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I'll be spending most of May and half of June in Japan (my first trip to Asia). I have an iPhone 5s and I understand that it won't work in Japan and that I will need to rent a phone while I'm there. I have a few questions.

Will the wi-fi on my iPhone work with hotspots in Japan?

When looking for a rental phone, what should I be searching for?

If you have experience traveling in Japan, what advice can you give me?

Thanks.

**Leigh

When you say "I understand that..." From whom did you hear this?

If it was from anyone other than your service provider, I would call them immediately.

Last time I was in Europe, my provider had to flip a few switches to enable service for me—took a phone call.

OTOH, last time I was in Alaska, my phone worked and my buddy's didn't.

When my daughter goes to Rio or Paris, I call our telephone company (AT&T, usually) and within a few minutes she's set up for service in those places. However, even with the best deals they offer, it's still VERY expensive to use their service for long. She always ends up buying a burner for calls and texts when she's going to be there for a year or so.

Just outside of Rio, a mob of street kids attacked her for her iPhone. She fended them off and kept her purse, but they got her phone. (she's pretty fierce, but was greatly outnumbered) Of course, as soon as she could contact me, I bricked her phone. So, there's that, too. Better to have a burner than your iPhone if you get mugged. But the iPhone should work fine for WiFi, no matter where you are. It's just a matter of knowing the password.

Shooshie

Look on the web site for your service provider and see if they mention roaming service in Japan. I'll bet they do. They will probably have some plan that includes a rate for roaming in Japan that they compare to a per minute rate. If so, you phone will work in Japan. The issue will be price. Next step is to find someone in Japan that will sell you a SIM on a monthly basis. If you've booked through a travel agent, you might find they have access to cheap plans for visitors.