Researching Data Plans for Japan
Staring up some research on mobile data plans while in Japan. A pocket wifi device is a very popular option and frompineapples has a rundown on vendors. Decent prices, fast speeds, lots of data capacity, but it’s a shared resource that also needs charging (or an extra battery).
Global Advanced Communications and the Wifi Rental Store look like solid starts. Delivery of the device to your hotel appears to be a common convenience, otherwise pickup at the airport is an option.
bmobile offers a data-only SIM card for mobile phones that are unlocked. Their plan goes for 21 days and offers 5 GB of data. But at its cost, you could get two SIMS for phones for the price of one pocket wifi. That means you’d have two phones that work independently, not tethered to the proximity of a pocket wifi. And since you’re using your own phone, you already have its charging routine down with perhaps an external battery charger. But since you are most likely using a non-native phone, you can’t connect to Japan’s super high speed data network. The hardware and network commonality is at 4G, not LTE.
Depending on the number of devices, we may have to go with a hybrid approach. One shared pocket wifi along with a few SIMs, one per family? More research to do…
April 3, 2017 @ 10:51 am
When the wife and I went to Sapporo earlier this year, we got a Pocket WiFi from H.I.S Hawaii. We went to the location at Kaheka Don Quixote. We liked it because it seems to be cheaper than the services in Japan, it has unlimited data, uses LTE, and plus we didn’t have to worry about getting it shipped to our hotel and mailing it back. We got the premium plan that comes with insurance and a battery pack, but the router lasted for about 10 hours on its own battery. http://www.hisgo.com/hi/static/contents/en/wifi.htm
April 3, 2017 @ 11:55 am
Heard about this from a coworker too but she didn’t have the link handy. May try this option but that 14-day timeframe is on the border assuming the rental period starts as soon as I pickup the device and physically return it.
April 3, 2017 @ 12:04 pm
It starts the day you pick it up. But if you call them to reserve one, you might want ask if there’s a daily fee if you go beyond the timeframe. I could’ve sworn the person we dealt with said there was one and I think it was reasonable.