Roaming in Japan

[Fiona_205754]

Hello, I wanted to check if anyone has been able to use their Smarty plan whilst travelling in Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto)? Were you able to use your data as normal, or was there anything you needed to add to your plan for roaming in Japan? Was the connection good?

Thank you

[MSF]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings!! You cannot use your normal UK smarty plan in Japan.

While you can still use it in the EU countries (subject to a 12Gb data limit), you will need to add credit to your account to pay for use while in Japan.

This is explained in the Price Guide: https://cdn.smarty.co.uk/files/SMARTY-Price-Guide.pdf

Data will cost £1 per Mb and calls £2.50 per minute - ouch!! Probably best to look at buying a Japanese sim for use while there. I did that a few years ago and it worked well - sorry I cannot recall exact details of the brand, but it was fairly straightforward . Just ask that helpful Mr Google and you should see a lot of options.

[Chalkychap]

If your phone supports an eSIM, you could purchase an international mobile data only plan from a service provider.

I recently travelled to Australia and purchased a mobile data only plan from Soracom Mobile, which allowed me to use mobile data while roaming at a reasonable price. I also added an out-of-plan top-up, so I could call and text if necessary. While in Australia I turned OFF mobile data on my SMARTY SIM, meaning the eSIM plan was used for roaming mobile data.

Australia's in Roaming 1 charge band, while Japan is Roaming 3 (more expensive) 😒

Good luck @Fiona_205754. 

[Badger]

Would you be able to give a rough idea what would be a fair price to pay for the eSIM. I’ve found a few but they seem very expensive so was hoping as you’ve done it before you’d have a good idea?

also, how easy is it to turn off smarty data and force just the eSIM? I’m guessing these settings don’t appear until you install the eSIM?

[MSF]

@Badger  There are a number of Esim suppliers and different offerings - I suggest a Google search and have a read.

You need to really work out how much data you are likely to need, and for how many days. You can go for unlimited data if you feel the need, but it will be dearer. Only one or two suppliers offer calls as well as data so you ideally need to have friends/family using WhatsApp or similar.

Speaking about iPhone, once you install the Esim, you see that there are two sims (effectively) and you have the chance to make either the priority for data or calls/texts. (I don't know about Android - sorry!)

My personal experience was with Airalo in S. America and it worked a dream. The price is admittedly more than we are used to paying with Smarty, but not ruinous and great to know that you can make contact.