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 Welcome to the Japan cellphone MegathreadThis thread was created as a home for ALL Japan-centric phone discussion, mostly to get it out of the Japan megathread. I intend for this OP to be as comprehensive as possible, so let's begin by asking: why did you come here? A) I am/will be traveling to Japan B) I am/will be living in Japan C) Neither, I'm here for a different reason For those in group A, please see this post. For those in group B, please see this post. For those in group C, EXPLAIN YOURSELF. Regardless of why you came, you may want to start with a... Brief overview The Big Three: NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank, au by KDDI I will preface this by saying that there isn't an enormous disparity between any of these three carriers. All are priced similarly, offer similar services, and even have similar handsets. Assuming you don't need any ultra-specific crap, there is nothing socks-knockoffingly good or bad about any given carrier. So, choose a phone you want, and get it. Alternatively, get whatever carrier your friends have, since there are often discounts making calls/sending SMS/data between the same provider. tarepanda posted:Docomo and au really have comparable networks. I've never been anywhere (and I've been in some pretty hick areas and way up in the mountains) where I didn't have reception with au. The only place I've never had reception is in tunnels, which is to be expected; Docomo has repeaters in SOME tunnels in Tokyo, but that's hardly something to base your purchase on. Softbank can be spotty at times, but generally okay. If you are interested in actual subscriber numbers, per month, TCA is your go-to industry monitor. NTT Docomo NTT Docomo has a long history of innovation and a reputation for providing reliable service throughout the entirety of Japan. Docomo can lay claim to several "world's first" in the mobile phone space, such as the world's first automated cellphone network, the first nationwide network, the first 3G network, first video calling, and so on. They spend heaps on R&D, not necessarily handsets, but general telecoms R&D. Does that make them a good or bad choice? Not particularly. Advantages: -Good coverage. While your au and SoftBank friends whine that they have no signal, you will have 3 bars. Disadvantages: -Expensive: Tends to be costly compared to au and SoftBank, because the company gets a high portion of its revenue from corporate clients. Smartphone lineup: Blackberry, Droid Softbank Thanks to the privatization of Japan National Railway, the company (today known as JR) had to spin-off its fledling communications business. Japan Telecom, later J-Phone, was born. Before JR knew whatthehell, Vodafone stepped in and bought everything. A few short years later, Vodafone stepped out in shame. Yahoo Japan's parent company, SoftBank, stepped in. Despite being passed around like a Tijuana hooker, the company has propelled itself to stardom and ever-increasing market share through competitive pricing and a massively successful advertising campaign involving a white dog. There is also this little phone called the iPhone that SoftBank got the rights to offer exclusively in Japan. So as you can imagine, every Japanese iPhone user, ever, is also a Softbank user. Advantages: -Cheap -Like 95% of other foreigners, and probably 75% of all people under 40 use Softbank Disadvantages: -Coverage isn't fantastic; lots of complaints of dropped calls Smartphone lineup: Droid, iPhone tarepanda posted:The whole "young people have Softbank" thing -- I've never seen it out here. Most people (read: junior/senior high students) I know have Docomo with au second and Softbank third. Phone designs are usually cited as the reason, with the Softbank people all using iPhones. au by KDDI KDDI dates back to 2000, when three different companies (themselves mostly joint ventures funded by companies like Toyota, Sony, Kyocera, and Mitsubishi) joined forces to cash in on the everyone-needs-a-mobile-phone craze. Before SoftBank came along with the iPhone, KDDI was stealing market share from Docomo like nobody even gave a poo poo. Especially for young people it was, and still is, an attractive option; KDDI was the first carrier to offer deep discounts specifically to students. Unfortunately these days it's difficult to come up with something notable about the company. Advantages: -It has the shortest name Disadvantages: -There is no cute girl as the image character Smartphone lineup: Droid The other three: eMobile, Willcom, UQ WiMax For typical users, these next carriers really won't matter at all. They are pretty specialized, so should be avoided by the general population. I will go over each very briefly anyway. eMobile An ISP called eAccess got rights to use some of the 1.7GHz band, allowing the company to launch a new mobile carrier called eMobile. While they were originally data-only, since they use HSDPA (same as Docomo's FOMA), they now also offer voice services over Docomo's network. Being a data-centric carrier, one of their main offerings is the Pocket WiFi, a mobile broadband router with 42mbps downstream usable basically anywhere