RResidents in Japan

Phone Number Help

We are currently in Japan and will be living here for 3 years, we have google fi and would like to maintain our US numbers. I am looking for a way to either get a cheap japanese number to make calls for appointment etc, or if you know of an app you can use to call that’s free/cheap. Currently google fi costs 20cents a minute which isn’t sustainable. Thank you in advance!

7 comments

  2. get a regular phone plan? you are going to have to have a regular phone plan to live here…

    cheapest are mnvo’s – search the sub it’s a common topic and costs about 1000-2000yen a month

  3. You should be able to dial out from DSN with 99 and the number or from your Allied Telesis numver use +81 and the number.

  4. We went to the phone place at the on-base NEX and got a physical SIM card for Y Mobile. Since Google Fi is a digital sim we have two numbers one one phone and it works great. Is it the cheapest option? No, but you have English support via the booth at the NEX

  5. Google voice is 2cents per minute. When it connects, it works great but there are some numbers in Japan where it doesn’t recognize and caused inconveniences in the past.

    Also, plenty of online services require a Japanese phone number and won’t accept international numbers, so you might as well just get a cheap Japanese phone plan on a Japanese phone.

    Another reason to get a phone here is that if you have an Android phone from overseas, you won’t be able to recharge your IC cards via apps unless you have an apple or Japanese phone

    You could get a cellphone plan that offers tier payment plans on data like [HIS mobile](https://his-mobile.com/domestic/planlp_2022splan)

    Here’s a list of other low cost carriers:

    https://matcha-jp.com/en/9832

  7. I just went through this exact predicament though I am not military and googlefi turned off my data. I signed up for ahamo which you can do online using an esim to activate it and it was super easy. The plans are cheap, like $10 a month. I went with the 20 gig plan because I like to stream music on my long train ride and that is only $20. With my Google fi data off I can keep my US number and still make phone calls home and have a Japan number and it’s still affordable to have both. Hope this helps

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