Phone and plan for 2-year Student

Hi everybody,

I come back to you with a new question.
Starting next september I will be a student in Tokyo, Japan, for 2 years (student visa). I will obviously need a phone and some kind of plan. I have looked through the older posts but most of them consider staying 1 year or less. Moreover, I will need a new phone. I am currently looking for a plan with data (2, 3 GB) and a phone number (I do not need unlimited calls).

In such a situation, I am wondering if a 2-year contract including a phone could be interesting. From what I have seen, the monthly subscription is high, especially if a new phone is included. However, I have heard that sometimes you can get phones for free thanks to the contract. Is that true ? And do you know where I could find an overview of the available phones ? (on the 3 big carriers' websites, I only found the most recent models, which come with additional fees).

As I have said, at the moment, I have not met interesting options with the big carriers and their contracts. Thus, I looked into the MVNO (B-Mobile) and the possibility of taking a SIM and a phone separately (by the way, do those MVNO also propose phone when a contract is considered ?). The data plans come with a phone number for a quite cheap price, which is exactly what I need. But I still have to find a phone. I am thinking about ordering a OnePlus One here or buying a used smartphone in Tokyo such as a Xperia Z3 Compact or a Galaxy S4. What would you recommend, knowing that I have 2 weeks left before arriving ?

Thank you very much for your help,

Darkko.

See my answer here, which could be more relevant to you since you are not set on using an iPhone.

http://japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+129424

Thank you very much for your answer Firas. I had seen the other post, but I was wondering if a 2-year contract could be interesting. It seems it is not really the case.

Could you tell me more about UQMobile coverage ? I had heard that au coverage across Japan was not so good. Moreover, would you know by any chance ymobile ? Finally, except from Amazon, would you another good place to get it from ?

Again, thanks a lot, your answers are really helpful !

au does seem to have less coverage than docomo but of course it's mostly over rural areas, you can see it here:

http://www13.info-mapping.com/au/map/index.aspx?maptype=lte
http://servicearea.nttdocomo.co.jp/inet/GoRegcorpServlet?rgcd=02&cmcd=LTE2

I haven't looked much into ymobile, they seemed quite expensive. And for the phone, there are probably many places other than Amazon where you can buy them, especially used ones.

Got my UQ sim today, I can confirm it works as advertised. Speedtest gives me ~50ms ping, ~30Mbps down, ~10Mbps up.

Awesome, thanks for the feedback!

Hey Firas,

Thanks for the update. Might I ask what device you're using it on and how did you find the setup process?

I use a Galaxy S5, bought on Amazon (from the link in my other answer). The process is similar to that of the two MVNOs I had tried before: fill an online form with your information and upload a picture of your ID (a difference with other MVNOs is that they require a Japanese ID even for data-only plans, so they are entirely off-limits to tourists). Then if everything is in order (in particular, if the name and address on your ID match the ones you have filled in the form) they will send you an e-mail notification that they have shipped your SIM, and you're good to go. The whole process takes just a couple days (I made my application Wednesday and got the SIM Friday).

Hi, i'm currrently studying fullvtime in japan and i cant get a mvno sim cause i dont have a japanese credit card... what's the best way to get one

A foreign card normally works too, I have kept my French one. Otherwise, maybe prepaid cards? You can buy them at some combinis (though I have never tried it myself).

Thanks Firas, i didn't know that foreign cards worked as well.... my friend told me that it was the case that i needed to have a japanese card to apply and even when i was applying i'm pretty sure i saw a note saying we cannot accept foreign cards.... just tried hopefully my application goes through

If you are looking at UQ mobile, they have a FAQ item about this, like for foreign SIM-free phones they just say they don't guarantee that foreign cards will work. It's probably just so people won't complain if their card does not work for some weird reason, but if your card is a proper Visa or MasterCard, it should work.