Renting Cell Service in Japan

Well as I prepare for my trip to Japan one of the things I am getting set for is cell phone service over there. There are lots of companies that offer rental phones in Japan and most can be booked ahead and picked up at the airport when you land. If you are lucky enough to have an unlocked phone with WCDMA 2100 then you are in luck and will only have to rent a SIM card to get your phone working in Japan.

Softbank offers SIM card rental at very good rates in Japan. I have never used this personally but my wife has used the service twice now and had a good experience both times. Basically we take our SIM unlocked cell phone that we use over in the U.S. and pop in the Softbank SIM and we are off and running. The service costs 105 yen per day which is about $1 at the current exchange rate. Services are -

• All incoming calls are FREE.
• FREE itemized call statement.
• Use your own 3G WCDMA handset (GSM phones will not work in Japan.)
• Use a local Japanese number.
• SMS available within SoftBank network.
• Text messaging (*3 Int�l SMS, Int�l S!Mail) available to overseas phones.
• SIM rental telephone number allocation in advance is available upon request.

If you are looking to have phone service in Japan this is a good solution. Just check the 3G band that you phone has. Standard for AT&T is not the 2100 but some of their phones offer that band.

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Tags: Japan, Cell Phone, SIM card