Using my cell phone in Japan...?

Question:

I am going on vacation to Japan for one week in October, my question is what to expect when using my cell phone there. I live in the US and have an iPhone 3Gs with AT&T. I know I have to inform them I'm going to be in Japan and get some type of international plan. My concern though is not calling back home while I'm there but calling Japanese cell phones or land lines while I'm there. There is no clear answer on AT&T's website on whether the price will be the same as if I called back home to the US or if the price per call will be higher. Am I better off using my phone or should I rent a phone while I'm there? If anyone has any experience or knowledge on this issue I would really appreciate any information you could give me. Thanks :D

Answer:

It's my opinion you are far better off renting a mobile phone (you can do it at the airport in Japan). It is much cheaper then any international roaming AT&T plan (I've heard horror Iphone stories on iphone charges for international travel). Often times these rental places have plans that allow for free incoming Japan domestic calls and very reasonable domestic calling rates. Plus you make it easier for the people on the Japanese end to call you as well with a rented Japanese phone with phone number.

If you need to dial back to the USA from Japan, using a phone card (or better yet using SKYPE) is much cheaper.

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JohnL is incorrect. The iphone 3Gs does in fact work in Japan (it's even sold in Japan), the iphone 3Gs is able to work on a wide variety of networks since it has built in Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA radio and Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio (SoftBank's 3G network is compatible with UMTS and supports transparent global roaming for existing UMTS subscribers from other countries outside Japan. Subscribers of GSM networks having roaming agreements with SoftBank Mobile can also roam on the SoftBank 3G network by using UMTS handsets).

However I don't recommend using it with international roaming/plans especially if your main goal is to call local Japanese numbers and have Japanese numbers call you, so renting is better since you get a Japanese phone with local Japanese number.

In addition, foreign tourists cannot buy phones in Japan with contract without being a resident of Japan. The only real option is to rent one.