using mobile phone in Japan

pigeonpie

My OH is going to Japan for the first time for a week in November. He says his work Blackberry won't work as he's been told they use a different frequency.
Additionally, we are with Vodafone and the world roaming charges are really expensive, as in £1.65 pm for making a call in Japan and about £1.30pmin to receive.

We each have a SE K750i. Would it work in Japan to call me? Work has told him to sort out his own phone before he goes.

Please can anyone advise on which phone to use and if there is a Japanese SIM card that would be better, or a world SIM we could get in advance here in the UK for calls and texts. He is likely to have very little free time in Japan and certainly none to run around trying to find a local SIM. However I'd like to chat to him every day or may need to get hold of him and don't want to have to rely on hotel phones.

many thanks for any help

Jon_01

The Blackberry would work in Japan, but the data cost would be sky high.

As far as I'm aware your SE K750i's would work fine. You have to make sure you have roaming on your acc before you travel or nothing will work.

If you call Voda they'll be able to tell you want the call cost would be for Japan.

spirit

Japan has been on 3G for years (they are light years ahead of us). Depends if you have a 3G blackberry, some are some are not. Your handbook will tell you if it is or not.

You could have a roaming bundle (a calls one and a data one) added for when he is away. Check with 191 customer services.

One thing to bear in mind is that when you ring him, you only pay as if the phone is in the UK and he will have to pay the international leg of the call. A lot of people get caught out with that one.

System

He could take sim out of the blackberry and use it in the k750i for the week, his work would then pick up the tab for calls and texts. Depends on work policy - but many companies allow limited use to phone home when working away.

Otherwise, if your paying, the most economical would be to text. Just get his to text you a time and local number to call such as hotel/workplace - call him via a cheap provider such as 18185. Texts are normally around 40p to send and free to receive abroad.

Hope that helps
:A

pigeonpie

thanks guys. Voda confirm the K750i won't work in Japan. His work Blackberry is an old model and won't either. He is trying to get work to cough up a newer 3G Blackberry as apparently that may work, although they think the phone has to be quadband (?!) for Japan. I told him to ask his Japanese clients as they'd probably know more. Rental at the airport is a problem as they have to rush straight from the plane to meetings, so no time.

Work will pick up a reasonable amount of call charge - I reckon up to 10 mins a day. I just get very anxious if I couldn't get hold of him if needed to.

spirit

pigeonpie wrote: »

thanks guys. Voda confirm the K750i won't work in Japan. His work Blackberry is an old model and won't either. He is trying to get work to cough up a newer 3G Blackberry as apparently that may work, although they think the phone has to be quadband (?!) for Japan. I told him to ask his Japanese clients as they'd probably know more. Rental at the airport is a problem as they have to rush straight from the plane to meetings, so no time.

Work will pick up a reasonable amount of call charge - I reckon up to 10 mins a day. I just get very anxious if I couldn't get hold of him if needed to.

although they think the phone has to be quadband (?!) for Japan. Nope just 3G

Roaming Charges

Voice: Consumer Pay monthly

• Passport is not supported in this country and therefore regular prices are displayed.

Non-Passport Networks (pence per minute):
(if a Voice Network exists in this country)

per min (inc VAT)

Making a call
(any destination)165 p Receiving a call130 p Sending a text35 p + your home rate

Other Networks:

per min (inc VAT)

Making a call
(any destination)165 p

Receiving a call130 p Sending a text
35 p + your home rate

<LI class=icon_Alert>

In Europe on Vodafone World:
Post pay incoming calls are charged at 14.9p but advertised at a maximum of 15p.

In Europe on Vodafone World and in the Vodafone Passport footprint:
Post pay SMS are charged at 10.9p but advertised at a maximum of 11p.
[*]Eligible calls made by you are charged in 1 second increments with a minimum call charge equivalent to 30 seconds in the Europe Zone and in 60 second increments with a minimum call charge of one minute in the Asia Pacific Zone, the North America Zone and the Rest of World Zone. Eligible calls received by you are charged per second, in Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of World zones, in North America you are charged per minute to receive a call, with a minimum call charge equivalent to the minimum call charge in your standard price plan.

Data: Consumer Pay monthly

<LI class=icon_bullet>

Using Mobile Internet Abroad
[*]Using Mobile Broadband Abroad

Service

Europe (Zone 1)

Rest of the World (Zone 2)

Handheld device
i.e. Mobile Internet/ BlackBerry/ Windows Mobile

Daily charge
UK calendar day, midnight-to-midnight (inc. VAT)
Europe:

<LI class=icon_bullet>£1 per MB for the first 5MB
• £5 for every 5MB after that.

Daily charge
UK calendar day, midnight-to-midnight (inc. VAT)
World:

<LI class=icon_bullet>£3 per MB for the first 5MB
• £15 for every 5MB after that.

Mobile Broadband and iPad

Daily charge
UK calendar day, midnight-to-midnight (inc.VAT)

<LI class=icon_bullet>

Europe: £9.99 for 50MB
[*]World: £29.99 for 50MB
Daily charge
UK calendar day, midnight-to-midnight (inc. VAT)

<LI class=icon_bullet>

Europe: £9.99 for 50MB
[*]World: £29.99 for 50MB

<LI class=icon_bullet>Charges for roaming are separate to domestic data charges. Domestic data allowances apply in the UK only. <LI class=icon_bullet>Calendar day is midnight-to-midnight UK GMT/BST time. <LI class=icon_bullet>This is a default tariff and will automatically cover all new and existing customers – no opt in required. <LI class=icon_bullet>We will send customers free text alerts before every main charging step (i.e. every 5MB step on handheld and every 50MB step on Mobile Broadband) so they can keep in control of their charges. The exception is iPad customers because iPad has no SMS functionality <LI class=icon_bullet>Customers can ‘opt out’ of receiving these notifications but will be subject to any high charges incurred. <LI class=icon_bullet>Daily data allowances are not suitable for downloading movies or episodes of TV shows, streaming TV (eg BBC IPlayer), downloading music or peer to peer usage. <LI class=icon_bullet>Our billing system measures data usage in 1 byte steps. When you start using data you will automatically be charged the mininum charge of £1 for the first MB of usage in Europe or £3 in Rest of World. If you exceed that MB by 1 byte, i.e 1.1MB the next £1 charging step will apply in Europe or £3 in Rest of World.
• All prices shown are inc VAT.

Sid_Harper

See if Global Rent A Phone still have a kiosk at Narita airport. It costs peanuts to hire and use a local mobile; I had an Au (Sanyo) handset back in 2005. Bit fiddly but did the job. You can use your own 3G phone too but it actually works out pricier than renting for local use.

I'll never forget how long it took me to fathom out what Guroburoentafuon charges were on my credit card bill!

pigeonpie

thank you

OH has put in an official request for a Blackberry Bold. If he gets that approved, I believe it's 3G so should work.
many thanks for the advice