There are many great phone deals around at the moment, and they should be here to stay. I have been using Rakuten Mobile and wanted to quickly review the deal and recommend it to others. First, my friend was using it and found it good. I switch to the unlimited plan and therefore pay a maximum of 3000yen for data, but I usually use less than 20GB which means I pay 2000 yen. I also make around 10 minutes of calls a month that cost around 500yen. My normal monthly bill is 2500yen. If you use the net for hours a day you will probably spend 3000-4000 including calls. There are deals for unlimited calls if you make a lot of calls. Most of the time I make calls using whatapp and they are free (just use data).
The connection is good and watching videos and video calls are no problem. When tested now download was around 30mb/sec and upload was around 3mb/sec
**The main reason I decided to post this is because I recently went overseas for a short time and found the 2GB free international roaming very handy. It was the first time in recent history that I have been overseas without buying a local sim. Of course, I used Wifi in most places, like hotels, but it was great to have some access to the internet for free when in a taxi or on the street.**
The Rakuten Mobile app is good, in English, and it is easy to see what your current usage, past usage, and bills are. It is also easy to change plans and add features, like unlimited 15 minute domestic calls for 1100yen per month, although personally I just like to use WhatsApp.
I use an unlocked phone and so just ordered the sim. There aren’t many conditions but I think one was having at least 6 months left on my visa.
I know other companies have good deals also, and am not sure how Rakuten compares, but the service and cost seem good.
16 comments
It is awful, but much cheaper than the other majors which are also awful, so all in all pretty good cost performance.
Found Mikitani’s alt account.
I also use the same plan and its just pure garbage, there is nothing better for the price. The internet for sakura mobile is decent but still I dont know how it’s possible to have such bad service
Horiemon has a mobile company and they give u web3 tokens to use for service. Screw rakuten they are soon going under anyhow.
My Rakuten mobile often doesn’t work in quite a number of buildings.
Looks like someone got an email from boss man to get new sign ups
> I also make around 10 minutes of calls a month that cost around 500yen.
Not sure if you’re aware of the [Rakuten Link](https://network.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/service/rakuten-link/) app. It allows Rakuten mobile users make and receive calls, and send/receive SMS for free.
Sometimes, the sound quality isn’t great, but free is hard to beat.
I use Rakuten too, but it does have it’s disadvantages.
One minor minus is they do not “grandfather” previous plans. Everyone on their previous UN-LIMIT 6 plan was pushed onto the UN-LIMIT 7 plan last year. The previous plan was effectively free if you used less than 1Gb/month, but that tier was removed in the current plan. In other words, somewhere along the way, they can move all of us to a plan with a totally different billing structure.
The one that comes up a fair bit more often is their coverage isn’t as good as the other carriers. They have been improving, but some people have said they still find it hard to stay connected while underground, or outside of larger cities.
The biggest downside is it used to be quite difficult for a foreigner to get a line with them. Their requirements aren’t published anywhere, with various anecdotes shared on the internet rather than actual “facts” that can be verified.
Last I heard, foreigners must have at least 1 year remaining on their residence card (364 days, or less, and they won’t sign you up), and an “approved” payment method (Japanese credit card, or bank account) – they won’t accept foreign credit cards; for a period of time, there were posts that they no longer accept anyone on a student visa, regardless of duration remaining.
There used to be a loophole where you could use the “home delivery verification”, but that loophole was closed some time back.
It’s hard to recommend them with all the hoops one has to jump though. I think it’s great if you can get with them; but am not a huge fan of the overwhelming discrimination and disappointment one might feel when you can’t.
I thought about switching because of the free calls and free international roaming, but the thing that really bothered me is the network connection. I heard your phone doesn’t have reception underground or big buildings like malls. I was reading Japanese people’s reviews they couldn’t access their digital payment and pay because they had no reception in the mall. Is this true that you don’t have reception is big buildings?
Everyone has their own use case scenario, and Rakuten mobile is definitely not for everyone. I tried it out and liked it at the beginning for use in the city, yes lots of blind spots without coverage especially in small basement restaurants or within buildings, but unlimited calling and data kept me on it for a little bit.
Eventually due to personal risk in case of an emergency (i like snowboarding and hike a bit, so I’m in the mountains a decent amount of time), I decided to move away and switch to ahamo. Rakuten mobile prioritizes cities so and smaller/lower range 4g/5g antennas so I imagine it will take many years before they get decent coverage in the mountains. Ahamo gave me the benefit of hopping onto the wide coverage of the docomo network, and free data roaming in over 80 countries.
Also not the biggest fan of how they require and put it as KPI for all Rakuten employees to have a certain amount of referrals to Rakuten mobile
Most MVNOs have plans cheaper than 3,000 yen. Ahamo is 2,970 yen for 20Gb with 5 min free of calls and 20Gb of roaming. LineMo has plans for 990 yen (3Gb) and 2,728 yen (20Gb). They use Docomo’s and Softbank’s network respectively, therefore have good coverage.
Rakuten Mobile has bad coverage and lots of problems, yet you’re willing to put up with it and even recommend it to others because you can save 200-300 yen a month?
No thanks. It’s a bad deal.
I signed up yesterday for the deal on a new iPhone. Haven’t used it outside the house yet so I’m not sure about coverage in my rural area. Hopefully it’s not so bad. If it is, I’ll just switch over in a few months.
Been using Rakuten Mobile since December with no issues across Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. iPhone 13 with 5G most places I go and decent to good signal. Tethering works fine and I’ve used it on multiple bus and Shinkansen rides without issues. Even had it working fine going up the mountains of Gifu and down to Ishigaki, so for the price and despite the reviews I think it’s working fine.
Also used it to roam in Europe for two weeks perfectly which was super helpful. I’ll not deny that its a worse network than the major providers, but in my personal experience I’ve had signal pretty much everywhere, and only the occasional problem with a basement or really remote location that wasn’t a big deal.
Rakuten mobile now comes with NBA basic league pass and pacific league special included! It’s a nice bonus for sports fans.
My co-worker uses Rakuten mobile and we were on our way to lunch, but he said, “wait, I need to pull up the coupon in the app while I’m still on wifi”. Apparently, his coverage is so bad around the Shibuya area that the internet becomes too slow once he steps outside.
I use AsahiNet and it’s super cheap for me, but the coverage and speeds are way better. I never have any problem using the internet while walking around anywhere.
Found this from 2021. [https://blog.gaijinpot.com/linemo-ahamo-povo-or-rakuten-un-limit-which-new-phone-plan-is-right-for-you/](https://blog.gaijinpot.com/linemo-ahamo-povo-or-rakuten-un-limit-which-new-phone-plan-is-right-for-you/)
I am not a salesman but sign up bonuses should probably be in there too. Rakuten was 15000yen equivalent last year, about 2 months ago I heard it was down to 7000 or 8000- not sure if there is still a sign up bonus.
https://preview.redd.it/5wo9pnlqx0sa1.png?width=753&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=6fbf698150f7097bb8ce022ba52c3070b1c3f50d
Rakuten internet is superslow from 7-8 AM and 12:00-13:00.
And it’s getting worse, almost unusable now.
I have had Rakuten for more than one year, and for the last 2 weeks it loses connectivity about 6 times a day. Only emergency calls are possible then for about 20 minutes. One more week like that and I’ll mvno myself out.
EDIT: That’s in my house in Tokyo, btw. (No high rise, no subway, no elevator).