I have been studying in Japan for one semester now and will leave on the 24th of August. However, my phone has started to get a purple screen of death meaning my current phone is slowly dying. As I still have more than 2 weeks here I wanted to buy a sim-free phone in Japan before my phone completely dies. Preferably second hand as I am a student. Now I went to Janapara as someone suggested on this forum this is a good place to buy phones. The advertisment for the phone said it was Sim-free, but the vendor still told me they cannot guarantee the phone will work when I go home. When he openend the phone it also still said it still opened with saying Docomo instead of Samsung.
Does anyone have any experience with buying SIM free phones in Japan and know a way to find out if my the SIM card will work when I get back home? My permanent residence is the Netherlands.
7 comments
It will works
It’ll work, but any phone purchased in Japan has the compulsory shutter noise which cannot be silenced.
He probably meant he can’t guarantee it will work due to the available bands rather than the lock. If a non-Docomo SIM works in it it will be fine with a Dutch SIM but may not get all 4/5G bands back home.
Try here checking here.. plug in your details and see how it goes
https://willmyphonework.net/
Also depending on the maker you may have a problem with the NFC in your home country. You’ll still be able to use the phone but some of the NFC .. contactless payments etc might not work.
You may want to consider getting an international model of they have it… don’t get an unlocked carrier specific phone..
Japan issued phones typically use felica.
IMO Japan is one of the worst countries in the world to buy a phone in. Damn shutter click is annoying af
I always wait until I go somewhere else to buy a new phone
Generally speaking, the Chinese brands like Oppo and Xiao Mi have the most bands and arent carrier castrated, so are most likely to work in your home country. You can buy a decent Xiao Mi for 20-30K.
Willlmyphonework.net would show you, but it hasn’t been updated in a while. So you may want to check what bands the provider in your home/next country uses and then check the specs on the phone here to make sure the bands match. As i said, generally speaking rh Chinese ones have the most bands, whereas the Japanese or Korean ones may be deliberately set up to work only in specific places (but not always).
An average Japanese guy working in a store will never be able to guarantee a phone works with whatever provider in another country.
I have this one and so far it’s worked in the US (T Mobile), Thailand and China. I’d expect it work in most (all?) countries. It’s a great phone for the money.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/11-Smartphone-Japanese-Megapixel-Compatible/dp/B09Z1R4Y65/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1Y8P0F10FNXGX&keywords=xiaomi+phone&qid=1691849512&sprefix=xiao+mi+phones%2Caps%2C249&sr=8-3
Walk into an Apple Store and buy one. It will work anywhere on the world.