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We have a T-Mobile (USA) plan that allows for international roaming in Japan. How does the service perform in Tokyo and Osaka?

I am choosing between this or paying for a sim for my unlocked phone in Japan, so I would also be interested in information about carriers for a Japan sim for comparison.

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    Why put on Hold? This question is easily answered based on experience. You're really doing a disservice by closing this. Seriously.
    – DTRT
    Commented May 31, 2017 at 13:41
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    Sorry, this question was wrongly closed so...T-Mobile service works pretty much as advertised in Japan (and China). It's basically minimum 2G so if something higher is available, the phone will connect to that so if you see 4G or LTE, it is still included in the plan. The only odd thing I noticed was sometimes the data connection took longer to 'activate' but it eventually did. Keep in mind, WiFi is prevalent enough to make WiFi Calling easily achievable if you really need voice. Anything over WiFi acts just as if you were home.
    – DTRT
    Commented May 31, 2017 at 13:49

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We used T-mobile in Japan last fall, and it worked fine for our needs. Technically the "free" data plan is only 2G but you get often decent speeds since you get automatically upgraded to 3G where 2G isn't available. Plenty of data for using maps & navigation all over Japan including Tokyo and Osaka and also some out of the way mountain villages.

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    The term "2G" could be little bit confusing here. You might still connected to a 4G/3G network but the speed is throttled to emulate 2G/EDGE performance.
    – KH.Lee
    Commented May 31, 2017 at 6:33
  • True, but in our experience it worked quite well
    – Hilmar
    Commented May 31, 2017 at 21:32
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T-Mobile service works pretty much as advertised in Japan (and China) on the T-Mobile One plan. The first time you connect in a region, you'll get a text from T-Mobile detailing the benefits.

It's basically minimum 2G so if something higher is available, the phone will connect to that so if you see 4G or LTE, it is still included in the plan. General data stuff, Facebook, Skype, Pokémon Go, etc all worked fine. I did not try YouTube off Wifi but videos on Facebook played pretty much normal. The AppStore was a bit sketchy so if you really need to install or update, find WiFi.

The only odd thing I noticed was sometimes the data connection took longer to activate but it eventually did.

Also, keep in mind WiFi is prevalent enough to make WiFi Calling easily achievable if you really need voice. Anything over WiFi acts just as if you were home. Note, you do need a T-Mobile branded phone to use WiFi Calling.

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