Japan - New Bmobile visitor versions Japan prepaid data plans for visitors

So Bmobile has changed the Visitor USIM300. In the past, the USIM300 version was offered in a 30 day version for visitors, but now has changed.

Two new products have replaced it.

http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/index.html (English ordering site)
http://www.j-com.co.jp/news/release/1214.html (Japanese news release)

It appears to be the 1G version which I talked about before which allows streaming, and then there's also a USIM300 version available. The catch is both are now reduced to 14 days worth of data with a price increase on the USIM300 version.

The 1G version (assuming it's the same as the regular Japanese one) is good for those who will need data steaming etc on the go outside their hotel but will be utilizing their hotel's internet for their heavy work.

You can choose regular sized sim or micro-sim cards.

Note, the "regular" versions of these cards can still be purchase through the Japanese site and the 1G 30 day versions can be purchased in select electronics stores in major cities like Tokyo (Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera etc), there's no restrictions on visitors purchasing these versions as well if you can navigate the Japanese website. If you purchase the regular 1G version in store, you just need to navigate to the part of the store that sells them (usually in the mobile phone section). I know personally that the Bic Camera on the west side of Shinjuku and the Yodobashi main shop (also on the west side of Shinjuku station) have them.

For the visitor versions, and visitors coming to Japan for a short vacation/business trip etc, these SIM cards are easy to order in English, come to your hotel already activated, just pop into your unlocked mobile phone/tablet/ mobile mifi router and adjust the settings and you are off. Still comes out cheaper then most of the mobile wifi devices you rent at the airport.

Both appear to be in microsim format only.

If you try to buy either of the SIMs from the English website, the first question you are asked is the physical size of the SIM you require - regular or micro.

Thanks for the correction, I have edited the original post.

I suppose it's nice not to have to pay 1625 JPY/day for service w/Softbank (maxing out on data with just the SIM card), but using the USIM300 just recently, I would strongly advise against paying anything for it.

The service was absolutely horrendous and reminded me of how bad AT&T was in New York two years ago as it reached a saturation point with all the iPhones on the network. It wasn't just that the USIM300 was capped at 300kbps, but that it also had a latency reaching into the several seconds mark, making it near useless for anything except for email client updates -- webpages would take minutes to load and forget trying to use Google Maps.

To quote Chappelle Show, I wish I had more hands so I could give it four thumbs down. :td::td:

Maybe I'll try the 1GB card next time, but I can't recommend the USIM300 to anyone. Total waste of money. In two weeks of use, the service was so bad I didn't even make it to 150MB both up/down overall.

That's curious because bMobile used NTT DoCoMo service which certainly has the best coverage in the country. Wonder if that has changed.

Richard, they have all sorts of software in front filtering every single packet, as they're trying to detect a whole bunch of services such as VPN, Skype, streaming radio, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if their packet filtering software isn't very good and is the culprit here, but I have no idea how they implemented any of this.

I would hope the 1GB data card doesn't have the same problems as the USIM300 -- if anything, you might as well throw the money behind the 1GB and not have the filtering because on a short stay, you won't get to 1GB if you have the same usage pattern (Google Maps/Voice, Skype, checking e-mail)

Unfortunately they have decided to charge more for the visitor versions @ 3980

Visitor 1GB valid 14 days ¥3980
Regular 1GB valid 30 days ¥3480 A slight ripoff, 1GB lasts between 1-2 weeks anyway for most travellers so whether 14 or 30 days is not a big deal.

Visitor U300 unlimited data for 14 days ¥3980
Regular U300 unlimited data for 30days ¥2980 big ripoff


I have used both the U300 and 1GB Japanese version.

U300 is indeed quite slow topping at around 150kbps. I used it with google maps, web surfing etc on the iPhone within the Northern Kyushu JR pass area. It was fine. Used google maps for positioning and directions, but I was walking. No youtube, skype voice, etc as stipulated on the official B-mobile website.

1GB tops out at around 1.5mbps, used it from Kagoshima to Tokyo. Worked fine with youtube, skype voice.

Sounds like what used to be a good thing is no longer such a good thing. I hate it when people start ripping off visitors. Is the price also increased if bought at Yodobashi or Bic? If not, that might be a reasonable alternative.

Bought the 1GB at Yodobashi Shinjuku 3 weeks ago; very useful, got good response, but I can't run speedtest to figure out the speed. I was able to do facetime (jailbroken iPhone) using the 3G.
The Yodobashi staff actually activate the micro-sim card, bought 2 of them and specifically said about setting your APN.

