No mobile data or phone calls from Japan

[Godderz147]

Arrived in Tokyo 2 days ago and have had no mobile data or phone service. Have tried the APN updates and they failed with an error. Immediately receive a voicemail msg from Sky which I can't access. Have tried to further Sky's further guidance which then doesn't match what the guidance says (options aren't available through the link given). Please can someone help? Thanks.

[bt+sport+hd1]

I can also confirm Sky Mobile has stopped roaming in Japan.

I am a frequent visitor to Japan, with this same phone and SIM since Jan 2020, and with previous phones roaming in Japan on Sky Mobile since 2017.

I never used to have a problem, but from Jan 2025 neither mine or my wife's phones on Sky Mobile are roaming. No SMS for banking multifactor authentication for example.

I am currently in Japan July 2025.

I had a medical emergency and you wouldn't believe how much trouble Sky Mobile not roaming caused us.

The ambulance and police services couldn't get it that we could only be contacted on What's App. We hired a portable pocket wifi but we were still lacking a conventional number that was seen as a requirement by the emergency services and hospital.

Every time we registered our details at the next stage we were asked for a working contact number.

To pay the medical and travel costs incurred..again Sky Mobile stopped certain online transactions going through without receipt of SMS security. Thankfully managed to move funds around from other online accounts with alternative authentication methods.

On the previous visit I went through all the suggested troubleshooting steps to no avail, and my wife's phone - a more up to date model- is exactly the same.

First warning sign was no Welcome to Japan text on landing.

Occaisionally you see a scrolling network name at the top of the screen "NTT Do Co Mo" with solid signal strength bars and a "R" for roaming, which suggests it's connected, but a test call generates the response "Mobile Network Not Available"

Really very inconvenient indeed.

I waited for the UK time for the Online chat to open but by the time I'd logged in with my details I was shown Chat was unavailable.

Tried again after 1pm UK time and is the same.

Time to port my number to a more reliable provider?

[caesarome]

@Godderz147 

Japan is a rest of the world country so if it wqas working these would be the charges:

£2,160 per GB (yes this is correct)

£2.16 per minute Calls to local or UK mobile and landline numbers

£1.80 per minute to receive calls

£0.50 per text message to UK numbers and mobiles

£0.58 per picture message(MMS)

So if you are OK with these charges and if you have a spendcap set is it high enough to cover these charges.

[TimmyBGood]

@Godderz147 

As @caesarome indicates, you may have burnt through the default £45 cap in a few minutes without realising it (potentially even prior to landing), at which point cellular service would cease abruptly.