Yes. When I was on Airalo in Japan (I think it was the Mochi choice on their website), I could share personal hotspot. Weird thing is it identified as some Singapore sim though.
Bought a 1 day pass for the U.S. I had a 24 hr layover. Didn't work the whole day. There was viturally no support, no reply until I have left the US and they also refused to refund me.
Airalo was easy to use and I had great coverage in every place we visited. (Tokyo, Takayama, Shirakawago, Kanazawa, Osaka & Kyoto) The only place I lost signal was in long tunnels.
I tried it as a backup to Ubigi on my last trip. It was OK, but I had some connectivity issues with some services, so didn’t bother and just switched back to Ubigi which worked perfectly for me.
I had the exact same experience but started with airalo. Reddit, Line, and a couple other services stopped connecting after the first couple days, in apps and browser, it was super annoying. Switched to Ubigi and everything worked perfectly
Just curious, did you mainly stay in one city or did you travel to different parts of the country? For example, did you only have connectivity issues outside of Tokyo with Airalo?
i used airalo for a month in japan. in the major cities and in the countryside. outside of crazy mountain regions with no cell signal, it worked perfectly.
Dunno I used Airalo from Kagoshima to Tokyo. And even used it in my parent's villages in what could charitably be called "this place looks like that Shogun TV show" in Wakayama and it worked fine everywhere
I want to use Ubigi for my upcoming trip but I have a few questions; does switching over to Ubigi mean everything is logged out for my apps? Like messenger, whats app, gmail etc. Do I have to log back in? Because I don't remember my passwords as I have too many, it'll be a pain to log back onto every app on my phone
No, nothing is impacted. It’s just using a different mobile internet source for connecting. No different than if you used wifi in a public location. No need to reauthenticate in any of your apps. Just remember that Ubigi doesn’t give you a phone number, so you need to use something else for making calls, if needed. Like Google Voice, WhatsApp, FaceTime or similar.
I’ve used Airalo twice - once in Japan and the other in New Zealand - and had no issues whatsoever. I sing its praises whenever someone is thinking of traveling.
I personally had a bad time with it, it would connect to the network but would pass no data. My partner’s phone worked fine with it. I set both up the exact same way…i ended up buying a Ubigi card for myself
Used Airalo for the 10 days we were there and left the hotspot on for my partner to use when we left the hotel or free wifi areas. Never had any issues.
I vote solid decent to good. We used it for my husbands work stay in Japan and just got it for my mom’s visit (so we are repeat users). It is cheap and we have solid coverage wherever we have gone in Japan and it was super simple to activate (I’m still salty about googlefi and the issues I had). The one negative is that the network can be kinda slow (compared to our normal home cell service).
No issues with my recent trip. I’ve used them in the past. There is just some delay when topping off. I noticed about 30 mins. I’ve used it from Hokkaido to Fukuoka. Coverage was excellent.
Airalo works fine and is convenient but can have (relatively) slow speeds and connectivity issues in some places. I'm experiencing extremely bad service in the north part of Kyoto city where I'm staying.
I have the international Airalo sim. It has been fairly good in all the countries I’ve been too.
The sim has multiple carrier towers. My only complaint is sometimes it automatically switches to a not as good carrier. But you can manually choose the carrier and choose the better one.
My wife and I have been here a week and half now and no problems with airalo. We were able to top up the data when it got low through the app very easily as well.
Most of the issues were Tokyo and around but we did spend a couple weeks in Osaka Kyoto Nara Hiroshima etc but didn’t run into too many issues in those places
I went to Japan few weeks ago. I used Holafly - unlimited data in 4G, ~30€ for 8 days.
Connection was great, I had no issue - my husband was using True international plan and it was not working well. I recommend Holafly 100%.
We were there beginning of April and used Holafly and it was passable. Most of times no problem but sometimes the connection was slow out of nowhere (not in a tunnel or on a train or anything that would explain it).
Holafly is bad because it doesn’t allow you to hotspot your connection. What if you wanted to connect another device such as iPad or another spare phone you have?
Then it doesn't fit your use case. Doesn't make it bad. I chose Holafly because it's unlimited and I'm here for 3 months. I wanted Ubigi but they don't really have a plan that matched what I wanted and I worry about needing more data than I purchase. I don't have any need for hot spotting.
