Hey,
I’ve been seeing all these posts about phone data and Sakura vs Mobal and people talking about Japanese data plans, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with using a reasonable international plan from their home country.
I found some moderately reasonable plans from a few carriers and wondering what the downsides of using a home company were vs a local company or data plan.
5 comments
Your school is not going to call your international phone number on your international plan. You will 100% need a domestic phone number.
You need a Japanese phone number for a lot of things here
I used IIJmio SIM card (you needed to read Japanese at the time, they could have English instructions now idk) and it was like 1000 yen a month with data and the cheapest plan I’ve ever had. No contract. Idk their rates today but look at IIJMio for sure. Don’t be afraid to ‘do like the Japanese.’ International plans are rip-off’s designed for short-term business travel.
Current JET here. I initially had Google Fi before coming to Japan which has free global roaming. I have friends who studied abroad and used Google Fi throughout their term. The only catch is Google Fi will disconnect you if you’ve been abroad for more than 6 months in a year as it’s meant for travelers.
As for the phone number issue, my BOE let me use their phone number when I filled stuff out such as when I signed up for a bank account. You don’t need a phone number if your workplace lets you use theirs lol.
Aside from the issue of needing a Japanese phone number, international providers might have widely varying service depending on where you are in Japan. My T-mobile service worked just fine in Tokyo and was completely unusable when I arrived in Kyoto. Luckily, I already had a Japanese SIM on hand otherwise I would have had no phone or internet at all.