You also have to enter the campaign first and sign up SIM-only. Chase the headline number and you will miss it.
What no rival matches, though: your 30GB works abroad at no extra cost.
Terms can change. Always confirm the current details on the official ahamo site before you apply.
- You get 20,000 points, but as 4,000 points x 5 months. It takes roughly half a year to receive the full amount.
- They are limited-period, limited-purpose d POINTs that expire 94 days after issue. This is not cash and not ordinary d POINTs.
- Four conditions: enter the campaign first, port in from another carrier (MNP), sign up SIM-only, and finish activation by the end of the month after you entered. Skip the entry step and you get nothing.
- The plan itself is 30GB for 2,970 yen a month (tax included), with no admin fee and five-minute domestic calls included. Family and home-internet discounts do not apply.
- The standout feature is overseas data. 91 countries and regions, no application and no extra charge, with your monthly 30GB usable abroad (Rakuten gives 2GB, LINEMO charges, povo has suspended roaming).
- Sign-up and support are in Japanese only. Budget for that if your Japanese is limited.
You have to enter the campaign before you sign up. Everything you need is broken down below.
What ahamo actually costs
Before the campaign, look at what you pay every month once the bonus points are gone. If the plan itself does not suit you, no amount of points will fix that.
| Monthly price | 2,970 yen (tax included) for 30GB |
|---|---|
| Domestic calls | Free for the first five minutes of each call, unlimited number of calls. After five minutes, 22 yen per 30 seconds |
| Admin fee | 0 yen, for both new sign-ups and ports. Shipping is also free |
| Overseas data | Included in 91 countries and regions with no application and no extra charge, up to 30GB shared with your domestic allowance. Throttled beyond 15 days abroad |
| Extra data | 1GB for 550 yen, or the 80GB large-data option for 1,980 yen a month |
| Main options | Unlimited calls 1,100 yen, voicemail 330 yen, call waiting 220 yen (per month) |
| Network | Runs on docomo’s own network (MNO), not a leased-line MVNO |
| Sign-up and support | Online only, and in Japanese. In-store help is a paid service at 3,300 yen per procedure |
In short, ahamo is a single flat price for people who use 20 to 30GB and want docomo’s network without hunting for discounts. That is the opposite of a traditional docomo contract, where the price comes down through family and home-internet bundles. It is good value if you are on your own, and less obviously good if your household wants to stack discounts.
ahamo’s biggest advantage: 30GB abroad at no extra cost
On price alone, ahamo and LINEMO are identical. If there is one reason to pick ahamo anyway, it is overseas data — and here the gap with everyone else is large. For anyone who flies home to see family or travels regularly, this is the part that matters.
- No application needed. Switch data roaming on when you land and it works.
- No extra charge. Your monthly 30GB works abroad as well — it is not a separate overseas bucket, it is the same 30GB shared with domestic use.
- Covered in 91 countries and regions, which docomo says accounts for about 98 percent of destinations Japanese residents travel to.
In practice, the whole routine of buying a local SIM, renting a pocket Wi-Fi or activating a travel eSIM simply disappears. If you leave Japan even once or twice a year, this alone can justify the switch.
| Overseas data | Application | After the cap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ahamo | Up to 30GB a month at no extra charge (shared with domestic) | Not needed | Up to 1Mbps |
| Rakuten Mobile | 2GB a month free | Not needed | Paid top-up |
| LINEMO | Paid “Kaigai Anshin Teigaku” option | Must apply in advance | — |
| povo 2.0 | Overseas roaming is suspended (no restart date) | — | — |
• Even with the large-data option, only 30GB a month is usable abroad.
• Counting from the day you first use data overseas, after 15 days you are throttled to 128kbps abroad.
• That 15-day throttle cannot be lifted by buying more data. It only clears once you are back in Japan and use data there.
• The covered areas differ from docomo’s other international services, and outside those areas data does not work at all. Check your destination before you fly.
It is not built for long stays, but for trips of up to two weeks it means you genuinely do not have to prepare anything. Combine it with earning travel money through point sites and the cost of going home gets lower again.
What the 20,000 points really are
The campaign gives 20,000 d POINTs in total to people who port in from another carrier. Four conditions sit behind that headline figure.
- Not a lump sum: 4,000 points a month for five months. Expect around six months before you have all of it.
- They are limited-period, limited-purpose d POINTs that expire 94 days after they are issued. Plan to spend each 4,000-point instalment as it lands; ordinary d POINTs behave differently.
