I am getting ready for this year's visit in March and I want to ensure that this time I have a data plan for my smartphone, so that I can use Google maps, upload pictures and perhaps, perhaps, perhaps even run a rudimentary translation program.
This is a bit harder than it sounds. I could avail myself of any number of expensive options, or try my luck with the NTT East 14 day free tourist wi-fi hotspots, but there are tons of only-in-Japan restrictions that get in the way.
I have an older flip-phone with a number that I can revive at the airport for $35. Unless it has expired and then it will be $65, Pay as you go, phone and text. Data plans are not available for tourists, unless I wish to rent a "sim" card for $1/day plus insanely high call and data rates.
Free wi-fi? Don't get me started, In Japan it is hard to find; you have to sign-up in advance and outside of Tokyo you are going to have to hike a bit to find a business that is part of the "plan". The NTT 14 day free tourist offer gets you a few businesses. There are other $35 -$45/month plans that get you more. What a drag. Google maps ONLY when I buy a coffee.
Much research later, I think I have a solution!
A data-sim plan. Yes, in Japan you can get a data plan for your phone without the phone plan. Huhhhh? They do this.
It has something to do with security, because all cell phone numbers in Japan must be traceable back to a human, complete with ID, address, blood sample, DNA sample and biometric scan, lest the phone be used for shady business. On the other hand the main phone company on the East coast, NTT East must have built wayyyyyyyyyy too much data capacity into their network, so they make data-only plans available through numerous sub-contractors
So you make your calls on your old flip-phone and you do your maps and lookups on the smartphone or phone-tablet aka the "phablet".
Lets keep this simple and consider a smartphone.
To do this right you need an unlocked Android 4.x or recent (jailbroken) Apple Iphone. You might get away with an earlier Android build on an older unlocked smartphone, but I have heard some of them go crazy trying to connect to a non-existent phone service when a sim is installed while you are getting your data. This runs down the battery fast.
On a newer version smartphone, just pop in the data plan sim, do what needs to be done to register it up and don't try to make calls.
So, next question, who to buy this from?
Look, all of the service eventually comes from NTT East, but prices vary. After much research, I found myself on the phone with the English language rep for ASAHI.NET, signing myself up for 2 months of their LTE 1GB for 900Y/month plan.
A few caveats....
You need a "local" Japanese address to register.
A 2 month (or longer) plan is the cheapest. If you use the whole 2 months the first 2 month are free!
You must return the sim when finished (Kuroneko envelope is 80Y and trackable)
There is a Y3,000 sign-up fee
It takes 4-7 days for the sim to arrive at your Japanese location.
If you try to call their office you must drop the 0 in front of the 03 Tokyo area code if you ever want to get through from overseas. From Canada and the USA it would be 011 81 3.... not 03
The data use is measured in 2-3 day or something limits. If you go over the speed drops to slightly faster than dial-up.
You better know a bit about mobile phones and data plan setups, there is this setting deep in the phone settings that you have to add, it looks like 2 web addresses, thats all. Read their web site's support documents, twice. They don't do tech support because they have no idea of what type of phone you have and its little tricks.
You better know what size sim you want! Again, check their web site, measure the sim in your phone. You will be removing it and storing it for safekeeping so that you have a phone that works when you get home. You lose it, you are pooched.
Do not lose THEIR sim. Return it when done with it or face a penalty charge on your credit card.
A few benefits...
The English support staff guy was really helpful and patient.
He did not need my passport number, blood samples etc.
They could process my Canadian credit card! Most Japanese companies cannot, outside of airport kiosks and Amazon Japan.
They do not care about limiting what phones you plan on using, so you can bring a spare device just in case
They do not care if you "tether", that is set your phone to act as a mini, personal hotspot so that your laptop can do a teeny tiny bit of internet because you have none whatsoever where you are staying.
They don't care if you use Skype, Line, Google Voice, etc
Their prices cannot be beat, and starting March, they are going up to 2GB/month!
