Japan’s LTE bands for overseas iPhones

Hello,

My Pixel phone recently died and I was thinking about replacing it with an iPhone 13.

However, I’m currently in Europe and iPhones sold there are not compatible with Japan’s LTE bands **B11** and **B21** used respectively by **KDDI** and **Docomo**, which means it supports 6 of 8 main LTE bands used in Japan.

1. I would like to know if I will still get a decent network coverage without these bands. Do you know how widely are these LTE bands used in Japan ? Have you already used overseas phones missing these bands in Japan ?
2. I also read on [this wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/wiki/phones/) that some network providers may refuse to grant me a SIM card if my iPhone does not have the Japan’s MIC approval logo. Have you already run into trouble because of this ? Is the staff still checking it systematically ?
3. Do you have any experience with Japanese 5G coverage ? Is it worth it to pay an extra to get it for example in the Tokyo area ?

Most of the threads in this sub are 3 or 4 years old, so I would like to know your latest feedback on the matter. Depending of your insights, I was thinking of importing a US iPhone [which supports these bands](https://www.apple.com/iphone/cellular/#iphone-13-mini) through a package forwarding service but that process is time-consuming, not super reliable and seems a bit overkill just to get 2 missing bands.

Anyway thanks for reading me, have a good time 😉

# Update

Here is an update. For anyone passing by, I searched up-to-date information about 4G and 5G band usage in Japan, so you don’t have to 😉

## 4G & 5G as of 2019

In Japan, the three mainline providers are licensed to use the following bands

* **KDDI or AU**
* 4G bands are B1, B11, B18, B26, B28 & B42
* 5G bands are n77 and n78
* **NTT Docomo**
* 4G bands are B1, B3, B19, B21, B28 & B42
* 5G bands are n78 and n79
* **SoftBank**
* 4G bands are B1, B3, B11, B28, B41 & B42
* 5G bands is n77 only

Keep in mind these details are dated from 2019. The source is [Japan’s Ministry of Communication](https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000692919.pdf). Japanese 3G is not included in this post as it is [sunsetting in 2022](https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2018111601015/).

## Specificities

* 800 MHz (**B18, B26 & B19**) are called _Platinum Bands_ in Japan because it can carry the signal further and has a good building penetration. But due to its wavelength, it can be subject to network saturation. It’s a good match for rural areas. B19 is heavily used by Docomo to cover rural areas.
* 2500-3500 MHz (**B41 & B42**) have a much shorter coverage and does not have a good building penetration, but thanks to its wavelength is much less likely to saturate, making it an ideal band for heavily-populated areas.
* 1800 MHz (**B3**) is a good compromise between the two above and is usually used in urban areas. However, the Japan’s Ministry of Communication restricted the use of B3 to the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka axis to avoid interferences with military bands, so **B3** coverage is not nationwide.
* 1500 MHz (**B11 & B21**) are both Japan’s exclusive bands and require special hardware dedicated to those bands, making it a band not usually found in overseas phones. I think they are used as fallback bands in cities where **B3** can’t be used.

Outside the big three, MVNO also have a limited amount of network capacity dedicated to them. Congestion may occur and priority is given to customers of mainline providers. Moreover, MVNO are also excluded from using some LTE bands. For example, **B41** is for SoftBank customers only and marketed as *SoftBank 4G* or *AXGP* and **B42** for Docomo customers only.

## Analysis

I also discovered [this chart](https://halberdbastion.com/intelligence/countries-nations/japan) that specifies that **B11** (KDDI) accounts for 9.5% of the bands in use and **B21** (Docomo) 4.8%. That means that these Japan’s exclusive bands accounts for less that 15% of the bands in use in Japan.

Ultimately, I decided that 15% is small enough and went with the EU iPhone 13. That will spare me the troubles and risks of importing an iPhone from the US and the EU iPhone 13 still supports 5 out of 6 LTE bands of the big three, which is good enough.

## TL;DR

Make sure your phone has at least LTE bands **B1 & B3**, which means that you’ll get pretty good LTE in most places that aren’t super rural areas. Otherwise, you’ll need bands **B18 & B26** or **B19 & B28**, depending on your provider.