Japan - Travelsim, UM, other?
 

I'm leaving for Japan on a business trip at the end of January. Of course I'll use my business number with Vodafone postpaid on the SE Z610 and I should have no problems (and the Passport is very convenient at 1 eur set-up fee and then national rate), but I'd like to test some other international sim-card.

I have Travelsim, UM (+423 and +44), Yackie and Maxroam.
I know some guys used UM +423 time ago, I'd like to know if there are some news about the other prepaid offers (I guess UM+ should not work there).

About the phones no problem, I'm full of W-CDMA 2100 handsets! :D

WOW! Japan! :beer:

I'll call you every hour if you want :lol:

And disregarding the time zone difference, of course :-P.

As to UM+, Japan may be the case similar to Croatia: SMS both ways and incoming calls work but not outgoing ones (USSD is barred?).

From my experience this September

>I have Travelsim, UM (+423 and +44), Yackie and Maxroam.

UM +44 not working at all, shows "Unregistered SIM", (just like at home on UMTS).

09.is (I'd bet Yackie would be the same), registers only on Softbank, no network after about a minute. Tried "all over Japan", not a chance.

Travelsim, Maxroam no idea.
Vistram cards worked flawless. Solomo.de charged 5 Euroct for incoming, Dial out (Callback) worked on Softbank only, but no problem recieving calls on DoCoMO.

well, hope that Effendi will test 'our' Wind too :beer:

But will he go with 'our' wind?i think not:(

If you recharge my account with much Euros before I leave I can test it! :p

cheeky bugger.....tch....when ya get to the land of the raisin bun feel free to rub in how great all there phone style gadgetry is....ya show off!

Charlie,
I guess my response is a little late to be of any use. I'm in Japan right now (with my new e61 :) ) and use both Celtrek and 09 here, along with my T-Mobile US postpaid. 09 is free incoming and Celtrek is reasonable, considering the forwarding from the US. Even my T-Mobile with the old international rates is reasonable for incoming calls at $0.33/min.

Still I find myself carying the mobile more than using it. Everywhere has high-speed Internet and most of my calls home are made by VOIP.

oh well 2 PPGSMers in Japan :beer:

Just called Effendi, last day in Japan... anyway good communication 3 Italy -> Travelsim (roaming on Docomo), just a little delay

And you've payed not very much!

I think he payed almost nothing, just 9 cent/min to call me, and I didn't pay a single cent to receive.

BTW some news from Japan: the first MVNO is coming, JCI, roaming on NTT DoCoMo's 3g network, all information here.

But you are in time to help me. I am going to Japan the first week of April and want to have a phone with me while I am traveling.

What I have:

Cingular Tilt(HTC) Unlocked, I have verified that it will function with networks in Japan.



What I would like to be able to do in Japan:

Have a Prepaid SIM that I can order, receive, and test to work prior to traveling.
Have a number that US caller's can call, or that I can route my International 800# to.
Be able to call from Japan to the US.
Be able to call from Japan within Japan.
Text messaging/VoiceMail, etc. are okay, and optional.

My biggest question is what is a trusthworthy SIM that I can get ahead of time, that will work in Japan, and that isn't extremely expensive.

I checked the CelTrek mentioned in your post and it looks okay, that their site has not been udpated in nearly a year, and all the typo's concerns me slightly. Do you recommend CelTrek for me?

Any help is greatly appreciated as I have been looking around online for a month and can't seem to find the right information/SIM to use.

I have also considered just getting a SIM in Tokyo when I arrive, but that negates having everything in place for me to receive calls(people knowing the number to dial).

Thanks again,
Patrick

You cannot buy a prepaid card in Japan, you can only rent a phone with a contract for some time.

BTW I was in Japan at the end of January and I used Travelsim with no problems. Rates are rather cheap (much cheaper than Softbank prepaid!) and service quality is good.

Effendi, Travelsim goes to roaming with?

Travelsim roams on NTT-DoCoMo.

Thanks maccoy, french friend:D

Not familiar with that phone. If it has UMTS-2100 it should. Otherwise, don't count on it.
All I can say is that it has worked for me. It only roams on SoftBank, not NTT. So you don't get the benefit of double coverage. Not such a big deal since SoftBank's (Vodafone, JPHONE) coverage has gotten much better over the last four years.

One negative has to do with making local calls. Since the call routes (I assume) from Japan to Israel to the US and back there can be a noticable delay in the conversation. I recommended CelTrek on one friend who used it for local calls but his wife refused to talk on the phone. The time delay bothered her that much. I would assume that the same would be true for all international prepaids that are using a callback to connect local calls.

This is one problem you will not have with a local rental.
Renting a SIM from the SoftBank kiosk is a good option for many visitors. If you have a forwarding system in place you can activate it over the Internet before you leave the airport.

I was at Narita airport two weeks ago and Celtrek worked nicely. I wholeheartedly recommend them, their CS is pretty responsive.

I use an unlocked AT&T Tilt as well.

There was a noticeable delay, but it was way worse in Russia (Vladivostok and Sakhalinsk).

Well, often it's true but sometimes you can find a local operator with the same troubles for international calls.

There has been some discussion on HoFo's T-Mobile forum to the effect that it is now possible to buy a prepaid SoftBank SIM. It's not easy. Only the corp. stores will have one and you will probably need to speak Japanese to get what you want. However, it is supposed to be possible. The down side is that the calling rate is JPY90/min! On the other hand you can sign up for unlimited e-mail for JPY300/month. What exactly "e-mail" means is not well understood. Any sort of unlimited bitpipe that leads outside a walled garden can be made into something handy.

another mvno on the horizon:

Reuters says that Nokia itself intends to launch there on DoCoMo, using high-end phones to begin with

Somehow I don't think this is on the way to fulfilling hopes of easier prepaid use there

hmmm, some people at Reuters and Nokia aren't very good at talking to each other

instead, they're pulling out

http://www.reuters.com/article/techn...4AQ1K620081127

It bug's me why Japan cannot join the pre pay market like huge chunks of the rest of the planet....grrrrrrrrrr

Is there no hope that UM+ (44) will ever cover Japan? Kind of a pisser... its not like Japan is some 3rd world country... most believe that Tokyo will become the next Wall St and the yen will become the new benchmark currency...

Is it possible to trade my UM+ for UM (423) (which I gather *does* support Japan)?

Well I hope at least Celtrek is decent in Japan (including Osaka and Kyoto...)

United Mobile never worked in Narita. I have both a UM and UM+ SIM. The phone worked fine with my local provider with my iPhone 3G and my Treo 750 on Softbank and NTT DoCoMo on 2100Mhz, but my 2 United Mobile SIMs declined access. They still claim on their website there is 3G access in Japan... such a lie from what I have seen. Their customer service never returned any explanations as of why it didn't work. Nice customer service.... Did anyone try Mobal?

Mobal is reserved to US and Canada customers.

ah... well, that can be arranged I'm sure, especially if you happen to be there for a least a few days.