i would book in advance if you can talk to them in english, because once you hit the other side, if your japanese isn't good you might be in trouble.

i don't think you HAVE to, though. my friend got me a prepaid phone from a random softbank store.

When I was here a few weeks ago I rented a phone from the place right when you get out of customs. It kind of sucked. For a week, only making like 5 phone calls and maybe 20 mails, it ended up being something like $40~$50. I can get the specifics if you want, but it was like $25 just to rent it and then some more money for usage charges.
Plus the phone they give you sucks, it only makes calls and mails, so no maps for you. It also has big stickers on it that scream "I'm a rental," whether or not that bothers you or not is another story.

You can definitely use your iPhone in Japan. I don't knowhow much AT&T's international rates are if you sign up for it beforehand, but if you decide to just use it without signing up, it's stupid expensive. $20/MB expensive. And if you're using maps, you'll eat up bandwidth super quick. Check their rates to see what the actual plan is though...

You can't get a real phone in Japan with a 3-month visitor visa, you need 90+ days remaining on your visa. I've heard that SoftBank will let you get a prepaid one without it, but I didn't want to go that route, so I don't know.

Your own phone should work as normal abroad, just with higher call rates. But check with your mobile phone company to make sure.

Last edited by dizmox (2012 March 14, 6:21 pm)

here's the softbank stuff
http://mb.softbank.jp/en/prepaid_service/

i think the rental plans for unlocked phones are definitely much cheaper. i paid 1万円 for 2 weeks and all i could do is call and send mail. it's about that price for an unlocked iphone with unlimited data.

also get the hyperdia app. soooo useful.

rich_f wrote:

When I went back to Japan from Sep-Dec, I skipped the Softbank SIM for data, because the deal pretty much sucked for me. (I *did* get one for my old Motorola dumbphone as an emergency phone. I needed it a few times.) The data deal was something along the lines of, "go over your allotted data, and we'll charge you a fee multiplied by the number of days you're going to rent the SIM card." Then you can go ahead and use all the data you want... but your wallet gets considerably lighter. Caveat Emptor.

I went to Yodobashi Camera when I got to Tokyo and got a B-Mobile prepaid data-only SIM card. That way my cost was fixed. (So is the amount of data you can use, but, it's better than a shocker bill later.) Data-only SIMs do not require a visa check. (Yay.)

Very useful blog here: http://softbanksucks.blogspot.com/
The info you want is here: http://softbanksucks.blogspot.com/2011/ … l#overview

The 1-month Fair is 3,400 yen. That gets you 1GB of data, unlimited* bandwidth (don't exceed 350MB in a day, that is), and the DoCoMo network. You can buy extra 1GB chunks for ~3,000 yen, IIRC. (I forget exactly.) I was there for 3 months, and barely used 850MB, by the way. That was with heavy Google Maps usage. Only downside is that it tended to run down my Nexus One battery a little faster than usual, because the voice line is disabled... it makes the phone act a little odd in Android, but the major apps all work just fine.

The staff at Yodobashi is good about helping you get set up. I went to the one at Shinjuku, but there's a big Yodobashi right by JR Akihabara Station. It's nigh impossible to miss. (It's 9 stories tall.)

hi, may i know did the Yodobashi staff help you activate the b-mobile sim using a japanese cellphone?

i'm planning to buy this b-mobile sim during my next tokyo trip, but i need help to get it activated using a japanese cellphone as i'll arrive in tokyo on Sunday.

dtcamero wrote:

If you don't speak japanese def prearrange as they don't speak English in the airport stores.

This is pretty impossible for me to believe. Considering the airport stores are trying to sell to travelers coming into Japan, SOMEONE at the store(s) are going to speak English. They'll also have contracts and info packets in English which explain how the pay system works.

I didn't mean to write a book, but...

The staff at the SoftBank counter in Narita speak excellent English. I have never had a problem with them. I can't vouch for other companies.

For starters: Make *sure* your phone uses/can use the 2100 band for data, that it's GSM, and that it's unlocked. A lot of US ATT phones don't use this band, and won't work in Japan. Do your research first. (Unlocked GSM iPhones are generally okay, as are unlocked GSM Nexus phones.)

For a plain old phone, the SoftBank SIM is a decent deal. But data-wise, it all depends on your use pattern. For me, 3 months in Japan made it a non-starter. In 6-7 days, I would have covered the cost of a BMobile 4-month FAIR SIM in data.

But if you're just there short-term, then the SoftBank SIM may be a better deal. Check the SoftBank and BMobile websites, or the blog formerly known as softbanksucks for comparisons.

Here's a link to the B-Mobile posts there:
http://www.japanmobiletech.com/search/label/b-mobile

There's a lot of stuff in there, but the basic takeaway message is that the 4-month Fair and 1-month U300 data plans are still in place for non-4G phones, at the same old prices I had. There are also data plans for 4G phones, but they're more expensive.

BMobile has a ton of different plans, but generally the 1-month U300 (not the Visitor U300!) plan is the best one for most short-term visitors. 30 days of data, 1GB cap, 3G speeds or best effort, 3480 yen. No rollover to the next month if you buy extra months. (Which you can do for the same 3480 yen, IIRC.)

Supposedly you can get the 1-month/1GB U300 at Costco Japan for 2980 yen, saving you 500 yen. Your US Costco card will work there, according to the poster.

Note that BMobile has come out with the U300 "Visitor" version... it's slightly cheaper, but... it doesn't allow VOIP or streaming for some reason, and the clock starts the second day after shipping, whether you get it or not, whether you're in Japan or not. Also, you can't recharge it, unlike the standard U300 and the Fair. To me, the standard U300 looks like a better deal if you're going to use Skype/streaming at all, or if you plan to stay longer than 30 days or want more than 1GB of data.

The Chameleon... meh. Someone may want it. Not me.

I had wifi at home in Okazaki, so I wound up only using 850MB in 3 months, and that's with a lot of Google Maps activity. (Google Maps saved my bacon a number of times.) Pre-loading the maps at home on wifi before I went out saved a lot of data as well. I think they've moved that from labs to the main product in Android. Just be aware that your maps will all be in Japanese.

If you use a Gingerbread phone, note that data-only SIM cards will cut your battery life in half. Not sure if they fixed it in ICS. I don't know what it does to iPhone battery life.

Looks like there's a fix for some phones. Info here:
http://www.japanmobiletech.com/2012/03/ … ttery.html

I did notice that my battery usage on my old Nexus One pretty much doubled, even on standby. Not a huge deal. Just recharge it every day, and if you use it a lot, carry an extra battery or external charger if you're on iPhone.

The Yodobashi folks will probably help you set it up if you need help. I didn't need any help from them, but I've heard stories on the SBS blog that folks who had issues got all kinds of help from them. BMobile also gives you pretty thorough instructions on their website. (It's been 9 months, so I'm a little foggy on that.) If you go to Yodobashi, you will need to speak some Japanese most likely. It definitely greases the wheels. Also, the BMobile website is mostly in Japanese, except for the U300 Visitor stuff... so you'll need some Japanese knowledge for that as well.

Last edited by rich_f (2012 June 14, 10:07 am)