Same price. So if I run this right, they whole thing will run me 3,080Y, 3,980Y if I mess up ending the plan 15 days before I leave or if I leave early. That's full data for a month or 2 for under $40 Yes!
Of course they are hoping to be your ISP for a longer stay, or if you need more data, a mobile hotspot, or the job interview goes well and you get hired. Their plans are very competitive, if not the absolute cheapest, and the English support staff is a real help too.
Finally, if you go over your entire data limit, guess what happens? It gets slow! That's all. Their cheaper plan is real slow unlimited, so that's what you default down to.
So I called from here in Canada (14 hrs plus, so 9pm for 10am Tokyo) and signed up.
After 15 minutes, they have my friend's address and home phone number and the contract and manual and password/ sign-in stuff is on the way, to be followed by the sim card - "usim" as they sometimes call it, in a week. All on my Canadian credit card, 3,000Y charge, somewhere around $30.
The whole mess will be waiting for me on arrival.
Before I get on the train to the airport to leave, I will visit a combini (convenience store) and send the sim back via 80Y kuroneko envelope.
I will remember to contact them before the 15th of the month in the month I plan to cancel at the end of.
So, very soon after I get to Japan, I will try out my new no-name Chinese dual sim GSM/WCDMA 3G 7-inch Android "phablet" that I scored on ebay for CA $50. So what if it is woefully underpowered and LIME GREEN (yikes) It was $50 Canadian, and recently the canuck buck has really been taking a beating, so it was really US $37 or something.. If it gets broken or banged up, no great mischief.
If it works out, the Softbank flip-phone pay-as-you-go sim goes into slot 1, the data sim goes into slot 2. The "phablet" can switch between them.
If it fails to work for some reason, the data plan sim goes in my smartphone and the pay-as-you-go phone sim stays in the Softbank flip phone, where it will start the trip - because Softbank will not even look at it to refill your account unless it is in a Softbank phone.
So it will be, for 20 minutes at the Softbank counter at the airport...
Softbank, Docomo, NTT East all run on WCDMA (3G), so make sure your gear can do this, has a sim slot, etc. Note that US/ Canadian mobile phone companies do not all support this, so check your phone. No sim card, no luck. Do not mistake the micro sd memory card for a sim card. Also, some providers have phones with sim card-looking things, but they are not. Telus does this in Canada, sometimes, I have no idea which US companies do it.. Just Google your phone, if it says WCDMA 2100 you rock, CDMA, EVDO, GSM only? Sorry, phhht!
Google maps! Picture uploads, email!
If this was in Indonesia, I would buy a sim from a stall vendor for $8, with local number and data plan and be done with it. And probably have to jam $40 worth of airtime into it as the trip wore on...
Too much phone fraud in Japan, so security is tighter.
They will however have to get over the lack of free wi-fi around business districts sooner or later, it is like 2001 again and the Olympics are coming in 5 years.
I will update this once I arrive and get it all working, but so far it feels right.
Thanks to ASAHI.NET
UPDATE: The Chinese Android phablet turned out to be a bit mis-labeled. 2G/ GSM phone only and no GPS module. Woefully underpowered as well. A bit of negotiating with the seller - who had been snookered by his wholesaler won me a pretty decent price reduction. Someone will be getting a $30 2G Android Phablet for xmas next year.
Meanwhile my old unlocked Softbank ZTE blade is working fine as my data-only phone, with GPS and twitter posting. Unfortunately, it is really chewing batteries so I have to keep it on "airplane mode" most of the time. My old Softbank prepaid flip phone had not yet lost its assigned phone number (number lasts 60 days + 360 days since last refill.) and was easily reactivated for Y3,000 (appx CA $33) at the Softbank counter at Haneda Airport.
This double-phone approach came in really handy one evening in Yokohama: there are places where the softbank 3G signal can't connect and suddenly you are unreachable when your friend is trying to meet up with you. But NTT Docomo's data plan (through Asahi.net) still gets a signal, so email works.
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