I’m moving to Tokyo next month for a year (student visa) and don’t know what to do with my phone. I’m concerned about
1. keeping my US phone number
2. having 100% reliable access to 2-factor authentication (for financial services, etc)
3. not spending too much on this, but 3 is less important than 1/2
I have generally normal smartphone needs, e.g. rarely make or receive phone calls, use lots of data browsing the web. Things I’ve seen people recommend online are:
* Use dual SIM: I have an iPhone 12 so this could be an option, but would I be forced to use [Rakuten Mobile](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209096) which I hear has spotty coverage? if not, I’m definitely leaning towards this
* Get a new phone/SIM for Japan only: Would this work for a one-year stay/how would I go about it? This seems reasonable if it isn’t super expensive
* Mobal and/or Sakura Mobile: these seem good for foreigners getting short-to-medium-term SIM cards in general, but do they address my use case / will I be able to keep my foreign number? /can they walk me through the process lol
* Get a Japanese SIM and port your US number to Google Voice: this is commonly recommended, but it sounds unreliable for 2FA, which is a dealbreaker for me… unless it’s actually reliable?
What if anything would you guys recommend? (Also, how do you actually… do these? Reserve in advance, find the appropriate kiosk at Narita, go to any Yodobashi Camera, or what? sorry if I’m way overthinking this)
I’ve read the wiki and looked for threads but couldn’t find “canonical” advice, so thought I’d ask here for help. I’d especially like to hear from people who did this, e.g. moved to Japan for \~1-year stay and kept their old numbers for 2FA. Thank you!
6 comments
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>Use dual SIM
This is going to be the most reliable method, but it has potential pitfalls. Namely: Roaming and SMS availability.
Depending on your US carrier you may end up paying international roaming fees for using your SIM in Japan. Or have to sign up for an international roaming “package” for an additional fee.
Even if you can roam, personal experience has indicated that SMS delivery can be *very* unreliable while roaming. Sometimes they don’t show up for hours (in which case your 2FA code has expired) and sometimes they just *never* show up until you return to your home network.
>Get a new phone/SIM for Japan only
This is something you can/should do, but… It doesn’t address your 2FA issues. You can’t port your US number to a Japanese carrier, and you can’t use a Japanese number for 2FA with US accounts.
>Mobal and/or Sakura Mobile
See above. Mobal et al just give you a Japanese SIM, so you have the same 2FA problems as above.
>Get a Japanese SIM and port your US number to Google Voice
As I mentioned in another comment, GV is ***not*** a good solution for 2FA. I’m a long-time GV user and while it worked fine for 2FA in the early days, nowadays it’s at best hit-or-miss. A lot of services won’t accept a GV number as a primary contact number *at all*, because it registers as a VOIP number. Even if they do, they won’t text it or use it for 2FA. Paypal, for example, will no longer text a GV number.
So I do something maybe kind of weird for others. But I have a pocket wifi with unlimited data that I connect with my US iPhone. (I use it for my apartment too until I get to campus since I didn’t hook up a router or anything). Then I also have a Japanese sim in an older phone that I brought over just in case I need to make calls in Japan or wherever, which rarely happens. I’m only living here short period and only made calls when getting an apartment. If you don’t have an old phone, I think Mobal offers international phones too you could check out. It does get annoying though carrying around two phones and pocket wifi but I’m basically covered on my data needs and the price of what I pay is what some ppl pay for extra GB.
you can get an esim from softbank and keep your existing us sim card in your phone. that’s what i’m doing with my foreign number and softbank connectivity is p much fantastic everywhere
Saving this thread because I’m also moving to Tokyo next month as a student and need to know as much info as possible lol
My American friend uses Skype number and she said it’s really helpful because you can keep your US number AND you get Japanese number too. The price is also cheaper, around 5000 jpy/year. Personally don’t understand the detail of the registration (because my country is not eligible for skype number) but definitely worth checking it out.