Re-using your SoftBank (i.e. rubbish) phone

Living In Tokyo
1

Well, ladies and gentleman, it has happened, hell has frozen over, pigs have started flying, the steps to bring down the horrible, HORRIBLE company that is SoftBank has started.

Thanks to our friends at U-Mobile, if you have a phone that is locked to SoftBank (actually, if you don’t mind, I will refer to them as Stbank, which actually just censors the “o” and “f” but looks like the word we really think of when we think of Stbank), you can take advantage of their new SIM (U-mobile S | U-mobile), which uses their network but not at rates like ¥410938472439582349x10 per day, which is S**tBanks minimum fee for a single SMS sent domestically in Japan.

You may have noticed in the adverts on the trains that StBank has started their own MVNO, which the aim for casual users. However, Son-san (StBank’s CEO and, completely coincidentally, a close pal of Donald Trump) is so obsessed with cash to a pathological level, that they’ve priced this MVNO at about ¥2000 more than the nearest competitor. Oh, S**tBank, when WILL you ever learn? (Spoiler: Never).

So, my advice? Get on Craigslist or go to Janpara/SofMap, buy a 中古SoftBank iPhone 7, which will be cheaper than an unlocked model, get a U-mobile SIM and then go to the massive SoftBank HQ and duly give that POS company the finger they so truly deserve to have as their logo mark :slight_smile:

-R

2 Likes
2

I am glad my company allows me to contact and call my boss and colleagues through e-mail, Line and Messenger. I have no Japanese phone number, SIM card or phone contract, just a pocket wifi router. When reading your message, in addition to my friends’ experiences, I think this was a good choice when I arrived in Japan.

Good luck further!