in the country. Willcom Formerly part of KDDI, now Japan's only remaining PHS carrier (read: everyone else has gotten out). After emerging from bankruptcy in 2010, Willcom is still trying to be important. They have a niche in hospitals/medical facilities due to the comparatively low power of their devices, but it's just a niche. Interestingly enough, Willcom may have an ace up its sleeve in post-disaster Japan -- PHS towers are so inexpensive and low-powered that they are goddamn everywhere. After the earthquake, people have started to re-think massive towers relaying thousands of calls/data requests at once. With PHS, you can even (safely) have a tower in your house. tarepanda posted:The Willcom section is wildly inaccurate; well over half of the students I know with cell phones also have Willcom phones. They use their normal phones for normal stuff and Willcom phones for talking. UQ WiMax Mostly competing with eMobile, but basically, if you have WiMax in your notebook PC you already know what this is. Mobile internet. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Jul 21, 2011 |
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Jul 14, 2011 08:06
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FAQ for people visiting Japan If you are roaming, please check with your local provider about using your phone in Japan. Chances are, you'll be good. if you are too cheap for international roaming, read on! 1. I have an unlocked DROIDZR 3GS2 Special Edition, can I use just plop a prepaid Japanese SIM in it and use it in Japan? Prepaid SIMs, like prepaid phones, are subject to strict control in Japan. Please see the next question for more information about prepaid phones. ***UPDATE: A company called b-mobile is now on the scene offering prepaid SIMs specifically for visitors to Japan. They arrive pre-activated, starting 2 days from shipment, so I recommend having them sent to your hotel in Japan. ***UPDATE2: In Fall 2012 Xcom will be launching 4G LTE hotspot rental with unlimited data for $18 USD per day. http://www.xcomglobal.com/Japan4G/ So if you don't need a local phone number, this may be a decent alternative to messing with SIM cards. Rental SIMs are also available. Please see question #4. 2. I don't have an unlocked phone, so need to get a prepaid one. What are my options? Officially, buying prepaid phones in Japan requires a foreigner registration card. Getting a foreign registration card requires (at least) a permanent address in Japan. Thus, as a tourist, you will be unable to get a prepaid phone. There are some reports of being able to get prepaid phones at shady shops that don't follow the law, but good luck finding one. 3. Can I get some goon who lives in Japan to buy me a prepaid phone? This is technically illegal. While it's physically possible, given the personal liability, you better be drat good friends with that goon. 4. I don't have an unlocked phone, so need to rent one. What are my options? You will find a few different options in this space. There are several booths at Narita airport that can hook you up. Personally I chose SoftBank Rental, as they were the only company providing both a rental number and email address. Rental phones are not cheap, but probably still drastically cheaper than international roaming. You'll also find some companies (probably at the airport) offering rental SIM cards should you want to use your own phone. 5. I hear there are plenty of payphones in Japan, so I don't necessarily need a mobile. Is that true? Phone booths are now few and far between. Sure, you can find them at train stations and some department stores, but it's not uncommon to walk a few km without seeing a phone booth nowadays. 6. Forget about SIM cards and unlocking, can't I just use wifi or something? Definitely. There's a company called Wi2 offering access to tens of thousands of Wifi spots throughout the country for 350 yen for 6 hours to 2000 yen for a week. They also have a 380 yen per month plan available but this is only for those residing in Japan, not visitors. ***UPDATE: In Fall 2012 Xcom will be launching 4G LTE hotspot rental with unlimited data for $18 USD per day. http://www.xcomglobal.com/Japan4G/ zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Jul 14, 2011 08:07
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FAQ for people living in Japan Haven't written it yet -general overview of pricing plans for each -list of documents needed to get a cellphone jet_dee posted:For the third post about people living in Japan it might be worth mentioning what students spending a year in Japan on exchange should do to not get burned by long contracts, or simply how to minimise the financial damage. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 08:26 on Jul 14, 2011 |
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Jul 14, 2011 08:07
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I've lived in Japan two years and I still don't know how to pronounce au. Is it ah-oo or the English letters A-U?
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Jul 14, 2011 08:20
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The latter, if I remember correctly from the advertisements.
