Recently changed to Rakuten Mobile. Yeah, if you go underground, away from big cities, inaka, almost no signal. Always roaming mode ON but still no. That one day at the restaurant on the underground 2nd floor of the department in Yokohama, I got no cash and couldn’t use any cashless pay.
if you’re getting bad coverage on ahamo, rakuten isn’t gonna save you. does your phone support all the docomo bands especially the sub-ghz platinum stuff?
I’m on Ahamo, moved from Docomo. Partner is on Rakuten. It has noticably worse coverage. When data runs out, data based messages can take almost a minute to get through. With Ahamo, coverage feels as good as docomo. Don’t really notice when data runs out either.
If anyone’s familiar with FREE in France, they might understand the business model better.
In france, it is not uncommon to have a plan for unlimited talk and text and 5g 50gb of data for 17 euros a month. This is because FREE mobile decades ago started building their own towers and massively undercutting the market. This forced their competitors to, for the most part, match their prices.
Rakuten is attempting somethibg similar in Japan. Their prices are cheap by japanese standards, and they’re attempting to build their own infrastructure instead of mostly paying jigh fees to other opperators.
It’s more difficult now, since the infrastructurz for data is more complicated than technology and infrastructure installation in past decades.
Their service is spotty right now, but they appear to be investing heavily in rapid expansion so they can be competitive (in spite of the steep necessities to reach the modern standard for the service). Given their interest in lowering the base price for service; I’d say it’s a worthwile investment just for that.
I personally never had an issue with it, but apparently I live in a sweet spot with good enough coverage and not enough users to crowd the system. It doesn’t work as well in a big city in a crowded area.
If you get a bad coverage with Ahamo, I think you’d have to go for one of the big three.
My coverage has been mostly fine. Not perfect but people here exaggerate and seem to be gleeful in supporting the big three companies that have been ripping most of the country off for decades.
docomo and ahamo are having serious capacity issues. It was all over the news a few months ago. Forgot the reason but it has something to do with how they are rolling out 5g. My bet is your just experiencing part of that. Docomo says it will be fixed by end of summer but not holding my breath
It’s very cheap
They’ve noticeably improved in central Tokyo over the past year. Far fewer signal drops in the subway now.
The coverage is ass. I can’t get coverage in suburbs of my city with over 300,000 people. I can’t get coverage in the staffroom, I have to put my mobile on the window ledge and get a trickle of data from a 1 bar connection.
It is cheap. Aside from that, the performance is ass. Maybe if you live in the middle of tokyo and never go indoors, it’s fine.
I’m still not that unhappy, but if I relied on data constantly at work I’d be annoyed.
I’ve been on Rakuten since January. I’m generally satisfied.
I live/work in Central Tokyo, and it’s fine here, including on the subway underground.
In my limited travel outside Tokyo since then (Fukushima, Izu Peninsula), it’s been totally fine in towns. When on the road/train in the middle of nowhere between villages, I’ve lost signal from time to time, but I have no reason to believe that other carriers would be better.
I know people kinda love to hate on Rakuten, but it’s been totally fine, and the increase in Rakuten points earned on Ichiba plus the ability to dump Rakuten points into paying the bill means it partially pay for itself.
I’m happy with my switch and feel no desire to shift away from it.
I’ve used Rakuten Mobile for a couple years now. Outside of the random areas with no service, it’s been great for me. They are consistently adding more towers.
I live in Tochigi for what it’s worth.
I have been using Rakuten since October 2021. Since I lived in 3 different cities in Tokyo and Chiba. Almost 1 year worked remotely using mobile data. Never faced serious issues to consider to switch other operators.
I think we should give Rakuten some credit for forcing other operators to lower the insane price. 20 GB about 3000 yen was unimaginable prior to Rakuten coming to the market.
Moved from Docomo to Linemo (on SoftBank).
2 months in and it’s been perfectly reliable, with very fast speeds. Very happy with it.
(Am in Minato, but has been great in Nagano, Kyoto and Chiba)
Rakuten Mobile is fine. I switched to them a few months ago from another MVNO and haven’t had any issues with signal or connection anywhere I’ve been.
