Global Roaming - Prepaid SIM

danield on 11/07/2013 - 14:17

Hi All,

Travelling to Japan in the near future and I know japan is the worst place in the world for getting pre-paid SIMS and mobile data etc….

So deciding to just do the gloabal roaming and use the phone purely for communications 99% text messaging between me and my girlfriend when we go our separate ways, which will be quite frequently this time as we both agreed that we want to see and do different things most of the time where there anyway. Mostly when it comes to shopping.

Anyway, looking for a reliable way to be able to communicate easily to find meeting points and times etc.. figured that simple text messages would be best, as we won't have to rely on data connections.

So….. getting to the point now. Im looking for 1 pre-paid SIM specifically for this… Pre-paid, global with credit only for text message (possibly a quick phone call or 2). Only a 2 week trip.

Any ideas on where to start looking?

Travel

Comments

  • awangsap007 on 11/07/2013 - 15:37

    Your mobile phone will not work in Japan. They use different frequency. You need to buy/rent local mobile phone.

    • tonester on 11/07/2013 - 16:30

      op might have a dual mode phone :)

    • gimme on 12/07/2013 - 08:10

      OLD news. A LOT of phones work now (2100 3G)

  • danield on 11/07/2013 - 16:50

    My Phone works, thats not a problem.

  • PissLUR on 11/07/2013 - 17:00

    woolies prepaid? www.woolworthsglobalroaming.com.au

    • danield on 11/07/2013 - 17:21

      thanks, this looks promising.

  • DealWatcher on 11/07/2013 - 17:14

    You can get prepaid phone card from any convenience store, if make public phone call, you will need coin ( $10 to $100) local call cost $10.00 Yen per minutes( Au$1.00 = 91 Yen).
    You can make International call from any public phone by using the $100.00 Yen coin, your prepaid phone card can only make International call in the Air-port area unless you purchase the International roaming prepaid here ( but it will cost you more) I'm not sure how much!
    Police 110 Fire/Ambulance 119 Hope this helpful!

  • pikapika on 11/07/2013 - 17:56

    What about the ones offered at AusPost? They cost around $49.

  • battler on 11/07/2013 - 21:39

    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/109584

    this looked reasonable rate wise when compared to woolworths.

    • tonester on 12/07/2013 - 01:01

      +1 seems to be the overall cheapest international sim

  • kobrien456 on 12/07/2013 - 11:43
    +1

    http://unitedglobalsim.com/en/Home/RatesAndCoverage

    If you don't want to buy Covermore Insurance this is the same sim. Costs $40.

    • tonester on 12/07/2013 - 11:56

      thanks - United Lifestyle Group supplies Cover-More and owns United Networks behind United Global SIM :)

  • kobrien456 on 12/07/2013 - 11:50

    With the woollies sim it looks like data is not supported in France and Germany? (That's where I'm going, sorry to hijack :) )

    • tonester on 12/07/2013 - 11:59

      gives $0.06/100kb when i checked

      btw have you considered http://www.europasim.com?

      or if passing through heathrow, buy a t-mobile sim card as they charge £2.50 for 5 days of unlimited internet in EU :)

  • omnipotent on 12/07/2013 - 17:50
    +1

    I went to Japan with an iPhone 4 for 3 weeks. Global Advanced Communication Pocket Wifi the whole time, Viber for calls and text, Google Maps for directions and internet browsing on Shinkansen trips. Enough bandwidth almost everywhere I went to video call/YouTube no lag (only time it didn't work was on a train trip through the central Japanese Alps, and even then it only dropped out when winding through the gorges and tunnels far from major towns). A little more expensive, but unlimited bandwidth and no throttling that I noticed. Extra battery if you're paranoid, but I started most days early (on full charge) and it'd easily last me all the way till dinner at 7pm (good 10-11hrs), constantly on and checking maps, uploading pics, video calls, etc. Charge at night with usb adapter provided. Would highly recommended them, very smooth process.

    https://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/pocketwifi.html

  • ng100 on 12/07/2013 - 21:12

    b-mobile SIMs are easy to get (if you organise it ahead of time) and fairly cheap for how much data you get if you think you might want to use data for other things: http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/

    They'll deliver to your hotel, or you can pick up from an airport, but be careful : the airport pickup times are somewhat short each day.

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