Japanese iPhone work abroad?

[hanguolaohu]

Will a Japanese iPhone that is unlocked work in other countries with a GSM SIM? Also will a factory unlocked Hong Kong iPhone work in Japan with a Japanese prepaid SIM? I remember that I had to rent a phone when visiting Japan several years back and I was told that Japan has their own proprietary 3G network, but I'm not sure if that still applies today.

Thanks,
HL

 

[robbieduncan]

Last time I was in Japan (a few years back) a standard UK 3G phone would work but 2G would not.

 

[hanguolaohu]

Do you remember which carrier did you use? Did you just buy a prepaid Japanese SIM?

 

[robbieduncan]

Do you remember which carrier did you use? Did you just buy a prepaid Japanese SIM?

No idea. I wasn't using data (this was pre-iPhone) and not making many calls, only a few SMS messages. So I just roamed on my standard UK SIM.