Rent a phone in Japan or...?
Apr 28, 2016, 1:34 pm
#16
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: LH SEN; BA Gold
Posts: 8,405
BTW: There were 10 or 12 people queuing when the post office in NRT opened and all of them were foreigners picking up the Mifis or Sim cards
Apr 28, 2016, 9:42 pm
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: JAL, KrisFlyer
Posts: 40
Called AT&T, they walked me through the Passport program and I signed up for that. Went for the Silver level, $60 for 30 days, 50 cents a minute for calls (which I probably won't use anyway) and 300mb data (which I definitely will use). I think it's decent. Certainly better than the first situation I looked at with Rentaphone. Crazy expensive.
Apr 29, 2016, 6:05 am
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: HEL
Programs: lots of shiny metal cards
Posts: 14,106
In this case I would think that an unlocked 4G phone capable of connection sharing should cost well under 100 bucks. Good investment for the future.
My SIM is a unext 1 week/200MB (per day, I think) at 150Mbps, unlimited at 200 Kbps plan, total cost 2000Y (25 bucks). Works on the docomo network.
I used to have rental mifis (JAL) that came at about 15 bucks per day with all you can eat data.
My SIM is a unext 1 week/200MB (per day, I think) at 150Mbps, unlimited at 200 Kbps plan, total cost 2000Y (25 bucks). Works on the docomo network.
I used to have rental mifis (JAL) that came at about 15 bucks per day with all you can eat data.
May 4, 2016, 6:29 pm
#19
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: UA
Posts: 384
Buy SIM on eBay. I got this one when I went last time:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japan-NTT-do...gAAOSwmmxW2qFI
popped it into my $35 mifi (I bought a basic Huawei model, unlocked on eBay). Boom.
Many mifis have poor battery life - I always take a small 10000 mah USB battery with me to keep my devices charged, so that's not an issue, but just something to be aware of.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japan-NTT-do...gAAOSwmmxW2qFI
popped it into my $35 mifi (I bought a basic Huawei model, unlocked on eBay). Boom.
Many mifis have poor battery life - I always take a small 10000 mah USB battery with me to keep my devices charged, so that's not an issue, but just something to be aware of.
May 6, 2016, 11:09 pm
#20
Join Date: May 2001
Location: San Francisco, CA, US
Posts: 235
May 8, 2016, 3:24 pm
#21
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Irvine
Posts: 19
I was just recently in Japan for a month and used a sim card. However, if you dont have an unlocked phone, I would advise you to get a mobile wifi device. Or if you spend a lot of time on trains/ train stations, they have wifi all over the place. Convenience stores have wifi too so wifi is pretty much everywhere.
May 10, 2016, 12:05 pm
#22
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: UA
Posts: 384
Which mifi you got on ebay? Is this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/MIFI-HUAWEI-...0AAOSwFqJWmuyT ?
May 12, 2016, 2:57 am
#23
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: JRF
Programs: AA Gold, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, National Executive Elite
Posts: 1,784
If you're a Sprint subscriber, just get the $5/mo unlimited Japan roaming add-on and get unlimited voice and LTE (used to just be 3G) on SoftBank