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Jul 14, 2011 08:22
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UnclePlasticBitch posted:I've lived in Japan two years and I still don't know how to pronounce au. Is it ah-oo or the English letters A-U? えいゆう 英雄 Hero
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Jul 14, 2011 08:49
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The letters a-u. The Willcom section is wildly inaccurate; well over half of the students I know with cell phones also have Willcom phones. They use their normal phones for normal stuff and Willcom phones for talking. Docomo and au really have comparable networks. I've never been anywhere (and I've been in some pretty hick areas and way up in the mountains) where I didn't have reception with au. The only place I've never had reception is in tunnels, which is to be expected; Docomo has repeaters in SOME tunnels in Tokyo, but that's hardly something to base your purchase on. Softbank can be spotty at times, but generally okay. The whole "young people have Softbank" thing -- I've never seen it out here. Most people (read: junior/senior high students) I know have Docomo with au second and Softbank third. Phone designs are usually cited as the reason, with the Softbank people all using iPhones. Does anyone have the IS11SH? Any opinions on it? I'm especially interested in its responsiveness and the screen. They have some crappy 3D lenticular screen on the display models and that would completely drive me away if normal 2D content looked like that as well. tarepanda fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Jul 14, 2011 |
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Jul 14, 2011 08:51
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tarepanda posted:The Willcom section is wildly inaccurate; well over half of the students I know with cell phones also have Willcom phones. They use their normal phones for normal stuff and Willcom phones for talking. Half? Wow. In all my years in Japan (of which many were spent as a student) I've met one person with a Willcom phone. Maybe it's a region based thing. The person I knew in Tokyo who had one was from Nara.
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Jul 14, 2011 08:58
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dtb posted:えいゆう  Never would've made that connection, thanks.
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Jul 14, 2011 09:03
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dtb posted:Half? Wow. In all my years in Japan (of which many were spent as a student) I've met one person with a Willcom phone. Maybe it's a region based thing. The person I knew in Tokyo who had one was from Nara. It might be something with younger people. I'm talking junior/senior high here; I don't know about young adults or adults in general. If you go on social networking sites (like mixi or cgiboy) or read forums, a lot of people mention that they'll use phones and that they have Willcom phones (コム持ち).
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Jul 14, 2011 09:07
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Yeah, I guess I should mention somewhere that my OP was Tokyo-centric. I've only known one person here who had Willcom, and she regretted it. I can see how it would be popular with students though, added your stuff to the OP tarepanda.
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Jul 14, 2011 09:25
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One annoyance with AU was when I discovered, on holiday in South Korea, that AU was the only one of the big three NOT to work at all over there (no roaming). I had a glance at the list of countries in which they offered roaming and SK was just not on there. EDIT - I just found the relevant part of AU's website (in English) here http://www.au.kddi.com/english/service/kokusai/global_passport/index.html It appears that AU CDMA phones work in SK but not GSM? Here's the relevant page for DOCOMO http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/service/world/roaming/index.html And for Softbank http://mb.softbank.jp/en/global_services/ A little amusing anecdote, my ex signed up for a 2-year iPhone contract just prior to going to England to study abroad for a year  and then left it unused for all that time, not realising she could still use the WiFi to do smartphone-y things with it. 
jet_dee fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Jul 14, 2011 |
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Jul 14, 2011 09:59
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That's less au and more your phone. If your phone's not compatible with the networks of the country you're in, then you're going to be out of luck no matter what country you're in. The only GSM band that South Korea has is 3G, IIRC. If you get a Global Passport-certified au phone, then you can use it anywhere. If it's not Global Passport-certified, then you're pretty much at the luck of the draw as to whether or not your phone works on the bands of whatever country you happen to visit.
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Jul 14, 2011 12:38
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I'm seriously looking into getting one of those pocket WiFi adapters - I figure Softbank and e-Mobile are the best options. I'm probably only going to stay in Japan another year so unless the 解約費 is under 10,000 yen or so I'm kind of restricted to one year contracts. Anyways, anyone have any experience buying these things? I don't need anything stupid fast or the latest technology, just a decent response time. With my DoCoMo HT03A using PDAnet the latency is between 200 and 15000ms+ which is altogether useless for anything other than web pages.
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Jul 14, 2011 13:05
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You need a credit card for the au versions or they turn you down on the spot. I'm not sure about Softbank though, and I've never heard of e-mobile. Never in my five years here have I been able to get a card and it pisses me off. zmcnulty posted:Officially, buying prepaid phones in Japan requires a foreigner registration card. Getting a foreign registration card requires (at least) a permanent address in Japan. Thus, as a tourist, you will be unable to get a prepaid phone. Two things: One, it's officially an "Alien Registration Card," and two, you can get one on a tourist visa. Whether a company will be willing to give you a phone after seeing that your visa expires in less than three months is another matter. I did this and got a phone from an au store. tarepanda fucked around with this message at 13:11 on Jul 14, 2011 |
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Jul 14, 2011 13:06
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I have an Emobile pocket wifi. It's a pretty nifty device with a couple quirks.
