UK Orange 3G Phone in Japan

Does anyone know if a UK 3G Orange phone will work in Japan. The web sites I
look at give conflicting views on this.

Martin.

On 2007-10-03, Martin Carr <martin.carr@carrs-silverware.co.uk> wrote:
> Does anyone know if a UK 3G Orange phone will work in Japan. The web sites I
> look at give conflicting views on this.

European 3G phones will get roaming service in Japan, if that's
what you are asking about, though you may be restricted to Softbank's
coverage (apparently NTT DoCoMo's UMTS service is a pre-standard version,
and not all phones can deal with it). I don't know about roaming
with Orange in particular, but I can't imagine why they'd be an
exception.

If you are instead asking whether you can put a Japanese SIM in the
UK 3G phone and have it work, I don't know the answer to that. I'm
pretty sure Japanese mobile operators don't sell SIM cards without
a phone, so if you buy local phone service you always end up with
a local phone to go with it.

Dennis Ferguson

"Martin Carr" <martin.carr@carrs-silverware.co.uk> wrote in message
news:13g6ufv9ipsom44@corp.supernews.com...
> Does anyone know if a UK 3G Orange phone will work in Japan. The web sites
> I look at give conflicting views on this.
>
> Martin.
>
>

According to Orange, Yes if it's a contract phone and No if it's a PAYG. The
link below is to the Orange website

http://www.tiny.cc/Khc8f

HTH

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:04:41 GMT, Dennis Ferguson <dcferguson@pacbell.net> wrote:
>If you are instead asking whether you can put a Japanese SIM in the
>UK 3G phone and have it work, I don't know the answer to that. I'm
>pretty sure Japanese mobile operators don't sell SIM cards without
>a phone, so if you buy local phone service you always end up with
>a local phone to go with it.

Which might be quite useless to the OP unless either the phone's UI can be
switched to English or he can read Japanese.

--
-- Michael "Soruk" McConnell Eridani Star System
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> European 3G phones will get roaming service in Japan, if that's
> what you are asking about, though you may be restricted to Softbank's
> coverage (apparently NTT DoCoMo's UMTS service is a pre-standard version,
> and not all phones can deal with it). I don't know about roaming
> with Orange in particular, but I can't imagine why they'd be an
> exception.

The orange web site seems to think that NTT network will work
http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Sat...=1122896677929

However, it also states
http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Sat...arg3=&x=18&y=9

that the softbank will not work without a local phone and your orange SIM in
it.

Are 3G phones not standard?

Martin.

On 2007-10-04, Martin Carr <martin.carr@carrs-silverware.co.uk> wrote:
>> European 3G phones will get roaming service in Japan, if that's
>> what you are asking about, though you may be restricted to Softbank's
>> coverage (apparently NTT DoCoMo's UMTS service is a pre-standard version,
>> and not all phones can deal with it). I don't know about roaming
>> with Orange in particular, but I can't imagine why they'd be an
>> exception.
>
> The orange web site seems to think that NTT network will work
> http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Sat...=1122896677929
>
> However, it also states
> http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Sat...arg3=&x=18&y=9
>
> that the softbank will not work without a local phone and your orange SIM in
> it.

That's strange. Softbank definitely provides UMTS service and it definitely
works for roaming with foreign phones. See, for example, here:

http://www.wireless.att.com/travelgu...1.69&x=33&y=10

> Are 3G phones not standard?

The 3G stuff was originally developed in Japan by NTT, but got
changed a bit in the process of ETSI and ITU standardisation. NTT
had deployed a pre-ITU-standard network that was well-known for not
quite working with some standard 3G phones, though I've not spent
time there for a few years and for all I know they've fixed that
by now (though there's still North America, of course, where the 3G
is standard but runs on non-standard frequencies).

Note that, like the UK, 3G in Japan is only well-deployed in the
cities. Away from there the coverage is all PDC or CDMA, for which
a local phone is definitely needed.

Dennis Ferguson

On 2007-10-04, Soruk <soruk@bitbucket.eridani.co.uk> wrote:
> On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:04:41 GMT, Dennis Ferguson <dcferguson@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>If you are instead asking whether you can put a Japanese SIM in the
>>UK 3G phone and have it work, I don't know the answer to that. I'm
>>pretty sure Japanese mobile operators don't sell SIM cards without
>>a phone, so if you buy local phone service you always end up with
>>a local phone to go with it.
>
> Which might be quite useless to the OP unless either the phone's UI can be
> switched to English or he can read Japanese.

I've not yet seen a Japanese phone that couldn't be switched to English
menus, though the trick is to get them to change it before you leave the
store since navigating the Japanese menus to find the option yourself
is often near impossible (the same issue occurs with phones bought in
Hong Kong, actually).

I'd be inclined to use the Japanese phone if I had one even with the
Japanese UI, however, since the 3G coverage isn't that extensive and
the local phone will still have service outside of that. Dialing and
answering calls is about the same in any language.

Dennis Ferguson

martin.carr@carrs-silverware.co.uk declared for all the world to hear...
> Does anyone know if a UK 3G Orange phone will work in Japan. The web sites I
> look at give conflicting views on this.

Yes it will, as long as you have a USIM not a SIM and have roaming
enabled on your account.
--
Regards
Jon

What is the difference between a USIM and SIM?

Martin.

"Jon" <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.216f509be7e05a5b98ac9d@text.usenet.plus.n et...
> martin.carr@carrs-silverware.co.uk declared for all the world to hear...
>> Does anyone know if a UK 3G Orange phone will work in Japan. The web
>> sites I
>> look at give conflicting views on this.
>
> Yes it will, as long as you have a USIM not a SIM and have roaming
> enabled on your account.
> --
> Regards
> Jon

martin.carr@carrs-silverware.co.uk declared for all the world to hear...
> > Yes it will, as long as you have a USIM not a SIM and have roaming
> > enabled on your account.

> What is the difference between a USIM and SIM?

Please don't top-post, it's just not the done thing.

A USIM is an "upgraded" version of the SIM which can do things like
store multiple numbers per name for one. On the Orange UK network you
need a USIM to have access to 3G services.
--
Regards
Jon