3G phone to Japan

[Starairi]

I have a question, I'm not sure if it's been asked before or not, but here goes:

I'm going to Japan in may, and I'm wondering if I'll be able to use my phone there. I have a Nokia N95, which is a 3G phone.
I've been searching around on the internet for an answer, but I get confusing results...
So I though I'd turn to the Japan experts and try my luck.


I tried searching on JF as well, but apparantly "3G" is a too short word to be allowed in my search... x)

[Sangetsu]

Looking at the specs of the N95, I can see no reason why it won't work in Japan. But, are you traveling to Japan for a short trip, and hoping that you'll still have roaming service through your current provider? Or, do you plan to come to Japan and rent a SIM card, like through Softbank?

If you plan to switch SIM cards, you'll need to get your phone unlocked (if it isn't already).

[spicytuna]

You should be able to use your phone but check with your provider for roaming rates. I used my iPhone 3G seamlessly in Japan but it cost me $2.00/minute.

By the way, if you're doing a search on vBulletin, you should be able to use the search string "3G*" to get around the minimum character limitation.

[Starairi]

I was originally planning to use my own SIM, but now that you mention renting a SIM-card in Japan, what do you know about this?
Is it expensive? Can you call internationlly?
And I've heard that there's quite a long process included in renting SIM-cards/getting a phone in Japan, is this true?

I will be in Japan for 6 weeks, so I suppose I'll use my phone a lot, compared to only staying a week or two.
I also have the opportunity to rent a cellphone there for 500 yen a week (I have to buy air time as well), but I'm just looking for the best/cheapest/most convenient solution.

[RadioKid]

Two of Japanese Cell phone carrier (DoCoMo and SoftBank) have standard 3G network and force their subscriber to use their USIM on their own bland handset for their cheap price plan (except for roaming).

You could use your N95 with Softbank USIM and you can ustilize Softbank rental service.

Mobile Phone Rental in Japan│SoftBank Global Rental (in English)

FYI:
NTT DOCOMO: HOME (English TopPage)
FOMA (in Japanese)

Discussions: (in English)
Phone Rental in Japan? - Boing Boing Gadgets
japan-guide.com forum - 3G phones compatible in Europe/Japan?

And another carrier e-Mobile has also 3G network but the frequency is not standard 2.1GHz (1.85G? I forgot). If you plan to make data communication, this could be another choice.

https://store.emobile.jp/customer/in...utlet_emcharge (They have no English Page)

EDIT:
The use of "Standard" is not correct. e-Mobile also based on standard 3G. However, they are assigned minor carrier frequency.

[Starairi]

Thanks for the info Radiokid! (and sorry for the late reply)

I got a lot of information out of that. Though some of it was a bit confusing. :P

It seems a bit expensive in the long run though, so it seems to me my best option is to take advantage of the offer I have on getting a rental phone for 500 yen a week.


But thank you all for your help!