Hi all – so with the upcoming release of the new iPhone I’m planning to upgrade my vintage iPhone X – and at the same or just before, finally switch away from my standard Softbank plan to take advantage of the new-ish budget and virtual operators. Am currently thinking Y Mobile (don’t really get the difference vs regular Softbank, just that it’s cheaper, but I might be missing something.)
Would be grateful for any suggestions – my needs are fairly basic, I’m a fairly heavy data user but most of my phone life is spent on Wifi, with limited voice calls being made on the actual mobile network. Ideally a plan/carrier that is cheap, reliable, no hidden charges, and where I wouldn’t need to change the usual way I use it (a friend of mine switched to Rakuten and the app you need to use to dial out is a bit funky.) No need to link it to home internet or TV, but if the phone plan works out I might be able to twist my wife’s arm into using it so a family plan option would also be helpful.
Thanks!
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4 comments
I switched to Povo 2.0 a few months ago and I’m pretty happy with it. Every 30 days (or so) I buy a 3gb ‘topping’ for 990yen. I rarely if ever use voice. Went on a road trip earlier this month so I spent the 330yen to get 24 hours of unlimited data and streamed music in the car for the whole drive (was in the car around 10 hours that day).
Went on a business trip last month and my 30 days of data ran out a few hours after I left, so I didn’t have to top it up until I came back two weeks later. Topped it up while the plane was still on the tarmac, no issues at all.
When I was setting it up I ran into some weird problems with my account. Went to use the chat support. I asked my question in English (just to see what would happen) and the chat guy closed the chat and opened up an email based case for me with English language support. That was really surprising for me. The English email support guy figured out what I had done wrong and I was up and running pretty quick after that.
If you need 20 gigs, Rakuten, Linemo, Iijmio all offer it for around 2,000 yen. +1000yen if you need a phone calling plan. I don’t see anything funky about the Rakuten Link calls. It works like Google Voice.
Rakuten is pretty good. I don’t use the link calling app, and just make calls normally. Network both Rakuten and au (when no Rakuten towers around) is pretty solid and fast. You also get 2gb of roaming abroad which is very nice.
I’m very happy with ahamo. 20gb of data per month on the docomo network (widest coverage in Japan) for 2970 yen, you can use that same data limit two weeks (per month) free overseas in 82 countries. Free calls below 5 minutes. You can add an unlimited local calls options for 1100 yen, and an additional 80gb for an additional 1980 yen when you need it.
Really though you don’t need the additional as the “speed capped” local speed after 20gb is still a decent 1mbps.
Not sure there’s a family discount, but ahamo is already very cheap as it is, and many docomo discounts apply to it as well.
I do have a second line with povo 2.0 (under au) which I just keep to lend to some friends and family whenever they visit and it’s a much cheaper option for them to have data as opposed to getting a tourist sim. povo doesn’t have a maintenance charge, but you have to top up at least once every 6 months (after the expiry of your last one)