ms latency)

Asia-Pacific connectivity is excellent, which makes sense given the server location. Trans-Pacific and Europe routes show more variance but remain usable for mixed-audience applications.

Latency to Mainland China

Average ping times ranged from 60-90ms to major Chinese cities. That's respectable for a Singapore-based server connecting to China through optimized routes. For comparison, direct connections without optimization often exceed 150ms or suffer from packet loss.

When you're building applications that serve both international and Chinese users, understanding network topology becomes crucial. The routing actually goes through Hong Kong (via China Unicom Global) before entering the mainland, which explains the latency characteristics.

Streaming and Service Access

The IPv6 connectivity showed native access to:

• Netflix Singapore

• Disney+ Singapore

• YouTube Premium Singapore

• Google Gemini

IPv4 results were mixed, with some services detecting the IP as Russian-origin (likely due to the IP block allocation). If streaming unblocking is important for your use case, test thoroughly before committing.

The Route Analysis Deep Dive

Tracing the actual packet paths reveals how ISIF achieves those China-optimized connections:

To Shanghai Telecom: Packets route through Taiwan, then Hong Kong China Unicom Global, before entering mainland networks via Guangzhou. Total hop count around 20-24 hops with final latency around 60ms.

To Guangzhou Telecom: Similar path but terminates earlier at 20 hops with 83ms final latency. Some congestion noted at the Guangzhou interchange points.

To Shanghai Unicom: Direct path through Hong Kong CUG (China Unicom Global) backbone, utilizing the 4837 network. Clean routing with about 15 hops and 65ms latency.

To Mobile networks: Routes through CMI (China Mobile International) in Hong Kong, then connects to the mainland CMNET backbone. Slightly higher latency (60-70ms) but stable connections.

The routing consistency is good—paths don't randomly change, which means predictable performance for your applications.

Who Should Consider This VPS

This setup makes sense if you:

• Need a budget-friendly Singapore presence with China connectivity

• Run services where 60-90ms latency to China is acceptable

• Don't require pristine IP reputation for email or certain services

• Value network optimization over raw compute power

It's less ideal if you:

• Need ultra-low latency (under 30ms to mainland China)

• Require guaranteed clean IP addresses for marketing/email

• Run memory-intensive applications (768MB is tight)

• Need consistent upload speeds across all Chinese ISPs

The Bottom Line

At €36 annually, you're paying roughly €0.10 per day for a China-optimized Singapore VPS. The routing is genuinely optimized—this isn't just marketing speak. Download speeds consistently hit near-gigabit levels to major Chinese cities.

The trade-offs are real though. IP reputation is uncertain, RAM is minimal, and upload performance varies by destination ISP. But considering the price point and the routing infrastructure behind it, these limitations make sense. For projects that need presence in Asia with decent China connectivity but can't justify premium pricing, 👉 check out flexible cloud hosting options that balance cost and performance for your specific requirements.

You can't have both premium performance and budget pricing—something has to give. ISIF chose to compromise on resources and IP quality while maintaining routing quality. Whether that's the right trade-off depends entirely on what you're building.

Test IP: 46.3.193.1 (IPv4) and 2405:84c0:8004:: (IPv6)