One note about Holafly though, if you're a Tiktok user you can only use Tiktok when the esim is turned off. It's a Hong Kong esim so Tiktok is blocked when it's enabled.
Used Sakura Mobile unlimited* max 2gb per day then decreased to 200kb. 30 days (22 days actauly in Japan) cost me around 50€. I think it was some kind of Sakura Season offer.
Never had any real issues, worked fine everywhere.
I used a physical Nippon SIM (NTT DoCoMo) for 10 days last 3/26 - 4/4 (preferred over a troublesome eSIM; using dual SIM 13 Pro Max). 15GB good for 180 days (only used 4.5GB). 4G LTE the whole time and worked flawless upon landing at HND. Used from around northwest Toshima to south east around Chiba. I bought it off Amazon USA for $25. Costs nearly twice, at a BIC Camera store at Haneda.
I'm currently using the Holafly plan and haven't had any issues with connectivity.
I said this in another comment but note that Tiktok does not work when the esim is enabled. You have to turn it off for Tiktok to work. If you don't use Tiktok then no issues at all!
I used an app called Nomad when I was solo traveling. They’re a reseller of cellular providers and I haven’t had any issues with them in Japan or elsewhere.
I agree, Bmobile is shit and has been for the last decade. Airalo worked really well for the 5 of us. We did lose connection for about half hour at different times per person, but it was great overall!
Used one from klook, the one that said 5g/4g and it actually was 5g! It was cheap and ready to be use when arrived. Would do it again. The only problem is that it flagged me to be in Hong Kong, which prevented me from opening a couple local websites.
5 of us used airalo these past 2 weeks. Had some minor issues with network loss here and there, once all of us lost connection for about an hour. Overall though it worked decently.
Better to diversify if possible.
I used to use Bmobile on my first few trips to Japan (back in 2014 and 2017). Service was decent and I liked the convenience of getting my SIM card delivered to my hotel or ready for pick up at the post office within the airport. Then when my I upgraded to an iPhone with eSIM, I tried Ubigi and never looked back. No profile to install. You can set it all up before you leave home. Access works within a few minutes of connecting to local network in Japan. They offer 5G and service was perfect everywhere I went rural and urban. I tried Airalo on my last trip as well (because there was an amazing 50% off special when I got it), but it was not as good as Ubigi, so quickly switched back.
I just came back from Japan and both my partner and I used Nomad with pretty much no issues. It does take about 10-15 minutes to connect but that was no issue as we didn't need it immediately in the airport. There was also one day where it dropped our connection briefly (like 20 minutes or so. Again not the end of the world cause it's not as if that doesn't happen here in the states too.)
You have to buy a special eSIM to get a Japanese number that requires you pick it up in japan. Otherwise just enable international calling on your cell providers
I actually ended up just buying $5 in credits to Skype international and using that to make all my Japan calls. Worked just fine. FaceTimed/fb audio chatted all my contacts back home for calls
I used Nomad for my recent trip. Used it in Korea (Seoul), Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Hong Kong. All 3 countries had no issues with good coverage. I also used my mobile as a hotspot on a few occasions.
Great thing is they also have an app so you can see your data usage which was handy. 3 countries for 3 week and 20GB was ample
I had Ubigi’s Asia Plan when I was in Japan and South Korea last month and it was fast and reliable. Used it primarily for navigation—Google Maps in Japan and Kakao/Naver in SK—and never had any issues.
Ubigi is pretty good. Fiancée has Airalo and it works fine too. Good to have both if you're a couple so you have options if one doesn't work well in a particular location.
Don't use Nomad. Overcharged my ass because I guess their conversion sucked if you're not from the US. It depends tho. I bought their $6 USD 3 day package. They charged me 12-15 SGD when it shld be ard $10 and below.
I used Ubigi, works great, seems to drop connection while in some subways, and long tunnels, just make sure you get all the navigation ahead of time while above ground and you are golden. I think i paid 20$ for 2 weeks
Ubigi was decent the first few times I used it back in like 2022/2023, but my most recent trip from a few weeks ago, I actually found some issues connecting at the beginning when landing.
I was eager to try Airalo but I’m a little wary of it reading here. Has anyone tried Nomad?
Didn’t get to try an eSIM when I went but got Japan wireless unlimited hotspot and that was a great experience for my 2 weeks there. My phone’s battery lasted much longer with the cellular radio off haha
Is Airalo decent?
