RetireJapan

With my free year with Rakuten Mobile expiring at the end of the month I have been looking into the best deals out there and here is what I found works best with my iPhone XS that has both a seem and an esim:
- Rakuten Mobile sim for calls: free up to 1Gb of data, unlimited free calls if you use the dedicated app
- IIJMio esim data contract: 4Gb/month for ¥660 (incl. tax) or 8Gb/month for ¥1100, I'll see how much I need.

On top of being the cheapest deal I could find, I end up with unlimited free calls and data on the Docomo network instead of the Rakuten Network which means better coverage.

Any phone with esim+sim (iPhone after iPhone Xs) or with two esims would work. Rakuten Mobile also offers esim, but IIJMio prices are higher if you use their sim instead of their esim so dual sim phones would get a worse deal.

edit: I forgot, IIJMio as a 3300¥ initial subscription fee but you can get a signup kit for 330¥ on Amazon that waves the initial fee
Thank you for adding the page of IIJmio esim contracts https://www.iijmio.jp/hdc/spec/
¥1650 for 20Gb at the max

I`m using IIJMio too (20GB plan voice+data). They have an interesting campaign going on until the 31th of March, but only for new users.
If you change from other company while keeping the same phone number, you only pay half of the initial fees (1,500 yen instead of 3,000 yen), and you can buy a entry model smartphone for 110 yen (I chose the Redmi 9T). They also have other smartphones on sale for this campaign (Iphone too if Im not wrong).

pfdsa wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:37 am I`m using IIJMio too (20GB plan voice+data).

I too have this plan and the Docomo network is excellent. I spend a lot of time in and around the mountains of Nagano/Niigata and never have issues... It's cheap too! I think I pay something like ¥2400 a month... I need the 20GB of data as I tether my laptop to my phone at work so I can browse reddit, I mean, research important stuff... Works like a charm!

Mineo isn't bad, but not as good as your plans.

5GB data&voice ¥1600

Is this what you've been looking at?

https://www.iijmio.jp/hdc/spec/

What price do these plan may cost a couple who actually use less than 1 GB cellular data each, but calls to phone numbers, mostly for longer than 5 minutes. We currently pay YMobile at least 4712 yen every month for our SIM only, up to 3GB data + up to 10 min call, we own our handsets outright. We don't even use 1GB data as we are almost always within WiFi covered area.

Then get Rakuten Mobile contracts
unlimited free calls and free until 1Gb

My wife and I ditched our previous Softbank plans for povo 2.0 plans, which is free + top-ups (3Gb for 30 days 990 yen, 1Gb 1 week 400 yen, use all you want for 24 hours Y330 etc, calls are 5mn unlimited for Y550 yen, etc).

We use Line or Messenger for calls to family/friends, so we've never actually used the call top-up. I find 3Gb more than enough for a month even out with the kids when they want to be watching Youtube while waiting at the store etc.

Got a Y1 phone (iPhone 13) for my son, and he's now on the same plan.

The phone bill for the three of us combined was Y800 yen last month.

I made the same post several times, so wanted to but can not delete my own post!

Therefore, making a new inquiry for those who know:

Can I use time limited Rakuten points to pay for Rakuten credit card? if not, where to use them?