If you buy stuff on Rakuten and have other things in their sphere, the synergy for points is amazing. My phone plan is essentially free because I can pay in rakuten points and I earn more bonus points per month than the total cost of the plan.
If you don’t want or plan to use the points though, other MVNOs are probably marginally cheaper for basically the same service.
atm using rakutwn mobile for home internet because nuro is slow with installing fiber. speed test give me about 90mbps. this month Ive used 100GB
may vary with location but here in Osaka it’s been a blessing for me
just give it a try for a month. SIM card is free so just change SIM while still on your other plan to test it out if it sucks just stay with existing provider
It’s perfectly fine in my town here in Hyogo. In fact, I switched my phone to YMobile and that’s *slower* in the mornings (I keep another line on Rakuten inserted into a pocket WiFi device for extra mobile data and as my home internet, which is how I’ve been able to compare the two side by side for the past month).
I just changed from my old Rakuten (docomo) plan to their new plan. It’s sucks. I couldn’t get reception for maps when in Kyushu and since I live in the countryside there is one window of my house where I get reception. I have to stand by it and lift up the phone.
The map claims we have service here.
I’m thinking about switching because since I’m rural I need to be able to call someone if I got into a car accident or something. :-/
I have just finished my full month with them. Cost me ¥2000 less than my last phone contract and I only had 1 place where I got no data. Anoying but worth it for the savings.
Went from rmobile to Rakuten mobile. Basically paying the same but now I have unlimited data and don’t feel guilty using YouTube when I’m roaming around.
Have been using Rakuten for 6 months now. Switched over from docomo. I would Rakuten is good when you are Tokyo. Internet speed is good. Issue is only when you are staying at country side(basically anywhere outside big cities), you get limited service or none at all. You need to be careful if you travel on holidays and you need to use maps or browse internet. Otherwise all good.
The problem isn’t a lack of area coverage, the problem is the constant obstruction of signal within the covered area, meaning, at least in my case I almost always completely lose signal on the metro, and also lose signal in many larger buildings, which gets really annoying honestly.
Been with them for 2 years now. The first year was truly terrible (had to go stand by the window at work to get any bars), but I was also signed up to the “1 year free” service so I figured that I was getting what I was (not) paying for.
Recently, it’s been much better. It’s still weak/very slow in highly congested areas like certain major stations during rush hour (I’m in Tokyo), and some places underground, but otherwise haven’t had any issues.
It is still spotty. It doesn’t drop all that often but when it drops it always seems to be at the worst time and quite at random. Not sure if I will stick with it or not as it is pretty annoying. Would never rely on it for business but for a 2nd personal phone it is good enough and is cheap if you are in the Rakuten point ponzi.
You’re on Ahamo, meaning you are on Docomo’s network AND you are prioritized compared to MNVO.
Rakuten network is improving, but they are way, way behind the three incumbent MNOs in terms of deployment. You won’t get a “better” service with Rakuten, absolutely guaranteed.
From what my friend tells me, Rakuten still has random spotty areas, so you should check their coverage and see if your active area are covered. Personally I’m on LINE mobile and only get slow service on a packed train. Coverage area wise, I’ve never had a problem. I’m in Aichi-ken if that helps.
Works great for me most of the time, like others say they can have random dead spots.
Happy customer here. Only time I had issues was inside a hospital.
There are a lot of messed up things about Rakuten. Their calling app is the worst piece of garbage in the world. Really awful. You go to return a call or a message and they have it set up so you land on an add in the calling app!
You have to pay extra for an actual proper phone app and not their IP phone thing.
However, endless free calling and what is truly amazing, for 600 yen a month or so, free overseas calls?! I am serious. You can even call overseas cellphones for free. That alone is worth the price of entry, but when you add in unlimited calls and bandwidth, it’s a no-brainer.
I would go with rakuten any day of the week over any other company. But yes, their phone app is total garbage and they coverage can still be patchy.
It’s shit. Do you need to go outside any major area? No service. At a very busy area? No speed.