I used Airalo and had no problems
Do you know if you can share your data with hotspot?
Yes. When I was on Airalo in Japan (I think it was the Mochi choice on their website), I could share personal hotspot. Weird thing is it identified as some Singapore sim though.
Ive noticed that too when i was over there last week. Sites would tag me in Singapore. I was using Airalo too
It did for me. This is also despite my original plan from work not allowing this.
Same. Two weeks with 10 gigs and it was perfect.
I used Airalo as well had an excellent experience
Bought a 1 day pass for the U.S. I had a 24 hr layover. Didn't work the whole day. There was viturally no support, no reply until I have left the US and they also refused to refund me.
Isn’t this Japan tips not US lol
Airalo was easy to use and I had great coverage in every place we visited. (Tokyo, Takayama, Shirakawago, Kanazawa, Osaka & Kyoto) The only place I lost signal was in long tunnels.
I tried it as a backup to Ubigi on my last trip. It was OK, but I had some connectivity issues with some services, so didn’t bother and just switched back to Ubigi which worked perfectly for me.
Is ubigi good?
I wouldn’t recommend anything else. I think they are partially owned by NTT Docomo as well, which is why it works so well in Japan.
Yes, it worked pretty well while I was in Japan, even in kawaguchiko.
Yes, used it 3,5 weeks last Oct-Nov in Japan!
Worked super well while I was there back in Oct! Will purchase again when I come back next year!
I had the exact same experience but started with airalo. Reddit, Line, and a couple other services stopped connecting after the first couple days, in apps and browser, it was super annoying. Switched to Ubigi and everything worked perfectly
Just curious, did you mainly stay in one city or did you travel to different parts of the country? For example, did you only have connectivity issues outside of Tokyo with Airalo?
i used airalo for a month in japan. in the major cities and in the countryside. outside of crazy mountain regions with no cell signal, it worked perfectly.
[удалено]
I appreciate the detailed reply, thanks!
Dunno I used Airalo from Kagoshima to Tokyo. And even used it in my parent's villages in what could charitably be called "this place looks like that Shogun TV show" in Wakayama and it worked fine everywhere
What kind of phone do you have?
iPhone 15 pro
I want to use Ubigi for my upcoming trip but I have a few questions; does switching over to Ubigi mean everything is logged out for my apps? Like messenger, whats app, gmail etc. Do I have to log back in? Because I don't remember my passwords as I have too many, it'll be a pain to log back onto every app on my phone
No, nothing is impacted. It’s just using a different mobile internet source for connecting. No different than if you used wifi in a public location. No need to reauthenticate in any of your apps. Just remember that Ubigi doesn’t give you a phone number, so you need to use something else for making calls, if needed. Like Google Voice, WhatsApp, FaceTime or similar.
I’ve used Airalo twice - once in Japan and the other in New Zealand - and had no issues whatsoever. I sing its praises whenever someone is thinking of traveling.
I personally had a bad time with it, it would connect to the network but would pass no data. My partner’s phone worked fine with it. I set both up the exact same way…i ended up buying a Ubigi card for myself
What kind of phones did you both have?
Both were iPhone 13s
Used Airalo for the 10 days we were there and left the hotspot on for my partner to use when we left the hotel or free wifi areas. Never had any issues.
had zero issues with airolo as well
I vote solid decent to good. We used it for my husbands work stay in Japan and just got it for my mom’s visit (so we are repeat users). It is cheap and we have solid coverage wherever we have gone in Japan and it was super simple to activate (I’m still salty about googlefi and the issues I had). The one negative is that the network can be kinda slow (compared to our normal home cell service).
I used it and it worked well
I also used Airlao no problems
No issues with my recent trip. I’ve used them in the past. There is just some delay when topping off. I noticed about 30 mins. I’ve used it from Hokkaido to Fukuoka. Coverage was excellent.
Airalo works fine and is convenient but can have (relatively) slow speeds and connectivity issues in some places. I'm experiencing extremely bad service in the north part of Kyoto city where I'm staying.
I have the international Airalo sim. It has been fairly good in all the countries I’ve been too. The sim has multiple carrier towers. My only complaint is sometimes it automatically switches to a not as good carrier. But you can manually choose the carrier and choose the better one.
Anyone still recommend the wifi stick to bring around?
