Does AT&T work in Japan?
Are you travelling to Japan and are wondering whether you can access service, make and receive calls and send and receive texts while using AT&T? Then you have come to the right place. In this article, we will evaluate whether AT&T works in Japan and look into AT&T’s global roaming packages.
AT&T is committed to being among the leading global networking service provider in the Japanese telecommunications market. Generally, AT&T has been operating in Japan since 1982, providing high quality networking and data communication services to multiple organizations. That said, AT&T works pretty well in Japan but international roaming may cost you a fortune during your trip.
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So, what else should you know about AT&T service in Japan?
The good thing is that AT&T phones and plans work virtually anywhere around the world including in Japan. The only problem is that you would end up a hefty price to enjoy this convenience. As a matter of fact, if you are travelling to Japan you would forgo roaming with your AT&T service all together, or you can always find multiple other options.
Nowadays, your phone is not just a device that allows you to send and receive texts, or make and receive calls, as it serves as a travel tool that ensures maximum convenience for tasks such as helping you decide where you would want to go, finding your way around the not-so-familiar streets in Japan and it also allows you to purchase train and museum tickets without having to go through the hassle of standing in line and to help you post pictures on your social media to share with your friends and family. Multiple applications such as Facebook, Yelp, Google Maps and WhatsApp among others can be quite useful for you if you are travelling abroad. However, none of these would be possible without having access to the internet and you wouldn’t be able to make any calls or send texts when you are not subscribed to an international phone plan under AT&T.
The main problem with AT&T is that international roaming rates cost you a ton and it is quite frustrating because you may definitely prefer paying high data usage rates that standing in line to get your tickets or access any services. Let us take a look at the international roaming rates. If you have not made any arrangements with AT&T, it would cost you about $3.00 every minute including tax and data roaming will be around $20 per MB. This means that your data has the potential to add up to $2000 for only 1GB of data and that’s just without tax, which is quite the price! The good thing is that you can freely subscribe to a global roaming package to cut on these costs.
What are AT&T’s global roaming packages that you can use when travelling to Japan?
You will find about 3 global roaming packages under AT&T when you want to travel abroad, that is, the Passport Pro, the Passport Plus and the Passport.
The Passport plan offers you call rates of $1.00 per minute for any calls you make and receive and approximately 120 MB of data. Unfortunately, 120 MB is not so much and it is quite easy for you to go over the limit if you are suing your device for multiple services including navigation and internet browsing amongst other things so you may need to be very careful about the usage.
The Passport Plus, on the other hand, offers you call rates of $0.50 per minute for every call you make and receive and about 300 MB of data at about $50-$60 for the whole package. The Passport Pro would cost you about $120 per month and you would get 800 MB of data and enjoy a call rate of $0.35 per minute. On of the best things about all these three packages is that they all offer unlimited text messaging so you don’t really have to worry much about that.
A summary Table
AT&T Phone Plan |
Travelling to Japan without a phone plan |
Passport Phone Plan |
Passport Plus Phone Plan |
Passport Pro Phone Plan |
General price |
Charged according to how you use your phone and could be excessive at times |
$30 every month |
$60 every month |
$120 every month |
Data |
$19.97 per MB |
120 MB |
300 MB |
800 MB |
Sending and receiving text messages |
$0. 50 for every text message
$1.30 for picture and video messages |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Wi-Fi costs |
No charges |
No charges |
No charges |
No charges |
Voice calls |
$1.50 for every minute |
$1.00 for every minute |
$0.50 for every minute |
$0.35 for every minute |
Are there any other options aside from international roaming?
Based on all options that exist, the least costly way of using your phone in Japan is to use a local SIM card. Call rates are quite chap per minute to make any outgoing calls and incoming calls are free. In addition, data speeds are much faster and a lot more inexpensive as compared to any international data plan by AT&T or roaming without a plan. Also, you get the chance to have a local number while in Japan.
Final Thoughts
To sum it up, we can establish that AT&T works seamlessly in Japan but is only a great investment if you have subscribed to one of the three global roaming packages. In addition, you would need to be extremely careful when it comes to data usage and you may want to avoid using your phone too much as the best way to avoid paying high premiums. However, if you would want to enjoy your trip to Japan without having to constantly worry about unexpected roaming fees, then try getting a local SIM card to meet all your telecommunication and network needs.
FAQs
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How can I activate international roaming on AT&T?
You would need to contact AT&T’s customer service department on 1-800-331-0500, so that they can turn on the international roaming feature on your mobile phone account.
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How can I avoid international roaming charges with AT&T?
You would need to ensure that your phone is constantly on airplane mode.