vB Easy Archive - Using Moto e815 in Japan?

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Using Moto e815 in Japan?
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Posted by: alexk629

Hi Folks:

I'm traveling to Japan in October, and I'm wondering if my Verizon Moto e815 will work there? Anyone know?

Thanks --

Alex

Posted by: choco_bunny

it will NOT work in Japan. Ur best bet for making calls in Japan is picking up a prepaid phone (u will need an address in Japan but they accept hotel addreses...) or doing a rental at the airport. I'm not sure about Verizon and wether or not they have roaming/rental agreements in Japan or not but I do know that ur CDMA handset will NOT work. Hope this helps a lil

Posted by: nokiaman76

Best to get a unlocked cheap gsm phone and then get a pre paid sim card over there would be alot cheaper .

Posted by: choco_bunny

absolutely...it would be free actually, but only because its imposible to do that

Prepaid SIMs do not exist, and right now ur limited to gettin a prepaid fone on the currently Vodafone, soon to be SoftBank Mobile network.

most of the info u will need can be found here-> http://www.vodafone.jp/scripts/english/top.jsp

EDIT: Forgot to add that u can pick these prepaid phones up when u arrive at Narita, or at any Vodafone store, but I found that the Voda store in Tokyo Station has (or had anyway) a very nice young lady (plenty of them in Japan) that is basically fluent in English (not so many of em in Japan

but they do try). It is not really that hard to get a phone if u have ur passport and all with u and about an hour to kill waitin for the slo azz vodafone network to process the activation...that said 1 hr is nothin when u've got thousands of hot Japanese girls wandering thru the station..hehehe
hope this clears up everything

Quote:

Originally Posted by nokiaman76

Best to get a unlocked cheap gsm phone and then get a pre paid sim card over there would be alot cheaper .

Posted by: bnchester

GSM does NOT work in Japan, but get an unlocked 3g handset and put your SIM card in there and you're good to go. I do this with a Motorola A835.

Posted by: mrcrispin

You can rent a phone in Japan, but it is no long possible for tourists or other non-resident foreigners (that is, who do not have an Alien Registration Card) to get prepaid or monthly service in Japan.

You can thank the [censored] who used prepaid phones for illicit purposes, and perception that foreigners represented a non-trivial percentage of these [censored]. Japan has always been a country that imposes draconian restrictions in response to perceived problems, especially when foreigners are involved.

15 years ago, all high-denomination prepaid phone cards for payphones were terminated, and international phone calls were blocked at almost all payphones, for the same reason. I remember quite well the groups of individuals from a certain Middle Eastern country hanging out by the entrance to Ueno Park offering hacked phone cards for sale.

In April 2005, prepaid phone service was cut off for everybody who did not present one of the approved forms of identification. A foreign passport by itself is not sufficient.

Then in April 2006, all new monthly contracts also require the the same identification; previously, it was possible to get a monthly contract with just a credit card. Currently, existing monthly contract customers are being grandfathered, but they can't make any changes (including getting a new phone!) that would start a new contract.

A foreign passport is sufficient to rent a phone at the airport at very high prices. Alternatively, if you have a W-CDMA capable phone (this is not the same as US CDMA) then Vodafone (soon to be Softbank) will rent you a USIM card for it for a very reasonable rate. Similarly, a T-Mobile or Cingular SIM card in a W-CDMA phone will roam in Japan; AFAIK Verizon's world phone SIM card will not.

Posted by: tetsujin5000

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrcrispin

Similarly, a T-Mobile or Cingular SIM card in a W-CDMA phone will roam in Japan; AFAIK Verizon's world phone SIM card will not.

I'm wondering if the converse is true re: the Cingular SIM. My wife was back home in JPN for a few months and got an AU SE W41S, and brought it with her to the US. We'd like to use it though I realize it is a WCMDA phone. Would it have to be reprogrammed for use with Verizon or Sprint (not that they'd do it)? Can we just stick a Cingular SIM in the slot and use it here?

Posted by: GuyinLACA

From what I understand, Japan's CDMA technology is reversed somehow from ours and that the two forms of CDMA are incompatible.

Posted by: char777

RESURRECTION!

So, if I get this right, a phone with UMTS will work, yes? Can I use a UMTS Cingular/at&t phone then, or would I have to get an unlocked one?

Posted by: bnchester

Any phone with WCDMA should work. I think UMTS is the same things as WCDMA (http://www.umtsworld.com/technology/wcdma.htm). In fact I think if the phone claims "3G" in general it should work, but WCDMA is the most reliable thing to look for. I regularly use a RAZR V3x and Blackberry 8707v in Japan with no problems (also used to use a Motorola A835 but it was a battery vampire). I regularly use both in Japan with my US T-Mobile SIM card, and had to buy both handsets unlocked on eBay at full price because T-Mobile in the US was not selling (and is still not, to my knowledge) 3G-capable phones here.

It is NOT just a question of unlocking. You need a 3G-capable phone that is unlocked. The poster from last year who said to get an unlocked GSM phone didn't have a clue -- Japan does not have GSM. Any 3G phone will also have GSM, though, and uses the same SIM card.

A regular CDMA phone such as from Verizon will definitely not work. Even their new "global" Blackberry 8830 does not work there.

(As an aside, having read this thread end-to-end, Verizon's global phone SIM card does work in Japan in a WCDMA handset, at least my wife's does.)

Let us know what you decide!

Posted by: char777

Quote:

Originally Posted by bnchester

Any phone with WCDMA should work. I think UMTS is the same things as WCDMA (http://www.umtsworld.com/technology/wcdma.htm). In fact I think if the phone claims "3G" in general it should work, but WCDMA is the most reliable thing to look for. I regularly use a RAZR V3x and Blackberry 8707v in Japan with no problems (also used to use a Motorola A835 but it was a battery vampire). I regularly use both in Japan with my US T-Mobile SIM card, and had to buy both handsets unlocked on eBay at full price because T-Mobile in the US was not selling (and is still not, to my knowledge) 3G-capable phones here.

It is NOT just a question of unlocking. You need a 3G-capable phone that is unlocked. The poster from last year who said to get an unlocked GSM phone didn't have a clue -- Japan does not have GSM. Any 3G phone will also have GSM, though, and uses the same SIM card.

A regular CDMA phone such as from Verizon will definitely not work. Even their new "global" Blackberry 8830 does not work there.

(As an aside, having read this thread end-to-end, Verizon's global phone SIM card does work in Japan in a WCDMA handset, at least my wife's does.)

Let us know what you decide!

So, it must be unlocked....can I use it with at&t service I am planning on purchasing soon? I.E., could I roam with a RAZR V3xx from at&t in Japan just like I would in a GSM country?

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