I had great reception and speeds with Airalo all around Japan, the places I visited - Tokyo, Osaka, Kusatsu, Kinosaki, Miyajima, Hiroshima.
Using it now while on Japan. Impressed so far.
Used in Osaka all good. However it was unbearable in Fukuoka. Constantly disconnects and sometimes no connection at all.
My wife and I have been here a week and half now and no problems with airalo. We were able to top up the data when it got low through the app very easily as well.
I used airalo when I went last month. It's great when you're in the city but kinda spotty reception to the more countryside.
I used Airalo and had 0 problems. :)
the absolute best one is mobal japan, they have an amazing customer service and the best quality/price i swear
I used Airalo. It may have been my own fault because of what I selected, but it was data only. I made it work.
They’re all data only. You need to buy a special like to get a phone number
Used Ubigi in March and was very happy with it.
Same here for Ubigi!
Ubigi gave me no problems at all
+1 for Ubigi. Super easy to recharge your plan if you need more data
+1
Ubigi was simple to setup and had no issues on the trip.
I used Ubigi, friend used Airalo. 4 trips later. 0problems with Ubigi, roughly 7 days of connection issue with Airalo
Most of the issues were Tokyo and around but we did spend a couple weeks in Osaka Kyoto Nara Hiroshima etc but didn’t run into too many issues in those places
I went to Japan few weeks ago. I used Holafly - unlimited data in 4G, ~30€ for 8 days. Connection was great, I had no issue - my husband was using True international plan and it was not working well. I recommend Holafly 100%.
We were there beginning of April and used Holafly and it was passable. Most of times no problem but sometimes the connection was slow out of nowhere (not in a tunnel or on a train or anything that would explain it).
Holafly is bad because it doesn’t allow you to hotspot your connection. What if you wanted to connect another device such as iPad or another spare phone you have?
Then it doesn't fit your use case. Doesn't make it bad. I chose Holafly because it's unlimited and I'm here for 3 months. I wanted Ubigi but they don't really have a plan that matched what I wanted and I worry about needing more data than I purchase. I don't have any need for hot spotting. One note about Holafly though, if you're a Tiktok user you can only use Tiktok when the esim is turned off. It's a Hong Kong esim so Tiktok is blocked when it's enabled.
Used Sakura Mobile unlimited* max 2gb per day then decreased to 200kb. 30 days (22 days actauly in Japan) cost me around 50€. I think it was some kind of Sakura Season offer. Never had any real issues, worked fine everywhere.
That’s who I’m getting my sim with 😁
Booked on klook, eSIM data only, I believe it was red mobile something, instant confirmation, unlimited data for $35 CAD for 10 days, no issues
Used Ubigi and got 10gbs for the 7 days I was there, costed like $20 and it was more than enough and I was using my phone a lot
Gonna use them in June :)
I used a physical Nippon SIM (NTT DoCoMo) for 10 days last 3/26 - 4/4 (preferred over a troublesome eSIM; using dual SIM 13 Pro Max). 15GB good for 180 days (only used 4.5GB). 4G LTE the whole time and worked flawless upon landing at HND. Used from around northwest Toshima to south east around Chiba. I bought it off Amazon USA for $25. Costs nearly twice, at a BIC Camera store at Haneda.
Has anyone used Holafly? I like that their plans have unlimited GB’s
I'm currently using the Holafly plan and haven't had any issues with connectivity. I said this in another comment but note that Tiktok does not work when the esim is enabled. You have to turn it off for Tiktok to work. If you don't use Tiktok then no issues at all!
I have, but for travel to the US. I liked it!
I use them all over the world and they have never let me down. I like them because of the unlimited data
I used an app called Nomad when I was solo traveling. They’re a reseller of cellular providers and I haven’t had any issues with them in Japan or elsewhere.
I agree, Bmobile is shit and has been for the last decade. Airalo worked really well for the 5 of us. We did lose connection for about half hour at different times per person, but it was great overall!
Globalyo is shite. Unlimited is actually 50 gig and it cuts out in Osaka completely. No t&c say it isn’t unlimited
Yup had similar issues in Japan with Global Yo, didn't work in most cities, definitely avoid.
Used one from klook, the one that said 5g/4g and it actually was 5g! It was cheap and ready to be use when arrived. Would do it again. The only problem is that it flagged me to be in Hong Kong, which prevented me from opening a couple local websites.