Ahamo has the same coverage as Docomo.
Rakuten doesn’t have strong bandwidth that can penetrate through walls. Meaning you’re out of service inside of most buildings.
Rakuten User, pretty satisfied. The pricing plan really works for me, I often collect enough Rakuten Points to cruise free. With the new Saikyo plan apparently they got better coverage though I’ve never had issues… Then again I don’t live the inaka life.
I have been using Rakuten mobile since August 2017. They didnt even have English support/app at that time. I’m fed up paying 5k/month with AU and got shitty internet quality. so I decided I’d give it a try with this brand new network.
Cheap monthly fee and reasonable service. I have lived in 3 different cities of 2 different prefecture (soon gonna move to the 4th). My only complain is when we’re at rush hours and passing tunnel, the internet got slower. But that’s okay, as I’m paying only 2.5k/month (5gb, remaining quota to roll over to next month). I don’t expect it to be so excellent.
I have free internet at home and free internet on my office.
I also tried using it on high rise building on central Tokyo (Chiyodaku) which densely populated during working hours, no prob.
Tried Docomo for a year too. I’m done with the big 3. The cost performance curve isn’t looking good for em.
I have friends who are on Rakuten Mobile. Besides the data cap, I think they’re pretty satisfied with it.
If you are a traveller, it’s a great choice as it gives you 2 gig oversea roaming for like 1,000 yen! However you would need a new sim each time.
I’ve been using Rakuten since 2021 and I’ve had no issues.
I like the pricing for the unlimited data. Maybe it can be cheaper elsewhere but coming from just having 5gb of data for the same price with a different provider, I’m fine with it.
I was even in the US for a week using the 2gb international roaming data and it worked perfectly with zero signal problems.
I’ve been using Biglobe for several years and am very satisfied with coverage (in Kansai) and the price. For four iPhones with a monthly 20Gb total, it’s about 9,000 yen. We use very little data, so this plan is ideal.
37 comments
Recently changed to Rakuten Mobile. Yeah, if you go underground, away from big cities, inaka, almost no signal. Always roaming mode ON but still no. That one day at the restaurant on the underground 2nd floor of the department in Yokohama, I got no cash and couldn’t use any cashless pay.
if you’re getting bad coverage on ahamo, rakuten isn’t gonna save you. does your phone support all the docomo bands especially the sub-ghz platinum stuff?
I’m on Ahamo, moved from Docomo. Partner is on Rakuten. It has noticably worse coverage. When data runs out, data based messages can take almost a minute to get through. With Ahamo, coverage feels as good as docomo. Don’t really notice when data runs out either.
If anyone’s familiar with FREE in France, they might understand the business model better.
In france, it is not uncommon to have a plan for unlimited talk and text and 5g 50gb of data for 17 euros a month. This is because FREE mobile decades ago started building their own towers and massively undercutting the market. This forced their competitors to, for the most part, match their prices.
Rakuten is attempting somethibg similar in Japan. Their prices are cheap by japanese standards, and they’re attempting to build their own infrastructure instead of mostly paying jigh fees to other opperators.
It’s more difficult now, since the infrastructurz for data is more complicated than technology and infrastructure installation in past decades.
Their service is spotty right now, but they appear to be investing heavily in rapid expansion so they can be competitive (in spite of the steep necessities to reach the modern standard for the service). Given their interest in lowering the base price for service; I’d say it’s a worthwile investment just for that.
I personally never had an issue with it, but apparently I live in a sweet spot with good enough coverage and not enough users to crowd the system. It doesn’t work as well in a big city in a crowded area.
If you get a bad coverage with Ahamo, I think you’d have to go for one of the big three.
My coverage has been mostly fine. Not perfect but people here exaggerate and seem to be gleeful in supporting the big three companies that have been ripping most of the country off for decades.
docomo and ahamo are having serious capacity issues. It was all over the news a few months ago. Forgot the reason but it has something to do with how they are rolling out 5g. My bet is your just experiencing part of that. Docomo says it will be fixed by end of summer but not holding my breath
It’s very cheap
They’ve noticeably improved in central Tokyo over the past year. Far fewer signal drops in the subway now.