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Jul 14, 2011 14:07
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I've got a US model first generation 3G iPad. From what I googled yesterday it's unlocked, but Japan locks theirs and Softbank doesn't like to give out SIMs for devices not sold by them. Has anyone found or know of a workaround for this, or should I just try and trade it + cash for a second gen Wifi only model to bring with me?
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Jul 14, 2011 16:18
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tarepanda posted:Two things I appreciate the suggestions but realistically those points are only applicable to like 0.01% of foreigners visiting Japan. Don't worry, I have gotten the fisheye getting a ARC on a tourist visa before.
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Jul 14, 2011 17:04
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Pompous Rhombus posted:I've got a US model first generation 3G iPad. From what I googled yesterday it's unlocked, but Japan locks theirs and Softbank doesn't like to give out SIMs for devices not sold by them. Has anyone found or know of a workaround for this, or should I just try and trade it + cash for a second gen Wifi only model to bring with me? Have a look at b-mobile - they have microsims that should work with the iPad.
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Jul 14, 2011 21:21
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I've never seen anyone use Willcom outside of professionals. Be aware that the signal also turns to poo poo once you leave urban areas, although this was several years ago so maybe they've gotten better. Anyone have any opinions on the smartphone choices here? I think it's time for me to finally upgrade to either an Android or iPhone, although I would like features that Android phones hold such as Oneseg, and they seem to be better tailored for living in Japan. Can you access the Japanese mobile internet using iPhone? Some of those 3D phones interest me, although I feel that the technology is too young at this point.
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Jul 15, 2011 01:23
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Willcom is also poo poo when moving more than like 10km/h. Because the antenna are so low-powered, there end up being too many signal hand-offs. I'm in the same situation Original_Z. Three phones I have on my radar now are Infobar A01, Samsung Galaxy S II, and iPhone (5?). The Infobar A01 has me pretty enchanted with the cool design, original UI, FeliCa support, plus the usual gamut of smartphone features. I tried it in Yodobashi and liked it. Initial reviews were pretty positive, but there were a LOT of complaints about the battery life. Since that's pretty important for me, I was disappointed. Then like a goddamn lightning bolt, Sharp comes along and releases a patch, apparently the battery life problems were caused by a bug that prevented it from going into sleep mode properly. Now the battery life is on par with other smartphones. Samsung Galaxy S II looks pretty nice, Engadget called it the "best Android yet" and there's even a Japan-specific model with 1-Seg support (but it drops NFC; I would have preferred FeliCa to 1-Seg). And the iPhone, Apple is basically infallible, so why not?
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Jul 15, 2011 03:02
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As far as I know, smartphones can only use regular internet and have no EZweb access.
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Jul 15, 2011 04:52
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tarepanda posted:As far as I know, smartphones can only use regular internet and have no EZweb access. You're saying that like it's a bad thing 
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Jul 15, 2011 05:15
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I have an iphone app that pretends its some other softbank phone when connecting to the web, so using the Japanese mobile internet is possible on the iphone at least. Do you guys actually use 1-seg? Maybe its because I live in the inaka and only get 2 channels, but I almost never used it when I had my old phone.
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Jul 15, 2011 11:39
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I use it every now and then when I'm really, really bored.
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Jul 15, 2011 12:06
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Carfax Report posted:I have an Emobile pocket wifi. It's a pretty nifty device with a couple quirks. How much are you paying a month for it, including the cost of the device itself, if you don't mind me asking? And what are the quirks? Edit: forgot to ask, what's the latency like? Is it weird and burst-y like cellphone 3G or is it actually comparable to being on a wired connection? Sheep fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Jul 15, 2011 |
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Jul 15, 2011 13:06
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Sheep posted:How much are you paying a month for it, including the cost of the device itself, if you don't mind me asking? And what are the quirks? The device was free on a two year contract. It was 4k a month for the first year, and 5k a month for the second year. The quirks are that if you are on a train and go into a tunnel and lose a signal, you sometimes have to do a hard reset. Also, it may stay connected to a device for four hours and then die of lack of battery. (4 hours is its max.) Since it doesn't use a 3G network, sometimes it can't get signal in places where phones can, and vice-versa. It's not as bursty like 3G but it's not as solid as wired. A happy medium. It's about 3mps download, which sometimes feels slow, but definitely gets the job done. Lately my apartment internet has been weird so I've been turning it on even at home. I use it with my laptop, iphone, and wifi iPad. All can be connected and sharing at the same time. Also, it doesn't have every port open so things like bit torrent don't work on it.
