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In my experience, most of the free Wifi services are rather inconvenient. Often it takes several minutes to go through the sign on process. In quite a few places they limit the time you can use it, like 20 or 30 minutes per day. In some cases they block services and protocols you may want to use.

However, you can buy a prepaid SIM card at Narita airport. Those are specifically made for visitors with a fixed validity period. If I remember correctly they are about 3500 yen for a month. If you don't have a smart phone you can probably buy one on eBay second hand for much less than what you would spend on rental.

You can also buy a second hand smart phone at various shops specialising in second hand phones in Akihabara. If you don't insist on the latest version of the most fashionable product with tons of storage, then you can get something a little older but still quite usable for a very reasonable price.

On 16 June 2016 at 16:44, David J Iannucci <jlinux@example.com> wrote:

Hi folks,

I know I have asked you questions like these in the past, usually before
a visit to Japan, but here I am to ask you again (esp. because details
change over years, and different people are reading :=) I will be
visiting Tokyo later this month for a couple weeks and this time in
particular, I want to have a very efficient visit in which I have easy
access to info on-line while on the run, and easy communications with
people (incidentally I have signed up for the upcoming nomikai, my first
TLUG meeting in probably 18 years - yikes. Looking forward to it!)

I really am a bit of a dinosaur: I don't have a smartphone even at home,
and so only use "traditional" computers for Internet access. Normally.
But for this trip I will want to go beyond my comfort zone :=) So I'd
like to know:

* Recommendations on renting a smartphone. I guess an iPhone, because
I've heard iOS is better than Android. I have an Android tablet for
the kids, and think the UI is dumb and unintuitive. Update: I spoke to
my very untechie wife, who's over there already, and she apparently
bought a sumaho very cheaply. Probly not iPhone, I guess. But if
buying makes more sense, then bring it on.

I had a favorite phone rental place before, Rentafone Japan, but it
seems they still have not caught up to the smartphone world. Probably
by their own strategy, but that doesn't help me.

* I found this: http://flets.com/freewifi/. Looks good, and there are a
bazillion places to access it, apparently. I also know about JR East's
free wifi service. Any personal experiences with either of these that
it would help me to know?

But I would be grateful for ANY other advice on easy and convenient
access to free wifi, esp. places where I can put a laptop down to work
other than on my lap. I know about Starbucks, of course :=)

* Suica vs Pasmo. Which one should I get? Is it sixes? My usual stomping
grounds is centered roughly on Ikebukuro, if that makes a difference.
I've never had one of these cards before, preferring to stick, even
over many visits for the last 15 years, with the old paper tickets
from the machine, that are so familiar and comfortable: remember,
dinosaur :=) But it's time to get with the times. Is there any
concern about having money stolen off the cards by people standing
close to you?

Thanks much in advance, and if you prefer to respond off-list, I'll do
my best to summarize.

Dave

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Re: [tlug] Best communications-enabled, efficient visit