When I first came to Japan I signed up for Mobal (SoftBank network, 5gb for around 3000 yen a month), just took whatever that’s available. Now that I’ve settled in, I’m thinking if I should change, as 3000 yen can get me better plans with more data.
After reading reviews on Reddit, I’m down to 2 options – Rakuten Unlimit VII and LINEMO. My house is currently on SoftBank AU hikari wifi. Rakuten’s plan appealed to me more because it charges accordingly to how much data you used, so I could potentially save more money on months when I don’t use much data, and also even if I use a lot of data it’s capped at 2980yen. But I read their coverage sucks.. (I live in Tokyo)
If you’ve used any of these, I’d love to know what are your experiences with them.
4 comments
I don’t have wifi at home. I’ve used 76GB of data this month. So I’m glad Rakuten is capped at 3278 (after tax). Haven’t really had any problems with connecting. It will use “domestic roaming” if it has an issue connecting to the dedicated Rakuten line. It’s up to 5gb a month of domestic roaming. But starting in June they won’t have a “domestic roaming” cap.
~ I don’t live in Tokyo.
I basically had a similar dilemma. I was looking for a cheap mobile plan, and came across LINEMO (3GB/20GB for 990/2728 yen) and Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII (3GB/20GB/Unlimited for 1078/2178/3278 yen). The Rakuten one was really tempting, due to the unlimited options, but a vast majority of the people online kept saying how bad their coverage is and how slow the net gets in crowded place, which was the deal breaker for me. But most people did mention, the service should be fine if your movement is limited and within big cities.
I eventually picked LINEMO (3GB), didn’t wanted to risk it with bad network connectivity. So, far no complains. However, my decision was solely based on the fact, I had wifi access to the places I spent most of my time, hence only time I needed to access the internet was on the go. If you want to minimize overall cost for regarding internet connection, Rakuten might be a good option, if your home falls under a good coverage area that is.
Also, I don’t live in Tokyo.
My experience with LineMo had been good so far.
The member’s website is in Japanese, but it is very usable with a translator (not many images) and all the functionality you can ask for is there. It’s refreshing to find a Japanese company that can make a website that doesn’t suck.
In my case I chose LineMo because I couldn’t get VoLTE to work in my phone, and was too lazy to switch phones. LineMo is the only option left that works without VoLTE.
The only thing is, I don’t know how it works regarding roaming (I haven’t traveled yet), and it can get slow in crowded trains.
My vote goes for rakuten. In my part of tohoku AU has way better coverage then softbank, so in parts where I can’t connect to a rakuten tower I roam on the au network. And the speeds when connected to the au towers are pretty good.