Mobile Phones/Tablets

Japan Traveller Questions
1

I understand that you need to take a unlocked phone to Japan and get a SIM. It seems these are mainly for data useage (internet, email) and if you want phone/text useage, there may be a couple of SIM options available for both phone and data? We want a SIM that does both, so can anyone advise on this please. Also, I read that the SIM thing applies to tablets equally, so do they have to be unlocked and can you use the same SIM (data & voice) for both? We have a lenovo tablet and iphone.

Any help much appreciated. Many Thanks

2

Mobal is probably your best bet for voice + data:

You would need one SIM for each device. Alternatively, you could rent a wifi router and make calls using apps like WhatsApp. :slight_smile:

3

Thanks Frances. I assume this still applies even if you want to just link to free wi-fi?

4

I’m not sure what you mean, but you won’t need a SIM card to connect to free wifi. And using that free wifi, you should be able to make calls through apps etc. Does that help?

5

Thanks Frances, so are you are saying that I could connect to free wi-fi using my existing SIM & would my phone still need to be unlocked to do this? (and that I would only need a local SIM if I wanted constant data use?) If so, then presumably this would be the same for the tablet?

6

Hi Helen,

If your devices are switched onto airplane mode, it shouldn’t matter whether or not they have a SIM. They should be able to connect to free wifi. If you want to buy and insert a local SIM card, your devices will need to be unlocked. Based on what you’ve told me, it sounds like it would be best to rent one wifi router. Free wifi is not always reliable.

Alternatively, I would get one SIM card (Mobal), and then just use free wifi for the tablet.

7

Thanks very much Frances, I think I get it! :slightly_smiling_face: