I‘m staying in Japan for a year and for lots of personal reasons decided that a pocket WiFi is the most comfortable and easy solution for me to have wifi outside of my current residence. Looking through all the different deals is a bit overwhelm though, so I hope that maybe someone here as experience with Japanese Pocket WiFi and could share it with me. Anything regarding pricing, length of usage, how well it works etc.
Thanks in advance !! 😀
6 comments
residents do not use “pocket wifi”
since you’re set on having that, pick up any from any tourist place and enjoy paying double for inferior service.
I do not know, but I’ve often wondered what advantage (if any) pocket Wi-Fi offers over just using Wi-Fi wherever you happen to be: most of the places I am during the day (*i.e.,* home and workplaces) have Wi-Fi access I don’t have to pay (extra) for, and most of the other places I might use it (stations, libraries, and the like) have free Wi-Fi, too. When does one actually *use* it?
https://network.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/product/internet/rakuten-wifi-pocket-2c/
cheap but coverage can be bad outside cities.
Lol the comments doing everything but answering the question 💀
The only time I’ve used pocket WiFi while in Japan was when I did a solo waking trip from Kyoto to Ise. It was six days and walking through some places where I couldn’t even get data on my phone yet the pocket WiFi still worked, so it was really reliable!
I rented it off of Rakuten, and looks like it’s a Softbank one. I found on their website a one for 1 year (unlimited data); it’s in Japanese and I don’t know if you can read Japanese but maybe you can Google Translate it? They ship it to your house and from what I remember you just turn it on and use it. You ship it back when you’re done with it. I don’t know if this is expensive, but hopefully you can compare it to other plans and see?
Edit: I think some companies have the pocket WiFi device which you have to buy a data plan separately for. The one I linked to, the price is for the device rental and the data plan (everything you need).
https://item.rakuten.co.jp/rtm-select/rental_wifi_2we_3600_201311/
I bought [this one](https://amzn.asia/d/2cc583g) off Amazon and stuck a normal SIM card from a local carrier into it. I uses it when I am traveling and for work, so I don’t have to use my data on my cellphone.
The advantage to this option is you can use it anywhere in the world if you want to keep using it later. As long as 4G is still available.
Obvious downside is you need a second cell phone line and contact.
Klook have some good deals sometimes. Probably not any good for long term, but might be handy to have the first week or two while you’re settling in.