what to do with Japanese prepaid phone

I plan to purchase a prepaid phone in Softbank for my 4 months stay in Japan. I just found out that my iPhone and Blackberry will not work there.

I wonder what else I can with the phone after my stay in Japan? Can I use it here at my home country or should I just sell it off in Japan before I return?

Actually you can should be able to use your US purchased BB in Tokyo. Ensure it is unlocked.

On arrival in Tokyo, go to the ward office(where your hotel/apartment is located) and pay 300Y for a Certificate of Registration Matters. You need your passport to show your valid visa. After officer verifies your occupancy at the hotel/apartment, the process takes less than an hour and you will receive a CORM.

Bring CORM, credit card and passport to DOCOMO sales office eg., in MORES. An assistant will test your phone to verify if it works in Japan with an inserted company SIM. If it does, she will walk you through the various month-to month plans. You should be able to purchase a 4 month plan. Be reminded that you should inform them 30 days prior notice in termination of plan or they will charge cc)

Or rent a phone with SIM by day at Narita/Haneda airport.

Hmmm..I have BB Curve 8520. I think this is 2G and Japan only supports 3G.

Is what your saying still possible?

thanks!

OR
You can buy telephone cards and use regular telephones. (yes, those things with wires still work rather well). There are phones at all rail stations. I counted around 100 in Ikebukuro station a few years ago.

For your initial question (What to do with a Japanes prepaid phone?).
A couple years ago i bought a prepaid phone during my one month stay in Japan.
After the trip you can not do anything with it in your homecountry. The phone did not have a sim you could replace! Also the power adapter was for 100V only!
So I gave it away just before i left (and hoping it is not misused because it is registered at your name!)
Have a nice stay.
B. Slager

A couple of years ago was a long time ago in technology terms.

Softbank prepaid phones have sim slots in them. You can unlock the phones later if you decide to return to your home countries and use them.

OR if you have your US Iphone and it's unlocked then get a prepaid bmoible sim card.

It's data only, if you have alien registration then you can also get data+voice.

Here's the site:
Do NOT use the ENGLISH version of the site because you won't get any information. The Japanese site is in Japanese, but it's self explanatory on the types of cards they offer:

http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/lineup.html

2G is outdated in Japan and is no longer used especially for softbank prepaid which switched to all 3g prepaid. So is b-mobile is 3g.

so b-mobile only sells sim cards and not phone? And I noticed that their sim card line-up would usually require 3G (except for Mobile sim U300?) but my phone is 2G :(

Iphone will work, blackberries will not. 2G is outdated in Japan.

that's bad news to me. My iPhone is first gen meaning, it's just 2G :(

I'm just confused because when I will be purchasing a SoftBank prepaid phone, I'm assuming there's a sim card in it as well. Would the phone still accept the b-mobile sim then?

Phones purchased in Japan are sim locked.
If you find a way to unlock them then you should be fine.

A search on the internet you can find used unlocked phones.

Neither your iphone or blackberry will work in Japan as the networks that they operate on are not available here. If you purchase a prepaid phone it will come with a prepaid sim card in it (all the current softbank prepaids do). What you can do with the handset once you leave Japan depends on the particular handset. Some have been reported to be unlocked and working in the Philippines, while others have not yet been successfully unlocked. If this is an important feature for you then I would research handsets to find out which ones have successful unlocks out there before you purchase your phone.

As mentioned on an earlier post, your Blackberry should work in Tokyo if it is unlocked. Unlock for free, register your phone online and site will mail a specific code for your phone with instructions to unlock within 48 hrs.

Our BB is working in Tokyo now! It worked in NZ, other parts of Asia as well with different SIMs. Despite friends' advices, it will not work in Japan, we brought it to 7th Floor, Mores Dept store, Yokohama Station. Assistant inserted the company's SIM, tested it is fully functional before signing on to a plan. Throughout the procedure, the supervisor coordinated with her English interpreter to assure each step went smoothly.

Bring your BB unlocked to Japan.

DonaldH,

You may have overlooked the earlier post where the OP mentions they have a blackberry curve 8520. While many 3g blackberries will operate in Japan, this particular model only operates on 2g networks and is not supported here.

http://www.gsmarena.com/blackberry_curve_8520-2889.php