Klook Japan 4G SIM Card Review – Cheapest SIM Card With Unlimited 4G Data For 8 Days

For my recent trip to Tokyo, I bought a 4G SIM card with unlimited data from Klook. Among all the SIM cards I found online, this provided the best value and had the lowest price. It almost sounded too good to be true, and initially I was a little worried that it would not work properly. Luckily, my worries turned out to be unfounded and I enjoyed great connectivity throughout my holiday. This article was last updated on 08 November 2019.

Klook Japan 4G SIM Card (JP pick up)

When I was planning my Tokyo trip, I looked online to find the most suitable Japan SIM card. I came across several options on Lazada and Qoo10, but the Klook SIM card was the best deal. It provides internet data throughout Japan, and the provider is NTT Docomo.

There are three types of SIM cards:

• 1GB Data For 6 Days (USD10)
• 3GB Data For 8 Days (USD15)
• Unlimited 4G Data For 8 Days (USD22)

“1GB Data For 6 Days” and “3GB Data For 8 Days” SIM Cards

For the 1GB and 3GB SIM cards, you get to enjoy 4G data for 6 days and 8 days respectively. After you finish using the 4G data, you will still get to use unlimited 200kbps data.

To get an idea of how fast (or slow) this speed is, “200kbps” means you can download 200KB of data per second, which is equivalent to 12MB per minute. A website like Facebook has a page size of about 1.4MB, while this article has a similar size of about 1.5MB. This means technically you would need about 7 to 8 seconds to load each of these two websites. This may be unacceptably slow by today’s internet speed standards, but at least you would still have internet access.

Note that both SIM cards above do not allow you to make calls or send SMS.

“Unlimited 4G Data For 8 Days” SIM Card

our unlimited data SIM cards

For the Unlimited Data SIM card, you get to enjoy unlimited 4G data for 8 days! I bought two of these SIM cards for the wife and me.  The choice was pretty obvious to me. For just a small premium, I would get to enjoy unlimited data throughout my trip!

What’s more, this was the cheapest unlimited 4G data SIM card I could find online. Since my holiday was also for 8 days, it was perfect for me.

This SIM card does not allow for making or receiving calls. However this was not a big problem for me since I didn’t have the need to make any calls in Japan. As for calling back to Singapore, I can always use Whatsapp or Facebook voice calls.

There is a small (and rather amusing) caveat: once you use more than 30GB*, the data speed will be reduced to 3G. Well, honestly I think it would be really difficult to use even 10GB in 8 days.

*I was informed by one reader that actually most (or all) local SIM cards in Japan will get their speed reduced to 3G once the data usage hits about 5GB, and not 30GB. I didn’t experience this, probably because I didn’t hit the limit, so I cannot verify if this is indeed the case.

**I did a quick search online and found that Japan is indeed governed by a “Fair Usage Policy”. This is basically a way for the network providers to force customers to use mobile data in moderation. I am not sure what is the “official” limit, but it is true that once a certain threshold is crossed, the speed will be throttled, leading to significantly slower connectivity. Like I mentioned I didn’t experience any throttling, but if you plan to use data heavily you might want to take note of this!

Fast and Reliable Internet!

as you can tell the wife and I were visibly pleased with our SIM cards

Both our SIM cards worked perfectly! We enjoyed strong connectivity throughout the trip, even when we went to further areas like Lake Kawaguchi.

We were connected to the 4G network most of the time. In areas with poorer connectivity like train tunnels or basements, we would still be connected to the 3G network.

How to Buy

The Klook counter at Haneda Airport

1. First, I went to the Klook Japan 4G SIM Card website.

2. Next, I selected the Unlimited 4G data SIM card, and indicated the date and quantity. After my purchase, Klook emailed me the voucher. With this voucher, I would need to collect my SIM card at the airport in Japan on my day of arrival.

The voucher was also immediately uploaded into my Klook App under “bookings”. I personally find this app to be very useful because all my Klook bookings are consolidated in one place.

3. After arriving at the Haneda Airport International Terminal, I went to find the counter to collect our SIM cards. This was a breeze. I followed the Klook website directions and went to the exit of the arrival lobby on the second floor. I located the Klook counter easily on the right side. There was no queue when we arrived. You can see the picture of the counter above. The counter opens daily from 8.30am to 10pm.

4. At the counter, the friendly Klook staff helped me to activate our SIM cards. After scanning my Klook voucher QR code, he activated both cards. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he spoke Chinese, which made communication a lot easier. He advised us to insert our SIM cards on the spot so that he could assist us if we had any issues. We did so and luckily both our SIM cards had no problems.

How To Activate SIM Card By Yourself

As mentioned above, the Klook staff helped me to activate our SIM cards. However, the package also came with a sheet containing instructions on how to activate the SIM card. See the picture above.

Remember to follow the instructions under “Notice” to delete your network driver AFTER your holiday, otherwise you will have problems using other pre-paid SIM cards in future.

Case in point: I didn’t delete the driver and when I went to London a few months later, my SIM card could not work until I deleted the network driver.

How to Unlock SIM Card

If you are unlucky and your SIM card is locked by your carrier, you will NOT be able to use this SIM card. Personally I do not have this problem and have always been able to use foreign SIM cards without any issue. This is because phones in Singapore are not telco-locked. However, if your SIM is locked, below are the steps to unlock it:

Step 1. First, check whether your phone is indeed SIM locked. Insert a SIM card from another carrier (borrow from your friends or family) and restart the phone. If there is a signal and you can make outgoing calls, then your SIM is not locked. If not, proceed to step 2.

Step 2. Contact your carrier and request for an unlock. Repeat step 1 to check that your phone is indeed unlocked.

Staying More Than 8 Days In Japan?

Unfortunately, there isn’t any Klook SIM Card for pick up in Japan that has a period of more than eight days, and it is not possible to extend the usage period.

However, there are 15-day Klook SIM Cards available for pick up in Singapore, Bangkok, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

You can also consider buying from Mobal (16 days of unlimited data for USD55) or SIM Card Geek (16 days of 16GB data for USD50), though these options are rather expensive compared to Klook.

Conclusion

On the whole, we had a very pleasant experience using the Klook Japan 4G SIM Card. The buying and collection process was very smooth, and we enjoyed really good connectivity throughout our Tokyo holiday. Click here to buy the Klook SIM card.

The SIM cards also came with a bunch of discount vouchers and brochures. However, these were all in Japanese and I didn’t really know how to use them.

I also like it that Klook allows a full refund anytime before I redeem my voucher. This gave me the option to buy another SIM card if I found a better one (which I didn’t manage to).

Update 21 May 2019: I recently found out that Changi Recommends sells the same Japan SIM card at just $21.90, but it can only be collected at Changi Airport.

This article is part of our super awesome Ultimate Tokyo Travel Guide For First Timers. Everything you need to know about Tokyo is just a click away!