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--- mobile_networks_foreign_residents [2026/01/18 22:51] – [MVNOs] particles
+++ mobile_networks_foreign_residents [2026/01/18 22:56] (current) – particles
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   * NTT docomo is a great carrier! I recommend you use the "ahamo" sub-brand, which is online only. ahamo approved me for use within the first four days I lived in Japan with only a 4 month residence card. NTT docomo is also the most seamless in terms of switching SIM cards overseas ("it just works"). I've seen reports of issues with their 5G service, but I have not experienced these issues. They have probably the widest theoretical coverage in the country.
   * Rakuten is the newest MNO. If you have a modern phone with good band support, Rakuten also has an English friendly user interface for signup and management. Rakuten also sends emails with English at the bottom, which is nice. Rakuten is also the cheapest! But it's possible to spend a lot of money with Rakuten if you add on services like voicemail and call plans.
 ===== MVNOs =====
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   * NTT docomo doesn't really have MVNOs that are official sub-brands. They have ahamo, eximo, and irumo. Ahamo plans are online-only administered. Ahamo is specifically different, because you **cannot** use a d garden or many of their in-store services. You're expected to do everything through the ahamo app. But it has the simplest billing structure with no frills and only a couple addons. Eximo is their "normal" plan for normal use with in-store services. It's more expensive. irumo is the budget brand with basically no data. You probably don't want irumo.
   * SoftBank has LINEMO and Y! Mobile. I haven't had experiences with these MVNOs. I don't know if their MNVOs would reject you like I was rejected from SoftBank proper. SoftBank and PayPay have good bonuses tied together.
-  * au has povo 1.0 and 2.0.
   * Rakuten doesn't have MVNOs!
   * **Mobal** is pretty much the de-facto foreigner friendly cell service. It is comparably cheap, but there is a big caveat: it has no overseas support. Which MNO backs you will be up to which type of SIM card you get. The eSIMs are issued by NTT docomo. There are physical SIMs floating around from SoftBank and au, as far as I'm aware. You cannot migrate between them.
+==== povo 2.0 ====
+au has an MVNO brand called povo2.0. They do have povo 1.0, but you can't sign up for it. povo 1.0 is basically just a sub-plan on au, whereas 2.0 is a full blown MVNO. povo2.0 gets the benefits of au's network, and possibly lower data priority, but with the benefit of having a lovely mobile app that allows topping up with a variety of packs. Some of their data packs and call packs are special deals or subsidized by some partners. For example, sometimes a pack includes free data with a certain company.
+I was initially pretty lukewarm on the idea of using povo2.0, but the app really is good. They have data only plans that don't require identity verification, and they have data + call plans that do. The data + call package had me really skeptical at first, but when I went through the signup process I was absolutely shocked that I accidentally signed up for the calling plan because the identity verification was so easy. It was just scanning My Number Card, with no other requirements. I was very happy with it.
+In terms of actual usage, I've had good luck with it everywhere except [[Tokyo DisneySea]]. With that exception, I've been pretty happy. In comparison to my long term experiment on ahamo (a plan for NTT docomo), povo2.0 has been quite good in terms of not dropping connection while on the Marunochi Line. I *have* had issues with docomo completely stopping data transmission while in some areas, where I've had to fallback on Rakuten. Because Rakuten isn't quite the best in terms of data, I would prefer to at least be able to use one other network as a fallback.
+Anyways, povo2.0 gets a thumbs-up from me.
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