Advantages and precautions of using overseas prepaid SIM: First cheap SIM & SIM fleece maho 11th --ITmedia Mobile
As introduced in Part 6, if you just use the MVNO, your smartphone does not necessarily have to be SIM lock-free. If you have a docomo MVNO, docomo's MVNO, and if you have an au MVNO, it will recognize each MVNO's SIM card.
However, if you have a SIM lock fleece smartphone that is not tied to a specific carrier, you can change only the SIM card company later as long as the communication method is suitable. Currently, the 3G communication method is different from Docomo, Softbank is W-CDMA, au is different from CDMA, and there is no MVNO of Softbank that can be purchased only with a SIM card, so there is little merit, but in anticipation of the future, make the smartphone SIM lock free It's a hand to keep. Even at this point, with SIM lock fleece smartphones, it will be possible to move from DoCoMo's MVNO to Softbank, for example.
The advantage of SIM lock fleece smartphone is more effective when traveling abroad. If you sign up for a local prepaid SIM card, local communication charges will be applied. Although minor in Japan, prepaid cards are often recognized as a general contract form overseas. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Macau, there are SIM card vending machines at the airport, which can be obtained immediately by simply inserting money.
Overseas prepaid SIM card. If the size does not match the SIM card slot of the terminal, the clerk will cut it. Overseas carriers generally handle prepaid SIM cards. You are often asked to show your passport or other identification card, and the address can be replaced by a hotel (photo = left). In some countries, you don't need an ID card and you can easily buy it at a vending machine. The photo shows a SIM card vending machine installed at Heathrow Airport in London. There is a similar vending machine in Macau (photo = right)Even if you can't get it so easily, you can buy a SIM card in most countries by going to a carrier shop. Gradually, an increasing number of carriers are preparing prepaid plans that can use LTE, which is a high-speed communication method. Of course, as with any other overseas shopping, you will need simple English conversation skills. Also, since the fee structure varies greatly depending on the country and carrier, it is better to do a preliminary check in advance.
It is also important to note that the frequencies vary from country to country. If it is 3G, any terminal that supports the 2GHz band can be used in most countries, but in countries that adopt some special frequency bands such as the United States, terminals that match it are required. As for LTE, the frequency is not unified to 3G or higher, so we would like to be more careful when using it. From this point of view, among the SIM lock-free terminals that are easily available in Japan, the iPhone 5s / 5c and Nexus 5 have relatively many compatible frequencies and are easy to use.
So how cheap is the local charge compared to international roaming? As an example, let me introduce the price of a carrier in Taiwan that I recently visited. When traveling from Japan to Taiwan, the most commonly used airports are Taoyuan Airport or Matsuyama Airport in Taipei. The former has three Taiwan carriers and the latter has a Chunghwa Telecom counter, which sells prepaid SIM cards for travelers.
In Taiwan, carrier counters are set up at airports.The clerk is also familiar, and if the turn comes, a SIM card will be issued in less than 5 minutesIn the case of Chunghwa Telecom, the charge for voice calls is 300 yuan a day (about 1019 yen, as of June 13) for unlimited use of data communication. The same 300 yuan for 3 or 5 days, but the free calls included are slightly less. If this is 7 days or 10 days, the charge will increase to 500 yuan (about 1698 yen). There is no limit to the amount of data that has become common in Japan so far, and even with a few gigabytes, communication did not stop.
Chunghwa Telecom prepaid charges. The left is a voice call, and the right is a rate plan for data communication only (photo = left). In Taiwan, LTE cannot be used if it is prepaid, but the speed is still close to 7 Mbps on the downlink. Unless you're going to a crowded place like an exhibition, this is comfortable enough (photo = right)On the other hand, if you use international roaming in the same Taiwan, it costs up to 2980 yen per day for all three carriers. The notation "maximum" is a habit, but since it can be reached by using only 200,000 packets (24.4 Mbytes), the upper limit is reached almost every day on smartphones that often communicate automatically. If you stay for 10 days and use it every day, the charge will be 29,800 yen. In the case of Taiwan, the price difference is more than 17 times.
| 1 day | 2 days | 3 days | Four days | 5 days | The 6th | The 7th | The 8th | The 9th | The 10th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overseas packet flat rate | 2980 | 5960 | 8940 | 10,1920 | 14,900 | 17,880 | 20,860 | 23840 | 26820 | 29800 |
| Chunghwa Telecom prepaid | 1019 | 1019 | 1019 | 1019 | 1019 | 1698 | 1698 | 1698 | 1698 | 1698 |
It may seem that the cheap prepaid SIM is a special case of Taiwan, which is a little cheaper than Japan, but that is a mistake. Even in the United States, which is about the same level as Japan or higher, T-Mobile offers a prepaid plan that allows data communication up to 200 Mbytes for $ 3 a day (about 305 yen). Plans vary from country to country in Europe, but it is safe to assume that no country has a higher packet rate than overseas packets.
If it is a SIM lock-free terminal, insert a prepaid SIM card and the local cheap rate will be applied. If you have mastered the method introduced in Part 4, there is not much problem with the settings. For Android, open the APN menu from the settings and manually enter the APN described in the SIM card manual.
Perform a network search and select the carrier of the prepaid SIM you purchased. The screen is for mainland China. In China, only one company, China Unicom, adopts the W-CDMA system, so even if you search the network, only one company will be displayed if it is a W-CDMA terminal . Enter the APN you were told. In many cases, it is described in the SIM card manual, but if not, check with the clerk.Some terminals, such as the Nexus 5, have the APN of a major carrier preset in the terminal. In the case of iPhone, if you are a carrier that handles the same terminal, you can communicate without setting (However, in the case of overseas MVNO, as introduced in Part 4, there are cases where APN setting is quite troublesome, so please be careful).
In Nexus 5, APN was set just by inserting the SIM cardNot only data communication but also voice call charges are cheaper than international roaming. It's very convenient when calling friends, family, local restaurants, etc. who are traveling with you.
It seems that there are merits in overseas prepaid SIMs, but if you have only one terminal, you can generally choose either a Japanese SIM card or an overseas SIM card. Therefore, when inserting an overseas SIM card, even if there is a call to a Japanese phone number, it will not be noticed. Even if you want to make a call with a Japanese phone number, you have to replace the SIM card.
To avoid this, it's a good idea to buy another SIM lock-free device for overseas use. If you only need a phone, a small feature phone that sells for a few thousand yen will suffice. A Japanese SIM card is inserted there and it is dedicated to the phone. If you don't want to have two, you can use transfer to transfer to an IP phone application that issues a phone number such as "050 Plus".
If you travel abroad for a short time once a year, you may not need to spend your precious time buying a SIM card, but if you have a lot of overseas business trips or travel for a long time, a SIM lock-free terminal is indispensable. not. Even if you don't plan to go abroad right away, I want to keep in mind that these benefits are in the corner of my head.
For information on overseas prepaid SIM, please also refer to the "Overseas Prepaid SIM Introduction Manual" that summarizes how to obtain it in each country.
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