The wall develops a crack: Bmobile offers real, but expensive, prepaid SIM
Sep 15, 2014, 11:29 am
#1
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
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The wall develops a crack: Bmobile offers real, but expensive, prepaid SIM
Take a look at
http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/payg_sim/
Bmobile's political connections have prevailed again and it is offering a prepaid SIM that includes
-- 60 minutes of calls (domestic or international)
-- 3G of data
-- almost certainly on the DoCoMo network, best in Japan
The problems are
-- Only good for 7 days
-- Costs a ridiculous Y9,980 = US$93!
-- Cannot be refilled or extra data/minutes added
-- Has a fair amount of bureaucracy, including emailing in passport photo copies not once but twice
Still maybe in 6-12 months, there will be competition and prepaid for visitors will finally return to Japan.
http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/payg_sim/
Bmobile's political connections have prevailed again and it is offering a prepaid SIM that includes
-- 60 minutes of calls (domestic or international)
-- 3G of data
-- almost certainly on the DoCoMo network, best in Japan
The problems are
-- Only good for 7 days
-- Costs a ridiculous Y9,980 = US$93!
-- Cannot be refilled or extra data/minutes added
-- Has a fair amount of bureaucracy, including emailing in passport photo copies not once but twice
Still maybe in 6-12 months, there will be competition and prepaid for visitors will finally return to Japan.
Sep 15, 2014, 5:45 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: sqrt(-united states of apologist)
Programs: *$ Green
Posts: 5,403
I have heard that it is fairly 'inexpensive' to rent a portable wifi router.
With all the VOIP applications and messaging services, do you think renting a portable wifi device is still a better way to go for visitors?
With all the VOIP applications and messaging services, do you think renting a portable wifi device is still a better way to go for visitors?
Sep 16, 2014, 7:48 am
#3
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: BA Gold, JGC Sapphire, OZ Diamond, AF Silver, CX GR, Marriott Lifetime SL
Posts: 3,598
Well only if you NEED a 080 number .... and doing long term rent for wifi route is 6250 yen only http://www.letinternetjp.com/en/newenlong/wifi.html
The b mobile plan makes sense if you going to spend a month traveling in Japan as a tourist, otherwise you should go DoCoMo to have a monthly plan already .......
The b mobile plan makes sense if you going to spend a month traveling in Japan as a tourist, otherwise you should go DoCoMo to have a monthly plan already .......
Sep 16, 2014, 10:09 am
#4
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,853
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=14479
Well only if you NEED a 080 number .... and doing long term rent for wifi route is 6250 yen only http://www.letinternetjp.com/en/newenlong/wifi.html
The b mobile plan makes sense if you going to spend a month traveling in Japan as a tourist, otherwise you should go DoCoMo to have a monthly plan already .......
The b mobile plan makes sense if you going to spend a month traveling in Japan as a tourist, otherwise you should go DoCoMo to have a monthly plan already .......
Further, if this rate of nearly Y10,000 for a week isn't a good deal for a week, 4 x this cost wouldn't be a good deal for 4 weeks.
The hope is that in 6-12 months someone else will crack the same wall and rates will come down.
Sep 17, 2014, 9:21 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
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Posts: 3,598
BTW, isn't it dirt cheap to rent a "dumb" phone already with other operators? it's possibly cheaper for one to rent a hotspot + dumb phone which still comes cheaper than this insanely priced plan
Sep 19, 2014, 12:38 am
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: HKG 99.9%
Programs: QF Silver (OW Ruby)
Posts: 1,379
The rate seems a lot unless you are on the go on business trip, for leisure travelers, I am sure we can use Skype or other programs to forward our phone number to while we are away from home. I have a sim provider who gives me 30 day data sim for $260 HKD, need VPN for facebook... blocked content by PRC (Dam PRC sims) but it is decent enough to receive Skype calls.
Never liked the idea of renting devises cos you have to pay if you lose it, or if you forgot to return.
Never liked the idea of renting devises cos you have to pay if you lose it, or if you forgot to return.