All of Japan’s carriers have updated their data plans and things are finally starting to get a bit competitive here. The old plans also had surcharges for 5G data, plus people were worried about exceeding data limits with higher speeds. The new plans are good news all around

I called my carrier, Softbank and decided to switch as of 3/21 (a few days ago). My previous plan is not offered anymore, so it’s too late to go back now! But it seems worth it.

My old plan was the 5 GB plan with unlimited domestic phone calls. My iPhone fee was 7,369 yen and my iPad shared data fee with my iPhone was an extra 2,503 yen.

Under the new “Merihari” plan my iPhone fee drops to 5,883 yen if I use less than 3 GB of data (I used 900 MB the month before last and 2.8 GB last month because I’m at home more than usual these days). After 3 GB, the cost goes up by just 14 yen/month over my old plan to 7,383 yen – but that’s for unlimited 4G and 5G data.

In addition, my iPad shared data plan drops from 2,503 yen/month to 1,483 yen/month. (Note: the shared data is only up to 30 GB per month, after which it slows down.)

The Merihari plan still includes unlimited domestic phone calls. And there are no longer cancelation fees, so people are free to shop around and switch, which should add even more competition.

I stick with Softbank because I can use America Houdai while in the U.S. which includes unlimited data and phone calls within the U.S. and to and from Japan.

So there didn’t seem to be a drawback.

Now I have to start thinking about a 5G iPhone. I wonder what the speeds are really like.