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Jul 15, 2011 17:04
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Carfax Report posted:The device was free on a two year contract. It was 4k a month for the first year, and 5k a month for the second year. Is yours a wi-max router that shoots out a wifi network? Are you sure its not a device that takes a 3G signal and spits out a wifi network? I also have a pocket wifi thing and it gets its data from 3G
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Jul 17, 2011 05:36
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Ganguro King posted:I have an iphone app that pretends its some other softbank phone when connecting to the web, so using the Japanese mobile internet is possible on the iphone at least. What app is that? Gah, double post > 
Rekka fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Jul 17, 2011 |
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Jul 17, 2011 05:49
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Rekka posted:Is yours a wi-max router that shoots out a wifi network? Are you sure its not a device that takes a 3G signal and spits out a wifi network? I also have a pocket wifi thing and it gets its data from 3G This is what I'm worried about. 3G latency is just horrendous as far as I can tell unless you constantly keep the connection open ('ping -c 9000000000000000000000 google.com' basically). Both my iPhone and my HT-03A are pretty much useless for SSH and what not.
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Jul 17, 2011 07:27
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Sheep posted:This is what I'm worried about. 3G latency is just horrendous as far as I can tell unless you constantly keep the connection open ('ping -c 9000000000000000000000 google.com' basically). Both my iPhone and my HT-03A are pretty much useless for SSH and what not. From my experience if you get one from Docomo you'll get 180/210 latency and transfer speeds of around 200kb-400kb/s If you live in an area with access (unlikely) you should get wi-max as its essentially wifi.
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Jul 17, 2011 07:46
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Rekka posted:What app is that? The aptly named GalapaBrowser.
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Jul 17, 2011 08:50
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Ganguro King posted:The aptly named GalapaBrowser. Oh man, awesome. If this is going to allow me to access all the cool imode coupon sites that didn't release an app I'm going to be so happy. Also McDonalds coupons. Hell yeah.
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Jul 17, 2011 08:58
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Emobile pocket wifi is HSDP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Speed_Downlink_Packet_Access
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Jul 18, 2011 02:28
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I was referred here by a moderator to see if you guys could help me out with a question I have about Emoji/Japanese Emoticons. I'm confused by many of the emojis that can be found on the iPhone and major Japanese carriers, mostly because they're either very strange looking or ridiculously specific and I don't understand why they would ever be included. Here is the Ask/Tell thread I started regarding regarding the subject with the questionable emoji included. Any help would be appreciated! http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3425624&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post393666001
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Jul 18, 2011 06:17
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These are for Japanese people to use and make sense if you live in Japan. EMOTIONS 1. Veins popping out on forehead. 2. Puff of air -- it can be used as either dust behind someone while they're rushing out, or someone exhaling. 3. Dancing guys, whatever. you're happy, there's a party, etc. I've seen this used... twice? 4. Spiral, usually used to signify depression. TEXT REPLACEMENTS 5. Post office 6. Ticket. 7. Beginner icon -- you see this in games and on cars too. 8. Slot machine 9. Bus stop 10. Onsen/hot spring 11. ココ, or "here" 19. Curry Rice 20. Bento 21. Onigiri 22. Senbei/rice cracker 23. Nabe stuff on a stick 24. Dango HOLIDAYS/SEASONS 14. maybe incense 15. fish windsocks for koibonori 16. wind chimes, a hallmark of summer/tanabata MISC 17. I think it's a golden Buddha. tarepanda fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Jul 18, 2011 |
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Jul 18, 2011 06:25
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Lololol you have a lot to learn about Japan if you don't recognize onigiri, curry or a post office. 17, 18 don't think about it too hard. Somewhere, someone, knows how to use this. If you don't know now, then you'll never need to know. 23 is oden y'all peanut fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Jul 18, 2011 |
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Jul 18, 2011 06:29
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Awesome, thanks so much guys, my friends are going to be really excited to hear what these finally are! You're also right, I know very little about Japanese culture, I'm hoping to visit there soon though.peanut posted:17, 18 don't think about it too hard. Somewhere, someone, knows how to use this. If you don't know now, then you'll never need to know. Cmon, don't be so coy now you have to tell me what this is, I cannot figure it out for the life of me. BLACK AIDS ORGY fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Jul 18, 2011 |
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Jul 18, 2011 06:36
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I can't get the image to show up on my phone, but guessing from the position I think maybe 18 is supposed to represent a graph of a stock market crash or recession.
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Jul 18, 2011 08:09
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I'm a super Japanese culture genius and I have no idea
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Jul 18, 2011 08:32
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