The Japanese 1GB version is still at the regular price. That means if you can find them at Yodobashi/Bic, you should be OK. But that's only a 500 yen saving, and people seem to have problem finding them in stores outside of Tokyo.

The U300 version is not sold in-store. So either order through the Japanese page and pay regular price, or use English page and pay essentially 33-160% more, depends on how long you use the service for within the 30 days max.

If one doesn't have issues ordering online using the Japanese site and doing the registration (which can be done in English), then I recommend buying the regular Japanese versions. I've purchased the 1G version as a test in at Yodobashi Shinjuku and it works fine (it's not limited in services like the USIM300). 1G might not seem like much, but for on-the-go items like email, googlemaps etc it does the job. But don't use it to steam a lot of HD video. I didn't know they could activate it for you in-store (wasn't asked of me, but wasn't a problem either for me to active myself).

For short-term visitors who cannot navigate through the Japanese system, the 1G 14 day visitor version isn't that bad when compared to a mobile rental wifi device price for 2 weeks. If one mainly sticks in the major cities, there shouldn't be a problem with coverage, but every traveler is different.

I didn't know they could activate it for you in-store (wasn't asked of me, but wasn't a problem either for me to active myself).

I asked about activation (no mobile phone until I contact my friend; but I'd need to use the phone to call my friend anyway via Skype) and they were more than willing to help.

I pretty much just showed them the picture of the 1GB micro-SIM. They directed me from a different section of Yodobashi Camera to another building, and from there the person at the door brought me through the maze of the place to get the SIM.

Great service!

be aware - b-mobile data sim cards doesn't work with iPad, and setting up on your iPhone can be very complicated, as the manual for set up is not very clear.
I bought 2 sim cards - for my friend and myself, and even we started to use it at different time (my friend arrived to Japan one week later)
both our cards stop working exactly at the same time- two days before the expiration dates .
Three days later I received reply from B-mobile help desk saying they we both runout our data ,
but I don't really believe them- exactly at the same time!
Also, data speed is much slower then expected and it's never get correct location- when I arrive to Hiroshima, all next day my iPhone was showing me that I'm in central Tokyo, even I switched it of off several times.

There are lots of phones b-mobile doesn't work with. It doesn't work with any Moto Smart phone (like mine). If the phone is not on the b-mobile list, you just lost Y3,900. They will refuse to help and refuse to give any refunds.

bmobile is a MVNO which uses the network of NTT docomo. Docomo uses 2GHz, 1.7GHz and 800MHZ for its 3G service. Wikipedia often has the info about which bands your phone can handle.

be aware - b-mobile data sim cards doesn't work with iPad, and setting up on your iPhone can be very complicated, as the manual for set up is not very clear.
I bought 2 sim cards - for my friend and myself, and even we started to use it at different time (my friend arrived to Japan one week later)
both our cards stop working exactly at the same time- two days before the expiration dates .
Three days later I received reply from B-mobile help desk saying they we both runout our data ,
but I don't really believe them- exactly at the same time!
Also, data speed is much slower then expected and it's never get correct location- when I arrive to Hiroshima, all next day my iPhone was showing me that I'm in central Tokyo, even I switched it of off several times.

Some people are just not technical enough to understand how location works, or how to set up a smartphone. But decides to spam all travel forums with the same cut+past.

There are lots of phones b-mobile doesn't work with. It doesn't work with any Moto Smart phone (like mine). If the phone is not on the b-mobile list, you just lost Y3,900. They will refuse to help and refuse to give any refunds.

Someone posted on Tripadvisor Japan forum how to set up Motorola smartphones. Very technical instructions due to unusual way Motorola sets up their phones.

If it is not on the supported list, which is published, what do you expect B-Mobile (or any other tech company in a similar situation) to do?

Say you bought some MAC software, opened it and found out it doesn't work on Windows 8, can you get a refund? Will the software support desk help you?

Someone posted on Tripadvisor Japan forum how to set up Motorola smartphones. Very technical instructions due to unusual way Motorola sets up their phones.

If it is not on the supported list, which is published, what do you expect B-Mobile (or any other tech company in a similar situation) to do?

Say you bought some MAC software, opened it and found out it doesn't work on Windows 8, can you get a refund? Will the software support desk help you?

I expect them to offer a refund, possibly less a fee to cover postage. Or, at the least, to work with me to get it to function, especially if there is a published method. There are virtually no non-Japanese smart phones other than iPhone on their list. Furthermore, they hide the list pretty well on their website. It's not in the FAQ or on the info page, not even a link.

