I recently decided to finally switch from my overpriced 7000 yen/month for 7GB data Softbank phone plan to a lower cost service, and after completing the number portability request I was ready to go and my Japanese friend has a low cost plan with UQ Mobile so I decided to sign up with them.
Unfortunately it wasn’t as simple as I had hoped.
First of all, UQ Mobile requires you to complete the form on your phone and not in a PC browser. On the phone, if you have a middle name you are not in for a good time:
1. If you don’t put your middle name, but your ID has a middle name, your application is rejected (in the form of an email)
2. If you include your middle name in the name field by using a space, you will get an error that you cannot have a space
3. If you combine your first name and middle name to make a single name, you will get the same rejection as 1. above
4. If you contact their support about this and get past their robot to a human, they will agree it doesn’t seem possible and suggest you call them or visit their store
5. If you call them, they will say that they can only support sim cards that need to be sent to you, can’t do esim, and will take a lot of your time explaining all the contract terms that you’ve already seen during the form that you couldn’t use. And they will ask you for all your information again that you already submitted multiple times to them. They will insist on you sharing your ID in inconvenient ways even though they already have your ID. And they will take your children’s information only to tell you at the end that it needs a separate request for children after the parent’s plan is set up and cannot be done on the same call.
Anyway thank you if you read to the end of my rant. In summary, think twice about UQ Mobile if you have a middle name!