Hi, me and my wife have recently moved to japan and i am looking to get a sim card/set up a phone plan. my wife has a plan with softbank through her company so right now we are just trying to find one for myself, and add her to it later. i don’t need much data, maybe 5gigs, but i need to have the option for international calls for work. we were looking into mobal, but there was an issue with my id verifcation so i am waiting on a support ticket, but i really dont have time to waste as verizon is currnetly charging me $10 a day for international data.
in short im wondering what my options are and what would be the cheapest way for me to get a japanese phone number and data. i already have a phone, samsung s21 fe 5g. i have read on here that ahamo is popular but it seems the minimum price is 2970 yen a month + around 70 yen a minute for international calls, as well as 44 yen a minute for domestic (is that normal? does it charge for calls on line?), is there a better or cheaper option? thank you!
4 comments
what? just get any cheap mvno (like iijmio, etc) and use Skype to call internationally? Or make/port a Google voice number.
no nobody charges for LINE calls those are data.
Linemo doesn’t charge for any data or phone calls made through Line. However, I have never tried an overseas call with Line.
You can always get a data only tourist SIM card temporarily if you only need just data so you can cancel Verizon.
Yes, it is normal that domestic calls are expensive with MVNO, I think most charge around 22yen/30 secs. You can get 15 minutes per call plan for 1000yen/month depending on the provider. I assume you are from the U.S. since you are using Verizon. Why don’t you get a Google voice number for free calls in the U.S.. Line to Line app calls are free, but it will use data unless your provider is Linemo. Linemo doesn’t count data for using the Line app.
There are many MVNO to choose from if you need 5 gigs.
Iijmio has a 5gig plan for 1000yen/month, I believe they still carry over unused data to the next month.
Rakuten has 20gig for 2000yen/month, domestic calls are free using their voip app. It has 2 gigs of free international roaming. I am using their service now. It seems okay, but there are some weak spots in their coverage though.
Povo is like a prepaid plan, topping off data as needed.
Mineo has 5 gigs for 1500yen/month
International calls will always be cheaper via Skype or any VoIP provider from anywhere. You can use their app or a general VoIP phone app. My UK provider with my UK landline still attached is only a few yen a minute to the UK (and to Japan for that matter). I try not to make any calls never mind international ones due to price. As always I recommend IIJ for cheap and reliable service using a foreign credit card.
If you need data while you work it out then Amazon JP has dirt cheap data SIMs of varying amounts/time periods.