Zen SIM for Japan | High Speed, Flexible Data from 500MB to 5GB (Sold Separately)

I ordered two of these, one for my brother and I, for when we want to Japan during January. Both of our phones are unlocked (we own them flat out. This must be the case for the SIM to work). Zen SIM worked just fine with my phone, a Oneplus 6, but did not work with his iPhone 6S. I knew at the time of purchase that every phone is built to communicate in certain frequencies. If your phone cannot pick up the frequency that the carrier uses, there will be no way for it to access information transmitted by the service provider. I did not even look into this for his phone, as I made the assumption it would work with an iPhone. However, it turns out that out iPhones are constructed with the frequency each carrier who originally sells it requires, so they do not communicate on every frequency universally like I assumed. Whoops! So, it did not work with his phone at all. I did check with mine, and it worked fine. Be very careful and confirm these will work before you purchase (call your service provider if you need). Thankfully Zen SIM does not allow you to purchase data unless your phone is already communicating with the SIM. Once you're sure the SIM is compatible, the last thing to do is configure the APN (Access Point Name). If you don't know how to configure an APN, it may take you around 20 or so minutes to figure out on the first try (even though it's usually a 3 step process!) Remain patient, and call ZenSIM if you must. I recommend configuring the SIM before you land in Japan. I purchased 1 GB of data at 1500 yen for a two week trip. Just using Google Maps, this almost did not last. My recommendation is to completely turn off data when you do not need (and just purchase more data if you must). Overall, the data coverage was very good. It worked far north in Akita, far south in Nagasaki, and I never had zero bars. So no need to worry about patchy coverage. Probably a good note to add; this SIM is not reusable. A certain amount of time after use, the Zen SIM card permanently shuts down and cannot be reused. For your next trip, you must purchase another SIM card. This very common with Japanese companies, and happened to me with my Mobal SIM card last time I went. Many Japanese companies request the return of their SIM cards (like Sakura Mobile). This is a pain that Zen SIM doesn't make you experience. Overall, I think this is an extremely good option for short trips to Japan. It is cheap, and easy to set up (compared to other popular Japanese SIMs that I have used like Mobal/SoftBank and SakuraMobal). It is not cheaper per GB of data you get but you do not need that much data while only traveling, and it saves quite the headache.

Having read about idiosyncratic situation with voice and data in Japan, I was quite anxious about nasty surprises and lack of connectivity. Well, using Zen SIM made the experience actually much better than that with many other countries! This is really how setting up a SIM card for another country should be. You order the card via Amazon, get it 2 days later. There is a carrier provided app that registers the card and - most importantly - allows picking an activation date upon which the card would start working. Pick the date, top it up (right via the app) - you are done! No magic text messages with passport number sent to provider in order to activate (hello, Costa Rica!), no guy in a booth juggling multiple phones for 30 minutes in order to activate the card. No magic APN setup (the app does it automatically). It JUST WORKS. Oh, and did I mention that 4G connectivity was available pretty much everywhere, including mid-way up the slopes of Mount Fuji? Two necessary disclaimers: Japan laws do prohibit selling voice plans for non-residents, so your card will offer only data, no voice. This was not a problem for my family: we used WhatsApp to talk to each other and Skype to call the landline (Skype does need a credit in order to make such calls). The other warning is about LTE bands: to ensure 4G connectivity check the bands Zen SIM uses and make sure your phone supports them. Bottom line: if you travel to Japan, look no further!

Used it on a family trip to Japan and used it all over Tokyo and Mt. Fuji area. For the most part, it worked pretty well. The only quirk I found was sometimes Google Maps would take a while to detect the internet connection, which tells me it was probably too slow, but after a few attempts it would work. The main reason I needed this was for communication, so for that reason it worked great. My family installed the LINE app on our phones, and used that to call each other whenever we needed to. The best part, I was able to activate it ahead of time. So I was able to use it as soon as we landed in Japan and got off the plan. It did not work for us while we were in the air over Japan, or while still on the plane, so don't freak out if this happens to you. If you did everything correctly, then it will work as soon as you step off the flight. (May require a reboot of your phone). So all in all, for the price, length of time it lasted, and Data allotment, this was the best SIM card available in Japan that will work. (Of course your phone has to be unlocked and able to use this type of Data network). This saved a huge load off our worries. Tips: If you don't want to buy a SIM ahead of time, the airport will have prepaid SIM cards available at their stores and some Kiosks. It will be a bit pricier though for a lot less time and Data. There are also some phone carriers at the airport, which sell them at a better rate, though I didn't really look into it since I was already good with this one. Lastly, for securities sake, remember to install and use a VPN software on your phone whenever you use Wifi. That's all I have. Best of luck on your trip.

Installed fine in iPhone X. LTE works but iMessage will not send. Japan phone number appears in light gray text, not black like other contact numbers/email in message settings. UPDATE- After 2 hours in two Apple support calls, it is not possible to get messaging to work with this SIM card. Yet my daughter, with same model iPhone, got it to work right away with a different brand of SIM card. So, my advice is avoid this product. UPDATE 2 - About 30 hours after installing the SIM card, suddenly texting to other Apple devices has started working. No idea what changed. I don't / didn't expect SMS to work, but iCloud messaging just started working. Update 11/6/2019 Got 2 of these. In Japan, put one in an iPhone 8 and the other in an iPhone XS. The iPhone 8 worked, the XS never did. So we were stuck with a very expensive Verizon bill for the XS. The XS had a Verizon standard plan installed as a "soft SIM" (eSIM). That Verizon service works fine in the USA and in Japan, but costs $10/day in Japan. However, putting the eConnect Zen SIM in the XS could not be made to work. The chip was recognized, Docomo thought it was activated, but it would not connect to data. Multiple cycles of running around with support, removing the chip and reinstalling, etc. never got it working. Too bad because it worked well in the iPhone 8. Very expensive mistake.

Bought 2 - 1 for unlocked iPhone which worked fine, 1 for mobile router (Huawei one) for data which just didn't work. When I contacted them (and asked for the refund of the plan I've already paid) they asked for photos of the SIM card and package that came in, and this and that, which was rather frustrating when you are on the road traveling, and you don't have an internet access you intended to get with their service to begin with. I had Amazon order # and everything, and they should have been able to see that I was unable to use any of the data I purchased, and yet having to manually send these info back and forth was just not what we wanted. They were trying to be nice and requested these info so they can try and work out what's wrong and possibly solve the problem, which may be fine in the usual context, however we only had limited number of days in Japan and desperately needed the internet connection, so had to get another plan from a different company while they were still trying to sort out the problem. If the service is catered for travelers, perhaps trouble shooting process should be a bit simpler and fast. On the positive note, I did get a full refund on the plan as well as the SIM I bought, and I had no problem with my unlocked iPhone.

I bought this SIM card after seeing many of the reviews here and decided to get it for a trip, and it was a really value. After ordering, you get the SIM, you can install the eConnect app, and after that it's really easy to set up and start using it. You can top up after your plan is over, and monitor how much data have you used so far. As far as speed goes, they were on par with what you'd expect on many carriers, and not once did I had slow speeds or dropped connection, it was quite reliable all the time. Only thing I'd say is that if you're planning on staying without data for a day, so that your last days can fit within the plan period, it won't quite work, as they count from the previous ending day of your plan. Other than that, I'd totally recommend this if you're going to Japan and can't justify paying a crazy amount of money as some carriers want for barely a few MBs of data.

Having a very difficult experience on our last trip to Japan without speedy internet (our mobile service provides 128k service for free, but it's good for nothing), I purchased a mobile wifi cellular hotspot (4g/LTE Netgear Unlocked mobile hotspot) and this Zen Simcard with the hopes of having speedy cellular internet upon landing in Japan. The bad: (reasons why I'm giving it two stars) 1. The app that I downloaded off the app store crashed upon payment. Econnect Japan charged my credit card but did not activate my card. 2. After many configuration attempts to get the sim card to work (mostly having to do with configuring APN login/password), I did get the SIM card to be recognized on the network, but said I hadn't paid for any service. I paid AGAIN (now a second time) and I did get it to work and started to get internet service 3. Once activated, Between Downtown Osaka, Universal Studios Japan, and Miyajima, my internet "fast" internet service did not exceed .5Mbps. (1/2 Megabit per second) on the Docomo network. Conversely, my friend who lives in Japan was getting 17+ Mbps on Docomo right beside me. My kids who have Sprint, got Softbank data for free while in Japan were getting 10+Mbps. The good: 1. Their email based troubleshooting contact was somewhat timely in returning technical support questions 2, After investigation, they did refund me my first payment that I was charged, but got no service for. Note: I did not insert into my iPhone - it was a 4g LTE mobile hotspot, but they claim that works just fine and all other reviews for the Netgear hotspot state they had no issues. Would I purchase again? No. Did it provide marginal service and difficult setup? Yes.

Zen Sim, eConnect is a MVNO (Mobile virtual network operator) that uses NTT DoCoMo which is like the "Verizon of Japan" I had no problems and the 4G connection was great, even in Northern countryside of Japan. I have to say I'm very impressed with how clean the packaging/presentation and how the app/ease of tracking your data usage and reloading more data/subscription all through the app. I love that you can also manage multiple sim cards with one phone; I bought several of these and I gave one to my mother, where I could easily renew her subscription right from my phone without having to grab her phone. Price is not bad. This is just for the sim card. You have to select/purchase a data plan after. For 7 Days with 500 MB, it's about 900 Yen or $8 For 15 Days with 1 GB, it's about 1500 Yen or $13 For 30 Days with 2 GB, it's about 2500 Yen or $22 For 30 Days with 3 GB, it's about 3500 Yen or $30 For 30 Days with 5 GB, it's about 5500 Yen or $48 Personally, unless you're video calling or streaming videos all the time, 5 GB is pretty overkill for a month. It's a lot better than wasting time buying it at the airport. I like that you can queue plan/data for the next plan, so I was able to keep using this continuously for several months. I've purchased these multiple times and I never had issues every time I visit Japan. Make sure you set it up before flying to Japan, so you can just load up the sim and start using it right away when you get there. Customer service replies pretty promptly and it seems it's always the same guy responding named Shuhei Koyama. Pros: - Uses NTT DoCoMo (which is like the Verizon of Japan/largest network - Nice packaging/presentation/app - Easy to renew/add/check data usage - Can manage multiple sim card accounts/plans with one phone. - Reasonable data plan prices - Love 1 month plan Cons: - Once sim plan expires completely, you can't/they won't reactivate it anymore (It stinks having to purchase the sim card over and over again, but I guess that's how they make their money)