- You must enter the campaign before you sign up. A d ACCOUNT is required. An entry stays valid until the end of the following month, and you cannot enter twice in the same month.
- It applies to ports from another carrier (MNP) with a SIM-only contract. Buy a handset at the same time and you fall outside the campaign, which is why the offer is framed as “keep your current phone”.
• The d ACCOUNT you enter with must be the same one you use to sign up for ahamo
• Moving between docomo plans (eximo or irumo to ahamo) does not count. It has to be a port from another carrier
• You may not be able to combine this with other port campaigns running at the same time
• Adding the JAL Mobile option to a new contract disqualifies you
• Anyone who has already received this kind of ahamo campaign before is excluded
• A plain new contract without a port also does not qualify — it has to be an MNP from another carrier
Limited-period, limited-purpose d POINTs are reasonably flexible in practice: you can spend them on a handset at docomo, through d PAYMENT, on d MARKET, and at shops such as Lawson. Even so, they are not the same as cash, so it is a mistake to treat the offer as a flat 20,000 yen discount when you compare carriers.
How to apply
- Enter the campaign first. There is no way to claim the points afterwards. Create a d ACCOUNT beforehand if you do not have one.
- Check that your current phone will work. Look your model up on ahamo’s compatibility page, and unlock the SIM if it is still locked.
- Apply as a port (MNP). ahamo supports MNP One Stop, so if you are coming from au, SoftBank, Rakuten Mobile, UQ, Y!mobile, povo, LINEMO, mineo or IIJmio, you normally do not need a reservation number from your current carrier.
- Choose a physical SIM or an eSIM. An eSIM activates without waiting for delivery. A physical SIM takes about four days at the earliest and cannot be activated until it arrives — with an activation deadline in play, an eSIM is safer if the month is nearly over.
- Finish activation, not just the application. Submitting the form is not enough. Activation has to be complete by the end of the month after the month you entered.
Worth knowing: mobile contracts sometimes appear as offers on Japanese cashback (point) sites too. The same ahamo plan can carry different terms depending on which door you walk through, and an official campaign and a point-site offer often cannot both be applied, so it pays to check both and take the better one. To compare them side by side you can use Pointnavi, which we run ourselves (we are quite happy if the comparison does not favour us). If cashback sites are new to you, start with our introduction to point sites in Japan.
- A d ACCOUNT, used for both the campaign entry and the contract. It must be the same account for both.
- Photo ID. ahamo lists a driving licence, a My Number Card and a Basic Resident Register card as examples.
- Payment method: a credit card, or a Japanese bank account for direct debit, in the contract holder’s name.
- Your current line details: the number you are porting and who your present carrier is.
ahamo vs povo, LINEMO and Rakuten Mobile
Among the online-only, mid-size-data plans, the real difference is less about price than about how you are billed. The table below reflects 17 August 2026; check each carrier’s official site for current pricing.
| ahamo | LINEMO | povo 2.0 | Rakuten Mobile | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network | docomo | SoftBank | au | Rakuten (partly au) |
| Billing model | Flat rate for 30GB | Tiered by data size | 0 yen base, buy top-ups as needed | Scales with what you use |
| Around 30GB | 2,970 yen | 2,970 yen | Buy a data top-up | 3,278 yen, unlimited |
| Calls | 5 minutes free, included | 5 minutes free, included | Separate top-up | Free via the Rakuten app |
| Overseas data | 30GB a month, no extra charge | Paid option | Suspended | 2GB a month free |
| Suits | People who want to stop thinking about it, and want coverage | Heavy LINE users | Months that vary a lot | Over 30GB every month |
Put simply, ahamo charges you for not having to think about it. If your usage is fairly steady and you make the odd call, it settles into place with no further tinkering. If you do not mind the routine of keeping a line at zero yen and buying data only in the months you need it, povo works out cheaper the more months you skip. Our guide to running povo 2.0 at zero yen covers that if you are thinking about a second line.
If you get through a lot of data, Rakuten Mobile is the stronger option, and its employee referral route comes with better terms than the standard referral. Nobody says you can only hold one line either, so “ahamo as the main line, povo as a spare” is a perfectly normal setup.
Who should not pick ahamo
A list of upsides is not enough to decide on, so here are the cases where something else is the better answer.
- You want family or home-internet discounts. An ahamo line is not eligible for the docomo family discount or the docomo Hikari bundle. It does still count towards the line total if you add it to a family discount group, so relatives on regular docomo plans can keep or reach a discount worth up to 1,100 yen (tax included) per line. Depending on your household, switching to ahamo can leave the family better off overall.