If these are the tripadvisor Moto comments you are referring to:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g294232-i525-k5434695-o30-B_mobile_USIM300_Visitor_Prepaid_Sim_card_ENGLISH-Japan.html

then you need root access to make it work on Motorola, which means that the phone warranty will usually be voided if it is a US operator.

There are thousands of different models of smart phones so it is silly to compare that situation to the difference between Windows vs Mac.

It's not on the supported list. So you buy it at your own risk.

"This product cannot be refunded after purchase. The contract cannot be changed or cancelled during the product service period."

How difficult is it to understand? Also I have never seen any SIM card or prepaid mobile phone refill vouchers being refundable in any country.

>> There are thousands of different models of smart phones so it is silly to compare that situation to the difference between Windows vs Mac.

But you expect B-mobile to provide support to thousands of different models of smart phones. How silly is that?

The speed of the b-mobile products is a joke—they claim they don't throttle, but an actual DoCoMo SIM on the same device in the same spot is a good 10x faster in most cases. Clearly, they are throttling somehow, and the fact they outright lie about this (even if you call support) is not cool. :td: I'm shocked when I meet foreigners living here that rely on b-mobile SIMs when they could easily get a cheaper and better contract option from any of the three major carriers.

That said, the SIM is technically compatible with any unlocked device on their end. The fact that you may need to manually configure your phone/tablet to work with it, and the fact that this process is sometimes quite complicated, isn't really b-mobile's fault. Nor is the fact that not all devices support DoCoMo's 3G/4G frequencies. These issues exist with any SIM in any country. At least b-mobile publishes their APN info: if you're up for a real challenge, try getting an iPhone to work with a random SIM from, say, Grameenphone in Bangladesh or Beeline in Kyrgyzstan!

I arrived yesterday to Tokyo and I'm using bmobile's SIM card in my Samsung S3 (international/european version).
It works perfect, and speed is not bad at all for a mobile device. Way better than the rented MiFi options I've tried other times...

It's not on the supported list. So you buy it at your own risk.

"This product cannot be refunded after purchase. The contract cannot be changed or cancelled during the product service period."

How difficult is it to understand? Also I have never seen any SIM card or prepaid mobile phone refill vouchers being refundable in any country.

>> There are thousands of different models of smart phones so it is silly to compare that situation to the difference between Windows vs Mac.

But you expect B-mobile to provide support to thousands of different models of smart phones. How silly is that?

You win, you're just way too smart for me. Sure wish I knew as much about mobile technology as you do.

Hi, been doing some research. I have read the two related threads underneath. I want to clarify. For a traveller, we cannot even get prepaid sims right? That means we can only use the airport rental service or B mobile right?

In re: to the Softbank rental service - does the iPhone sim work on Androids? How is the performance on the B Mobile 1GB like?

This is basically correct (and could probably go in one of the existing threads on the topic). It isn't possible to buy a prepaid SIM with phone service as a visitor, and not even easy as a resident (basically, the idea of buying just a SIM is quite foreign here). In the past, it was possible to find the odd SoftBank store than was willing to bend the rules and sell an entire prepaid phone to foreign tourists, but I'm not sure if this is still possible.

b-Mobile has abysmal performance, usually in the ~300kbps range despite their claims that they don't throttle traffic. If you care about speed, a rental or roaming is your best, albeit expensive, option.

Thanks - well there isn't much to gain from a real prepaid sim. Going by Softbank's prepaid service it's still 90Y per minute for local calling and data is charged per blocks of seconds. Softbank's rental service is 100Y per minute calling and data is basically all you can use at 1,500Y per day. Once you consume 1 or 2MB in the day it becomes 1,500Y anyway. It's 0.32Y per 128 bytes. There's 1,000,000 bytes in a MB.

I guess prepaid sims save the daily 100Y sim rental fee :rolleyes:

Well that is just hoping a foreign phone is allowed cos they talk about a phone needs to have the Japan telecommunication certification on it, or then it's a 250Y per day to rent a iPhone with sim or 100Y for a non smart phone.

There are others apart from Softbank, but they more/less charge similar maybe 33% less but still substantial. Give or take the going rate is $12US a day.

Edit - I am going to look for a offline map that is no routing, you see yourself the red dot and make your own way there, there a few offline apps but they cost 5,000Y. Google used to have offline (cache) but they stopped it due to licensing.