I went to try and buy an unlocked used smartphone the other day in Akihabara.
And although there were “sim locked” and “sim unlocked” phones, I asked the store clerk if I can use any SIM card on the sim unlocked phones.
He was saying that since the phone came from a certain service provider, even though it was unlocked, it only works with that provider’s SIM card.
I asked about other similar make and modules and the result was the same.
so what’s the deal? are sim unlocked Japanese smartphones actually unlocked or not really?
does it depend on the phone manufacturer or on the original service provider it was with?
how can we buy a used smartphone that for sure works with any sim card any time?
or is it better to buy an overseas phone?
thanks
6 comments
Unlocked phones should work with any provider in Japan but any pre-installed provider specific bloatware may cease working. This was true with my galaxy S6.
Some phones might not support the frequency bands required for networks other than the intended one. That would not be a SIM lock but hardware differences.
overseas phone? if it’s Android I don’t think it has felica NFC so won’t be able to use cashless payments such as suica, pasmo , iD ect.
if it says sim unlocked you can use it with any network provider.
I use a galaxy S20 5g sim unlocked (says Au in the back, even booting up says AU) but works fine with my rakuten sim. even used an unlocked galaxy note 8 with docomo branding but worked fine with other network providers.
devices comes with bloatware, just uninstall those and you’ll be fine.
I got my one in Japan In akihabara like 3 years ago and did not faced any issue with the company I used. They said it was free and I used it with yahoo.
Then I bought another one from mercari and used yahoo again, later changed to docomo. No issues at all
Sounds like it was just an uninformed clerk, or a phrasing issue. It might be that they’re saying they can’t *guarantee* it’ll work with other carriers.
I was told the same in a shop because the seller wanted me to change the provider (to softbank!) “then you get a phone very cheap”. He could not even be bothered to take out a phone from the glass case. It was an emergency that it is why I went to a shop but honestly I prefer buying at Mercari and never had trouble.