- You only use a few gigabytes a month. A smaller plan will cost you less than 30GB you never finish.
- You make long calls. Compare the total with the 1,100 yen unlimited-calling option added, not the headline price.
- You want to sort things out face to face. Support at a docomo shop costs 3,300 yen (tax included) per visit — the same whether you handle one procedure or several, though application support and procedure support are charged separately. Factor that in if you are not confident setting things up yourself.
- Your Japanese is limited. Sign-up, the account portal and support are in Japanese, with no English flow. If you need English support, that alone can outweigh the price difference.
- You want to keep a carrier email address. Carrying your docomo address over costs 330 yen a month (tax included), and you must apply for it at the same time as the switch — it cannot be added afterwards, so decide before you start.
Where the large-data and point options break even
Two options sit on top of the base plan. Here are the numbers to hold against your own spending.
| Large-data option | 1,980 yen a month for 80GB more, giving 110GB for 4,950 yen. Tethering included |
|---|---|
| Point option | 2,200 yen a month. Requires the large-data option and cannot be taken on its own. It adds d POINTs (limited-period, limited-purpose) on eligible d PAYMENT and d CARD spending |
The bonus rate depends on which d CARD you hold: 3 percentage points on the standard card, 5 on the GOLD tier, and 10 on PLATINUM subject to conditions. To earn the 2,200 yen back in points, you would need to spend roughly:
| Extra rate | Monthly spending needed to break even | Realistic? |
|---|---|---|
| +3 points (standard card) | About 73,300 yen a month | Only if your fixed costs go on the card |
| +5 points (GOLD tier) | About 44,000 yen a month | Reachable for a consolidated household budget |
| +10 points (PLATINUM, conditional) | About 22,000 yen a month | Judge it together with the annual fee |
This kind of “earn the option fee back in rewards” design favours people who have consolidated their spending into one ecosystem. If you want to work out how to accumulate points and, just as importantly, how to spend them, our introduction to point sites is a good starting point.
Frequently asked questions
- Q. Do I need to apply to use data overseas?
- No. Just switch data roaming on when you arrive. Your monthly 30GB works abroad at no extra charge, although even with the large-data option only 30GB is usable overseas. Note also that from the day you first use data abroad, after 15 days you are throttled to 128kbps overseas, and that throttle cannot be lifted by buying more data — it clears only once you are back in Japan and use data there.
- Q. Do I receive the 20,000 points all at once?
- No. They arrive as 4,000 points a month across five months. The first instalment lands by the 10th of the month two months after you meet the conditions, and the rest follow on the same cycle. Expect about six months to receive everything.
- Q. I signed up without entering the campaign. Can I claim afterwards?
- No. Entry has to come before the contract. An entry is valid until the end of the following month, but you cannot enter twice in the same month, so do it before you apply.
- Q. I am on docomo’s eximo or irumo. Does switching to ahamo qualify?
- No. The campaign requires a port from another carrier, so changing plans within docomo is not included.
- Q. Can I buy a handset at the same time and still get the points?
- No. The campaign requires a SIM-only contract, so buying a device alongside it puts you outside the offer. If you need a handset, look at the separate device discounts instead.
- Q. Do I need an MNP reservation number?
- Usually not. ahamo supports MNP One Stop, so if you are porting from au, SoftBank, Rakuten Mobile, UQ, Y!mobile, povo, LINEMO, mineo or IIJmio, the whole process can be completed on ahamo’s own screens.
- Q. Will my family’s docomo bill go up if I move to ahamo?
- An ahamo line does not receive the docomo family discount itself, but it still counts towards the number of lines if you keep it in the family discount group. Your relatives’ discount tier is therefore preserved and can even improve. Joining the group is a separate application made after you sign up for ahamo.
- Q. Are the points the same as ordinary d POINTs?
- No. You receive limited-period, limited-purpose d POINTs, and each instalment expires 94 days after it is issued. You can use them with d PAYMENT, towards a handset at docomo and at shops such as Lawson, but they are more restricted than ordinary points.
- Q. Can I sign up for ahamo as a foreign resident?
- Yes, provided you can complete a Japanese-language application and have accepted identity documents plus a payment method in your own name. Because the documents accepted for online verification have been revised, check ahamo’s current requirements before you start, particularly if you hold a residence card.
This article is a personal summary of publicly available information and is not a guarantee of contract terms. Always confirm the final conditions on the official site.