paperwastage

I saw one of the stalls selling bmobile sim, in. Narita t2 shops above checkin (facing the check-in counter)

Don't remember the exact cost, but it didnt seem overpriced

Flexiroam

If you guys have the time I suggest checking Flexiroam's local data plan in Japan. They offer 7 days 400mb for only $6.00. If you are not that data hungry just the usual browsing, maps usage and research it's a good deal. You need to buy a starter pack which cost around $29 dollars which includes 1gb data valid for 3 months which i guess is enough for traveling in Japan. Pretty cheap compared to local data plans in Japan costing 4k yen (36 usd)

Traflying

Hi, I'm planning to visit Tokyo - Osaka - Kyoto for 2 weeks in the coming March/April, which sim card and plan should I get? I'm looking for 1 to be used for tethering (shared with my parents), lots of Google Maps usage, should need a couple of GBs at least.. Thanks!

bocastephen

I believe the problem some of us might have with Flexiroam is being unable to directly access our iPhone APN if blocked by the underlying SIM card. The concept looks good, and I appreciate the fact I don't need to switch SIMs and the pricing is comparable to other lower cost local SIMs, but if I can't access my APN to switch the settings back and forth, the product is useless to me.

Flexiroam

Yes Flexiroam microchip works on all carrier unlocked phones just like every other data/travel SIM. As long as the phone is unlocked, APN settings would be updated automatically (in some cases requires manual update) when you have successfully switch over to Flexiroam

bocastephen

But what if your main SIM card blocks access to APN settings on the Iphone?

beep88

Perhaps the Flexiroam itself unlocks the APN.

APN locking on iPhone is not permanent. My regular Canadian SIM card locks it. If I insert any Japanese MVNO SIM, I have to use the APN changing website as APN is still locked. If I insert a Taiwanese / HK / Malaysian SIM (from providers that are official Apple partners and not MVNO), APN is unlocked. In HK, even MVNO SIMs do not require manual APN setup, and APN is not locked.

bocastephen

For those who are visiting Japan via other countries, there are some options to bypass the high cost of Japanese SIM cards, the low data amounts, and the clunky profiles or custom settings some of the cards need. If you are stopping in Hong Kong, mainland China or Singapore (there might be other country options as well) prior to visiting Japan, you can buy a regional (all of Asia) or two-country SIM that will often offer either unlimited or a larger amount of data at a great price.

For example, I stopped in Hong Kong for a few days before arriving in Japan and bought a China Mobile 7 day unlimited Japan data SIM that runs on CMHK LTE in HK and Softbank LTE in Japan - US$24 and no special profiles, APN changes, etc - just reboot the phone on arrival in Japan and make sure data roaming is enabled and you're good to go. I didn't ask if the cards were activated at purchase, or when used in the phone, but if it's the latter, you could buy a few of these to stock up for future trips to Japan. They also may be available to order online.

kaka

i refuse to use CMHK cr@p but there are plenty alternatives in HK. feel free to give me a shout or a pm. (if you're gonna go to CMHK/Unicom anyways, we can get some dimsum instead). u're looking at 10-15 USD depending on quality and length; and a bit more for unicom or CMHK but they have outlets everywhere.

bocastephen

I had no problem with my CMHK SIM card - in fact, I paid US$27 to cover 7 days of unlimited data in both HK and Japan, which is a bargain especially as I am at $20 or so just for 500MB in Japan alone. I had LTE in HK which was comparable to, if not faster than my ATT LTE at home, and in Japan, Softbank LTE was almost as fast. I have no complaints about the service, or especially the price for unlimited data, something which is not available from any visitor SIM option in Japan....in fact, having tried multiple visitor SIMs in Japan, not a single one ever connected my Japanese iPhone to LTE - they were all 4G signals.

kaka

bocastephen

When I was browsing, I had no website or app issues, and my default pages for some sites, ie Yahoo news, defaulted to Hong Kong sites, not the mainland. In fact, I had a CMHK SIM before for use in HK and Shanghai, and it always defaulted back through HK, avoiding any firewall issues while over "there". If the mainland was monitoring my activities, then I hope they were entertained by all of my anti-mainland and pro-HK independence posts and comments throughout social media, including my satirical skewers of Carrie Lam. As long as I am getting unlimited true LTE in Japan for $20-odd, they can listen all they want.

kaka

beep88

This last time I used Sim2Fly. Ordered on Amazon Japan that arrived in a plain envelope by Japan post. It's a slight hassle as I couldn't specify the actual delivery date or ship to a convenience store, but the hotel did hold it for me - I specified check-in date on the delivery address.

~1500 yen Unlimited (4GB at LTE) 8 days roaming SIM valid in Japan and 13 other Asian countries and territories. It runs on Softbank but speed is real LTE and not slow like any Japan tourist SIM cards.

The SIM can also be purchased in HK at Apliu St as well. In fact I first saw people's posts about this on a HK discussion forum.

Another benefit about this SIM is it can be recharged for roaming when, and only when you need it. The SIM must be kept alive - 5 baht (0.15USD) per month. Charging is a bit tricky but possible online with a foreign credit card.

freecia

I also see Sim2Fly on eBay & Amazon US. Thanks for the head's up.

I used NTT Docomo's "Japan Welcome Sim" for my last trip. I bought ~ 1,000 JPY plan S and got a free 300MB promo from booking.com and then added ~ 600MB by watching random promo videos from the Welcome SIM website over two months. Most the videos were < 2 min and decent content quality (or at least better than most streaming site commercials) https://docomo.prepaid-sim.jp/lp/index.html Speed was pretty good but I forgot to run a speedtest Activation works over Docomo mobile data (in fact, it is required). Downside is that it the sim is only valid for 15 days and only one sim can be active per account at a time.

Wow! Japan is still running the free 300MB promo https://wow-j.com/en/feature/jwsim/cp1/ or there's a referral feature for 100MB for new signup & referrer (but 300MB is obviously better)