After having several issues with my current provider, I wanted to start a contract at Rakuten. (Sim card). So I went to the store.
They checked my phone for Regulatory Certification and couldn’t find the one for Japan in it. They told me they couldn’t issue one because otherwise they would be punished by law.
I was kinda surprised because I bought this phone in Germany and even certification for South Korea or Taiwan is available. And honestly, I am not sure if they did their job correctly.
Did anyone else had this problem? My current provider never checked for those kind of things and it still worked. Maybe I should check for other stores?
by Im_Pe4ceM4KeR
7 comments
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252477222?sortBy=best
go to next door rakuten shop and this time, just sign up for the sim, and don’t show them your phone. tell them you didn’t bring it or that you haven’t bought it yet. ignore any advice to try and upsell a phone together with sim card.
They’re looking for Giteki Mark. If your phone doesn’t have one, you’ll be unable to make a contract in store.
I signed up for ahamo at the store and although they did check my phone for the mark, all they did was warn me that the sim might not work because the mark wasn’t there. Not surprised that it ended up working, but at least they still allowed me to sign up for it.
Also, not sure if they’re still doing it but if you sign up for a plan you can get a practically free Galaxy A23 (it’s ¥1)
Yeah, never show the phone and just say you want the SIM card only, and you have an old phone at home you want to use. Refuse offers to sell you a new phone.
Go to another store, or just do everything online. You just have to take a picture of your residence card front and back and upload it. They mail you the SIM card in about 2-3 business days.
Rakuten only really has one plan, and if you’re not getting a new phone, there’s really no reason to do it at the store.
I think if you go to the store, they might be required to check if your phone can be legally operated in Japan.
They asked me the same the last time I upgraded from FOMA to 4G in the Docomo Shop.
As there are tons of countries with tons of regulations, the Japanese regulation mark is not physically printed on the iPhone, but if you go to your phone settings you will find something like “legal and regulatory notes” somewhere way down in the menu, and it will show your all certificates, including the Japanese ones, which should be enough to make them happy.
I had exactly the same issue with Rakuten a couple of years ago. The sales rep highlighted the fact that I`m able to turn of the camera sound on my Iphone (Australian model) whereas on the Japanese models the sound is unable to be turned off (hmmmmm, I wonder why that is….lol) and it would be illegal for them to sell me a SIM.
Solution was, as suggested to just order a SIM card online. I got mine from DoCoMo no problems at all. Hope this helps.