I think what you're saying is that the airbnbs typically buy a cheaper plan for their hotspots then what you may desire.

That was the case with the AirBnB we stayed in last year, which came with an old WiMax hotspot. It was usually fast enough except in building basements and on intercity trains, but maybe we were lucky that it still had lots of fast GBs remaining.

Even though our AirBnB provided a pocket wifi, we still chose to rent our own with an unlimited plan. That way my whole family could stream while in line for attractions, on the train, waiting in line for food etc.

High speed = download / upload speed

Good coverage = you can connect to the internet everywhere you go

They are 2 totally independent criteria. Japanese tourist SIM cards have the best possible coverage, you can connect in small towns, underground malls, metro, but the speeds usually quite slow ~ 1-2 Mbps during the day.

Bad coverage = no internet in basement, or out in popular tourist towns around Mt Fuji. But when there is coverage, the speed is high, for pocket WiFi.

- You have a fast Lamborghini car

- Now you're in a swamp, good luck driving

A lot of people outside of the US don't realize it's not so easy to unlock cell phones on US carriers. It's pretty trivial from other countries, but to unlock US ATT/Verizon/etc phones there are a lot of hoops to jump through. That's why it's just so much easier to rent a MIFI device instead of getting a SIM card.

A pocket Wifi/MIFI usually works for those who know how to connect to a wifi network and effectively achieves the same thing as a data-only sim. It can also be shared without running down one person's smartphone battery. It usually isn't the most cost efficient option but not that difficult to setup and pricing usually includes tech support.

There are those who can probably eject & re-insert a sim tray while on a moving vehicle with one hand and in the dark. Then latch a valid network faster than they can do the latest dance move or touch type/hit a konami code. I'm told this is a specific skill set, even by geeks and techies.

Japanese carrier phones are even worse than the US carriers for locking & porting.

ETA: There is a lot of nuance in download speeds, data bucket/how much high speed data, and carrier for MIFI, sims, roaming sims compared to each other and within themselves. There's also differences in modems, network bands, and carrier aggregation. There are different threads for that, though.

I'm American. I have an unlocked iPhone, I don't remember having any trouble unlocking it. I think I bought it from the Apple store unlocked.

I've been to Japan about a half dozen times, I always get a data only tourist SIM card. Sometimes I order it in advance from ebay/amazon, sometimes I get it on arrival. If you arrive at Osaka airport, exit into arrivals hall, turn right, there are vending machines selling SIM cards. At Haneda airport, there's a 7-11 selling tourist SIM cards, it might be up on level in the departures area. I forget where to buy them at Narita airport.

A few tips if buying a tourist SIM card:

1. You have to buy the right size, they are not adjustable/one size fits all like some SIM cards.
2. You will have to download an APN profile, the paperwork in the SIM package will give you the url to visit to download that. You connect to the airport wifi and then you download it.
3. If you use an iPhone, you MUST use your safari browser to download the APN profile. My default browser is Chrome, and I struggled the first time because I typed in the download url and nothing happened, until I realized I had to use safari.
4. The paperwork in the package, including the credit card thing that the SIM card pops out of, may include certain serial/product numbers that you need to register the SIM card, so don't throw anything out. I would keep it all until you leave Japan.
5. When you leave Japan, you need to delete the APN profile you've installed, otherwise you won't be able to get data when you put your old SIM card back in the phone, and you'll end up calling AT&T to complain about their crappy service, and they won't ask you if you installed an APN in Japan, and you'll spend a lot of time on the phone with them trying to figure out why your phone no longer gets data in the USA
6. If you don't get the tourist SIM card in advance or at the airport, you can buy them in town at the tourist centers inside major train stations and at camera/electronic stores like BIC camera. You can't buy tourist SIM cards at ordinary convenience stores in town nor at cell phone provider shops.

One of the benefits to getting the SIM card in advance is that you can install it right before you leave the USA, or on the plane, and download the APN over airport wifi while you are in line to get your passport stamped, and then you should be good to go. Some airport trains leave every 30 minutes or so. If, after clearing customs, you have to find the place to buy the SIM card, wait in line to buy it, open the package, read the instructions, download the URL, input the registration numbers, etc. then you might end up having to take a later train and your jet lagged self will be spending an extra 30 minutes in transit to your hotel.

I've never found the data to be slow. I feel I have no need for an additional pocket wifi device. Some luxury hotels provide a free pocket wifi device in the rooms that you can take with you around the city, I never use them.

Yes there's that option now but that's a more recent change where you have the option to purchase an unlocked sim-free phone. Most people either don't have these yet, or like me, just more convenient to get everything setup with your carrier right from the get-go, since buying unlocked means needing to go to AT-T or whatever your carrier is and getting a new sim card.