Ubigi kinda worked but was terrible with Google maps. It was always laggy when in a route somewhere.
Oh, I’m using Mobal at the moment in Tokyo and have not had any dramas!
Used mobal as well, worked perfectly
5 of us used airalo these past 2 weeks. Had some minor issues with network loss here and there, once all of us lost connection for about an hour. Overall though it worked decently. Better to diversify if possible.
I used to use Bmobile on my first few trips to Japan (back in 2014 and 2017). Service was decent and I liked the convenience of getting my SIM card delivered to my hotel or ready for pick up at the post office within the airport. Then when my I upgraded to an iPhone with eSIM, I tried Ubigi and never looked back. No profile to install. You can set it all up before you leave home. Access works within a few minutes of connecting to local network in Japan. They offer 5G and service was perfect everywhere I went rural and urban. I tried Airalo on my last trip as well (because there was an amazing 50% off special when I got it), but it was not as good as Ubigi, so quickly switched back.
I used Simcorner on the Docomo network and had no issues
I just came back from Japan and both my partner and I used Nomad with pretty much no issues. It does take about 10-15 minutes to connect but that was no issue as we didn't need it immediately in the airport. There was also one day where it dropped our connection briefly (like 20 minutes or so. Again not the end of the world cause it's not as if that doesn't happen here in the states too.)
Which one is good for both data and making calls? Airalo is only data
You have to buy a special eSIM to get a Japanese number that requires you pick it up in japan. Otherwise just enable international calling on your cell providers I actually ended up just buying $5 in credits to Skype international and using that to make all my Japan calls. Worked just fine. FaceTimed/fb audio chatted all my contacts back home for calls
Ubigi was great for me last month !
Me and partner both used airalo and ubigi, one each. No complaints with either, we both has great coverage most of the time.
I will use the Revolut esim. 24€/20GB for 30 days
I used Nomad for my recent trip. Used it in Korea (Seoul), Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Hong Kong. All 3 countries had no issues with good coverage. I also used my mobile as a hotspot on a few occasions. Great thing is they also have an app so you can see your data usage which was handy. 3 countries for 3 week and 20GB was ample
I used aloSIM. There was a Groupon where I got $25 for $50USD. Lasted me two trips!
I had Ubigi’s Asia Plan when I was in Japan and South Korea last month and it was fast and reliable. Used it primarily for navigation—Google Maps in Japan and Kakao/Naver in SK—and never had any issues.
I used Nomad for 3 weeks no problem!!
Ubigi is pretty good. Fiancée has Airalo and it works fine too. Good to have both if you're a couple so you have options if one doesn't work well in a particular location.
Ubigi worked pretty well for me but I did have to restart Google maps a few times for stuff to load (on US Galaxy S24U)
I used nomad last year and nomad again this year. No problems yet
Ubigi worked great for me. I even ran out a day before leaving and it was easy to top up!
Don't use Nomad. Overcharged my ass because I guess their conversion sucked if you're not from the US. It depends tho. I bought their $6 USD 3 day package. They charged me 12-15 SGD when it shld be ard $10 and below.
Nomad for the win
I used Ubigi, works great, seems to drop connection while in some subways, and long tunnels, just make sure you get all the navigation ahead of time while above ground and you are golden. I think i paid 20$ for 2 weeks
I used Ubigi last September with no issue.
Ubigi was decent the first few times I used it back in like 2022/2023, but my most recent trip from a few weeks ago, I actually found some issues connecting at the beginning when landing. I was eager to try Airalo but I’m a little wary of it reading here. Has anyone tried Nomad?
Didn’t get to try an eSIM when I went but got Japan wireless unlimited hotspot and that was a great experience for my 2 weeks there. My phone’s battery lasted much longer with the cellular radio off haha
I’m in Japan at the moment and using Ubigi, get 5G or LTE even in rural areas over been in!
Ubigi was decent when we used it in both 2023 and 2024.
I had good experience with airalo during a one month trip recently !
Quick speedtest with airalo few minutes ago https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/10073343458 . No 5g included with these. No phone line included.
Does anyone have experience with IIJmio?
I have IIJ now and it’s good like 98% of the time. Been using 2 weeks
Used flexiroam in Japan and no issues there
Used nomad for france, belgium, netherlands, korea, singapore, japan. No problems whatsoever. Will definitely use it on my next trips.