Originally Posted by
freakazoid
Other aspects:
Downsides:
- you need to sign up for at least 3 months (see pick up link above)
- high activation fee 5,500 Yen
- compared to international eSims high monthly price (3,278 JPY/mo for 5GB, 4,378 JPY/mo for 25GB)
- you pay per calendar month, e.g. 20. Oct - 10. Nov = 2 months
Positive:
- SMS/Voice roaming outside Japan is
possible, neither Mobal nor Hanacell support that. They state that voice isn't supported on suspended contract, so SMS probably isn't either. You can only suspend & reactivate starting at the next month, not immediately.
-
MNP is possible, so you can port your contract to a different company and they can reissue your sim card (not possible with Hanacell)
-
Tethering is possible (doesn't work with Hanacell, not sure about Mobal)
Reading over Sakura Mobile FAQs, I see there's two other benefits that are missing from Mobal/Hanacell:
- Unused data carries over to next month from this FAQ.
- Can top up for more data according to this FAQ.
Regarding the higher monthly cost downside, I think it's worth to only compare Sakura Mobile with Mobal / Hanacell as they all provide long term voice + data SIM or eSIM plans. Having actual voice number of your own has some benefits, so it would be not exactly Apple to Apple comparison if we just compare with other prepaid or postpaid data only plans. With the voice + data plan, one does not have to use both SIM slots if one wants voice and data, otherwise one would have do something like renting short term voice SIM from SoftBank Global Rental etc then another SIM/eSIM from IIJ etc for cheap data.