The coverage is ass. I can’t get coverage in suburbs of my city with over 300,000 people. I can’t get coverage in the staffroom, I have to put my mobile on the window ledge and get a trickle of data from a 1 bar connection.
It is cheap. Aside from that, the performance is ass. Maybe if you live in the middle of tokyo and never go indoors, it’s fine.
I’m still not that unhappy, but if I relied on data constantly at work I’d be annoyed.
I’ve been on Rakuten since January. I’m generally satisfied.
I live/work in Central Tokyo, and it’s fine here, including on the subway underground.
In my limited travel outside Tokyo since then (Fukushima, Izu Peninsula), it’s been totally fine in towns. When on the road/train in the middle of nowhere between villages, I’ve lost signal from time to time, but I have no reason to believe that other carriers would be better.
I know people kinda love to hate on Rakuten, but it’s been totally fine, and the increase in Rakuten points earned on Ichiba plus the ability to dump Rakuten points into paying the bill means it partially pay for itself.
I’m happy with my switch and feel no desire to shift away from it.
I’ve used Rakuten Mobile for a couple years now. Outside of the random areas with no service, it’s been great for me. They are consistently adding more towers.
I live in Tochigi for what it’s worth.
I have been using Rakuten since October 2021. Since I lived in 3 different cities in Tokyo and Chiba. Almost 1 year worked remotely using mobile data. Never faced serious issues to consider to switch other operators.
I think we should give Rakuten some credit for forcing other operators to lower the insane price. 20 GB about 3000 yen was unimaginable prior to Rakuten coming to the market.
Moved from Docomo to Linemo (on SoftBank).
2 months in and it’s been perfectly reliable, with very fast speeds. Very happy with it.
(Am in Minato, but has been great in Nagano, Kyoto and Chiba)
Rakuten Mobile is fine.
I switched to them a few months ago from another MVNO and haven’t had any issues with signal or connection anywhere I’ve been.
If you buy stuff on Rakuten and have other things in their sphere, the synergy for points is amazing. My phone plan is essentially free because I can pay in rakuten points and I earn more bonus points per month than the total cost of the plan.
If you don’t want or plan to use the points though, other MVNOs are probably marginally cheaper for basically the same service.
atm using rakutwn mobile for home internet because nuro is slow with installing fiber. speed test give me about 90mbps. this month Ive used 100GB
may vary with location but here in Osaka it’s been a blessing for me
just give it a try for a month. SIM card is free so just change SIM while still on your other plan to test it out if it sucks just stay with existing provider
It’s perfectly fine in my town here in Hyogo. In fact, I switched my phone to YMobile and that’s *slower* in the mornings (I keep another line on Rakuten inserted into a pocket WiFi device for extra mobile data and as my home internet, which is how I’ve been able to compare the two side by side for the past month).
I just changed from my old Rakuten (docomo) plan to their new plan.
It’s sucks. I couldn’t get reception for maps when in Kyushu and since I live in the countryside there is one window of my house where I get reception. I have to stand by it and lift up the phone.
The map claims we have service here.
I’m thinking about switching because since I’m rural I need to be able to call someone if I got into a car accident or something. :-/
I have just finished my full month with them. Cost me ¥2000 less than my last phone contract and I only had 1 place where I got no data. Anoying but worth it for the savings.
Went from rmobile to Rakuten mobile. Basically paying the same but now I have unlimited data and don’t feel guilty using YouTube when I’m roaming around.
Have been using Rakuten for 6 months now. Switched over from docomo. I would Rakuten is good when you are Tokyo. Internet speed is good. Issue is only when you are staying at country side(basically anywhere outside big cities), you get limited service or none at all.
You need to be careful if you travel on holidays and you need to use maps or browse internet.
Otherwise all good.
The problem isn’t a lack of area coverage, the problem is the constant obstruction of signal within the covered area, meaning, at least in my case I almost always completely lose signal on the metro, and also lose signal in many larger buildings, which gets really annoying honestly.