1. New IIJIMIO and BIC SIM 3-in-1. https://www.yodobashi.com/product/100000001003860019/
2. DOCOMO sell their own tourist data SIM which doesn't require manual APN setting. https://docomo.prepaid-sim.jp/lp/flow/index.html "Put the SIM into your handheld device. You can use it as it is without any APN settings."
5. Unreasonable to expect technical support at your own service provider to correctly diagnose this specific issue. AND it is not always necessary to delete the setting and it would still work after your return.

What Pocket Wifi have you used that you had bad coverage? From skiing in Hokkaido to the rain forests of Yakushima, and every underground metro, the only time I have ever lost signal was in a tunnel. I would say that anyone who needs to be connected to the internet should bring a pocket wifi no question. If you have multiple devices (2x laptops, 2x phones, and any other internet device) a pocket wifi is infinitely more convenient. Any tech savvy traveler would have a battery pack anyways.

As already pointed out in several posts above. Cheap ones (WiMax for example), typically provided by Airbnb hosts, or the cheapest rentals, have no coverage in various tourist towns around Mt Fuji, or in underground malls.

Network coverage for all networks is published on line. It's easy to see what networks have lousy coverage outside major cities.

Didn't read all the answers, but +1 for pocket wifi vs SIM especially if travelling with other people. My wife and I visit Japan and always use pocket wifi. The price is reasonable but not the cheapest: 72$CAD for 7 days but the convenience is definitely worth it for us. It is lightning fast, unlimited bandwidth, and we can connect all our devices (which ends up being 2 phones, an ipad, two laptops). Also very nice to sometimes offer wifi to other tourists if needed.

Yes there is a lot of wifi available for free between your hotel, public places, shinkansen etc, but the convenience and speed are not there. Also the bandwidth... streaming world cup games in Japan was fantastic and would not have been possible with sim data.

Minor downside of pocket wifi was no ability to use phone service directly, but with skype and whatsapp, this wasn't required by us at all.

Pick up from the airport is extremely convenient, and gives wifi a few minutes after landing. It always comes charged enough to get us to our hotel. It is small enough to slip into a purse or backpack very easily. Returning it is just as easy with the prepaid envelope.

I charge it at night. One time, the device must have been older as the charge wore out in the evening and it even died on us once. But every other time, it lasts easily late into the night as long as its charged daily.

It is a staple of visiting Japan. I don't know how much data the SIMs provide, but definitely wouldn't rival unlimited bandwidth of pocket wifi. I love it!

I'll add another data point.

I was in Japan for 3 weeks a few months ago ... Tokyo to Hiroshima and back ... sometimes "in the sticks". In the US I've never had a mobile phone locked to a provider, so I never had to deal with locked phone issues.

I went with a traveler sim from a NTT DocoMo reseller, bmobile ... 21days, 5G of LTE, about $30 USD, b-mobile VISITOR SIM | 5GB / 21days. There are multiple ways of picking the sim up ... I chose delivery to my hotel which was painless ... it was waiting for me on my arrival. bmobile allows you to top off your sim for 500Y which adds an additional day and 1G of data. I think I ended up using less than 3G of data as I had free wifi alot of the time.

I never noticed connection at anything other than 4G, even "in the sticks" ... never felt constrained whatsoever speed/connectivity wize.

Going with a traveler sim requires you to make sure you're phone is unlocked, make sure your unlocked phone is compatible with the carriers bands, making sure you order the right sized sim for your phone

I am trying to figure out what to do - 5ish days in Tokyo, 1 person, not addicted to social-media. I am leaning toward the SIM as it is probably sufficient for me (while getting lost in Tokyo during the day). Hotel has Internet.

Since I don't expect to use more than 500MB-1GB while I am there (really just for map lookup + translation), looking at this https://www.sakuramobile.jp/japan-si...fi/#haneda-sim (not sure if it is a good source), it seems the best deal is Iijmio? Would there be better deal outside the airport? (https://t.iijmio.jp/en/index.html#service_overview lists all the retailers but no pricing - is the pricing variable depending on the retailer?)

Have a US AT&T iPhone 5. In Canada and Taiwan, on Petro Canada SIM (Rogers) and CHT, I only get 3G - it never says LTE. However, I think it works fine. I think that has to do with the LTE band thing. Would I be able to get at least 3G? Can I get LTE with any carriers in Japan with the phone?

Thanks!

[MENTION=6224]username[/MENTION] - You'd be better off renting a hotspot since the iPhone 5 AT&T A1498 doesn't include a large enough LTE coverage in the modem to be compatible with most of the LTE bands used in JP and most of the prepaid sims are on Docomo which is CDMA 3G
https://www.frequencycheck.com/compa...hone-5-1/japan

Softbank does offer a prepaid data card
https://www.softbank-rental.jp/en/prepaid/

Or you can pick up a roaming sim from Thai carrier AIS Sim2Fly which roams on Softbank
The ready-to-use SIM2Fly SIM Roaming

The prepaid data sim wikia is usually the best first stop to check for data sim info
Japan | Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia