A Solution to the False “Unlimited”: Japan Prepaid SIM/Pocket WiFi Service Frequent Misunderstanding (1)

Last time, I posted an article about one of the frequent misunderstandings regarding Japan Prepaid SIM/Pocket WiFi service.
That is, Japan SIM/WiFi providers often use “Unlimited” on their service descriptions but its not necessarily appropriate.
 
More specifically, it just might confuse users because of the following reasons.

• Data transfer speed gets a sharp decrease once a certain amount of data is used within a certain period of days.
• Data transfer speed will be slow as many other people use the same service in the same time.
• Data transfer speed is limited during the peak hours (ex. roughly between 6pm-2am).

In this post, I will try to make a prescription to them.
 
Check out the data transfer speed after the limit
Some providers display the limited transfer speed, the speed after you over the limit of their service conditions.
If you know it before you travel to Japan, you can reasonably select SIM/WiFi according to your travel style.
 

For example.
 

Sourced from: LightPocket Pocket Wi-Fi Rental Product Description
 

The squared part clearly says the transfer speed will be slow to 200Kbps when you use over the data allowance of a day.
In 200Kbps, you can still use Google Maps.
 
However, you had better to use an upgrade class if you want to Skype or watch movies like:
 

Sourced from: LightPocket Pocket Wi-Fi Rental Product Description
 
The squared part clearly says the transfer speed will be slow to 1Mbps when you use over the data allowance of a day.
 
In 1Mbps (1,000Kbps), you of course can use Google Maps stress free.
 

Plus, you can Skype and watch movies (processing might be a bit slow, though).

Good trip starts from good preparation.
Hope your travel in Japan will be memorable.
 

lightpocket

Published: July 29, 2017