My daughter is going to japan for a one year exchange while in high school. Do we buy a cell phone there?
Don't know if it would be less expensive for her to call us/us call her with a phone purchased from Japan or if she should just take her phone from here.
Japan - 8 Answers
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1 :
You can unlock cell phone from where ever you live and buy a sim card there
2 :
You should buy a cell phone there, using worldwide on your phone carrier is way to expensive, and because she's only staying there for a year, I recommend prepaid.
3 :
Check out this website, it's pretty informative. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2223.html If I was you, I would call her current cell phone company provider and ask them regarding phoning home from Japan and if their is any plan you could add for just a year to help her be able to call home. Otherwise, just read the information on the website i posted above. Hope this helps, and I wish your daughter luck!
4 :
She would not be able to use her phone in Japan. If she wanted to use a phone domestically to communicate with her friends in Japan she would need to establish a cellular plan in Japan with a Japanese phone. She should bring her notebook computer to Japan and call you using Skype. Having her call you using a cellphone from Japan would make your wallet scream in agony.
5 :
In Japan, phone can be expensive and with contract. You can get prepaid phone or rent a phone here in Japan. Different phone company in Japan have different plan and rate so it is better to check it out.
6 :
Get a pre-paid phone from softbank while in japan.Its a great trustable cellphone company.Dont take your american-contracted phone to Japan.It'll be like 3 bucks a minute to talk with you.
7 :
I agree with the above answerer that Softbank is a good place to get a prepaid phone. But, if she's under 20 (the age of adulthood in Japan) as I assume a high school student would be, she can't buy the phone herself. She will either have to mail a consent form for you to sign, or get someone to buy the phone under their name for her. I had to do the latter when I was under 20, and I'm not totally sure if she'd be able to send the form to the US. A cell phone is almost essential to having a social life in Japan (really; it's not a teenager's imagination), but for talking to you back home, I would HIGHLY recommend skype! It's free and really easy to use. I use it for all my communication back to the US. In any case, it's great that you're sending her! My parents did the same for me in high school, and it was the most important experience of my life. I'm sure she appreciates it :)
8 :
I don't know which country you live right now, but if it is USA, most 3G phones from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will work in Japan but will cost $1.69 to $2.29 per minute. And, the phone from overseas still have the phone number from overseas. If your daughter's Japanese friend or teacher wants to call her in Japan, they have to call her by placing an international call even though your daugther is only a block away, which is expensive to a caller. If someone lives in a foreign country for an extended period of time and plan to have a life there, by that I mean making friends and communicating with local people, s/he has to have a local phone number there! So, have her buy a phone there. The only problem is, as another poster wrote, she is considered as a minor in Japan and can not purchase a phone by herself. And YOU, as her parent WHO LIVES OUTSIDE JAPAN, can not purchase a phone in Japan as well due to the law since April 1, 2006. So, someone else, like her host family or a school teacher, must purchase a phone for her. If she doesn't use phone so much, a prepaid phone can suffice. In Japan, with a Japanese phone contract, the receiver of the calls do not pay a penny; only callers pay for calls. With a prepaid phone, the phone's user is responsible for paying. So, her host family or teacher, if they purchase a phone for her under their name, will not be botherred by bills. Most post paid contract requires 2-year contract binding, and requires the phone purchaser to be obliged for bills, which may not work for your daughter's case.
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