An analogue girl who doesn't know much about the internet tells you in simple terms about having a cheap SIM operated smartphone and two phones.

Hi, before I joined Fangler, I used to ask "What is your cell phone carrier? I am an analog girl who was at the level of answering "iPhone!" to the question "What is your cell phone carrier? I am an analog girl who used to answer "iPhone!
I am now living a dreamy and happy life, having reduced my monthly cell phone bill to about 1/3 of what it used to be, thanks to the ~~gadget-geek-friendly~~ senior staff around me after I joined Fangler.

Sequence of events

I would like to share my experience with those who may be thinking "Cheap SIM? I would like you to read this article and find out how easy it is and how delicious it is! This article is an introduction to the " Cheap SIM?
"I want to use it right now! But I don't know how to do it! If you are in a hurry, please scroll down to 3.

As a result, my cell phone bill has been reduced to 1/3 of what it used to be!

As of January 2016, I am paying on average about 3,900 yen per month for my cell phone bill.
The low-cost SIM I subscribe to with BIGLOBE costs about 1,600 yen per month, and the au cell phone I subscribe to for calls costs about 2,300 yen per month, for a total of about 3,900 yen.

I changed to this operation in November 2014, and until then I was using an iPhone 5, which cost roughly 10,000-12,000 yen, so the amount of money I spend on my phone is really about 1/3 of what I spend on a cell phone.
I can even go to a Kanjani Eight concert with the money I saved.

Even considering the lowest total cost, 6,100 yen per month x 12 months = 73,200 yen for one year from Dec 2014 to Dec 2015!!!
There is no way not to do this! It's a must, especially for those who live alone, really.

2. What is a cheap SIM?

I was one of those people who thought, " Let's buy a cell phone! I was the same way, but "Let's buy a cell phone! " is synonymous with "Let's go to docomo, au, or SoftBank! Most of us are synonymous with " Let's go to docomo, au, or SoftBank!
*In Fangler, it is synonymous with "Let's buy a Black Berry!

The world of cell phones is dominated by the three major carriers in Japan, but recently "cheap SIMs" and "cheap phones" seem to be becoming more and more familiar words.
Y!mobile has been advertising more and more, and such corners are becoming more and more conspicuous when you go to the cell phone section of electronics retail stores.

By the way, SIM is this tiny card that you plug into your cell phone. Without it, you can't use the Internet or make phone calls! It's important! Such a magic spell!

Cheap SIM means that you buy only this SIM card and insert it into a phone you bought (or have) separately.
A cheap phone means you buy a device that contains the SIM card and use it. The two are the same.

Cheap SIMs" and "cheap phones" are in essence "borrowing a line from a major company and delivering the line to the user at a lower price than the major company! It's just that. Maybe.

I use BIGLOBE, which uses docomo's line. (docomo in terms of carrier).
If docomo is in range, BIGLOBE is also in range, and if docomo is out of range, BIGLOBE is also out of range.

SoftBank seems to use the same communication method as docomo, but I won't go into the details of that because I don't know much about it.
If you are at the same level as I am, you may be thinking "SoftBank and docomo's lines are the same! " this magic spell will do the trick.
The type of charger was the same, right here.

3. How do you use it?

For those of you who are thinking, "What's a cheap SIM?

When I started using it, the process was like this.
(Old) iPhone5 (SoftBank)
(New) XperiaZ2 (docomo) with BIGLOBE's cheap SIM + au mobile phone

1. Picked up the phone you want to use (XperiaZ2 white ROM) through online shopping
2. Sign up for a cheap SIM (BIGLOBE)
Insert the SIM that will be sent to you at a later date into the phone you bought online and do a little setting.
Cancel the iPhone5 + sign up for an au mobile phone with number portability

Yes, it's easy, so let's get down to the details.

3-1. Popping the phone you want to use online

White ROM = A phone with no SIM card stuck in it.
SIM-free = A phone that is not SIM-locked.

Since docomo had SIM unlocking service before May 2015, you can assume that docomo's white ROM = SIM-free.
However, after May 2015, SIM unlocking is no longer possible until 6 months have passed since purchase.

Basically, the three major carriers in Japan have a "SIM lock" on their phones, which means that only a docomo SIM can be used on a docomo phone, and only an au SIM can be used on an au phone.
Simply put, a SIM-free phone is a happy phone that has been unlocked, i.e., it can be used with a SoftBank SIM in a docomo phone! This is a happy body.
White ROMs are also OK with the magic spell.
If you want to use a cheap SIM, you have two choices: sign up for a cheap phone set or buy this white ROM or SIM-free and put it in.

I chose Xperia because of the design (this was my first priority, I want to use it for a long time), water resistance and battery life.
The other reason is that it was newer in November 2014, so I'm 90% satisfied with it.

The price was about 30,000 yen for a used one, by the way.
If you buy from one of the three major carriers, you can get a "free phone! But if you think about the communication cost, you can get the money back in half a year even if you buy a used phone. It's a good deal.

If you search for a phone model of your choice + White ROM, you will find a lot of online stores that will give you a lot of information.
Make sure to check the size of the SIM when you buy! Seriously!
If you don't do this, you will be sad when the SIM you bought doesn't fit.
(By the way, there are several people at Fangler who always have SIM cutters and SIM adapters on hand.)

