Beware of International Calling Plans in Japan

There was recently a story in the news about a U.S. soldier who, misunderstanding the fees for international calls (or possibly having them misrepresented) raked up over $16,000 in fees. The soldier speaks English as his second language, as well as young and somewhat naive about international travel. He mistakenly believed that AT&T had a $4.95 a month plan for unlimited international calling. He did not realize there was a per minute charge on top of that. AT&T never contacted him as charges rose showing that there is no safety catch or alert system set up.

Although the story on CNET may at first read seem a bit silly, consider that with services such as Skype, one can do video chats for free over WiFi. Skype also offers international VOIP calling for low prices. I believe I might be as gullible as he was even though I’m a native speaker and consider myself savvy.

In later posts I’ll discuss some of your options for making both local and international calls when you are in Japan.