Do they work world wide? Im in america and I bassically need it for e-mail and if i can write in japanese things would be a hell of a lot easier. What are their rates like?
The AU global passport phones work in a number of countries like HK, Europe, Australia etc.. check the pamplets in an AU store..
However, they will NOT work for email.. only voice.
When you land in a country with reciprocal teleco agreements, you need to set the country of where you are, it recognises the network and you are away.. you can do this while you are transiting to immigration from the plane.. very convenient. But if somebody wants to call you, they have to call Japan and the call is redirected automatically. You can call a local number directly.
Charges are fairly high but certainly cheaper than using a hotel phone and much more convenient.
Much better are some of the new global roaming phones that use global sim cards... nice...