3-2. Sign up for a low-cost SIM

This is another one of those things where you can find a lot of companies. I am lost. Very confused.
I was so confused that I thought, "I'll go with a company that is as reliable as possible! I narrowed it down to OCN and BIGLOBE.

I want unlimited calls on my mobile phone. (I call 3~4 hours a week, so a mobile phone that is easy to use was a must.)
(I call 3~4 hours a week, so a mobile phone that is easy to call was a must.
So I decided to go with a company that I had heard of and that seemed to have a strong internet presence.

This was a very fluffy reason.

Of course, I referred to word-of-mouth sites, but I tend to connect to the Internet when I commute and when I have free time, so I decided to go with a company that had a strong Internet presence.
So I decided to go with BIGLOBE's Light S plan, which allows me to use 1GB more per month for the same price, without communication restrictions such as "low speed if you use more than xx GB in the last xx days.

This plan allows you to use up to 6 GB per month with no communication limit for 1,450 yen! However, since there is a 200 yen discount for 2 years, the monthly fee is actually 1,250 yen.
With a basic fee of 200 yen and tax, it's roughly 1,600 yen, which is cheap.

If you don't surf the Internet much, don't install apps, or always have Wi-Fi nearby and a good communication environment, I think a smaller capacity plan is fine.
With Biglobe, 3GB is 900 yen! I didn't expect that to be in the triple digits!
In my case, even though I have wireless LAN at home, I often go out to the countryside on the weekends, so the amount of data communication is inevitably large.

3-3. Put the SIM that will be sent to you at a later date into the phone you popped on the Internet and set it up according to the instructions.

When you sign up for a cell phone at a major carrier, the clerk will proceed with the settings on his/her own and the phone is already ready to use the moment you get it, but with a low-cost SIM, you need to do the settings yourself.

This is the kind of thing.
This is the one! I don't like it... ！！！！ I'm kind of scared! I want to throw it away and say I don't know. ！！！！！

I understand that feeling. But please look forward, it will be over in a second.
You will save 70,000 yen a year.

So, here's how to do it.
You need to set up an APN, which is described in detail in the instruction manual enclosed with the SIM.
And in these days of kindness, if you ask Dr. Google for "cheap SIM settings," he will show you how to do it in a video.
Watch it.
Please poke around as it is done.

That's all.
It's that easy, 3-minute cooking.

3-4. Cancel your old cell phone + sign up for a mobile phone with number portability

Do this last and you're done!
Don't make the mistake of canceling before you've finished setting up your SIM!
If you don't have Dr. Google by your side when you set up 3-3, you will have no choice but to say "whew~><" when you get in trouble. No one will help you.

If you only sign up for the unlimited calling plans offered by the three major carriers, you're all set.
I had to choose au for various reasons, and in the case of au, I could not use my old au mobile phone because I had to purchase a new mobile phone for the unlimited calling plan.
With docomo, you could sign up for an unlimited calling plan even if you brought your own mobile phone, so if you don't care about carrier, or if you have your old mobile phone, you can bring it in with you. I think it is fine to bring in your own mobile phone if you are not concerned about the carrier or if you have an old mobile phone!

Since carrier plans change from time to time, it is best to ask at the nearest store to be sure!

4. I thought about it when I tried it.

Good things

Cheap.
That's all there is to it.
No, it's really great! I could never pay 10,000 yen for a cell phone. ！！！！ I'm so happy that I can say "I'm so happy!

Sad thing

You can't use your carrier email.
You have to use a free email address, @docomo.ne.jpや@ezweb.ne.jpが使えないので.

Free mail addresses like Yahoo! JAPANの@yahoo.co.jp and Googleの@gmail.com sometimes don't work for email registration.

Well, you may get an address automatically from the company you bought your SIM from, so please use that.

With BIGLOBE, you get an address with the domain @△△△.biglobe.ne.jp. It's not a free email, so you can sign up with that! You've done it!

Also, young people take purikura or something and send it to your cell phone, and there is no option after @. Seriously, I thought.
I'm going to go to とはいえ最近は@gmail.comも対応してくれたので安心してください.
If you can't find it, just give up, get a friend to send it to you, or sign up for a purikura membership and save all the pictures. Tehe-pe-ro

How do you feel about having two phones?

At first I thought it might be difficult to carry, but it doesn't get in the way, especially if I put the phone in my pocket and the Galapagos in my bag.
There are times when I leave my mobile phone behind and leave the house, but I have Slack and Chatwork to communicate with work, and WhatsApp and BBM to communicate with friends, so I don't have much trouble. And then there's LINE, which is a hot topic right now.

It's a small price to pay in front of the overwhelming cheapness.

5. Calls

As I mentioned earlier, I make a lot of calls, so I am happy to have a mobile phone in addition to a low-cost SIM.
However, nowadays, SIMs with voice are also available, so if you don't make calls and only need BBM, that's fine too! If you don't make calls and only need BBM, that's fine too.
I recommend this SIM to my friends because the price of 6GB of data communication with voice SIM is 2,150 yen at BIGLOBE.

By the way, BBM, or BlackBerryMessenger, has great call quality, totally better than Skype or LINE.