Sim card or wifi router?

Beefsteak

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Anyone can advice?
Is it better to buy a prepaid sim card in Japan or rent a wifi router instead?
Length of trip is 12 days and will be travelling solo.
And also considering that I'll be outside and on the move most of the time (more than 10 hours).

My previous experience when using wifi router in other countries is that it needs constant charging and the battery ran out quite fast.

If sim card. Any particular ones to recommend? I will require minimum 12 days of usage.
 

cpuer

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I have good experience with starhub happyroam, 2.4GB for 30days at $15
 

purpleberry

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Is the Starhub prepaid SIM better than the Yokoso SIM?

It's comparable I would say but then again, I dont do lots of heavy browsing while on holiday. If you intend to stay in a hotel, there's a free-to-use handy phone that some hotels are offering with free data and calls.
 

Beefsteak

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Thanks.

Pls correct me if I'm wrong. Lets say I buy a Happy Travel SIM – $32 that comes with FREE 10-day 2GB data. If I want to extend the days or data, I can use the $32 credit to buy a data plan right?

And if I buy a data plan, will it add on to the free 10-day 2GB data or override it?
 

kitkat2

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many places offer discounts for topups. better to get the cheapest $8 happy card and then topup till you have sufficient credit to purchase the right amount of data.

e.g. a new $8 happy card + $10 topup can buy you 3.6gb of data.
 

saffronsatire

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Thanks.

Pls correct me if I'm wrong. Lets say I buy a Happy Travel SIM – $32 that comes with FREE 10-day 2GB data. If I want to extend the days or data, I can use the $32 credit to buy a data plan right?

And if I buy a data plan, will it add on to the free 10-day 2GB data or override it?

the free 10-day 2GB is local data if didn't recall wrongly. so says you travelling from 25 Jan, buy the card at least 10 days earlier and activate it so that you can use the 2GB for 10 days in SG.

separately, the $32 credits are used to buy roaming data. 30-Day 3.6GB costs $20, so you have $12 remaining to buy more data if you need e.g. another 1 GB for either 3 or 7 days (for $5 or $7 respectively).

remaining credits is valid for 6 mths from date of activation to use on future trips by topping up sufficient amount.


some ppl feel the $15 one is slightly more worthwhile as you get $18 credit. i think you can top up a few dollars more to get the 30-Day3.6GB, as some ppl mentioned the remaining value can't be $0, so can't top up exactly $2. i'm not too sure on this.

haha hope i'm correct. i bought the $15 card and the 2.4GB was sufficient for my 12 days trip.
 

Beefsteak

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the free 10-day 2GB is local data if didn't recall wrongly. so says you travelling from 25 Jan, buy the card at least 10 days earlier and activate it so that you can use the 2GB for 10 days in SG.

separately, the $32 credits are used to buy roaming data. 30-Day 3.6GB costs $20, so you have $12 remaining to buy more data if you need e.g. another 1 GB for either 3 or 7 days (for $5 or $7 respectively).

remaining credits is valid for 6 mths from date of activation to use on future trips by topping up sufficient amount.


some ppl feel the $15 one is slightly more worthwhile as you get $18 credit. i think you can top up a few dollars more to get the 30-Day3.6GB, as some ppl mentioned the remaining value can't be $0, so can't top up exactly $2. i'm not too sure on this.

haha hope i'm correct. i bought the $15 card and the 2.4GB was sufficient for my 12 days trip.

The free 10 days 2gb is Roaming data. Yeah the $15 card can save more money I think. I'm also going on 12 days trip.
 

kitkat2

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some ppl feel the $15 one is slightly more worthwhile as you get $18 credit. i think you can top up a few dollars more to get the 30-Day3.6GB, as some ppl mentioned the remaining value can't be $0, so can't top up exactly $2. i'm not too sure on this.

starhub happy with zero balance worked for me in japan and hk.

$8 card + $10 topup with 40% discount costs $14 in total and still gives you 3.6gb.
 
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Beefsteak

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There is also the Datatravel plan for existing starhub postpaid users.
2GB for $15 over 30 days and 3GB for $20 over 30 days
But data is less than their prepaid happy roam plan
 

Kiddream

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Do I need to activate the SIM card in Singapore first? Or can do it overseas?
 

gentoro

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Activate here - 1 month validity unless you planning to go more than 1 month. I activate Datatravel SH for use in Malaysia trip and Jap trip during the same month. More reliable since I need it for my google map and planning the trip as we go.

OT - Of cos, I got the changi wifi router for family to use.
 

Parmesean

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For a solo traveler, a Sim card is definitely a better option, if you aren't a heavy user, you can get away with using your service provider's overseas plan.
 

Beefsteak

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Most likely I'll rely heavily on navigation apps like google maps, navitime, translation apps and also HyperDia as this is my first time to Japan.

Hopefully they don't use up too much data.
 

daranic

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Activate here - 1 month validity unless you planning to go more than 1 month. I activate Datatravel SH for use in Malaysia trip and Jap trip during the same month. More reliable since I need it for my google map and planning the trip as we go.

OT - Of cos, I got the changi wifi router for family to use.

If you activate here before u leave, it will begin the day 1 immediately? Or day 1 only start when you start to surf overseas? The number of days go by calendar day or the time of activation?
 
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