Options for phoning home from Japan

[Nessa1977]

My co-workers daughter is off to Japan at the end of the month for 4 weeks as an exchange student. She is 13 years old. Her mother was going to get her a mobile phone and put international roaming, but I advised her against it as I said that daughter will have to pay for any incoming calls, SMS's etc. I suggested that the best option would be a phone card from Telstra which bills calls to the landline...or does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[moa999]

Laptop, headset, skype (if host family has Internet) - a bit of skype credit to allow her to skypeout.

Otherwise 3g mobile, and buy a sim card there (from memory can get from 7-11s etc)

 

[NM]

If I was in that situation I would be providing a calling card for her to use to call home.

Last month we hosted two young girls of similar age from China for a few weeks. The team that organised the group (about 18 girls from memory) provided them with calling cards and instructions for them to be able to call home whenever they wanted. They used them most days.

 

[Mal]

A Telstra Telecard would work out rather expensive:

$1.50 connection fee + 65c/min. That would add up very quickly.

A prepaid Telstra PhoneAway card (can also be topped up) is a bit cheaper at $0.4455 connection fee + 65c/min, but still overpriced.

Of course mobile roaming is also very expensive, so really I would try and avoid all those options if possible.

 

[sriver]

When I travelled to Japan (on a budget) the cheapest way I could figure out was to use skype.

Using some skype credit I'd call home normally to tell them to hop onto skype so we can start a skype to skype session (as opposed to skype to aus landline) which has no cost other than an internet connection.

It worked perfectly (for a convoluted solution) but I think skype calls to landline would be the easiest and cheapest way (remembering it requires an internet connection).

 

[SimonM]

How about an iPod Touch and Skype? You need to get the earphones that also have a microphone on the wire, but the sound quality is great and the skype to skype calls are free wherever you can find a free wireless internet connection.

 

[mannej]

Free Wifi and skype ;-)

 

[cosi]

As a regular visitor to Japan, and not always having access to skype, we found the cheapest option was for my family to telephone from Australia, each morning at a set time.

We are with iiNet and have a VIOP phone, so only pay 0.05cts per minute.

 

[Travel Guru]

I tend to use TravelSim these days...works on the mobile phone with its own sim card and calls are very reasonably priced.

Take a look at TravelSIM - SIM card for international roaming and if you think its for you, DM me and i'll pass on a discount code which will save you I think $10 or $20 (cant remember) off the purchase.

It's free to receive calls on, so you could call her using skype or some other reasonable means and outgoings from Japan to Aus are 65c/min. which for mobile is cheap.

You can then log in anytime and see what credits left and top it up.

TG

 

[Baysider]

Japan does not allow sale of SIM cards to non-residents. SIM cards or mobile phones can be rented however. There are products such as this one:
Mobile Phone Rental in Japan?SoftBank Global Rental

The discounted rental cost is Y250/d (about $3.15) and incoming calls are free. Outgoing calls to Australia cost over $4/min though, however international texts are only about $1.90 each.

If you plug "mobile phone rental japan" into Google you'll find similar products and a range of plans. They can be picked up at the airport on arrival.

 

[Baysider]

There's also a SIM card rental on that site:
Phones: Japanese SoftBank 3G SIM Card | SoftBank Global Rental

It's only $1.30/d but she would need an unlocked 3G capable phone to use this.

 

[drewbles]

I tend to use TravelSim these days...works on the mobile phone with its own sim card and calls are very reasonably priced.

Take a look at TravelSIM - SIM card for international roaming and if you think its for you, DM me and i'll pass on a discount code which will save you I think $10 or $20 (cant remember) off the purchase.

It's free to receive calls on, so you could call her using skype or some other reasonable means and outgoings from Japan to Aus are 65c/min. which for mobile is cheap.

You can then log in anytime and see what credits left and top it up.

TG

One big problem with travel sim is the fact they give you a +372 number, which is Estonia. They are an MVNO that bases their setup there. Estonian numbers are notoriously bad for routing reliability (ie, trying to call Estonian "mobile" numbers, which this is considered, can be a hit or miss situation).

I'm biased of course working for a company in competition with them, but we provide you a +44 (UK Number) *and* a +1 (US number), and a toll free forwarding service for people back here to call you at no cost to them.

We also offer phone rentals in JP through our affiliates there with pickup/drop off at the major airport locations.

If anyones interested, PM me. I'm not going to blatantly advertise the company I work for (although i've posted in enough threads on here for most people to probably know anyway!).

 

[Travel Guru]

One big problem with travel sim is the fact they give you a +372 number, which is Estonia. They are an MVNO that bases their setup there. Estonian numbers are notoriously bad for routing reliability (ie, trying to call Estonian "mobile" numbers, which this is considered, can be a hit or miss situation).

I'm biased of course working for a company in competition with them, but we provide you a +44 (UK Number) *and* a +1 (US number), and a toll free forwarding service for people back here to call you at no cost to them.

We also offer phone rentals in JP through our affiliates there with pickup/drop off at the major airport locations.

If anyones interested, PM me. I'm not going to blatantly advertise the company I work for (although i've posted in enough threads on here for most people to probably know anyway!).

I cant comment on your company as I dont know who it is (but if its a quality product, PM me, I might be able to send some referrals), but I used TravelSim extensively in Italy and France to make as well as receive calls and never had an issue.

TG

 

[drewbles]

I cant comment on your company as I dont know who it is (but if its a quality product, PM me, I might be able to send some referrals), but I used TravelSim extensively in Italy and France to make as well as receive calls and never had an issue.

TG

You've got PM.

If anyone else is interested, PM me

 

[theyallexist]

All, not heading to Japan, but heading to Europe.
Has anyone come across a SIM provider that provides micro sims?

 

[medhead]

When I was in japan last year I exclusively used SMS to communicate. (didn't end up being charge for any SMS at all, but that's another story)

If going down the phone in and get a call back path. Then SMS from a cheap prepaid service could be an alternative.

Otherwise, what about phone cards? In Europe, that is what I have used and they are pretty universal. 10 or 20 euro for 200+ minutes to Oz.

 

[kirk7]

I was there last week in Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

I was using gotalk global (from Australia Post) and it was pretty good.

They even gave the option of a local australian number so my family could call me with local access.

Tried travelsim last time, it was pretty expensive.

 

[flychrisfly]

When living in Japan 2001-2002 I used a Brastel calling card to call home: Brastel Telecomand they were cheap and good and easily recharged at any convenience store. From their website they have a iPhone app too.