Been with them for 2 years now. The first year was truly terrible (had to go stand by the window at work to get any bars), but I was also signed up to the “1 year free” service so I figured that I was getting what I was (not) paying for.
Recently, it’s been much better. It’s still weak/very slow in highly congested areas like certain major stations during rush hour (I’m in Tokyo), and some places underground, but otherwise haven’t had any issues.
It is still spotty. It doesn’t drop all that often but when it drops it always seems to be at the worst time and quite at random. Not sure if I will stick with it or not as it is pretty annoying. Would never rely on it for business but for a 2nd personal phone it is good enough and is cheap if you are in the Rakuten point ponzi.
You’re on Ahamo, meaning you are on Docomo’s network AND you are prioritized compared to MNVO.
Rakuten network is improving, but they are way, way behind the three incumbent MNOs in terms of deployment. You won’t get a “better” service with Rakuten, absolutely guaranteed.
From what my friend tells me, Rakuten still has random spotty areas, so you should check their coverage and see if your active area are covered. Personally I’m on LINE mobile and only get slow service on a packed train. Coverage area wise, I’ve never had a problem. I’m in Aichi-ken if that helps.
Works great for me most of the time, like others say they can have random dead spots.
Happy customer here. Only time I had issues was inside a hospital.
There are a lot of messed up things about Rakuten. Their calling app is the worst piece of garbage in the world. Really awful. You go to return a call or a message and they have it set up so you land on an add in the calling app!
You have to pay extra for an actual proper phone app and not their IP phone thing.
However, endless free calling and what is truly amazing, for 600 yen a month or so, free overseas calls?! I am serious. You can even call overseas cellphones for free. That alone is worth the price of entry, but when you add in unlimited calls and bandwidth, it’s a no-brainer.
I would go with rakuten any day of the week over any other company. But yes, their phone app is total garbage and they coverage can still be patchy.
It’s shit. Do you need to go outside any major area? No service. At a very busy area? No speed.
Ahamo has the same coverage as Docomo.
Rakuten doesn’t have strong bandwidth that can penetrate through walls. Meaning you’re out of service inside of most buildings.
Rakuten User, pretty satisfied. The pricing plan really works for me, I often collect enough Rakuten Points to cruise free. With the new Saikyo plan apparently they got better coverage though I’ve never had issues… Then again I don’t live the inaka life.
I have been using Rakuten mobile since August 2017. They didnt even have English support/app at that time. I’m fed up paying 5k/month with AU and got shitty internet quality. so I decided I’d give it a try with this brand new network.
Cheap monthly fee and reasonable service. I have lived in 3 different cities of 2 different prefecture (soon gonna move to the 4th). My only complain is when we’re at rush hours and passing tunnel, the internet got slower. But that’s okay, as I’m paying only 2.5k/month (5gb, remaining quota to roll over to next month). I don’t expect it to be so excellent.
I have free internet at home and free internet on my office.
I also tried using it on high rise building on central Tokyo (Chiyodaku) which densely populated during working hours, no prob.
Tried Docomo for a year too. I’m done with the big 3. The cost performance curve isn’t looking good for em.
I have friends who are on Rakuten Mobile. Besides the data cap, I think they’re pretty satisfied with it.
If you are a traveller, it’s a great choice as it gives you 2 gig oversea roaming for like 1,000 yen! However you would need a new sim each time.
I’ve been using Rakuten since 2021 and I’ve had no issues.
I like the pricing for the unlimited data. Maybe it can be cheaper elsewhere but coming from just having 5gb of data for the same price with a different provider, I’m fine with it.
I was even in the US for a week using the 2gb international roaming data and it worked perfectly with zero signal problems.
I’ve been using Biglobe for several years and am very satisfied with coverage (in Kansai) and the price. For four iPhones with a monthly 20Gb total, it’s about 9,000 yen. We use very little data, so this plan is ideal.
The provider is Docomo, and the information is all in Japanese. https://join.biglobe.ne.jp/mobile/?cl=head_logo_mobile