Rental Cell Phones

[ericdw]

Has anyone ever rented a cell phone to use in Japan?

Is there a place to rent one at Narita Airport?

There's a ton of websites that rent them too, has anyone used one that they recommend?

Thanks!

[champagne_bubblebath]

I'd highly recommend doing this. You can rent one at the Narita Airport, there are a few places to choose from. Practice/Learn some basic Japanese.

[Lab]

Has anyone ever rented a cell phone to use in Japan?

Is there a place to rent one at Narita Airport?

There's a ton of websites that rent them too, has anyone used one that they recommend?

Thanks!

I reccomend buying a prepaid phone from Softbank.

[RockTheVote]

yea, pre-paid is better..

[ericdw]

thanks. how much do you think a pre-paid phone will be for a week's worth of calls to the US? and can i get one at the airport too?

[Kasper]

long distance calls are gonna be extremely expensive on both a rented and a pre-paid phone. what i can recommend is to ask your current provider for a phone that's usable in japan and use that phone. it's still likely gonna end up being expensive, but probably less than the other option. of course, the best option would be to use skype or a calling card, although that could be pretty hard is you don't speak/understand japanese.

and one-more thing, they might have changed, but back when it was still vodaphone, you needed to be a japanese resident (you need your gaijin card ) to get a pre-paid phone. you should check softbank webpage, all the info should be there.

renting a phone at the airport is real easy btw

[RockTheVote]

ask your current provider will be a bitch. You are form the state, i don't think any providers in the US will give a shit about you going to Japan and need a tri-band (?) phone. You have to buy/borrow/rob/steal a phone which can be used in japan. Then you need to buy the plan that allows you to use it internationly, otherwise it will cost you a lot of money, so I don't suggest it. It's still better you get a rental/pre-paid.

IMO pre-paid is easier because you know how much you've used. You can simply throw it away after your trip.

I am not sure about only a japanese resident can get a pre-paid because my ex-girlfriend bought it for me (she is japanese). So you should do a double check on it.

[faust]

long distance calls are gonna be extremely expensive on both a rented and a pre-paid phone. what i can recommend is to ask your current provider for a phone that's usable in japan and use that phone. it's still likely gonna end up being expensive, but probably less than the other option. of course, the best option would be to use skype or a calling card, although that could be pretty hard is you don't speak/understand japanese.

and one-more thing, they might have changed, but back when it was still vodaphone, you needed to be a japanese resident (you need your gaijin card ) to get a pre-paid phone. you should check softbank webpage, all the info should be there.

renting a phone at the airport is real easy btw

Wrong. A pre-paid SIM that you can use with your GSM phone will have a much lower rate than the one your regular provider will offer.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/

[herpsky]

arent all japanese phones on some proprietary CDMA networks?

japanese phones don't work outside of japan (except for those SIM-locked overseas-made global passport phones e.g. nokia) as far as i know.

[djrajio]

Buy a pre-paid phone at Narita that comes w/ pre-paid calling cards, so you know exactly how much money you are using. You don't need a gaijin card to get these phones.

[avantster]

When I went to Japan I used Go Mobile phone rental. It was convenient (postal delivery and return) but I found afterwards that the prepaid phones at the airport were slightly cheaper anyway.

[Kasper]

arent all japanese phones on some proprietary CDMA networks?

japanese phones don't work outside of japan (except for those SIM-locked overseas-made global passport phones e.g. nokia) as far as i know.

t

that was true for 2 2.5G phones, it's not anymnore.

DoCoMo developped the current 3G standard so any 3g phone will work on their network as well as softbank. DoCoMo was the first company in the world to introduce a 3g network and when they did, they had to tweak their own standard cause battery time was too low so most of their 3g phones were not compatible with other network, but they are in the process of making all their 3g handset UMTS/gsm compatible (it was suppose to be done by the end of 2007 when i left japan a year ago, but i don't keep as informed as i did before so i don't know if they are on schedule or not). back when it was vodafone, all 3g phones were international models (one of the reason vodafone failed in japan) so they would work on any 3g/gsm network. AU use a different 3g standard that is pretty much only used in Korea if i remember correctly.

Wrong. A pre-paid SIM that you can use with your GSM phone will have a much lower rate than the one your regular provider will offer.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/

i don't want to be a dick, but why don't you stick to giving advice to think you know something about. there is no GSM network in japan and there's never has been any...

edit: there use to be a nokia store at Narita and they sold unlocked phones for what i remember was a really good price, anyone know if it's still around?

[herpsky]

right. no GSM i.e. unlocked phones from asia and europe can't do shit